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+--- Thread: Article Is this the end of positive psychology? (/thread-16030.html)
Is this the end of positive psychology? - C C - Jun 14, 2024
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/dont-forget-the-basil/202406/is-this-the-end-of-positive-psychology
EXCERPTS: Positive psychology is the study of optimal human functioning. It became popular at the turn of the century when Martin Seligman, then president of the American Psychological Association, called upon psychologists to shift from their predominant “negative” focus on the alleviation of suffering to include a “positive” focus on understanding human flourishing and that which makes life most worth living. Positive psychology can be considered an area of scholarly inquiry and also a popular movement.
A number of conditions contributed to the growth of positive psychology. In a 2009 chapter in the Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology, Ed Diener, one of the seminal figures in the area, suggested that positive psychology emerged at the time it did because industrialized societies were better off and more affluent than they had been in the past, which sparked an interest in philosophical questions concerning "the good life." As he noted, “concern for how to live a good life is natural once people’s basic needs are met and threats are relatively contained.”
However, in the intervening years, conditions have changed. [...] In these anxious times when threats are more common and severe, might the popular fascination with positive psychology and human flourishing be eclipsed by more fundamental interests that have immediate survival value?
Positive psychology tends to focus on topics that reflect the needs for growth and flourishing, but people also have physical needs for such things as food and shelter, which take center stage when they are not satisfied. In the current environment, might the satisfaction of our basic needs for existence begin to take precedence over our needs for self-actualization?
Maybe. But maybe not...(MORE - details)
RE: Is this the end of positive psychology? - Magical Realist - Jun 16, 2024
Every day I scan the quotations pages for quotes that tend to keep me motivated and interested in life. Nothing cliche or naive like positive thinking affirmations. Just little gems that deepen my appreciation for the challenges and wonders of being alive.
RE: Is this the end of positive psychology? - Yazata - May 25, 2026
I've always liked positive psychology.
I find it far preferable to the kind of psychology that seeks to diagnose everyone and assign each of them a psychopathology. Preferably along with a drug prescription.
A better way for psychology to approach people is, in many cases where a clear pathology like clinical depression or some anxiety disorder doesn't exist, is to explore ways that the individual (not a patient necessarily) can become happier and higher functioning both intellectually and emotionally.
Perhaps it's a good idea for psychologists to model themselves less on medical physicians, and more on teachers. Teachers (ideally at least, when education isn't politicized) don't diagnose their students as suffering from the disease of ignorance, they just try to help students learn and grow intellectually. Spiritual leaders might be a good model too, in many cases.
RE: Is this the end of positive psychology? - Syne - May 26, 2026
Whether negative or positive, the focus needs to be on what the individual can do... through their own agency... to improve their life, mood, etc.. Prescriptions don't do that, any more than GLP-1s teach good eating habits.