Today I propose a brief study on what Positive Psychology is, the approach that more than any other has revolutionized the presuppositions of traditional psychology and which has integrated tools and knowledge mediated by neuroscience to establish the principles of the "science of happiness" .
In the words of its best known and eminent theorist Martin Seligman, the aims that positive psychology sets out are 3:
To deal in the same way with human potentials as with weaknesses. That is, psychology must commit itself to supporting human potential at least as much as it is committed to curing diseases and discomforts.
It must focus on the best things in life and value them.
It has to worry about how to make normal lives more satisfying, to foster the discovery of genius and talent.
Seligman is convinced that psychology has made enormous efforts to understand the causes of unhappiness and to reduce suffering, obtaining very important results. However, too little has been done to systematically understand and study what makes people happy.
Positive psychologists do not propose to replace traditional psychological practice, but rather offer a new perspective that aims to expand the horizons of modern psychology by introducing new and more effective research methodologies and techniques aimed at an investigation that can focus on the more evolutionary aspects of human nature.
It seems to me that the paradigm proposed by positive psychology is a further development of Humanistic and Transpersonal Psychology and that it represents a step towards a real "science of happiness" as Seligman defines it, that is the scientific study of optimal human functioning. This approach is defined "Streght-based" that is based on the identification of the strengths of the individual and on the strategies that can be implemented by any person, therefore not only by those who live in a state of psychological suffering, for the exploring their strengths and reaching their potential. In this sense, positive psychology promotes a message that values the prevention of suffering through the strengthening of one's resources, one's inclinations, the discovery of one's talents and the care of the most significant aspects of the human experience, in the belief that such attitudes are not only functional to the achievement of personal well-being but that can contribute to an improvement in the quality of life on a global level. This is precisely the aspect that I find most interesting, Positive Psychology aims to disseminate to an ever wider audience a series of principles that tend to achieve a happiness that is possible because it is based on personal choice. As pointed out by Sonja Lyubomirsky, a leading California researcher, Positive Psychology focuses on why “happy people are happy, healthy people are healthy and successful people are successful. Target Text Not Translated | Copy from source Today I propose a brief study on what Positive Psychology is, the approach that more than any other has revolutionized the presuppositions of traditional psychology and which has integrated tools and knowledge mediated by neuroscience to establish the principles of the "science of happiness". In the words of its best known and eminent theorist Martin Seligman, the aims that positive psychology sets out are 3: To deal in the same way with human potentials as with weaknesses. That is, psychology must commit itself to supporting human potential at least as much as it is committed to curing diseases and discomforts. It must focus on the best things in life and value them. He has to worry about how to make normal lives more satisfying, to foster the discovery of genius and talent. Seligman is convinced that psychology has made enormous efforts to understand the causes of unhappiness and to reduce suffering, obtaining very important results. However, too little has been done to systematically understand and study what makes people happy. Positive psychologists do not propose to replace traditional psychological practice, but rather offer a new perspective that aims to expand the horizons of modern psychology by introducing new and more effective research methodologies and techniques aimed at an investigation that can focus on the more evolutionary aspects of human nature.
