Positive Psychology is one of the most recent currents of psychology, and it is not strange that it has aroused much interest. It is based on the study of the experiences and positive traits of individuals, as well as their strengths, virtues, motivations and capacities; of how these help to improve their quality of life and to develop human potential.

Generally, psychological theories focus on pathologies and negative behaviors. On the contrary, Positive Psychology proposes strategies to reach and optimize people’s strengths. Thus, it proposes to focus more on prevention than on treatment.

Next we will see in detail what the foundations of Positive Psychology are , how it appeared and what objectives it proposes.

Thus appeared Positive Psychology

The antecedents of Positive Psychology go back to the 1920s and 1930s in the works of Terman and Watson, in which some important concepts and themes were already mentioned, such as talent in students, childcare and psychological factors involved in marital happiness .

Before World War II, psychologists focused on actions that contributed to making individuals’ lives more productive and fulfilling, so they identified and reinforced talents and strengths in patients to cope with various situations.

However, as a result of the war, the general approach of psychology was changed to focus mainly on the assessment of mental disorders and on trying to alleviate human suffering. In opposition to this tendency centered on pathology, authors such as Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow within the humanist current, worked some ideas of strengths and happiness of the human being, establishing a precedent from which later Positive Psychology would emerge.

In the late 1990s, Martin Seligman, an American psychologist and educator, decided to turn the dominant approach around and first presented his proposal for Positive Psychology at the ceremony in which he was appointed president of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in 1998. From that stage on, many researchers oriented their work towards the study of the psychological potentialities of the human being.

Flow, strengths and positive emotions

Another important author is Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi , a Hungarian psychologist who proposed the term flow as a positive mental state, as well as has done studies of factors that contribute to the motivation, challenge and success of individuals.

One of the fundamental components within the theory is temperament, as it is considered to be one of the most important predictors of the levels of positive experiences a person will feel. There are also the strengths of character , which are psychological traits or characteristics that occur in different situations over time and their consequences are usually positive. Some of them are: optimism, interpersonal skills, faith, ethical work, hope, honesty, perseverance and ability to flow.

Furthermore, from Positive Psychology a categorization of positive emotions was made , depending on the time in which they are visualized: in the present there is joy, tranquility, euphoria, pleasure and the optimal experience; those of the past are satisfaction, complacency, personal realization, pride and serenity; and in the future there is optimism, hope, faith and confidence.

There is now sufficient evidence that positive emotions promote health, personal growth and the well-being of the individual. They increase people’s intellectual, physical and social resources so that they can respond in the best way when unexpected or difficult situations arise.

The conquest of happiness, according to Seligman

On the other hand, Seligman proposed the model “The Three Ways to Happiness” (1999) which were

  1. The Pleasant Life
  2. The Committed Life
  3. The Meaningful Life

Several years later he changed his proposal a little and created the PERMA model , with the 5 components that are present in people who claim to be happy. With this he changed his object of study, from happiness to well-being. Each element must fulfill 3 properties to be considered within the theory:

  • That contributes to the well-being.
  • That many people choose it for their own good, not just to get any of the other variables.
  • To be defined and measured independently from the rest of the variables in the model.

These are the components:

1. Positive emotions

Recognize the benefits of positive emotions in all aspects of the individual’s life.

2. Commitment

Make a commitment to ourselves, focus on our strengths and seek to have optimal experiences . Generation of pleasure derived from commitment to the effective task and the capacity to experience flow.

3. Positive relationships

Increase our social skills to interact with other people.

4. Meaning

Searching for meaning, sense and purpose in our life.

5. Achievement

Personal agency that allows the growth and development of human capacities.

Another theory of Positive Psychology is the theory of Flow, proposed by Csikszentmihalyi. Flow, in simple terms, is the state in which a person gives himself completely to an activity for pleasure , everything flows and time flies. It usually occurs when a balance is reached between the challenges the task represents and the skills the individual has to solve it.

Barbara Fredrickson and the proposed Expansion – Construction

One more theory is the proposal Amplification – Construction, by Dr. Barbara Fredrickson , social psychologist. The main idea is that positive emotions cause changes in cognitive activity, expand the possibilities of action and improve physical resources.According to this model, there are 3 sequential effects of positive emotions:

  • Expansion : expand trends in thought and action.
  • Construction : the construction of personal resources to face difficult or problematic situations is encouraged.
  • Transformation : the individual becomes more creative, shows a deeper knowledge of situations, is more resistant to difficulties and is better integrated socially. An upward spiral is reached which leads to the experience of new positive emotions.

This new experimentation based on Positive Psychology increases personal resources, which can be used in diverse contexts and under other emotional states. The traditional models of psychology, focused on negative emotions, deal with how these have the function of activating basic defense mechanisms for survival. On the other hand, this model presents positive emotions as drivers of personal growth and construction of different thoughts and actions, which can be used depending on the present situation.

Its use as a psychological intervention

The main fields of application of the proposal are the clinical, health and educational areas. In the clinical and health area, what is sought is the generation of prevention and treatment strategies for problems derived from negative emotions, mainly depression, stress and anxiety . It has been proven that patients with affective and anxiety disorders perform less well in daily tasks and find it much more difficult to solve problems. The aim is to promote positive emotions to create a barrier against psychological disorders.

Within education, focuses on students’ extrinsic motivation , academic motivation, generation and optimization of strengths. This favours students’ reactions to situations they have to face. Furthermore, in those institutions that promote the achievement of goals to obtain rewards, they increase motivation and decrease conflictive attitudes of children and young people.

Currently is beginning to be implemented in the organizational area ; the objective is to provide tools to generate strategies to improve the work environment and consequently the efficiency in processes and greater productivity on the part of the employees.

And to learn more about Positive Psychology…

Here are some recommendations of books in which the main theme revolves around positive psychology:

  • “Flow”: a psychology of happiness, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
  • “True Happiness” by Martin E. P. Seligman.
  • “The Science of Well-being: Foundations of Positive Psychology”, by Carmelo VĂĄzquez and Gonzalo HervĂĄs.
  • “Intelligent Optimism: Psychology of Positive Emotions,” various authors.
  • “Overcoming Adversity: The Power of Resilience” by Luis Rojas Marcos.
  • “Flow in Business” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
  • “Is your bucket full? Strategies to Enhance Your Positive Emotions” by Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton.
  • “Positive Psychology: the scientific and practical explorations of human strengths”, various authors.
  • “The Science of Happiness” by Sonja Lyubomirsky.
  • “The futility of suffering” by MarĂ­a JesĂșs Álava Reyes.
  • Martin E.P. Seligman’s “The Life That Blossoms”.
  • “Psychologically speaking,” various authors.
  • “The Happiness Trap” by Russ Harris.
  • “The Habits of a Happy Brain” by Loretta Graziano.
  • “Positive Psychology: The Awareness of Happiness” by Alan Carr.