What is Positive Psychology?

Positive psychology is a revolution in the field of psychology and a new milestone in the history of human society. It is an emerging science that studies traditional psychology from a positive perspective. The formation of positive psychology as a field of study is marked by the paper "Introduction to Positive Psychology" published by Seligman and Csikzentmihalyi in January 2000. It uses scientific principles and methods to study happiness, advocates the positive orientation of psychology to study the positive psychological qualities of human beings, and pays attention to human health, happiness and harmonious development. ^[1]

Chinese name: Positive psychology
Foreign name: Positive Psychology
Founder: Martin Seligman, Shelton, Laura King

research direction: Human health, happiness and harmonious development
Founded: Late 20th century
Research methods: Scale method, questionnaire method, interview method

Origin of Positive Psychology

The word "positive" comes from the Latin positism, meaning "actual" or "potential," which includes both inner conflict and potential intrinsic abilities. The study of positive psychology dates back to the 1930s Terman on genius and marriage The discussion of happiness and Jung's research on the meaning of life. In the 1960s, the study of humanistic psychology and the resulting human potential laid the foundation for the development of positive psychology. However, due to the Second World War Impact, the study of positive psychology is almost interrupted, the main tasks of war and post-war psychology have been to heal war wounds and treat mental illness, research psychological or behavioral disorders to find methods of treatment and relief, and psychology's positive research on people It seems to have been forgotten. Negative psychology models dominated the development of psychology throughout the 20th century. A new trend of research in the western psychology community at the end of the 20th centurythe study of positive psychology. The founder of this trend was the United States Famous contemporary psychologists Martin EP Seligman, Shelton (Ke nnon M. Sheldon) and Laura King (Laura King) their definition of the essential characteristics of positive psychology "Positive psychology is a science committed to studying the vitality and virtue of ordinary people. "Positive psychology advocates studying the positive qualities of human beings, fully exploiting the inherent constructive forces inherent in human beings, promoting the development of individuals and society, and bringing human beings to happiness. Its spearhead is directed at the traditional" negative psychology "of the past. It It is a psychological trend of thought that studies the positive aspects of human strength and virtues by using relatively complete and effective experimental methods and measuring methods in psychology. ^[2]

Positive psychology research methods

In terms of research methods, positive psychology has absorbed most of the research methods and research methods of traditional mainstream psychology (such as the scale method, questionnaire method, interview method, and experimental method, etc.). Organic phenomenological methods and empirical analysis methods are organically combined. It even wanted to imitate the DSM of traditional mainstream psychology and establish its own DSSWB (diagnostic and statistical standards of happiness), which made positive psychology see a familiar and friendly face from the beginning.

Positive psychology adopts a more inclusive attitude. It focuses on empirical research methods and does not reject non-empirical research methods. This is also its superiority than humanistic psychology. It inherits almost all the empirical research methods of traditional mainstream psychology, such as experimental method, investigation method and so on. Positive psychology also established its own CSV standard (Character Strengths and Vitues: A handbook and Classification) in 2004 with the model of the world psychological diagnostic standard DSM (fourth edition) as a model. In addition, it also adopts the methods of humanistic phenomenology, such as using a large number of deductive reasoning when studying the positive progress of people, and even using cultural hermeneutics to discuss the development process of individuals. ^[1]

Positive psychology research content

Study on Positive Subjective Experience in Positive Psychology

Positive emotions are a major aspect of positive psychology research, which advocates studying the positive experiences individuals have with the past, present, and future. In the past, we mainly study positive experiences such as satisfaction and satisfaction; in the current aspect, we mainly study positive experiences such as happiness and happiness; and in the future, we mainly study positive experiences such as optimism and hope. ^[2]

Study of Positive Personality Traits in Positive Psychology

Positive personality traits are the foundation on which positive psychology is established, because positive psychology is based on the theoretical assumption of human self-management, self-direction, and an adaptive whole. Positive psychologists believe that positive personality traits are mainly stimulated and strengthened by individuals' various real abilities and potential abilities. When motivated and strengthened, a certain realistic abilities or potential abilities become a habitual way of working. Personality traits are formed. Positive personality helps individuals adopt more effective coping strategies. In this regard, 24 types of positive personality traits have been specifically studied, including self-determination, optimism, mature defense mechanisms, and wisdom. Among them, the ones that have attracted more attention are Self-determinism and optimism. Positive psychologists believe that one of the best ways to cultivate these traits is to enhance an individual's positive emotional experience. With the development of positive psychology, the research scope of personality traits will become wider and wider. Self-determination means that an individual can make a suitable choice for his own development and insist on it.

Positive psychology studies the formation of self-determining personality traits from three aspects: the nature of innate learning, creation, and curiosity is the foundation of its formation; these innate natures must also be combined with certain social values and external life experiences to transform For one's own intrinsic motivation and value; the full satisfaction of psychological needs is the premise of its formation, and here include three basic psychological needs: autonomy, competence and communication. ^[2]

Research on Positive Social Environment of Positive Psychology

Maslow, Rogers and others pointed out that when the child's surroundings and teachers, classmates and friends provide the best support, sympathy and choice, the child is most likely to grow up healthy and achieve self-realization. Conversely, when parents and authorities do not consider their children's unique perspectives, or give loved information only when their children meet certain criteria, then these children are prone to unhealthy emotional and behavioral patterns.

Different cultures have different feelings about people's life satisfaction. In countries dominated by individualistic cultures, when judging how happy they are, they will naturally take their emotions into consideration and often feel that happiness is a predictor of life satisfaction. On the contrary, people in collectivist culture tend to refer to certain standards to judge whether they are happy, and when assessing their lives, they take into account the social orientation of family and friends. Therefore, in different cultures, people think that the factors related to life satisfaction are different, which may be due to the impact of culture on people's values and goals.

Positive Psychological Contribution

Positive psychology inherits the rational core of humanistic and scientistic psychology, and corrects and makes up for some of the shortcomings of psychology. It reverses the previous pessimistic view of human nature and turns to the positive aspects of human nature. The purpose of psychology is not just to remove people's psychological or behavioral problems, but to help people develop good psychological qualities and behavioral patterns. People without problems do not mean that they can naturally form a good psychological quality and behavioral pattern.

Positive psychology emphasizes research on the advantages and values of human nature

Positive psychology believes that the function of psychology should be construction rather than repair. Therefore, the research object of psychology should be normal and healthy ordinary people, not a few people with "problems". Psychology should focus on the strengths of humanity, not their weaknesses. On the basis of the criticism and inheritance of psychology, positive psychology advocates the research and exploration of human virtues, thereby filling the gaps in the study of psychological activities of normal people and restoring the positive aspects of human nature.

Positive psychology proposes positive prevention ideas

Positive psychology attaches great importance to the prevention of psychological disorders, and believes that the great progress they have made in prevention mainly comes from the ability to shape the individual's internal systems, rather than correcting their defects. Positive psychology believes that human beings have the power to resist mental illness. Most of the task of prevention will be to build a science about human power. Its mission is to explore how to cultivate these qualities in individuals. Positive psychology believes that effective prevention can be achieved by tapping the individual's own strength in trouble. If we only focus on the shortcomings or weaknesses of the individual, we cannot actually achieve effective prevention. The task of psychology is to be able to effectively measure the positive psychological qualities of individuals, understand their formation pathways, and shape these psychological qualities through appropriate intervention.

Positive psychology considers individual and social dimensions

Positive psychology has got rid of the shortcomings of too much emphasis on the individual level from the perspective of research. While focusing on individual psychological research, it emphasizes the discussion of group and social psychology. In addition, in the cognition of psychological phenomena and the causes of psychological activities and the construction of their theoretical assumptions, positive psychology emphasizes the common influence and interaction of people's internal positive forces and external environments such as groups, society and culture. Although positive psychologists emphasize the good qualities of the individual's psychology and personality, they still attach great importance to the sociocultural environment, such as race, politics, economics, education, family, and other factors that affect individual emotions, personality, mental health, creativity, and psychological treatment. Impact. Positive psychology claims that the individual's consciousness and experience can be reflected in the environment and also greatly affected by the environment. From a broad perspectivein the evolutionary process, the environment shapes the human experience of actively interacting with nature, so the study of group psychology and behavior occupies an important position in positive psychology.

Limitations of Positive Psychology

1. The theoretical foundation is weak and the theoretical system is incomplete. Early positive psychologists were reluctant to acknowledge its humanistic origin. Later, although humanistic psychology was acknowledged as the theoretical foundation of positive psychology, there were few related theoretical studies. As a result, the theoretical foundation of positive psychology is somewhat weak, and the theoretical system is not complete. Therefore, there are still many research fields in positive psychology that need to be explored by positive psychologists.

2, showing a certain "positive discourse hegemony", that is to deny negative value and function. Positive psychology is a top-down movement advocated by famous psychologists such as Seligeman. When the authority of these well-known scholars combined, it showed "positive discourse hegemony" in a certain sense, blindly preached positive, criticized traditional psychology, criticized negative, and ignored negative itself as a defense mechanism. It also has its own value and function.

3. The research object is not comprehensive enough, lacking a convincing longitudinal study. Positive psychology is not comprehensive enough in the sampling of its research objects, showing a typical adult value orientation, ignoring the two important groups of children and the elderly. In addition, due to its short history of development, there is a lack of longitudinal studies with significant influence and cross-ethnic and cross-cultural studies.

4. There are still difficulties in the localization of positive psychology in China. First, due to the differences in social and cultural values between the East and the West, the understanding of happiness and happiness under the orientation of Oriental collectivism and Western individualism is different, which makes China s Positive psychology research is special and must be combined with our traditional culture. In addition, some English words in Western positive psychology are difficult to find the corresponding Chinese meaning. For example, happiness can be translated into happiness and happiness, and the Chinese meaning of well-being (subjective happiness) is actually It is a "good state", which makes us conceptually confused when we study the relevant works in the West. Due to the short generation time of positive psychology, some defects are unavoidable, but with the development and improvement of its theory and further research, these deficiencies can also be overcome. ^[2]

Trends in Positive Psychology

1. The research direction is positive psychological experience with subjective well-being as the core. Daniel Kahneman pointed out that the current level of happiness experienced is the basic building block of positive psychology. Including subjective well-being, appropriate experience, optimism and happiness, etc., as Diener (2000) said: Although people have a considerable understanding of the process of the generation and development of happiness, there are still many topics worth studying in the theme of happiness itself local. Especially in China, the study of happiness has just begun and needs to be explored.

2. The research direction is to shape positive personality qualities. This is the foundation of positive psychology. Positive psychology should cultivate and bring up a healthy personality. The individual's personality advantage will penetrate into the entire living space of the person and have a long-term impact. The common elements of this research approach are positive personality, self-determination, self-esteem, self-organizing, self-directed, adaptive entities, wisdom, mature defense, creativity and talent.

3. The research direction must include the quality and behavior of people into the investigation of the entire social ecosystem. That is, we should pay attention to the relationship between human experience, positive qualities of people and social background. Therefore, positive psychology needs to comprehensively examine the impact of good society, positive communities, and positive organizations on positive qualities of people, and the developing society. The background constructs human qualities, and social relations, cultural norms, and family background have important influences on human psychological development. Therefore, it is impossible to study positive psychology in isolation from people's social environment, and it must be examined in the large social cultural ecological system.

4. Positive psychology will become a new growth point of psychological theory. Positive psychology and traditional mainstream psychology are not opposite. It makes the two long-neglected missions of traditional psychology pay attention again. It is a supplement to traditional psychology and expands the field of psychology. Make the original one-sided psychology more complete and balanced. Positive psychology has injected new vitality into the development of psychology, turning many research fields of psychology to the positive level of people, forming a movement of positive psychology, and changing people's traditional thinking of psychology as merely Misunderstanding of solving psychological problems and treating mental illness. The nature and goal of positive psychology is to seek humanistic care and ultimate care of human beings, which is also the ultimate destination of psychology. With the development of neurophysiology, brain science, genetic biology and other disciplines, positive psychology will become a new growth point of psychological theory. ^[1]