Positive
Psychology
Part 1- About positive
psychology. History
Part 2- What are the
roots of happiness?
Part 3- Is well-being the
same as happiness?
Part 4- How to improve well-
being with PERMA?
Explore - Learn - Grow
Do you know your Happiness Score? Get your Life Satisfaction Report. Free, no registration required. I Contact

Part 1- What is Positive Psychology (PP) ?
Positive psychology is the study of happiness.
Martin Seligman is considered the father of the modern
positive psychology movement
Psychology traditionally focused
on dysfunction—on people with
mental illness or other psychological
problems and how to treat them.
Positive psychology, by contrast,
is a relatively new field that
examines how ordinary people can
become happier and more fulfilled.
2

* Ancient Greeks :
Socrates advocated
self-knowledge as the
path to happiness.
Plato's allegory of the
cave: happiness is found
in deeper meaning
Aristotle: happiness or eudaimonia is constituted by
rational activity in accordance with virtue over a
complete life.
Part 1- Positive Psychology in History 3

Part 1- Positive Psychology in History 4
* Ancient Greeks :
Epicureans: happiness by enjoying simple pleasures.
Stoics: happy by being objective and reasonable

* Humanists: emphasized the unique qualities of humans, especially their free will
and their potential for personal growth.
We have an innate drive toward personal growth.
We exercise free will to control our actions.
We are rational beings driven by conscious, not unconscious, needs
Part 1- Positive Psychology in History 5
2 examples of humanists:
Carl Rogers’s (1961) Person-Centered Theory.
* Personality = one construct, the self = self-concept = a
collection of beliefs
* Self-concept is congruent with reality, or incongruent
when our ideas about ourselves do not match reality

* Second example of humanist:
Abraham Maslow
* First used the phrase positive
psychology in 1954
* Theory of Self-Actualization and
the pyramid representing the
hierarchy of human needs
Part 1- Positive Psychology in History 6

Part 2- The roots of happiness?
Let's look first at what are NOT the roots for happiness,
according to the results of Positive Psychology research:
* Money – the correlation between income and happiness is very
weak (.13) in U.S.
* Age – age accounts for less than 1% of variation in reported
happiness.
* Gender – gender also accounts for less than 1% of variation in
reported happiness.
7

Part 2- The roots of happiness?
A popular misbelief: money does not buy more
happiness, often the contrary....
8

Part 2- The roots of happiness?
Continued, what are NOT the roots for happiness,
according to the results of Positive Psychology research
* Parenthood – good and bad aspects of parenthood offset
each other.
* Intelligence – there is no association between IQ and
happiness.
* Physical attractiveness – attractive people enjoy many
advantages in society, but the relationship with happiness is
very weak.
Other studies show that health, social activities and religion are somewhat important
9

Part 2- The roots of happiness?
So what is it that makes us happy?
* Love and marriage – across cultures, for men
and women, married people are happier than
people who are single or divorced.
* Work – job satisfaction is strongly related to
happiness.
* Personality – extraversion (or positive
emotionality) is a strong predictor of happiness.
10

Part 2- The roots of happiness?
What did we learn also from these studies?
* Happiness is about subjective feelings, much
more than objective measures.
* Happiness is relative: relative to what others
around us have, and relative to our own expectations.
* Happiness is dynamically affected by hedonistic
adaptation, i.e. when circumstances improve, such as
income, our baseline for happiness increases as well, so
we don’t feel happier.
11

Part 2- The roots of happiness?
Lyubomirsky, Sheldon and Schkade summarized what determines happiness
in the below model in 2005
Publication: “Pursuing happiness: The architecture of sustainable change”
12

H = S (50%) + C (10%) + V (40%)
H – happiness
S – set point
C – circumstances
V – factors under voluntary control
Part 2- The happiness formula
According to the Positive Psychology model,
we can affect 40% of our happiness
13

Part 2- The roots of happiness?
How can you do generate more happiness in your life?
Focus on the intentional activities under your control.
According to Martin Seligman in 2002/2003,
these are:
* The Pleasant Life: Pleasure & Positive
Emotion
* The Good Life: Flow & Engagement
* Meaningful Life: Meaning & Purpose
References: “The full life” 2002; “Authentic
Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology
to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment”
2003
14

Click on the screen

Part 3- Is well-being the same as happiness?
Is happiness the same as well being?
Not exactly... Let's introduce a new dimension:
1- Feeling happy in the now: “Taking all things together, how would you say
things are these days — would you say you are very happy, pretty happy, or
not too happy?”
2- Thinking life is satisfying: “How satisfied are you with your life as a whole
these days?”
15

Part 4- The PERMA model
* Positive emotion
* Engagement
* Positive relationships
* Meaning
* Accomplishment
16

Part 4- The PERMA model 17
PERMA is a model to improve well-being by focusing on
our intentional activity
Each element respects the following three properties
1- It contributes directly to well-being
2- It is pursued for its own sake, not merely to get something else
3- It is defined and measured independently from the other elements.
* In addition to the full life model, it also consider your social life and
personal accomplishments

Martin Seligman about Positive Psychology 16
Interviewed by Jeremy Paxman - BBC

Click on the screen

* wikipedia.com
* Youtube: TED talks MartinSeligman 2004 Ideas worth spreading
* Authentic Happiness :: Using the new Positive Psychology
www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu
* www.psychologytoday.com/basics/positive-psychology
* Seligman, Martin (1990). Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind
and Your Life
* Seligman, M.E.P. (2004). Can Happiness be Taught?. Daedalus journal
* International Positive Psychology Association
Sources and References 18

Participant Notes 17
In the notes section of the slide