Chapter 2
POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
STUDY OUTCOMES:
1. A Brief History of Positive Psychology
2. Positive Emotions
3. Well-Being
4. Optimism
5. Flow and Goal Pursuit
6. Mindfulness and Savoring
7. Love and Relationships
8. Meaning and Purposeful Living
, A Brief History of Positive Psychology
• The study of the “good life” goes back to ancient times.
• Ancient Greeks used logic and reason to find the formula for the good
life. They believed self-knowledge is more important than sensory
experiences.
• Positive psychology is a fairly recent field, but has roots going back over
100 years.
• Martin P. Seligman is credited with formally creating the field.
Positive Emotions
• Up until the 1980’s, mostly only negative emotions were investigated.
• Eliminating negative emotions does not automatically lead to feeling
positive ones.
• Positive affect and negative affect comprise the basic dimensions of
emotional experience.
• Positive affect: pleasant emotions such as joy, love and amusement.
• Negative affect: unpleasant emotions such as sadness, anger, fear and
anxiety.
• Positive affect:
• Approach-oriented, leads person to experiences that
yield pleasure.
• Negative affect:
• Withdrawal-oriented to protect person from threat, harm or pain (fight-
or-flight).
• Negative emotions tend to limit our options, positive emotions tend to
broaden them.
• The specific action tendencies of negative emotions can make a person
act quickly (i.e., fight-or-flight response).
• The non-specific action tendencies of positive emotions broaden our
thought-action repertoires – flexible thoughts about actions we can take
that build resources.
POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
STUDY OUTCOMES:
1. A Brief History of Positive Psychology
2. Positive Emotions
3. Well-Being
4. Optimism
5. Flow and Goal Pursuit
6. Mindfulness and Savoring
7. Love and Relationships
8. Meaning and Purposeful Living
, A Brief History of Positive Psychology
• The study of the “good life” goes back to ancient times.
• Ancient Greeks used logic and reason to find the formula for the good
life. They believed self-knowledge is more important than sensory
experiences.
• Positive psychology is a fairly recent field, but has roots going back over
100 years.
• Martin P. Seligman is credited with formally creating the field.
Positive Emotions
• Up until the 1980’s, mostly only negative emotions were investigated.
• Eliminating negative emotions does not automatically lead to feeling
positive ones.
• Positive affect and negative affect comprise the basic dimensions of
emotional experience.
• Positive affect: pleasant emotions such as joy, love and amusement.
• Negative affect: unpleasant emotions such as sadness, anger, fear and
anxiety.
• Positive affect:
• Approach-oriented, leads person to experiences that
yield pleasure.
• Negative affect:
• Withdrawal-oriented to protect person from threat, harm or pain (fight-
or-flight).
• Negative emotions tend to limit our options, positive emotions tend to
broaden them.
• The specific action tendencies of negative emotions can make a person
act quickly (i.e., fight-or-flight response).
• The non-specific action tendencies of positive emotions broaden our
thought-action repertoires – flexible thoughts about actions we can take
that build resources.
