I am a Positive Psychology enthusiast and had recently conducted a talk on this subject at Hyderabad, India

1. A TALK ON POSITIVE
PSYCHOLOGY
LAMAKAAN, HYDERABAD, INDIA 10TH
AUGUST 2013
Sandeep Kulshrestha

3. ABOUT ME
 MBA in Leadership and Entrepreneurship, Masters in Financial
Management, MA in Psychology, Certificate in Positive Psychology,
Certificate in Cinema Therapy, Certified Professional Coach, Certified
Happiness Coach, PhD (Management)
 22 Years of Corporate Experience in Human Resources and Learning
and Development
 Enthusiastic about Positive Psychology and generating awareness
about this field, besides learning more about it
 Web: www.sandeep.com.co

4. BEFORE I BEGIN
 Positive Psychology is not pop-psychology as it works on the
practical aspects of life – say it delves into a real “self-help” approach
(although cynics and skeptics are welcome for their views!!)
 Positive Psychology is an accepted modern branch of Psychology,
primarily in the western world, with leading Universities in the US and
Europe offering programmes till PhD level
 The field is in a pretty nascent stage and hence a lot of research is
happening (so a lot of opportunities for researchers)
 Meditation (especially Mindfulness Meditation) is an accepted
concept in Positive Psychology and not related to any religious
practice, although influenced largely by the eastern construct of
Buddhist traditions

5. A STARTING PLACE
Martin Seligman is the pioneer of Positive Psychology
Movement
American Psychological Association President 1996
Psychology was split into two camps:
Academics were more interested in science.
Clinicians were interested in practice of psychotherapy.
 Seligman hoped to bring science and practice together.

6. NIKKI AND THE WEEDS
Seligman’s inspiration:
Weeding garden at his home
5-year old daughter was throwing weeds.
Seligman had yelled at Nikki for throwing them
 Finally, Nikki said, “Daddy. From when I was 3 until I was 5, I
whiner. I whined every day. On my 5th birthday, I decided I
going to whine anymore. That was the hardest thing I’ve ever
I can stop whining, you can stop being such a grouch.”

7. RESULTANT ACTION
Seligman resolved to change.
His purpose in life was not to correct his daughter’s shortcomings.
Instead, raising her to nurture the strength she displayed (social
intelligence).
Can psychological science be about identifying and nurturing strengths and
making normal lives more meaningful?

8. TRADITIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
The scientific study of the human mind and its functions, esp. those
affecting behavior in a given context.
 Great Psychologists like Freud, Jung and others have given a lot of
scientific insights
 Lost out on the positive approaches after the World War II
 Contributions of Psychology has been great in treating a great lot of
disorders and abnormalities
 Has been more used in the analysis of negative side of human behavior

9. POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
Positive psychologists seek to find and nurture genius and talent, and to
make normal life more fulfilling
 Scientific study of optimal human functioning and what makes life worth
living
 Psychology of the characteristics, conditions and processes which lead to
flourishing
 Researching what goes right for Individuals, communities and
organisations
 Launched almost two decades ago, distanced itself from other branches of
Psychology, although still a part of Psychology and almost all people
teaching this discipline are traditional psychologists
 Roots in humanistic psychology

10. PIONEERS OF POSITIVE
PSYCHOLOGY MOVEMENT
Dr Sonja LyubomirskyDr Martin Seligman
Dr Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi
Me-high Chick-sent-me-high
Dr Christopher
Peterson

11. DR MARTIN SELIGMAN
Seligman is the Professor of Psychology in the University of
Pennsylvania's Department of Psychology. He was previously the
Director of the Clinical Training Program in the department. He is the
director of the university's Positive Psychology Center. Seligman was
elected President of the American Psychological Association for 1998.
He is the founding editor-in-chief of Prevention and Treatment
Magazine (the APA electronic journal) and is on the board of advisers
of Parents magazine.
Seligman has written about positive psychology topics such as The
Optimistic Child, Child's Play, Learned Optimism, Authentic
Happiness, and Flourish.

12. MARTIN SELIGMAN'S MODEL
OF WELL BEING

13. MARTIN SELIGMAN’S
TREATISE ON OPTIMISM AND
PESSIMISM
Permanence:
PEOPLE WHO give up easily believe the causes of the bad events that happen
to them are permanent: The bad events will persist, will always be there to
affect their lives. People who resist helplessness believe the causes of bad
events are temporary
Extracted from, “Learned Optimism” by Dr Martin Seligman

14. CONTRIBUTION OF DR MIHALY
CSIKSZENTMIHALYI (ME-HIGH
CHICK-SENT-ME-HIGH)
 Dr Mihaly, an Hungarian immigrant to the US is a Professor of
Psychology at Claremont Graduate University
 DISCOVERY OF PSYCHOLOGY OF “FLOW”
Dr Mihaly began by interviewing lots of people who had one thing in
common. They did an activity purely for its own sake – not for the
money or status, just for the joy of it. Czikszentmihalyi found that
these people– chess players, dancers, mountain climbers and the like
– had remarkably similar experiences – which he came to label as
‘flow’

15. HOW CAN I TELL I'M IN
PSYCHOLOGICAL FLOW?
You have a feeling of oneness, even of ecstasy
Example: Listening to a moving piece of music
 You feel completely involved and concentrated on whatever you are
doing
Example: Being completely involved in a game of tennis
 The task involves a strong challenge but you feel able to meet it
Example: Playing a tough piece on the piano

16. EXAMPLE OF A “FLOW” AUDIT

17. CONTRIBUTION OF DR
CHRISTOPHER PETERSON
The Character Strengths and Virtues (CSV) handbook of human
strengths and virtues, by Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman,
represents the first attempt on the part of the research community to
identify and classify the positive psychological traits of human beings
It is an extensive handbook and classification of character. In the
book, they look at the historical views of virtue and then use them to
help classify what they call character strengths.

18. CONTRIBUTION OF DR
CHRISTOPHER PETERSON
(CONTD..)Virtues
Peterson and Seligman studied the virtues that were part of the major
spiritual and philosophical traditions throughout history. They looked at
Confucianism and Taoism from China, Buddhism and Hinduism from South
Asia, and the religions of ancient Greece, Judeo-Christianity and Islam from
the West. From these studies they concluded that the following six items
were universal core virtues:
Wisdom and knowledge
Courage
Humanity
Justice
Temperance
Transcendence
Since these virtues seemed universal across many cultures, they felt the
virtues were built into the human psyche and could form a basis for a list of
positive character traits.

19. ONLINE CHARACTER
PROFILE (BASED ON
PETERSON’S WORK)

20. INTRODUCING MINDFULNESS
MEDITATION
Mindfulness is the focusing of attention and awareness, based on the
concept of mindfulness in Buddhist meditation, but is defined in
many ways. It has been popularised in the West by Jon Kabat-Zinn.
Despite its roots in Buddhism, mindfulness is taught independent of
religion in the West.
Research suggests that mindfulness practices are useful in the
treatment of pain, stress, anxiety, depressive relapse, disordered
eating, and addiction. There are also studies looking into the benefits
of mindfulness for those who do not suffer from these disorders,
such as Mindfulness-based stress reduction.
Mindfulness is awareness of the present moment. It’s living here and
now. Through mindfulness, you are freed from becoming entangled
in thoughts of your past, and you are freed from worrying about the
future.
In the here and now, everything just is...and there is great peace in

21. A SMALL MINDFULNESS
EXERCISE
 NOW AS THE MUSIC PLAYS, CLOSE YOUR EYES AND START EASY
BREATHING THROUGH YOUR NOSE
 AFTER 3-4 BREATHS, GO TO YOUR OWN FAVOURITE PLACE IN YOUR
IMAGINATIONS. IT MAY BE A LIBRARY, YOUR OLD CHILDHOOD ROOM,
A LAKE, A BEACH AND BE THERE
 FEEL THE SOUNDS AROUND YOU BUT DON’T DISTRACT FROM YOUR
FAVOURITE PLACE. FOCUS ON BOTH. START TOUCHING YOUR BOOK
OR THE GRASS NEAR THE LAKE IN YOUR IMAGINATIONS. TRY TO FEEL
IT
 AFTER 3-4 MINUTES OPEN YOUR EYES

22. SUGGESTED READINGS

23. RESOURCES
Visit http://flourishinghappiness.com/resources/ for free eBooks and
resources on Positive Psychology

24. “Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength.”
- Sigmund Freud
Thank You
Contact us for corporate workshops on well-being, stress management,
positive leadership and various other themes, within India as well as
Internationally
http://flourishinghappiness.com/
http://www.positivepsychologyindia.org/
Email: info@positivepsychologyindia.org
US Contact: +1 202 650 0841