Chapter One: What Is Positive Psychology
Chapter 1: What is Positive Psychology
Traditional Psychology: * The Milgram study, people thinking they were shocking individuals. 66% continued to deliver shocks * Study suggests that ordinary people will go against their own judgment and morals under pressure from authority * Human nature, as it appears cannot be counted upon to insulate society from acts of brutality * Similar with people following orders in war * Psychology typically focuses more on the negative that it does on the positive * Positive psychology aims to offset this negative image of human nature with a more balanced view Negative Aspects Perceived As More Authentic and "Real" * Freud was influential in promoting the belief that beneath the veneer of everyday politeness there was more self-serving motives * Freud believed that human behavior is motivated by self serving drives that must be controlled in order for society to function * Self serving drives are not necessarily bad * From a positive psychology perspective, positive qualities and motives are just as authentic as negative ones and affirm the positive side of human nature * Some believe that positive psychology is not rooted in scientific evidence Negatives As More Important * Generally in human nature, bad is stronger than the good * Trait negativity bias: information about negative traits and behaviors contributes more to how we think about others than does positive information * Studies show that one negative can outweigh many positives * We expect our lives to be relatively good, so negative ones violate our expectations. * May also be an evolutionary behavior * Where negative events represent threats to survival * Psychologists are simply human and therefore drawn to the negatives and attracted to what has the greatest impact on human behavior The Disease Model * Martin Seligman, psychology has built an extensive
Traditional Psychology: * The Milgram study, people thinking they were shocking individuals. 66% continued to deliver shocks * Study suggests that ordinary people will go against their own judgment and morals under pressure from authority * Human nature, as it appears cannot be counted upon to insulate society from acts of brutality * Similar with people following orders in war * Psychology typically focuses more on the negative that it does on the positive * Positive psychology aims to offset this negative image of human nature with a more balanced view Negative Aspects Perceived As More Authentic and "Real" * Freud was influential in promoting the belief that beneath the veneer of everyday politeness there was more self-serving motives * Freud believed that human behavior is motivated by self serving drives that must be controlled in order for society to function * Self serving drives are not necessarily bad * From a positive psychology perspective, positive qualities and motives are just as authentic as negative ones and affirm the positive side of human nature * Some believe that positive psychology is not rooted in scientific evidence Negatives As More Important * Generally in human nature, bad is stronger than the good * Trait negativity bias: information about negative traits and behaviors contributes more to how we think about others than does positive information * Studies show that one negative can outweigh many positives * We expect our lives to be relatively good, so negative ones violate our expectations. * May also be an evolutionary behavior * Where negative events represent threats to survival * Psychologists are simply human and therefore drawn to the negatives and attracted to what has the greatest impact on human behavior The Disease Model * Martin Seligman, psychology has built an extensive