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Positive Psychology: General Introduction

Introduction

Key Elements of Positive Psychology

Where did Positive Psychology come from?- Key Figures

Criticisms of Traditional Psychology

Why Happiness is Important

Evidence Based Positive Psychology Interventions

Positive Psychology Interventions in Clinical Practice

Alternative Applications

Future of Positive Psychology Interventions

Positive Psychology Assessment Tools

Introduction

Definition of Positive Psychology

Positive psychology is a new area to psychology. Brought into context only in the last decade, it is a relatively unstudied part of psychology.

Positive psychology is the study of what makes people happy and how one can lead a fulfilling life. It considers what people need to do to lead the most satisfying life possible and focuses on strengths that one possesses, rather then their weaknesses. It promotes the feelings of being the best that one can possibly be, through improving their own experiences of love, work and play.

Links - Martin Seligman in an introductory discussion about positive psychology.

The Akumal Manifesto of Positive Psychology (PP)

Written by some of the biggest players in positive psychology such as Ken Sheldon and Barbara Frederickson, this manifesto was created initially during the first Akumal meeting in January 1999 and a revision followed in January 2000.

According to the Akumal Manifesto, positive psychology is "the scientific study of optimal human functioning at many levels including biological, cultural, personal and many more’. The Manifesto suggests that the positive psychology movement represents a new commitment focusing upon the sources of psychological health, thereby going beyond the previous preoccupation with disease and disorder.

The Akumal Manifesto goes on to explain the applications of PP:

- Improving child education by making greater use of intrinsic motivation, positive affect, and creativity within schools.

- Improving psychotherapy by developing approaches that emphasise hope, meaning and self healing.

- Improving family life by better understanding the dynamics of love and commitment.

- Improving work satisfaction across the lifespan by helping people to find authentic involvement, experience states of flow, and make genuine contributions in their work.

- Improving organisations and societies by discovering conditions that enhance trust, communication and altruism between persons.

Links – The Manifesto is accessible via: http://www.ppc.sas.upenn.edu/akumalmanifesto.htm

Key Elements of Positive Psychology

Positive psychology is interested in optimal human functioning. It focuses on identifying and developing individual’s strongest qualities. It looks at human successes and focuses attention on positive experiences such as happiness and well-being as well as positive human characteristics such as strengths and virtues. Positive psychology is not just interested in individuals but in how group structures such as organisations, families or cultures can encourage positive emotion and encourage the use of strengths.

Positive psychology looks to correct the imbalance between positive and negative in the study of psychology. Much of the research and practice objectives have focused on the negative – illness, dysfunction, distress, loss and suffering. Positive psychology argues that the study of the positive; health, fulfilment and well-being is just as important as the study of the negative. (1)

The positive psychology message is that psychology is not just the study of pathology, weakness and damage it is also the study of strength and virtue and that treatment needs to promote what is good, not just fix what is broken. (2)

Prevention researchers have discovered that there are many human strengths such as; courage, future mindedness, optimism, interpersonal skill, faith, work ethic, hope, honesty, perseverance and the capacity for flow and insight that can help protect against mental illness: The aim is to understand and learn how to encourage these qualities in young people. (2)

Positive psychology represents a far greater proportion of human experience than does ‘traditional’ psychology’s focus on dysfunction, distress and psychopathology. If psychologists wish to improve the human condition it is not enough to help those who suffer. Not everyone will be clinically depressed or schizophrenic during their lifetime but it’s a fair assumption that (almost) everyone will want to be happy, or want to be a good parent and friend, or an effective student, or be productive and satisfied at work. (1)

The brain finds it very easy to be negative but it is important for human beings to learn how to avoid this natural negativity and to experience more positive emotion. Positive psychologists believe that the research into happiness and other emotional states now gives people access to information on how to minimise negativity and live a more positive and fulfilling life.(3) This shows how widely appealing positive psychology appears to be.

Where Did Positive Psychology Come From – Key Figures

Positive psychology acknowledges what Aristotle and other Greek philosophers consider as the basis of a happy, good life.(1)

Past American Psychological Association leaders, Abraham Maslow and Carl Rodgers have also looked at what makes individuals be at their best and perform at their peak. From this, Abraham Maslow was considered as the founder of Humanistic Psychology after he developed the Hierarchical Theory of Human Motivation* and Carl Rodgers has been argued as being the most influential American psychologist in the 20th Century. Rodgers and Maslow both held the view that personal growth and personal fulfilment was a motive in humans and this meant that any individual would be continuously trying to better themselves.(2,3)

Edward Diener, who was also known as 'Doctor happiness', has been looking at what does and does not make individuals happy for the passed 20 years. Diener focussed his studies on an individuals well-being, considering income, personality and cultural influences.* Diener's work has appeared in more than 210 publications and around 170 of these are in the area of psychology and well-being. He was the editor of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology between 1998 and 2003 and from then to present time, he is the editor of Journal of Happiness Studies. Currently, Diener is writing a book with his son Robert Biswas-Dieneron popular happiness and on top of this they are also writing a book on national accounts of well-being together. (4,5)

Links - For more information on Diener, see his website: http://www.psych.uiuc.edu/~ediener/

Martin Seligman has also been looking at what made people feel happy and feel that they were leading a fulfilled life. Seligman has been extremely influential in the field of positive psychology and could arguably be regarded as the father of positive psychology and may well be best known for his work on the theory of ‘Learned Helplessness’. Other positive psychology research areas concerning Seligman’s work include The Optimist Child, Child’s Play and in 2002 Authentic Happiness.

Seligman’s influence in the domain of positive psychology is well evidenced by his pioneering work with Christopher Peterson in the creation of Character Strengths and Virtues (CVS), the ‘positive’ counterpart to the DSM. Like the DSM the CSV provides an effective theoretical framework which attempts to identify and classify the psychological traits of human beings and assists in the development of practical applications. However, unlike the DSM which is heavily focused on what can go wrong psychologically, the Character Strengths and Virtues approach looks at what can go right with a focus on positive psychological traits. Their research produced a list of virtues that are valued highly throughout time including 6 character strengths, each of which have a number of sub entries. The CVS suggests that these virtues are considered good throughout history and cultures and that these traits lead to increased happiness when practiced. One of their key points is that they do not believe that there is a hierarchy for the 6 virtues – no one is more fundamental than or a precursor to the others. (6)

The Character Strengths and Virtues identifies 6 core classes or virtue, which are comprised of 24 measurable character strengths and are organised in the following way:

1. Wisdom (knowledge) – creativity, curiosity, open mindedness, love of learning, perspective, innovation.
2. Courage – bravery, persistence, integrity, vitality.
3. Humanity – love, kindness, social intelligence.
4. Justice – citizenship, fairness, leadership.
5. Temperance – forgiveness and mercy, humility, prudence, self control.
6. Transcendence – appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, humor, spirituality.

Sonja Lyubomirsky, a major contributor in the realm of PP and the author of ‘The How of Happiness’ (7) is one of a select few researchers whose self help material focusing on strategies to increase happiness is backed by empirical data. Lyubomirsky’s book ‘The How of Happiness’ offers a comprehensive guide to understanding what happiness is and is not. The book advocates that 50% of a given individual’s happiness level is genetically determined (evidence from twin studies, 2), 10% is affected by life circumstances and situation and the remaining 40% of happiness is subject to self control. Her book is therefore designed to target the 40%, which is open to manipulation with the hope that happiness can be increased. The popularity of Lyubomirsky’s ‘The How of Happiness’ phenomenon is demonstrated by the recent development of ‘Live Happy’, a specially designed positive psychology happiness boosting application available for the iPhone which is based on the key happiness research from Lyubomirsky’s book.

Although Positive Psychology is a relatively 'new' area to be considered in the study of psychology, it has been studied in the past by these psychologists. As to where did positive psychology come from, it can be said to date back to Aristotle and Greek philosophers.

Criticisms of 'Traditional' Psychology

Before World War II, psychology had three clear goals: curing mental illness, making the lives of all people more productive and fulfilling and identifying and nurturing high talent. Since World War II psychology has been focused on curing mental illness. This almost exclusive attention to pathology neglects the fulfilled individual and the thriving community.

Positive psychologists have made many criticisms of traditional, empirical psychology. Some of the main ones are that negative emotions (anger or depression) have been studied far more than positive emotions (joy or happiness) and ‘traditional’ psychology believes that human beings are mainly motivated by negative emotions such as jealousy or by their own selfish interests. Psychology has focused on identifying and fixing weaknesses rather than identifying and building on people’s strengths and it is imbalanced due to its emphasis on the negative side of life as it does not look at the whole range of human experience. Psychologists have spent so much time researching everything that could go wrong with the human brain and personality and very little time identifying positive human traits that people in Western society have lost the ability to think in terms of good qualities and character. Also, ‘traditional’ psychology portrays individuals as passive victims of things which happen to them in life. It suggests that they are not in control of their own fate or their emotions. (1)

Why Happiness is Important - Findings

Over the last 40 years there has been a significant increase in depression and it is affecting people at younger ages. It would appear that money and material possessions are not enough on their own to bring happiness and a sense of well-being. There have been studies which show that happy people are healthier, they cope better with illness, they live longer, happy workers are productive workers, happy people are much more positive, they are more persistent in attempting to solve problems, are more altruistic than unhappy people and happy children outperform unhappy children.

Some of the findings of studies on happiness are stated below: Danner et al (2001) looked at autobiographies by 180 Catholic nuns which they had written when they were a mean age of 22. They scored them for emotional content and related it to survival during ages 75 to 95. They found a strong association between positive emotional context in the early life autobiographies and longevity 60 years later. (1)

Giltay et al (2004) found that among 900 elderly Dutch people those who reported being happy, optimistic or generally satisfied with life had around 50% less risk of dying over the period of the study (approx 10 years) than those who were unhappy or pessimistic. (2)

Kubzansky et al (2001) tracked the health of 1300 men for ten years and found that those who thought of themselves as optimistic had 50% less heart disease than those who didn’t. The interesting point of this study is that they didn’t actually have to be optimistic they just had to think that they were. (3)

Evidence Based Positive Psychology Interventions

To date at least 100 positive interventions have been suggested from various sources such as religion and scientific researchers. Below lies an exemplary study and findings from some of the most researched interventions in positive psychology.

Fordyce (1977;1983) one of the first empirical researchers to develop and test a happiness therapy, based his intervention on the premise that ‘happy is as happy does’. He surveyed characteristics of happy people, focusing on particular habits which are in the short term control of the individual.

Fordyce found that individuals in the intervention group (instructed on strategies for increasing happiness) were happier, less anxious and less depressed in comparison to the control groups. This research was extremely influential in the demonstration of the possibility of making people happier and opened the door for other researchers to develop and replicate findings. (1,2)

Burton & King (2004) tested the effect of a writing intervention on mood and physical health. Burton & King demonstrated that writing about positive experiences resulted in participants experiencing a short term boost in mood as well as having less visits to the health centre over the following 3 months in comparison to a control condition who wrote about neutral events. On a more negative note however the researchers failed to assess mood beyond the 3^rd day and there is therefore no indication of whether or not these effects were enduring or simply very short term. (3)

Emmons & McCullogh? (2003) were successful in demonstrating a gratitude intervention resulting in increases in positive affect in comparison to a control condition. Participants were wrote about 5 things for which they were thankful once weekly for 10 weeks. In 2 control conditions Participants wrote about either their daily hassles or neutral life events. They demonstrated that Participants in the gratitude condition reported feeling better about their lives in general, were more optimistic about the week ahead and were more connected to others. They also demonstrated participants in the intervention condition displayed more positive affect and less negative affect as measured by a 30 item survey. Results were replicated in a follow up study with the additional finding that participants in the intervention condition were scored higher in general life satisfaction and positive affect. (4)

Lyubomirsky et al (2005) explored a ‘count your blessings’ intervention in which Ps in a no intervention control group were compared to Ps who either counted their blessings x1 per week or x3 per week. After 6 weeks, only Ps in the x1 per week count you blessings condition were happier. (5)

Lyubomirsky et al (2005) also explored kindness and found that participants who completed their 5 acts of kindness in one day rather than over one week were happier as measured by Lyubomirsky’s 4 item Subjective Happiness Scale. It may be that the 5 acts in one day may act as a concentrated dose of the intervention, therefore causing these unexpected results. (5)

Positive Psychology (PP) Interventions in Clinical Practice

Seligman suggests PP is based on the belief that people want to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives, cultivating what is best within themselves and enhancing their positive experiences (1). With this in mind, the applications of PP focus on helping individuals or organisation identify their strengths and apply these in order to promote happiness and success. Techniques which can build and broaden peoples’ lives are now being employed by various types of professional with clients who may or may not have a diagnosed mental health disorder.

A study by Duckworth, Steen and Seligman (2005) addressed the value of positive psychology in a clinical setting. The researchers proposed a conceptual framework which organises happiness into 3 domains: pleasure, engagement and meaning, arguing there is a valid and practical assessment tool for each of these. The authors argue that PP interventions are effective in their own right but can also supplement directive attempts to prevent and treat psychopathy in a clinical setting. (2)

Parks and Seligman (2004) provided some promising preliminary investigation into the efficacy of a 6 week positive intervention program consisting of 6 exercises designed to increase pleasure, engagement, and meaning as a means of treating depressive symptoms in mildly to moderately depressed young adults. Each of these exercises had already been determined by Seligman and colleagues to be the most effective in isolation. Results were positive, participants who participated in the positive intervention condition attained a score 6 points lower on the Beck Depression Inventory after 6 weeks than did the no intervention control group. In addition, participants in the positive intervention condition also experienced notable, but not statistically significant increases in happiness measures and decreases in anxiety symptoms. (3)

Positive Interventions with Depression

Positive Psychotherapy (PPT) contrasts with existing interventions for depression by focuses on increasing positive emotion, engagement and meaning instead of using a directive approach to target depressive symptoms. PPT lies on the hypothesis that ‘depression can be treated effectively not only by reducing its negative symptoms but also by directly and primarily building positive emotions, character strengths and meaning.’ The researchers suggest that the building of these positive resources can result in successful counteraction of negative symptoms and may even buffer against their future recurrence.

Links - Here Seligman talks about positive psychotherapy

To test PPT, Seligman, Rashid and Park (2006) conducted 2 face to face studies, with mildly to moderately depressed young adults and severely depressed young adults. They examined the causal effect of enhancing positive emotion, engagement and meaning by introducing the following positive exercises: using signature strengths, thinking of 3 blessings, writing a positive obituary, going on a gratitude visit, active-constructive responding and savouring. (4)

The authors demonstrated that engagement with positive psychology tasks resulted in the reduction of depressive symptoms for a fairly prolonged period of 6 months. In participants with severe depression however the effects of intervention were particularly apparent. This research however did raise the question of the placebo effect as participants in the no intervention control group reported relieved depressive symptoms for one week after the study. This has implications for positive psychology interventions in general as it may be that the intervention of a professional in any way may be enough to reduce depressive symptoms in the short term.

Furthermore, while this preliminary study suggested the influence of Positive Psychotherapy in reducing depressive symptoms, caution in applying these findings further must be considered. Sample sizes were extremely small with only 11-13 participants in each condition of the experiment, which is limiting to the generalisability of PPT to other populations which vary in age, ethnicity, IQ, and socio-economic status.

Alternative Applications of Positive Psychology

The Centre for Applied Positive Psychology provides interesting alternative applications for Positive Psychology from a more everyday-working environment perspective.

“As such, it is possible that a positive psychological approach to organisational science may serve to reinvigorate the discipline, while also being mindful of the inevitable limitations of seeing occupational psychology through an exclusively positive lens” (Fineman 2006). (1)

Occupational implications; remain just as noteworthy for increasing happiness/ wellbeing despite being out-with a clinical setting. The take home message remains the same; the majority of us would rather increase our levels of happiness in what we do everyday than not. Research suggests this can be developed successfully in a working environment and in particular from adopting a strengths approach.

This ‘Strengths approach’ has been investigated and discussed quite extensively by Alex Linley and Susan Harrington who provide a concise insight in a publication of ‘The Psychologist’ (see ref below). They discuss the role of positive psychology from the stance that our pre-existing character strengths can act as a foundation from which to build upon and increase levels of

‘Well-being, contentment, hope, optimism, flow and happiness’, each of which are aspects of positive psychology at the subjective level.

The concepts of optimal functioning and performance are highly applicable from a strengths perspective as we can develop such strengths to get closer to reaching our ‘best’. The benefits of improving our strengths- are 2 fold- we increase our personal happiness and consequently are more engaged at work, (Linley and Page, 07) (2) which they define as a “double win” scenario.

'Valued Outcomes' or benefits from developing our strengths, may be intrinsic, extrinsic, individual or communal in some situations”. (Linley and Harrington, 06) (3)

These may include:

· Increased job satisfaction

· Increased happiness/ wellbeing indiv/group

· Increased productivity/ efficiency

· Perhaps an increase in positive office dynamics

The aforementioned applications of positive psychology i.e. in a clinical setting, covers the matter of optimal functioning, but in a different form- ie. Maximising happiness or wellbeing to increase an individuals overall positivity in depressed populations to increase their mood, it is becoming more apparent that there is also a relevant role in occupational settings. i.e. Human resource management. “For example, meta-analytic research on the often-doubted “happy worker = productive worker” hypothesis shows consistently significant relationships (r = 0.3; Judge et al. 2001),” It would appear that’ Positive Psychology in Action’ can be applied to many areas- as recent research would indicate, clinical and occupational are just 2 of them. The usefulness of increasing our happiness goes beyond speculation- as positive outcomes are evident. However, the way in which we reach our increased state of well being is open to debate, with many methods being tried and tested.

Future of Positive Psychology Interventions

It has been found that many positive psychology interventions can make people lastingly happier. For example, it has been found that writing about three good things that happened each day and also writing about why they happened, made people happier and less depressed 6 months later. (1) Although 6 months later is by no means ‘happily ever after’, it provides evidence that happiness can be lasting.

Many experimenters in the Positive Psychology field have found that levels of happiness can be increased by many ‘shotgun’ exercises. This means that short, multiple exercises would be more beneficial to long term happiness. To add to this, it has also been suggested that even being assigned an exercise by a professional, where the expected outcome is a lift in happiness, is enough to lift one’s spirits in the short term. (2,3)

However, in many studies, it has been found that in exercises such as writing a story about yourself at your best , the happiness that is produced, is very much short term, with no lasting effects. This task does also decease depressive symptoms, but again this is in the short term, and by no means, does it have long term lasting effects. (4)

Positive Psychology Assessment Tools

The following tools are examples of those developed to assess the emotion, engagement and meaning in peoples lives, giving an overall indication of authentic happiness. These can be accessed along with many other examples at http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu and if wish you can choose to register and then complete these assessments yourself. This site also includes useful links to other sites about various aspects of positive psychology.

Tools Exploring Emotion:

Authentic Happiness Inventory Questionnaire – a measure of overall happiness. Developed by C. Peterson & M.E.P. Seligman (2005).

Fordyce Emotion Questionnaire – provides a measure of current happiness and was developed by Michael W. Fordyce (1988).

PANAS Questionnaire – measures positive and negative affect. (Watson, D.; Clark, L. A.; Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1063-107).

Engagement Questionnaires:

Brief Strengths Test – Measures 24 character strengths and was developed by Christopher Peterson (2004).

Gratitude Questionnaire – a measure of appreciation about the past, developed by Michael McCullough? and Robert Emmons.

Grit Survey – measures the character strength of perseverance. (Duckworth, A.L,& Quinn, P.D. (2009). Development and validation of the Short Grit Scale (Grit-S). Journal of Personality Assessment, 91, 166-174.)

Optimism Test – measures optimism about the future. (M.E.P. Seligman, 2002).

Meaning Questionnaires:

Close Relationships Questionnaire – measures attachment style and was developed by R. Chris Fraley, Niels G. Waller, & Kelly A. Brennan as the Adult Attachment Style Questionnaire.

Compassionate Love Scale – measures your tendency to support, help and understand other people. (Sprecher, S. & Fehr, B. (2005). Compassionate love for close others and humanity. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 22, 629- 652)

References:

Introduction References:

(1) What is Positive Psychology? (2009) You Tube. Retrieved November 27, 2009 from the World Wide Web:

(2) Positive Psychology Manifesto (2007) Positive Psychology Centre. University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved November 27, 2009 from the World Wide Web: http://www.ppc.sas.upenn.edu/akumalmanifesto.htm

Key Elements References:

(1) Linley, P.A., Joseph, P., Harrington, S., and Wood, A.M. (2006) Positive psychology: Past, present and (possible) future. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 1(1), 3-16

(2) Seligman, M.E.P., and Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000) Positive Psychology: An introduction. American Psychologist, 55(1), 5-14

(3) Positive Psychology (2006) Centre for Confidence and Well-Being. Retrieved November 15, 2009 from the World Wide Web: http://www.centreforconfidence.co.uk/pp/overview.php?p=c2lkPTE=

Key Researchers References:

(1) Aristotle: Ethics and Virtues (2001) Philosophy Pages. Retrieved November 15, 2009 from the World Wide Web: http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/2s.htm

(2) Abraham Maslow (2009) Wikipedia. Retrieved November 15, 2009 from the World Wide Web: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Maslow?

(3) Humanistic Psychology (2007) Simply Psychology. Retrieved November 15, 2009 from the World Wide Web: http://www.simplypsychology.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/humanistic.html

(4) The New Science of Happiness (2005) Time Magazine. Retrieved November 15, 2009 from the World Wide Web: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1015902,00.html

(5) Ed Diener, Positive Psychologu (2009) Retrieved November 27, 2009 from the World Wide Web: http://www.psych.uiuc.edu/~ediener/

(6) Peterson, Christopher & Seligman, M.E.P. (2004). Character Strengths and Virtues A Handbook and Classification. Washington, D.C.: APA Press and Oxford University Press.

(7) Lyubomirsky, S. (2007) The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life you Want. Penguin

Criticisms of Traditional Psychology References:

(1) Criticisms of ‘traditional’ psychology (2006) Centre for Confidence and Well-Being. Retrieved November 15, 2009 from the World Wide Web: http://www.centreforconfidence.co.uk/pp/overview.php?p=c2lkPTEmdGlkPTAmaWQ9NDM=

Why is Happiness Important References:

(1) Danner, D.D., Snowdon, D.A., and Friesen, W.V. (2001) Positive Emotions in Early Life and Longevity: Findings from the Nun Study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80(5), 804-813

(2) Giltay, E.J., Geleijnse, J.M., Zitman, F.G., Hoekstra, T., and Schouten, E.G. (2004) Dispositional optimism and all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in a prospective cohort of elderly dutch men and women. Archives of Psychiatry, 61, 1126-1135.

(3) Kubzansky, L.D., Sparrow, D., Vokonas, P., and Kawachi, I. (2001) Is the Glass Half Empty or Half Full? A Prospective Study of Optimism and Coronary Heart Disease in the Normative Aging Study. Psychosomatic Medicine, 63, 910-916

Evidence Based Interventions References:

(1) Fordyce M.W. 1977. Development of a program to increase personal happiness. Journal of Counselling Psychology. 24(6): 511-521.

(2) Fordyce, M.W. 1983. A program to increase happiness: Further Studies. Journal of Counselling Psychology. 30(4): 483-98.

(3) Burton C.M., & King, L.A. 2004. The health benefits of writing about intensively positive experiences. J. Res. Personal. 38(2): 150-163.

(4) Emmons R,A., & McCullough? M.E. 2003. Counting blessings versus burdens: an experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. J. Personal. Soc. Psychol. 84(2): 377-389.

(5) Lyubomirsky S, Sheldon K.M., Schkade, D. 2005. Pursuing happiness: the architecture of sustainable change. Rev. Gen. Psychol. In press.

Interventions in Clinical Practice References:

(1) http://www.positivepsychology.org.

(2) Duckworth, A.L., Steen, T.A., & Seligman, M.E.P. (2005). Positive psychology in clinical practice. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 1, 629-651.

(3) Parks A.C. and Seligman, M.E.P. (2004) Treating mild-moderate depressive symptoms with a positive intervention. Presented at International Positive Psychology Summit, 3^rd October.

(4) Seligman, M.E.P., Rashid, T., and Parks, A.C. (2006) Positive Psychotherapy. American Psychologist. 11, 774-788

Alternative Applications References:

(1) Fineman, S. (2006): On being positive: Concerns and counterpoints, in: Academy of Management Review, 31 (2), 270–29

(2) Dr Alex Linley and Nicky Page (2007) Outlines of a Strengths –Based Organization, – CAPP case study- Positive Approaches to Human Resource Management. (http://www.cappeu.com)

(3) Alex Linley and Susan Harrington, 2006, “Playing to your strengths” The Psychologist, Vol 19 , No2.86-89

Future of PP Interventions References:

(1) Frank, J. (1973). Persuasion and healing: A comparative study of psychotherapy (2nd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

(2) Fordyce, M. W. (1977). Development of a program to increase personal happiness. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 24, 511–520.

(3) Fordyce, M. W. (1983). A program to increase happiness: Further studies. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 30, 483–498.

(4) Seligman, M. E. P. & Streen, T. A. (2005) Positive Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions, American Psychologist.