Development of Talent and Motivation
Lesson 1: Introduction to Positive Psychology
Learning goals:
o What is positive psychology (PP)?
o Themes in PP
o History of well-being and happiness
WHAT IS POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY?
Positive psychology
= the scientific study of what enables individuals and communities to thrive
overlap between: social + personality + clinical psychology
- Not discovering new topics
- Focuses on the positive sides of existing topics; part of longer existing subfields like social and
personality psychology
- Main difference = it focuses on the aspects of life that help individuals actualize their lives and fulfill
their potentials
Positive psychology video:
- Goal of positive psychology movement: to make normal life more fulfilling. ‘’What is right with you’’ ->
move to the other (positive) side of the scale
- Concerned with increasing well-being (5 pillars)
- Flow = state characterized by intense concentration, loss of self-awareness, perfectly challenged and a
sense that time is flying - an intrinsically rewarding experience -> can help achieve goals or improve
skills
- Mindfulness = grounded in the present moment
- Learned optimism; talent or joy can be cultivated. Path to fulfillment takes hard work.
- X Learned helplessness = the belief that one has no control over what occurs & that external forces
ultimately dictate his or her ability to accomplish a task/succeed (= opposite of learned optimism)
THEMES IN POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
Dimensions of PP:
1. Positive subjective states = positive emotions, including constructive thoughts about self and
effect of positive emotions; how does one cultivate the positive emotions?
2. Positive individual traits = individual differences -> stable within individuals, but fluctuate a lot
between individuals. Examples: wisdom, curiosity, courage
, 3. Positive institutions = societal / group level -> positive psychology focuses on the development,
creation and maintenance of positive institutions
Good life
= the factors that contribute the most to a well-lived and fulfilling life. Those factors include enriching lives
and making it worth living for. It consists of 3 things:
1. Positive connections to others = ability to love, presence of altruistic concerns, forgiving, purpose
in life - good relations with other people and with society
2. Positive individual traits =sense of integrity, ability to play and be creative, virtues
3. Life regulation qualities = regulating day-to-day behavior to accomplish goals while helping people
(e.g. sense of autonomy and self-control) – things that regulate our day to day behavior so we can
reach our goals and help benefitting others that go along our way
Flourishing
= how people move beyond just normally adapting to life:
being okay (or just adapting to life) vs. flourishing
Two dimensions: well-being & mental illness
1. Flourishing = high on well-being, low on mental
illness – happy, competent, connected
2. Struggling = high on well-being, high on mental
illness – doing generally well, but currently
experiences distress
3. Floundering = low on well-being, high on mental
illness – in a difficult situation and illness
4. Languishing = low on well-being, low on mental
illness – no significant mental health issues but is unfulfilled
Complete mental health model:
12 different classifications of mental health:
1. Well-being (low/high)
2. Mental illness (low/high)
3. Emotional well-being, psychological well-being, social
well-being
= low mental illness + high emotional, psychological and social
well-being
Anhedonia = lack of positive emotions and not being able to enjoy positive activities anymore
in therapy: we should focus on improving people’s experiences of positive emotions -> which leads to
improvement in negative emotions
, HISTORY OF WELL-BEING AND HAPPINESS
What is happiness?
Ancient Greeks:
Hedonism = to maximize pleasure in life while minimizing/avoiding harm, pain, and suffering – mainly
through sensory experiences, e.g. eating/drinking
- Pleasure is the basic component of the good life
- Oldest approach to well-being
… BUT:
- It is a limited idea of well-being: most of sensory pleasures short-lived and do not seem to have lasting
effect on increasing well-being (e.g., good feeling from eating chocolate does not increase overall well-
being!!!)
- Avoiding unpleasant experiences is frequently violated -> cannot serve as universal basis for good life
(e.g., like to watch scary/sad movies)
Aristotle: The golden mean
- Aristotle: we should try to avoid emotion extremes (excess, deficit) in life -> emotions should be tamed
by self-discipline
- In life, we need to search for a golden mean =
the state of balance between excess and
deficit:
- Certain virtues
(dispositions/characteristics/good moral
behavior) are these golden means
& living according to these virtues can lead
to:
Eudaimonia:
= a condition of meaning and self-realization, flourishing and completeness and enduring joy as well as
happiness
we can achieve it by living according to these virtues, which leads to balance
- Innate in every person: recognizing and cultivating our innate potential can lead to happiness
- Main difference hedonism vs. eudaimonia: certain goals in life may produce positive emotions in life (=
hedonism) but these do not necessarily also lead to a life worth living (it does not necessarily give
meaning)
Christianity:
- Way to happiness is the message of the life of Jesus: love and compassion
- Virtue theory in the middle ages: struggle between spirit and flesh – an internal battle
, - Therefore: doctrines -> showed people how to achieve a good life. gave them simple rules to stay on
right path and fight this internal battle
Seven deadly sins: anger, envy, pride, lust, sloth, intemperance, greed
Four cardinal virtues: justice, prudence, fortitude, temperance
Renaissance (1400-1600):
- Value of independent thought -> rise of creativity, value to unique characteristics (artists)
- Rise of science: rationality, own decisions, logic, objectivity, empirism
- Rising importance of the social world ->
Utilitarianism: happiness for all people = ultimate aim of all human actions
maximizing gains (e.g. maximizing our experience of happiness), society is responsible -> institutions
should have the aim in mind and if they fail, society can intervene
Romanticism (19th century):
- Rising individualism -> rise of romanticism
- Growing importance of personal emotional expression
- Best way for individuals to express individualism = explore own emotional experience of the world
(before: emotional experiences not important - Aristotle: not supposed to experience extreme
emotions)
- Growing importance of love: marriages no longer just institutions, now they should be based on
affection between two people (marriages out of love)
- “True self exists below social masks”
Before World War II (20th century):
- Psychology mainly focused on three different areas: (positive side of psychology)
1. Curing illness
2. Making life more fulfilling
3. Nurturing talent
- Early psychologists were focusing on positive side of psychology
William James
- Father of American psychology
- The emotions: how to awaken human potential?
Alfred Adler
- Individual psychology
- Optimistic view on human capacity and capability
- Any child can learn anything: positive traits are innate, but influenced and changed by social support
and discouragement -> childhood important for life
Carl Jung
- Analytic psychology
