Definition of Positive Psychology in Psychology Essay (Article)

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Updated: Oct 28th, 2023

Positive psychology is the systematic analysis of the strengths and qualities that permit individuals to thrive. This field is based on the principle that individuals desire to lead momentous and satisfying lives, to promote what is superlative, and to develop their knowledge of love, employment, and fun.

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Positive psychology is mainly concerned with three aspects, which encourage individuals to adopt it in solving life problems. The three characteristics are encouraging institutions, individual features and helpful sentiments. Understanding individual Sentiments is important in studying gratification in the past, pleasure in the present and optimism for the future.

The field is all-inclusive because it identifies the causes of problems and goes ahead to solve them using the most cost effecting techniques. The field develops some theories that explain why some behaviors or actions occur.

Positive psychology is strong because it is responsive to misery and aims at eradicating it. In this regard, it can bring about lasting pleasure, human brilliance and develop some methods for solving problems. Positive psychologists correctly observe that human suffering cannot be separated from well-being.

Therefore, psychologists must consider the two possibilities in life, instead of focusing on only one of the two. Positive psychology is resourceful because it argues that happiness is not related to stupidity. Before the invention of positive psychology, most scholars believed that happiness was linked to stupidity.

However, positive psychologists proved through research that happiness is indeed related to success at either school or home. As earlier noted, positive psychology is said to promote optimism, which in turn facilitates comprehension of risks. An important quality of positive psychology is that it encourages self-actualization and individualism (Rath, 2007).

This imply that individuals have freedom to do as they desire, without being restricted by societal institutions such as the family and the state. Even at work, positive psychology suggests that people should be given freedom to decide on the best ways of achieving their goals and objectives.

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Antagonists of positive psychology point out that the field is unrealistic and idealistic. The scholars opposing positive psychology argue that individuals tend to ignore negative thinking in their lives. People embrace only positive reasoning meaning that the idea of considering both situations as argued by positive psychology is misplaced.

Individuals may consider the possibility of an event but end up focusing only on the positive outcomes. In real sense, human beings have a natural bias towards negative events, meaning that they cannot deliberate on them. Thinking about negative or positive events is situational implying that it depends on the occasion.

The media for instance will always focus on the negative events, even though some positive ones could be found in an event. Furthermore, doctors focus on curing diseases instead of coming up with measures aiming at preventing them.

From the above analysis, it is advisable that scholars should engage in extensive research to establish the truth as regards to the applicability of positive psychology. Existing scholarly gaps in the field should be sealed by generating theories that are more appealing.

Positive psychology scholars should engage other researchers in scholarly discussions in order to strengthen the validity of the subject matter. For instance, culture is identified as one of the impediments to the understanding and application of positive psychology.

The Chinese culture for instance has its own understanding of positive psychology. Such differences should be eliminated through conducting extensive research.

In conclusion, the above findings are important in understanding the existing gaps between scholars of positive psychology and other fields. Understanding the limitations or weaknesses of a field is important in conducting future research. Therefore, future studies will be shaped by the findings of this article.

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Reference

Rath, T. (2007). Strengths Finder 2.0. New York, NY: Gallup Press.

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"Definition of Positive Psychology in Psychology." IvyPanda, 28 Oct. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/positive-psychology/.

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IvyPanda. (2023) 'Definition of Positive Psychology in Psychology'. 28 October.

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IvyPanda. 2023. "Definition of Positive Psychology in Psychology." October 28, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/positive-psychology/.

1. IvyPanda. "Definition of Positive Psychology in Psychology." October 28, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/positive-psychology/.


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IvyPanda. "Definition of Positive Psychology in Psychology." October 28, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/positive-psychology/.

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