Can Happiness, Optimism, or the well-being of an individual be studied? Is there any branch of psychology that focuses on the positive aspects of human behaviour? Yes, there is a branch of psychology which is Positive Psychology which studies happiness, optimism, well-being, and positive emotions of an individual. Positive psychology is the scientific study of processes which contribute to the flourishing and optimal functioning of people, groups, and institutions.
One of the main reasons for the emergence of positive psychology was the imbalance in the field, which focused largely on the negative aspects of human behaviour. One of the prominent figures who contributed to this is Martin Seligman. Although positive psychology was not yet a well-established field, its ideas appeared across various areas of research.
The key assumptions of positive psychology are that people can grow, psychology has traditionally been imbalanced, humans possess genuine virtues, strengths, and values, and positive human behaviour can be studied scientifically. Humanistic psychology is often considered one of the main foundations of positive psychology. Ryff and Singer described it as ‘psychology was becoming more of a repair shop for broken minds’ (Baumbgardner et al., 2010). This article aims to explore the emergence of positive psychology, prominent figures who contributed to the field, and the relevance and research presented by positive psychology.
History and Origin of Positive Psychology
Prior to World War II, the main focus of psychology was to cure mental illness, make people’s lives more productive, and identify and nurture high talents. After World War II, psychology shifted its focus primarily towards treating abnormal behaviour and mental illness. In the 1950s, humanistic thinkers helped renew the field by considering the potential of human growth. Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow played a prominent role in advocating self-actualisation.
In 1998, Martin Seligman, while addressing the American Psychological Association, introduced Positive Psychology and urged scientists, researchers, and scholars to consider the positive aspects of human functioning. Until 1998, psychology focused mainly on life below zero, while positive psychology shifted attention towards life above zero. In 2006, Harvard University introduced a course on positive psychology, which later became extremely popular(Cherry, 2026).
Early ideas of positive psychology appeared in the work of American psychologist William James, who is also considered America’s first positive psychologist. He saw the importance of using positivist methodology in science. In his presidential address to the American Psychological Association in 1906. He asked why some individuals utilise their resources to their full capacity while others do not. He also raised two extremely important questions, quoted as below :
- “What were the limits of human energy?
- How could people stimulate and release this energy to make the best use of it?
These questions clearly demonstrate the interest of William James in positive psychology and its relevance to the contemporary literature of positive psychology(Froh, 2004). Sigmund Freud is best known for his major contributions to the development of psychoanalysis. According to Freud, individuals possessed self-serving motives behind good values and virtues. He stated that humans act in a good way for their own benefit. For instance: If an individual donates blood, he is doing that for gaining attention. Most of Freud’s work focuses on the negative aspects of human behaviour. Psychology placed greater emphasis on negative aspects.
One of the popular notions that bad is stronger than good is also considered a reason for the late emergence of positive psychology. Negatives were considered more genuine. It is accepted that humans and society would focus more on negative events than positive events. Researchers in the field were also driven by this tendency and focused more on unusual behaviour. For a great period of time, Freud’s work dominated the field of psychology. However, many psychologists felt that not enough focus was being given to those who were mentally stable but were unable to achieve optimal functioning.
This marked the most important rise in the wave of humanistic psychology advocated by Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow (Baumgartner et al.,2010). The work of Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow can be considered a precursor to the development of positive psychology. They advocated the concept of self-actualisation (the potential of human growth). They emphasised that every individual has a capacity to grow in life and that every individual strives to accomplish their potential.
Carl Rogers presented his theories, such as: Real Self and Ideal Self; Unconditional Positive Regard; Empathy, etc. Abraham Maslow’s work focused on basic human needs; motivation, etc. It can be noted that positive psychology was scattered in the research; scholarly work in psychology. It was always present in the field but was not systematically organised.
Relevance of Positive Psychology
Since the emergence of positive psychology, it has been contributing to the field of psychology with extensive research work on happiness, positive emotions, resilience, growth through trauma, theories on ageing, psychological factors of well- being, personal goals and theories, etc. One of the most prominent works is done by Barbara Fredrickson. Fredrickson (2001) postulated the Broaden and Build Theory of Positive Emotions. Her theory emphasised the potential value of positive emotions.
Positive emotions broaden one’s thoughts, action repertoire, undo negative emotions, and help in building enduring personal resources. These are the four hypotheses that were postulated after conducting research on participants. Furthermore, Fredrickson and Losada derived a mathematical number for the critical positivity ratio, i.e., 2.9. They collected data from multiple samples such as business leaders, patients with depression, and married couples. Furthermore, they calculated the ratio by coding the statements recorded by college students in their diaries.
Students whose score was 2.9 were considered to be functioning at an optimal level, whereas students who were below 2.9 were in the zone of languishing. Ann Masten(2000) is yet another prominent psychologist who worked on resilience research. She emphasised that resilience(the ability to bounce back from adverse events) is an ordinary magic. Furthermore, she also postulated Resilience: Framework for Action. Carol Ryff and his colleagues (1989) proposed a measure for eudaimonic happiness.
They proposed six sources for psychological well – being: Self-Acceptance, Environmental Mastery, Positive Relations with others, Purpose in life, Autonomy, and Personal Growth. There are many prominent positive psychologists who have contributed to expanding the field of positive psychology. Positive psychology fills the gap where the population that is mentally healthy should also be studied in order to help them attain optimal functioning in life. Before positive psychology emerged, people viewed mental health simply as the absence of mental illness. Positive psychology broadened this view by also focusing on how mentally healthy individuals can function and thrive.
Assessments in Positive Psychology
The section below mentions some of the scales that are developed by psychologists in the field of positive psychology. These scales measure different constructs that differ from each other. The Subjective Happiness Scale measures happiness in a subjective way since happiness is subjective in nature. The Life Scale measures life satisfaction. The Brief Resilience Scale aims to measure resilience.
- The Subjective Happiness Scale: The Subjective Happiness Scale was developed in 1999 by Lyubomirsky & Lepper. It is a four-item scale of global subjective happiness. Two items in the scale ask respondents to characterise themselves, and the next two items give a description of a happy and unhappy individual and ask the respondent to characterise themselves according to the given description. The scale ranges from 1(not a very happy person) to 7(a very happy person).
- Life Scale: The satisfaction with life scale was developed to measure satisfaction of respondents’ life as a whole. There are no major domains in which satisfaction is measured. The scale is valid and shows good convergence with other subjective well-being scales. This scale is recommended for use in clinical settings since it allows the subject to assess and evaluate their life with their own subjective criteria(Diener et al., 1985).
- The Brief Resilience Scale: The Brief Resilience Scale was developed to assess the ability to bounce back from adverse events. The BRS is reliable, and its predictability is relatively higher with personal characteristics such as social relations, coping, and health(Smith et al., 2008).
Conclusion
Positive Psychology is one of the new and young branches of psychology which aims to understand human behaviour beyond the absence of illness. It explores the areas of happiness, positive emotions, resilience, post-traumatic growth, psychological and subjective well-being, etc. The core assumption of positive psychology is to study the real values, virtues and strengths. Martin Seligman, in his presidential address to the American Psychological Association, highlighted the importance of positive psychology. Positive Psychology initially lacked organisation, but its core ideas and principles had existed for a long time. Today, researchers can scientifically measure constructs like happiness, life satisfaction, resilience, etc. The research done in the field proves the relevance of positive psychology in contemporary times.
