Name
Capella University
FPX-4100
Prof. Name
December, 2024
History and Influence of the New School of Thought
Positive psychology is one of the new directions of the late twentieth century and was developed by Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (Broad & Luthan, 2020). They attempt to study and build on strengths that define the human being, human happiness, and human success. In other words, it shifted the attention of psychology from treating mental diseases to including quality aspects of life. It is grounded on studies about happiness, coping, and well-being, and rose out of humanism with contributors such as Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers an emphasis on self-actualization in person.
Founding Figures, Events, and Ideas of the School of Thought
Early positive psychology promoters are Martin E.P. Seligman who was the 1998 APA president and called for psychology to work on and acquisition of knowledge of human strength and happiness (Ryff, 2022). Flow states were coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi on the way people go through the optimal experience, Christopher Peterson who investigated character strengths and virtues there, and finally Barbara Fredrickson with positive emotions which is in accordance to the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions.
Founding figures
Positive psychology was launched at the end of the nineties by Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi as the response to the traditional focus of psychological science on disease and disorders (Wissing, 2022). In August 1998, amid his presidential address to the American Psychological Association, Seligman announced a new positive psychology movement. The first research by Csikszentmihalyi on “flow,” that is the concept of the involvement of an individual in an activity, lay at the heart of the movement and is initially conceived (Miltiadou, 2024). Among its achievements was the issue of basic texts like Seligman’s Genuine Happiness and the creation of the VIA classification of universal strengths and categories. The main postulates of positive psychology involve scientific investigation of happiness, coping, and strengths for the pursuit of optimized human and societal well-being through positive affect, transactions, meaning, and achievement.
Events
Positive psychology came to light formally with Seligman’s APA address in 1998 which called for hopes of psychological science to take positive aspects of human life critically (McGrath& Brown, 2020). Somewhat later, in 2000, the special issue of the journal American Psychologist was devoted to the discussion of the concept of positive psychology among scholars. This would entail, inter alia, the forms of writing for the lay public such as the book Authentic Happiness that was published in 2002 and the concept of Values in Action (VIA) classification of character strengths formulated in 2004 wherein popularizing this idea among ordinary people was very paramount.
Ideas
Positive psychology focuses on increasing positive behavior and positive vices to maintain well-being and development, as opposed to negative psychology which aims at reducing psychological disorders as a conventional approach of positive psychology, which encourages people to enhance their hopeful disposition (Churchwell et al., 2020). Therefore, it empowers people offers individuals a positive perspective, and encourages them based on their potential of performing progress. An important part of its implementation is the classification system known as VIA by Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman. The VIA framework is defined by six core virtues including six virtues: The virtues consist of: wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence, a component of which is 24 universal character strengths by McGrath and Brown (2020). The system is intended for building up personal assets in a way that forms part of the process that leads to individual and group optimality.
Positive psychology is mostly concerned with happy lives and the good life. The issues outlined in the text were explained in deep detail through the use of the PERMA model created by Martin Seligman. Love, belonging, and purpose are the three concepts that highlight the implication of social interaction meaningful and fulfilling life, and achievement motivation respectively. According to these dimensions, positive psychology provides effective interventions for increasing well-being and Happiness in the single self and the collective self.
The second example of how positive emotions change is provided by Barbara Fredrickson’s Broaden-and-Build Theory. Positive emotions like joy, love, and gratitude mold a narrow one-dimensional thinking into positive and positive thinking makes the exploration of more ideas and paths. These are expressions that combine with others as experiences accumulate and contribute to the definition of long-lasting capital attentive during vital crises, be it biological, social, or environmental networks, competencies, or resilience. For example, love may cause social relatedness and this will foster the development of relatedness, while happiness causes creativity and innovation.
Historical and Societal Influences
A clear narrative of positive psychology was that it had strong historical antecedents rooted in the historical trends in society and in the very field of psychology itself (Medina et al., 2020). In the mid-20th century, two schools of thought held sway over the field: Freud and Skinner, for example, were both involved in the treatment of mental disorders which gave much attention to remedial action. These certainly were good to provide insight into how one could describe human behavior and psychological function but were largely pathogenic; that is, not about that which helps make life worth living—which is, one might theoretically and practically assume, what human existence is fundamentally about. This led to positive psychology in which a broader perspective was taken in the study of human experiences.
There are also positive contributions from another era, post World War II, to the growth of positive psychology. By this time, critics such as Seligman were already raising eyebrows about the imbalance. While efforts to cure mental diseases were critical in the field of psychology, psychology must go beyond mere treatment of what ails humans and encompass attempts to find out what was strong in people. This understanding is important in helping move toward the examination of positive things about people, including strength, happiness, and resilience.
The adoption of the scientific method in the study of psychology was in part the catalyst for the growth of the positive psychological approach (Churchwell et al., . In the past criticisms of humanistic psychology had mainly focused on the empirical base of the theories of this school of thought. Seligman and his friends tried to eradicate this void by grounding positive psychology in evidence. They constructed a sound Positive Psychology by scientifically researching and studying such constructs as happiness, gratitude, and optimism. In this manner, positive psychology was acknowledged as a science, indeed an area of psychology science.
How This School of Thought Guides Social Thinking
Social thinking is a powerful influence on issues and deficits as well as strengths and potential Carnegie Learning Services (Wypych, 2022). The typical thrown frame here is from ‘repair’ paradigms to the conception of strength, therefore providing individuals and societies with reasons to develop such values as tenacity, appreciation, and benevolence. This perspective has impacted many socio-focused endeavors such as the strength-based instruction activities that enable the student to realize their potential. If this VIA classification is included in the curriculum of a school the student will be in a position to realize all these character strengths as pointed out earlier. This enhances and elevates the spirit, morale, and morale of a learner to be able to perform even better within him/her and other numpy people.
Self-actualization as captured by the PERMA model has therefore transformed how organizations within the larger society consider well-being and quality of life (Wypych, 2022). Entreprises & governments have started to think and incorporate the well-being metrics into practices & policies. Likewise, in organizations, positive psychology has led to suggestions for employee motivation and appreciation and organizational purpose efforts that are enhancing positive employee approaches to work. Implements of positive psychology principles thus indicate how change in such systems leads to enhanced social and institutional results.
Positive psychology therefore acts as a reference point for Social thinking in the context of connection and positive emotions, as well as in the component of resilience (Sari, 2020). Of the psychosocial theories on Happiness, I find Barbara Fredrickson’s Broaden-and-Build theory most plausible. This knowledge can be used in conflict management and the formation of a community since the management of positive emotions results in better and stronger human relations. For instance, expressions of appreciation as a form of gratitude, in interpersonal relationships result in improved trust and cooperation together with improved bonding networks.
PSYC FPX 4100 assessment 4 Conclusion
The way human behavior has been analyzed has significantly changed since the positive psychology paradigm was established and began exploring strength, well-being, and positive affect rather than distress (Christina, 2023). As an evidence-based discipline derived from practice, it has positively transformed personal development, education, Organizational Climate, and Health Promotion into more positive and person-thriving perspectives. It puts society on the right track and offers society encouragement for the initiative for the quest of improving quality of life and creating strong thriving communities.
PSYC FPX 4100 assessment 4 References
Broad, J. D., & Luthans, F. (2020). Positive resources for psychiatry in the fourth industrial revolution: building patient and family-focused psychological capital (PsyCap). International Review of Psychiatry, 32(7-8), 542–554. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540261.2020.1796600
Christina Anna Bauer, & Walton, G. M. (2023). Identity‐reframing interventions: How to effectively highlight individuals’ background‐specific strengths. Social and Personality Psychology Compass. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12830
Medina, L., Sabo, S., & Vespa, J. (2020). Population estimates and projections current population reports. https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2020/demo/p25-1145.pdf
Wypych, V. (2022). We are more than just spectators: Feminist psychology theory applied to sports psychology. Honors Projects in Applied Psychology. https://digitalcommons.bryant.edu/honors_appliedpsychology/28/
McGrath, R. E., & Brown, M. (2020). Using the VIA Classification to Advance a Psychological Science of Virtue. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.565953
Sari, T., & Alan Daniel Schlechter. (2020). Positive Psychology: An Introduction. 33–46. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33264-8_3
Wissing, M. P. (2022). Beyond the “Third Wave of Positive Psychology”: Challenges and Opportunities for Future Research. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.795067
Churchwell, K., Elkind, M. S. V., Benjamin, R. M., Carson, A. P., Chang, E. K., Lawrence, W., Mills, A., Odom, T. M., Rodriguez, C. J., Rodriguez, F., Sanchez, E., Sharrief, A. Z., Sims, M., & Williams, O. (2020). Call to action: Structural racism as a fundamental driver of health disparities: a presidential advisory from the American heart association. Circulation, 142(24). https://doi.org/10.1161/cir.0000000000000936
