2. The History of Positive Psychology
The roots of positive psychology stretch back to the ancient Greeks
and Aristotle’s concern with intellectual and moral virtues, and the
good life.
Some of the core elements of positive psychology such as
mindfulness, have roots in ancient Eastern spiritual practices.
3. • Humanistic psychology advocated the holistic study of persons as bio-
psycho-social beings.
• Abraham Maslow first coined the term “positive psychology” in his
1954 book “Motivation and Personality.”
• Maslow, 1954 proposed that psychology’s preoccupation with disorder
and dysfunction lacked an accurate understanding of human potential .
4. • The branch of psychology termed positive psychology was
championed by Martin Seligman in 1998 when he served as President
of the American Psychological Society.
• The explicit goal was to further investigate human potential to counter
the dominance of psychopathology and establish a science of human
flourishing (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000).
5. • Seligman, Csikszentmihalyi, Ed Diener (researching subjective
wellbeing),
• Barbara Fredrickson (exploring positive emotions),
• Christopher Peterson (studying character strengths and virtues),
6. The Waves of Psychology
1. Introspection- Psychology first emerged as a distinct discipline
involved with the science of mind and behavior when Wilhelm
Wundt established the first experimental psychology laboratory in
Germany in 1879 (Kim, 2016).
Intro means “within” and spection means “looking”
Hence , it is a method where an individual is looking within one self.
7. • Wundt is associated with structuralism as the earliest school of
psychological thought, while James is associated with functionalism.
• Structuralism was concerned with investigating the functions of the
mind through introspection on the tiniest elements of perception.
• Structuralism vs Functionalism
8. 2. Psychoanalysis- In the 1890s, Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud
established psychoanalysis while treating female patients presenting
with the psychosomatic symptoms of ‘hysteria’ (Breuer & Freud,
1895/2004).
• A series of experimental interventions led him to develop the
techniques of free association and interpreting dreams he described as
the royal road to the unconscious (Freud, 1900/1997).
9. • Freud explained how the unconscious functioned as a source of
repressed sexual and aggressive impulses which he later termed
“drives”.
3. Behaviorism- 1900s, John Watson (Watson, 1913) proposed that we
could understand the human mind as a conditioned stimulus response
mechanism, and that there was no need to study internal mental states.
10. • He proposed that behavior was learned and could be unlearned.
Behaviorism was established by John Watson (Watson, 1924) and taken up
by B. F. Skinner (Skinner, 1953) before evolving into the range of
behavioral interventions that remain today.
4. Humanistic Psychology- Humanistic psychology advocated the holistic
study of persons as bio-psycho-social beings.
a. Holism- In the 1930s, Germany Max Wertheimer’s Gestalt psychology
proposed a macroscopic holistic understanding of human psychology
(Wertheimer, 1938).
11. b. Person-Centeredness-
c. Meaning Making- Meanwhile, the existential psychology of Rollo May and
Viktor Frankl was emerging throughout the 1950s and 60s with a focus on meaning-
making as the psychological foundation of mental health (Frankl, 1946/1992; May,
1953).
• Holistic, person-centered, meaning-making merged into what Maslow termed ‘the
third force’ of psychology (after psychoanalysis and behaviorism):
• humanistic psychology.
12. • Carl Rogers was a well-known pioneer in the field with his person-
centered approach to counseling and psychotherapy.
• Rogers formulated some of the key concepts fundamental to positive
psychology, including what he termed the three core conditions (Rogers,
1957) for effective counseling and psychotherapy:
1. Congruence (which conveys authenticity)
2.Unconditional positive regard (which conveys acceptance)
3. Empathy (which conveys emotional attunement).
13. • The rapid development of the human potential movement shifted the
focus of psychology away from psychopathology toward a holistic
investigation of optimal human functioning.
• However, the study of human flourishing was finally championed by
positive psychology at the end of the twentieth century (Seligman &
Csikszentmihalyi, 2000).
14. 5 Founding Fathers of Positive Psychology
1. William James-
• William James was a philosopher, physician, and psychologist, and the first
educator to offer a psychology course in the United States.
• He was concerned about why some people seemed able to thrive and
overcome adversity, while others developed mental health problems.
• He argued that understanding subjective experience is key to the
investigation of optimal human functioning.
15. 5 Founding Fathers of Positive Psychology
• James to be America’s first positive psychologist (Froh, 2004) because
of his interest in whole person functioning.
2. Abraham Maslow-
While the ‘third force’ of humanistic psychology played a vital role in
providing the foundational concepts of positive psychology, the greatest
influence was Abraham Maslow.
16. 5 Founding Fathers of Positive Psychology
• Maslow argued that while the former psychological approaches of
psychoanalysis and behaviorism revealed much about human
shortcomings and mental health problems, they neglected to investigate
human virtues and aspirations (Maslow, 1954).
17. 5 Founding Fathers of Positive Psychology
3. Martin Seligman-
• Seligman was elected President of the American Psychological
Association when he chose to focus on the central theme of positive
psychology.
• learned helplessness
• learned optimism
18. 5 Founding Fathers of Positive Psychology
• This classification system formed the backbone of their book Character
Strengths and Virtues (Seligman & Peterson, 2004) and included the
following six categories:
wisdom/knowledge
courage
transcendence
justice
humanity
temperance
19. 5 Founding Fathers of Positive Psychology
4. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi-
• Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi was born in Hungary in 1934 when, like many
others, his family was deeply affected by the Second World War.
• This led to his interest with what he called the flow state. He made it his
life’s work to scientifically investigate the different ways of achieving flow
as an expression of optimal human experience (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).
20. 5 Founding Fathers of Positive Psychology
• Csikszentmihalyi’s studies gained much popular interest and have
been applied widely to the study of creativity, productivity, and
happiness at both an individual and organizational level.
• 5. Christopher Peterson-
• He was the co-author of Character Strengths and Virtues with Martin Seligman (Peterson &
Seligman, 2004) and is noted for his work in the study of strengths, virtues, optimism, hope,
character, and wellbeing.
21. Introducing Positive Psychology
Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi (2000, p. 5)
“Psychology has, since World War II, become a
science largely about healing. It concentrates on
repairing damage within a disease model of human
functioning.”
”
26. Introducing Positive Psychology
A focus on strengths
Martin Seligman
“Positive Psychology is the scientific study
of optimal human functioning that aims to
discover and promote the factors that allow
individuals and communities to thrive.”
