1,489,507 research outputs found

    The relationship between Counseling Psychology and Positive Psychology

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    The aim of this chapter is to explore the relation between the professional specialty of counseling psychology and positive psychology. Following a brief historical overview of counseling psychology, we explore its theoretical convergence with positive psychology and examine how the ideas from positive psychology have been received by counseling psychologists. We argue that although counseling psychology has its roots in ideas that are consistent with positive psychology, the profession has developed a broad practice range in recent decades accommodating a diversity of ways of working, many of which prioritize working with distress and its origins over seeking to enhance and build on existing strengths. As such, the positive psychology movement can offer a new impetus for the profession of counseling psychology to reexamine its fundamental assumptions and reflect on its training curriculum. Based on this overview, we conclude that further bridges need to be built between positive psychology and counseling psychology. Our goal is to encourage counseling psychologists to engage more fully with the ideas and research of positive psychology

    Positive Psychology Within a Cultural Context

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    As our capacity for communication with nations across the globe increases through the advances of technology, our interactions with others with different worldviews also become more frequent. This exposure to diversity on so many levels requires a better understanding of the multiple contexts in which people from different cultural backgrounds live and the strengths they possess that help them experience well-being. In order to define the characteristics that my be viewed as strengths in different groups, we must make efforts to remember that cultural rules and norms often dictate what can be called a strength versus a weakness. It is imperative that we are able to recognize that strengths may look very different in different contexts and that these diverse manifestations may come from a variety of worldviews. More work must be done in order to develop a better understanding of the way that cultural context plays a role in the operationalization, manifestation, and measurement of strengths in diverse groups. The following chapter provides a history of the connections between culture and positive psychology and discusses current issues regarding the link between cultural context and various personal characteristics. Examples from culturally sensitive positive psychology theory and research are also given in order to illustrate how researchers are better exploring positive psychology within a cultural context

    Humility in Personality and Positive Psychology

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    A case could be made that the practice of philosophy demands a certain humility, or at least intellectual humility, requiring such traits as inquisitiveness, openness to new ideas, and a shared interest in pursuing truth. In the positive psychology movement, the study of both humility and intellectual humility has been grounded in the methods and approach of personality psychology, specifically the examination of these virtues as traits. Consistent with this approach, the chapter begins with a discussion of the examination of intellectual humility as a “character trait,” comparing intellectual humility to various well-known traits in the personality psychology literature (e.g the “Big 5” and the “Big 2”) as well as other key traits such as the need for cognition and the need for closure. The chapter then turns to the proverbial issue of whether virtues in general, and intellectual humility in particular, are a matter of “nature”- that is, an innate trait determined by heritability, or “nurture” – a trait mostly shaped by situation and environment. While the chapter does not resolve the issue, it provides occasion for an examination of the role of situations in the expression of intellectual humility, and for the interaction of “situation” and “trait.” The chapter concludes with a discussion of how the interaction of trait with situation provides the most robust understanding of the psychology of any character virtue, including humility and intellectual humility

    Contemplative positive psychology: Introducing mindfulness into positive psychology

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    A pesar de que mindfulness está integrado en muchos manuales de psicología positiva como una técnica “positiva”, apenas se han desarrollado las implicaciones que tiene su uso ni se ha investigado la relación entre mindfulness y bienestar humano. Analizar las principales potencialidades de los dos ámbitos, las posibilidades de integración, así como las posibles contradicciones entre sus mensajes, es fundamental de cara a establecer puentes. Mindfulness es más que una técnica de meditación, lleva implícitos una serie de valores y condicionantes éticos que se adecuan en buena medida con los presupuestos que se proponen desde la psicología positiva, como el desarrollo de la amabilidad, la compasión, y las emociones positivas. El objetivo de este artículo es presentar por un lado aspectos comunes y similitudes, y por otro lado diferencias entre mindfulness y la psicología positiva. También se presentarán los principales estudios que han investigado el papel que tiene mindfulness y las prácticas contemplativas sobre el bienestar humano. Finalmente se discutirá y plantearán futuras líneas de investigación e intervención para acercar ambas propuestas. Although mindfulness is included in many positive psychology manuals as a “positive” technique, the implications of its use have scarcely been developed and the relationship between mindfulness and human well-being has barely been researched. Analyzing the main strengths of the two fields, the possibilities for their integration and the potential contradictions between their messages is essential in order to establish connections. Mindfulness is more than a meditation technique. It has implicit within it a set of values and ethical conditions that coincide to a great extent with the proposed assumptions from positive psychology, such as the development of kindness, compassion, and positive emotions. The aim of this paper is to present, on the one hand, the commonalities and similarities, and on the other, the differences between mindfulness and positive psychology. We also present the main studies that have investigated the role of mindfulness and contemplative practices on human well-being. Finally future research will be discussed and intervention suggested in order to bring the two proposals together

    Positive Bias in Positive Psychology

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    As the positive psychology movement has began to ramp up, many self-report measures have been created to research positive emotions such as gratitude, joy, and humility. While these measurements have been beneficial in giving researchers a baseline understanding into positive emotions, they are also explicit which presents the problem of self-presentation bias. We tend to view ourselves in a positive light and therefore rate ourselves more positively on self-reports. The purpose of this study was to investigate the distribution skew of commonly used positive self-report measurements for possible negative skew. We ran frequency distributions and calculated the skew of multiple measures used in five separate studies (N=900). Five measurements had a significant negative skew indicating a large proportion of participants scored the maximum or close to the maximum score on these measures: the Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ-6, skew -5 to -10), Gratitude, Resentment, and Appreciation Test (GRAT, skew -3 to -5), Gratitude Adjectives Scale (GAS, skew -3 to -5), Gratitude to God Test (GTG-T skew -2 to -3), and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS, skew -2 to -3). These results suggest that positive bias is an important issue in positive psychology that must be considered. We suggest controlling for self-presentation bias when analyzing results from these measure or implicit measures when available

    Positive Psychologists on Positive Psychology

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    Positive psychology and tourism: a systematic literature review

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    This study aims to outline the relationship between Positive Psychology and tourism through a systematic literature review. Tourism seeks to increase the wellbeing of people, and wellbeing is a crucial variable in Positive Psychology which in turn aims to understand and promote people's potential. This research used as search terms 'Positive Psychology', 'wellbeing', 'happiness', 'tourism', 'visitor' and 'travel', terms which were applied through the Online Knowledge Library. The inclusion/exclusion criteria led to a sample of 49 references which were then individually analyzed. Results showed a recent increase in studies focused on the relationship between the variables, Europe being in the lead. Overall, policies are important for tourism development; tourism promotes wellbeing for residents and tourists; entrepreneurs have an innovative opportunity in wellbeing; and nature is linked to wellbeing. Implications and suggestions for future studies are presented.Agência financiadora ARDITI - Agência Regional para o Desenvolvimento da Investigação Tecnologia e Inovação: M1420-09-5369-FSE-000001info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Introduction: social psychology and positive psychology

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    Introducción al tema monográfico: Psicología social y psicología positiva / Special issue: Social psychology and positive psychologyLa Psicología Positiva surge como una perspectiva científica complementaria a la psicología tradicional, y supone un nuevo modelo centrado en las fortalezas. Implica una nueva forma de analizar los procesos básicos frente a los traumas, trastornos y patologías (o psicología "negativa"). El estudio de las emociones placenteras, el desarrollo de las capacidades y la búsqueda de la felicidad se han convertido en aspectos centrales de la Psicología. El número especial sobre Psicología Positiva de la revista American Psychologist, que Martin Seligman y Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi editaron en 2000, promovió un avance en la investigación científica bajo este paradigma en todos los ámbitos de la Psicología y en la Psicología Social en particular. Los científicos españoles, al igual que los científicos del resto del mundo, han contribuido fuertemente al conocimiento y desarrollo de la Psicología Positiva con gran empuje y amplitud de investigación. Con esta sección monográfica pretendemos analizar el estado de la cuestión en España con investigaciones realizadas en el ámbito de la Psicología Social. En concreto, se presenta una reflexión sobre el análisis psicosocial de la Psicología Positiva, trabajos relativos al bienestar subjetivo, psicológico y social junto a su influencia en las relaciones familiares, la inteligencia emocional y la experiencia de "flow" como experiencia positiva en el trabajoPositive Psychology emerged as a scientific perspective, complementary to traditional psychology, and represents a new model based on personal strengths. It involves a novel way of analysing basic processes dealing with trauma, disorders and pathologies (or "negative" psychology). The study of pleasant emotions, the development of abilities, and the pursuit of happiness has become central to psychology. The special issue on Positive Psychology of the journal American Psychologist, which Martin Seligman and Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi edited in 2000, promoted a breakthrough in scientific research under this paradigm in all areas of Psychology, particularly in Social Psychology. Spanish scientists, just as scientists around the world, have strongly contributed to the understanding and development of Positive Psychology with a great corpus of research. This special issue aims to analyse the state of research in Spain in the field of Social Psychology. Specifically, papers included in this section present a reflection on the psychosocial analysis of positive psychology, on subjective, psychological, and social well-being together with its influence on family relations, emotional intelligence, and the experience of "flow" as a positive work experienc

    Transpersonal Education: An Educational Approach for the Twenty-First Century?

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    Maslow was instrumental to the development of both humanistic and transpersonal psychology advocating that humanistic psychology should be subsumed by transpersonal psychology [1]. However the transpersonal has remained a lucid term with over-simplified definitions relating to spirituality [2-5], although three encompassing themes have been identified: beyond-ego psychology, integrative psychology and transformative psychology [6]. Although transpersonal psychology has been applied to a number of fields, (e.g. counselling, coaching, psychotherapy), there has been a paucity of research in relation to mainstream education. This paper initially introduces and discusses transpersonal psychology and how it differs to humanistic and positive psychology, before hermeneutically analysing previous research on transpersonal education, to propose a transpersonal education for the twenty-first century
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