What is Positive Psychology?
It is
psychologists' attempt to study the optimal human functioning
focusing on human strength and virtues, instead of mental illnesses
or damage repairs.
What has positive psychology discovered? Positive Psychology proudly announces that have finally recognized the existence of a set of human strengths that serve as buffers against mental illness like: courage, skills, work ethic, honesty, perseverance, appreciation, self-worth, spirituality, etc. That compose the background for human's health and well-being. All these qualities, available to human beings, when developed and applied can be summed up to the generic label of happiness. It has always puzzled me how psychology means "study of the soul" from the Greek word "psyche," meaning "the soul." But today, official psychology stubbornly claims that there is no soul and instead study human and animal behavior only. This makes as much sense to me as a baker claiming there is no such thing as bread! (See: The Failure of Psychology) Happiness, also called in positive psychology "subjective well-being," is commonly considered by positive psychologists the main way we can evaluate how well our life is going. As such, how happy a person feels is perhaps the single, most important piece of information one can know about a person – for it usually tells the whole story. Because of this, happiness should be the most important thing to considering in examining your own life. (Dr. Michael W. Fordyce) Simply put, positive psychology attempts, for the first time, to scientifically study happiness. Jonathan Freeman affirms "people generally agree about what they mean by happiness. It is a positive, enduring state that consists of positive felling including both peace of mind and active pleasures or joy." Happiness studies date back to 1930 when “Happiness Among Adult Students of Education,” was published by Goodwin Watson. “A Psychological Inquiry Into Satisfactions and Happiness” was published by Alden E. Wessman in 1957. By mid '70s, Michael Fordyce, concluded that the science of happiness had collected enough consistent data through happiness research findings and predicted that individuals could be taught to become happier by receiving a few weeks of instruction creating the field of “Happiness-Increase Psychology” Martin Seligman, founder of the Positive Psychology movement, revives the concept that “happiness is an important, if not the most important, aim of human endeavor." He he coined the term positive psychology to describe the scientific study of happiness. He describes happiness as being based on three lives - the pleasurable life, the engaged life and the meaningful life. The better each of these lives is lived, the happier the person will be. Sonja Lyubomirsky continued different projects to advance the happiness-increase interventions of positive psychology that Fordyce started. Other present time notorious representatives of positive psychology, among many others, are: Ed Diener, a precursor of Positive Psychology, author of "The Psychology of Happiness," and considered the "leading authority on happiness (?)", provided many scientific findings on well-being, its benefits and optimum levels as well as some causes for it like temperament, money attitudes, spirituality, good health and longevity. Ruut Veenhoven describes happiness as "the degree in which an individual judges the overall quality of his life-as-a-whole favorably." Psychologists in general, and positive psychology in particular, define happiness as nothing else that an emotion, a long-term sense of emotional well-being and contentment - a broad "feeling" that one is happy. Of course there are temporary moods of happiness we all experience from time to time, but “happiness” as found in psychological researches is an overall feeling of satisfaction with life that pervades and abides over longer-time periods. (See: "chronic or habitual emotional level" in Human Emotions) Happiness has been labeled "the most un-understood phenomenon in the world!" because everybody hopes to achieve it, but it seems no one knows anything about it. Not any more. See our: Exact Definition of Happiness (pop up window)
Happiness and Positive Psychology.
Dr. Michael W. Fordyce working on the Psychology of Happiness have identify 14 fundamentals for happiness as presented in his work "Psychology of Happiness." These are the following:
Dr. Ed Diener has reviewed and presented extensive evidence demonstrating that happy people are successful and flourishing people. This phenomenon, he points out, undoubtedly comes from the fact that success leads to happiness. He, as is common among psychologists, considers happiness a result of something else. We affirm the opposite, happiness undoubtedly leads to a successful life. Happiness is the cause to whatever success may mean to anyone. Emotion determines behavior. His studies on positive psychology, along Sonja Lyubomirsky and Laura King, clearly show, one after another, that happiness precedes important outcomes and indicators of thriving, including fulfilling and productive work, satisfying relationships, and superior mental and physical health and longevity, among others. Happiness precedes success. Some areas, as found in his studies, were happiness has a positive effect are:
Dr David G. Myers proposes that happiness, like cholesterol level, is a genetically influenced trait. Yet as cholesterol is also influenced by diet and exercise, so our happiness is to some extent under our personal control. Here are some research-based suggestions for improving your mood and increasing your satisfaction with life.
The Happiness Formula in Positive Psychology.
Dr. Martin Seligman, founder of the Positive Psychology movement, and many other positive psychologists like Dr. Michael Mercer, Dr. Tom Muha and Dr. Maryann Troiani present the following "Happiness Formula" as a scientific basis for understanding and elevating happiness: H = S + E + I
H is your enduring level of happiness. S represents your inherited set range of responsiveness. E encompasses the external circumstances of your life, like:
I involves the internal factors under your voluntary control, like:
The 4 Levels of Happiness in Positive Psychology.Positive Psychology presents the following levels of happiness:
Level 1: A
Pleasant Life
Level 2: A
Good Life
Level 3: A
Meaningful Life
Level 4: An
Authentically Happy Life
Dr. Martin Seligman explains in his book Authentic Happiness that none of the following facts are correlated to happiness:
He proposes seven steps for achieving authentic happiness:
Steps for Happiness in Positive Psychology. STEP 1: Define Your Authentic Happiness Outcomes.
STEP 2: Control your negative thinking.
STEP 3: Create external support from other people.
STEP 4: Commit to using your strengths and making positive choices.
STEP 5: Visualize achieving your outcomes and use positive self-talk.
STEP 6: Make daily decisions about how to bring happiness into your life.
STEP 7: Evaluate your progress toward your outcomes.
Positive Psychology explores behavior as well as the underlying physiological and neurological processes to determine overall "mental health" of individuals and his happiness. (See: The Failure of Psychology) Just because positive psychology's research suggests that happy people do such and such, that does not mean that if everyone did them they would be happy too. Happiness is a far more subtle, direct and a very specific thing:
Happiness is emotional energy, perceived as internal feeling, with specific frequency level!
Positive Psychology up to now, no doubt, have primarily focused in the personality and circumstantial aspects of happiness, and has been incapable to explain its essential nature. The Exact Definition of Happiness (pop up window)
Other way to Happiness - A better Way In this web site, our Happyology - Our Science of Happiness - goes opposite way Positive Psychology goes: we pin-point exactly what happiness is by defining precisely what an emotion is, which in turn allows to determine: first: behavior, and second: all related physiological and neurological responses.
So, let's define: Happiness, Emotion? and Energy? Our level of happiness should be the most important thing to considering in examining your own life. But, happiness is not the purpose of life. Our personal happiness is the main way we evaluate how well our life is going. As such, how happy a person feels is perhaps the single, most important piece of information one can know about a person – for it usually tells the whole story. This is why... Your happiness should be the most important thing to considering in examining your own life.
Our formula for Happiness consist of just ONE STEP: Increase your frequency!
Increasing your frequency will change your behavior, increase your creative power, and you'll live an exceptional life. This sounds so amazingly simple. It is! - Yet so devastatingly effective and, it's doable!
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