What (and Why) is Positive Psychology?

Gable, Shelly L.; Haidt, Jonathan

doi:10.1037/1089-2680.9.2.103

Cited by 1,278 publications

(736 citation statements)

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“…Although there is growing research within 'positive psychology' focussing on SWB as a resource for optimal functioning of individuals (see Gable and Haidt, 2005), few studies adequately explore the (positive) effects that SWB of older adults may have on individual and social outcomes.…”

Section: Lack Of Knowledge About Consequences Of Swb In Older Adultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Subjective Well-being in Older Adults: Current State and Gaps of Research

Ferring¹,

Boll²

2010

Ageing, Health and Pensions in Europe

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Subjective well being (SWB) refers to an evaluation of an individual's life from his or her own perspective. It contrasts sharply with evaluations made from the point of view of external observers (researchers or policymakers), which are based on objective criteria related to health, education, income or other aspects (Diener, 2006). Recently, prominent SWB researchers have argued forcefully in favour of supplementing traditional objective indicators of well being or quality of life (such as economic indicators) with indicators of SWB (thus, people's evaluations and feelings about their lives). This should provide the public and politicians with more complete and relevant information for public discussion and political decision-making (see Diener, Kesebir and Lucas, 2008). In our opinion, these arguments apply with equal measure to the quality of life and SWB of older adults. The following list is an overview of policy questions about these issues. The list comprises five sets of questions that will in part be answered in later sections of the chapter: The next section presents some answers to the policy questions on the basis of existing research, and highlights where further research is needed to give satisfactory answers. Major progress in understandingThis section is comprised of five subsections: the first three provide a conceptual clarification of the term SWB, followed by a discussion of measurement issues. Subsequently, weRegulation of Subjective Well being in Older Adults 4 highlight the structure of SWB and the theoretical status of the concept in causal networks.On the basis of these explanations, the fourth subsection presents the main findings on the developmental course, on the causes and consequences of SWB in older adults and on what relevant interventions might involve. This is followed by a fifth subsection discussing models of SWB regulation in older adults. Conceptual clarification and measurement issuesAs mentioned above, SWB refers to an evaluation of an individual's life from his or her own perspective, which contrasts with evaluations made from the point of view of external observers (including researchers and policymakers), which are based on objective criteria.Leading researchers agree that SWB has a cognitive component (namely, the evaluation of one's life) and an affective component (namely, the presence of positive-and absence of negative feelings) (Diener, 2006). This consensus is also shared by prominent researchers of SWB in late life (Diener and Suh, 1998;Ferring et al., 2004;Pinquart and Sörensen, 2000;Staudinger, 2000 Clark and Tellegen, 1988). Table 1 provides a classification of the SWB measures. Even though SWB has a cognitive and an affective component, the measurement in many existing studies has focused on just one of them-that is, life satisfaction (often global life satisfaction assessed by just one item) or positive/negative affect. A domain-specific measure of positive or negative affect has-to the best of our knowledge-not been realised yet, and this represents an ...

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Section: Lack Of Knowledge About Consequences Of Swb In Older Adultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Subjective Well-being in Older Adults: Current State and Gaps of Research

Ferring¹,

Boll²

2010

Ageing, Health and Pensions in Europe

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“…Positive Psychology can be understood as the study of the conditions and processes that contribute to the flourishing or optimal functioning of people, groups and institutions (Gable & Haidt, 2005). This political and scientific movement was officially raised in January 2000, when Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000) edited a special issue of American Psychologist claiming for the need of a larger effort in psychological researches aiming to expand the knowledge of what makes life worth living.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This political and scientific movement was officially raised in January 2000, when Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000) edited a special issue of American Psychologist claiming for the need of a larger effort in psychological researches aiming to expand the knowledge of what makes life worth living. Since this publication, the field grew tremendously, increasing considerably the number of publications of papers, books, scientific journals and post-graduate programs focused on the study of positive development (Gable & Haidt, 2005;Linley, Joseph, Harrington, & Wood, 2006).…”

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confidence: 99%

Attrition Rates in a Brazilian Longitudinal Survey on Positive Psychology: Empirical and Methodological Considerations

2015

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This study evaluates how sociodemographic and psychological variables influence the intention in participating in future waves of a positive psychology longitudinal research. Participants were 2551 Brazilian subjects (63% female), ranging in age from 18 to 82 from 21 different States of Brazil, which responded to the first wave of the research. Several constructs of the positive psychology area were assessed. From the total, 37.7% of the participants did not accept to participate in the next waves of the study. Women were more prone to acceptting to participate when compared to men. The women who accepted presented higher levels in all "positive" psychological variables measured, and lower levels in all "negative" variables when compared to those who did not accept. For men, in turn, only pessimism influenced the intention in participating in the future waves of the study. Implications for longitudinal researches in Positive Psychology are discussed. Keywords: Positive Psychology, longitudinal, research, gender, Brazil. Taxas de Evasão em uma Pesquisa Longitudinal Baseada em Psicologia Positiva:Considerações Índices de Evasión en una Investigación Longitudinal Basada en Psicología Positiva: Consideraciones Empíricas y MetodológicasResumen Esto estudio evalúa como variables sociodemográficas y psicológicas influyen en la intención de participar en futuras etapas de investigación longitudinal con enfoque en la Psicología Positiva. Los participantes fueran 2551 individuos (63% mujeres), con edades entre 18 e 82 años, oriundos de 21 estados brasileños, que respondieron a la primera etapa del estudio. Fueron evaluados diversos constructos psicológicos del área de la Psicología Positiva. De todos los encuestados 37,7% no aceptaron participar de las futuras etapas de la investigación, existiendo más aceptación de las mujeres en comparación con los hombres. Las mujeres que aceptaron, presentaron puntuaciones mayores en todas las variables "positivas", y menores en todas las variables "negativas", en comparación con las que no aceptaron. Por otro lado, para los hombres, sólo el pesimismo influenció en la intención de participar de las etapas subsecuentes del estudio. Son discutidas implicaciones para estudios longitudinales con enfoque en psicología positiva. Palabras-clave: Psicología Positiva, longitudinal, investigación, género, Brasil.

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“…Positive psychology also accents the human strengths. Like the PYD model, positive psychology is the study of the conditions and processes that contribute to the flourishing or optimal functioning of people, groups, and institutions (Gable & Haidt, 2005). It means that the PYD model should have a great value for adolescents' developmental trajectories and for the community.…”

Section: Model Of Positive Youth Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psycho-Educational Intervention for Adolescents

Kriščiūnaitė¹,

Kern²

2014

IJPBA

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Abstract. Background. Adolescence is considered as a period of difficulties and challenges. It is the period of life of many changes. It may cause stress for adolescents, which in turn may have negative impact on adolescent's mental health and wellbeing. Psycho-educational groups for adolescents are one of the common interventions to help them to cope and gain necessary life skills. Various psycho-educational group interventions and life skills programs have been developed and used to assist adolescents to cope with the challenges of life. The authors of the programs claim that they are creating new content to address the needs of youth. However, upon closer examination there are many similarities related to the constructs and interventions proposed many years ago by Alfred Adler and his followers. The aim of this article was to compare theoretical principles of Individual Psychology with the constructs proposed by various psycho-educational programs for adolescents but with a more intense focus on the now popular Lerner's Positive Youth Development model. Method. A literature review was conducted to explore the similarities of the principles of Individual Psychology and contemporary psycho-educational interventions. Results and conclusions. the conclusions of analysis of the review of literature indicated that a number of the theoretical constructs of the Lerner's Positive Youth Development model and other psycho-educational programs have been proposed many years ago by Adler and his followers. Examples of psycho-educational programs based on the principles of Individual Psychology were also reviewed. The authors propose that the theory of Individual Psychology may serve as a viable theory base for adolescent intervention programs that lack a theoretical base. It is also proposed that regardless of interventions studies need to be conducted to support the efficacy of the models.

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What (and Why) is Positive Psychology?

Cited by 1,278 publications

References 30 publications

Subjective Well-being in Older Adults: Current State and Gaps of Research

Subjective Well-being in Older Adults: Current State and Gaps of Research

Attrition Rates in a Brazilian Longitudinal Survey on Positive Psychology: Empirical and Methodological Considerations

Psycho-Educational Intervention for Adolescents

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