PSYCHOLOGY ASSIGNMENT

POSITIVE
PSYCHOLOGY
STD:- 11E BY: Anjana yadav
Nishtha modak
Pal shah
 Positive
Psychology
Part 4- How to improve well- Part 1- About positive
being with PERMA? psychology. History

Explore - Learn - Grow

Part 3- Is well-being the Part 2- What are the

same as happiness? roots of happiness?
 Part 1- What is Positive Psychology (PP) ? 2

Psychology traditionally focused

on dysfunction—on people with
mental illness or other psychological
problems and how to treat them.
Positive psychology, by contrast,
is a relatively new field that
examines how ordinary people can
become happier and more fulfilled.

Positive psychology is the study of happiness.

Martin Seligman is considered the father of the modern
positive psychology movement
 Part 1- Positive Psychology in History 3

* Ancient Greeks :

Socrates advocated
self-knowledge as the
path to happiness.

Plato's allegory of the

cave: happiness is found
in deeper meaning

Aristotle: happiness or eudaimonia is constituted by

rational activity in accordance with virtue over a
complete life.
 Part 1- Positive Psychology in History 4

* Ancient Greeks :
Epicureans: happiness by enjoying simple pleasures.
Stoics: happy by being objective and reasonable
 Part 1- Positive Psychology in History 5

* Humanists: emphasized the unique qualities of humans, especially their free will
and their potential for personal growth.
We have an innate drive toward personal growth.
We exercise free will to control our actions.
We are rational beings driven by conscious, not
unconscious, needs

2 examples of humanists:

Carl Rogers’s (1961) Person-Centered Theory.

*Personality = one construct, the self = self-concept = a
collection of beliefs
*Self-concept is congruent with reality, or incongruent
when our ideas about ourselves do not match reality
 Part 1- Positive Psychology in History 6

* Second example of humanist:

Abraham Maslow

*First used the phrase positive

psychology in 1954

*Theory of Self-Actualization and

the pyramid representing the
hierarchy of human needs
 Part 2- The roots of happiness? 7

Let's look first at what are NOT the roots for happiness,
according to the results of Positive Psychology research:

*Money – the correlation between income and happiness is very weak

(.13) in U.S.

*Age – age accounts for less than 1% of variation in reported

happiness.

*Gender – gender also accounts for less than 1% of variation in

reported happiness.
 Part 2- The roots of happiness? 8

A popular misbelief: money does not buy more

happiness, often the contrary....
 Part 2- The roots of happiness? 9

Continued, what are NOT the roots for happiness,

according to the results of Positive Psychology research

* Parenthood – good and bad aspects of parenthood offset

each other.

*Intelligence – there is no association between IQ and

happiness.

*Physical attractiveness – attractive people enjoy many

advantages in society, but the relationship with happiness is very
weak.

Other studies show that health, social activities and religion are somewhat important
 Part 2- The roots of happiness? 10

So what is it that makes us happy?

*Love and marriage – across cultures, for men

and women, married people are happier than
people who are single or divorced.

*Work – job satisfaction is strongly related to

happiness.

*Personality – extraversion (or positive

emotionality) is a strong predictor of happiness.
Part 2- The roots of happiness? 11

* Happiness is about subjective feelings, much

more than objective measures.

*Happiness is relative: relative to what others

around us have, and relative to our own expectations.

*Happiness is dynamically affected by hedonistic

adaptation, i.e. when circumstances improve, such as
income, our baseline for happiness increases as well, so
we don’t feel happier.

What did we learn also from these studies?

 Part 2- The roots of happiness? 12

Lyubomirsky, Sheldon and Schkade summarized what determines happiness

in the below model in 2005
Publication: “Pursuing happiness: The architecture of sustainable change”
Part 2- The happiness formula 13

According to the Positive Psychology model,

we can affect 40% of our happiness

H = S (50%) + C (10%) + V (40%)

H – happiness
S – set point
C–
circumstance
s
V – factors
under
voluntary
control
 Part 2- The roots of happiness? 14

How can you do generate more happiness in your life?

Focus on the intentional activities under your
control.

According to Martin Seligman in 2002/2003,

these are:
*The Pleasant Life: Pleasure & Positive
Emotion
* The Good Life: Flow & Engagement
* Meaningful Life: Meaning & Purpose

References: “The full life” 2002; “Authentic

Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology
to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment”
2003
Part 3- Is well-being the same as happiness? 15

Is happiness the same as well being?

Not exactly... Let's introduce a new dimension:

1Feeling happy in the now: “Taking all things together, how would you say
things are these days — would you say you are very happy, pretty happy, or
not too happy?”

2Thinking life is satisfying: “How satisfied are you with your life as a whole
these days?”
Part 4- The PERMA model 16

* Positive emotion
* Engagement
* Positive relationships
* Meaning
* Accomplishment
* Positive emotion : Feeling good helps us persevere ,even
when we face obstacles.

* Engagement : Do something you enjoy so much

you get in your ‘flow’ or ‘sweet spot’.

* Relationship : Authentic, real social connections

are critical for wellbeing.

* Meaning : A clear sense of purpose; understanding

what’s importance in your life.

Achievement : Motivation and a sense of

accomplishment.
 Part 4- The PERMA model 17

Each element respects the following three properties

1- It contributes directly to well-being

2 It is pursued for its own sake, not merely to
get something else
3 It is defined and measured independently
from the other elements.

* In addition to the full life model, it also consider your social life and
personal accomplishments

PERMA is a model to improve well-being by focusing on

our intentional activity
Thank You