A branch of psychology that studies the conditions and processes contributing to optimal human functioning and flourishing. Founded by Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, it focuses on strengths, well-being, and what makes life worth living, complementing traditional psychology's emphasis on pathology.
Positive psychology emerged as a formal field when Martin Seligman, during his presidency of the American Psychological Association in 1998, called for psychology to expand beyond its focus on mental illness to include the scientific study of human strengths, virtues, and well-being.
Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi published a landmark paper in 2000 outlining the field's mission: to develop a science of positive subjective experience, positive individual traits, and positive institutions. Key topics within positive psychology include well-being, flow states, character strengths, gratitude, resilience, meaning, and positive relationships.
Seligman developed the PERMA model of well-being, identifying five core elements: Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment. Other major contributors include Barbara Fredrickson, whose broaden-and-build theory proposes that positive emotions expand cognitive and behavioral repertoires, and Christopher Peterson and Seligman, who created the VIA (Values in Action) Classification of character strengths as a positive counterpart to the DSM.
Positive psychology is a rigorous scientific discipline that studies well-being using empirical methods. Positive thinking is an informal practice of maintaining an optimistic outlook. Positive psychology does not ignore negative emotions or experiences; it seeks to understand the full range of what contributes to a fulfilling life.
PERMA is Seligman's model of well-being comprising five elements: Positive Emotion (feeling good), Engagement (being absorbed in activities), Relationships (having meaningful connections), Meaning (serving something larger than yourself), and Accomplishment (achieving and mastering). A flourishing life cultivates all five.
Yes. Critics have raised concerns about cultural bias (emphasizing Western individualistic values), the potential to minimize real suffering, and some early studies that failed to replicate. The field has responded by increasing methodological rigor and broadening its cultural perspective.
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