Positive Psychology is the amazing branch of psychology that studies human happiness and well-being- what is it and how can anyone significantly increase and sustain it. It has been defined as the scientific  study of how individuals, groups, organizations, communities, and societies flourish and thrive.  

 

Positive psychology began to develop as a growing field within psychology in the 1990s with the work of Dr. Martin Seligman when he was president of The American Psychological Association and others. Since that time it has grown to have international status.  Today you can actually major in positive psychology - the study of human happiness and thriving-  at many universities and classes in positive psychology are often filled on the first several days of registration.

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Positive psychology does not negate traditional psychology for those who need it.  But while traditional psychology has focused mainly on curing or alleviating the symptoms of various forms of mental or emotional illness, positive psychology focuses on understanding positive human happiness and thriving in life and enabling people to significantly increase and sustain it. 

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As such it can significantly complement traditional psychology for people who need it but stands alone in studying how anyone can increase happiness and well being in every area of their lives and really thrive in life - not just people with mental and emotional illness..

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The fact that it is research-based makes it much more significant than a lot of the popular self-help books we find on the shelves or online.  It isn’t just the personal opinions of self–help authors but based on significant scientific research.  In this sense it is one of the most significant movements in modern times in an age where the happiness level in America and many other countries has been declining for decades and is continuing to decline. 

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Robert Biswas Diener, a positive psychology expert described Positive Psychology in the following way. (2008)

 

“Positive psychology is not a self-help book or a repackaging of the “power of positive thinking”. It is not American-style “happy-ology” and is not a passing thing. Positive psychology is a science that brings the many virtues of science – replication, control causal studies, peer-reviewed, representative sampling (to name a few)-to bear on the question of how and when people flourish.”

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There is also a related field called Positive Education which believes that besides academics and career education, the real purpose of education should be for the happiness of each individual child, the development of their character and their ability to contribute to society.