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Positive Psychology
Summer, 2008
Jane Close Conoley
Positive Psychology is the scientific study of strengths and virtues that enable
individuals and communities to thrive. The field is founded on the belief that people want
to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives, to cultivate what is best within themselves, and to
enhance their experiences of love, work, and play.
Positive Psychology has three central concerns: positive emotions, positive individual
traits, and positive institutions. Understanding positive emotions entails the study of
contentment with the past, happiness in the present, and hope for the future.
Understanding positive individual traits consists of the study of the strengths and
virtues, such as the capacity for love and work, courage, compassion, resilience,
creativity, curiosity, integrity, self-knowledge, moderation, self-control, and wisdom.
Understanding positive institutions entails the study of the strengths that foster better
communities, such as justice, responsibility, civility, parenting, nurturance, work ethic,
leadership, teamwork, purpose, and tolerance.
For further elaboration see: http://www.ppc.sas.upenn.edu/
Positive psychology calls for as much focus on strength as on weakness, as much
interest in building the best things in life as in repairing the worst, and as much attention
to fulfilling the lives of healthy people as to healing the wounds of the distressed. The
concern of psychology with human problems is understandable. It will not and should
not be abandoned. Positive psychologists are “merely” saying that the psychology of the
past sixty years is incomplete. But as simple as this proposal sounds, it demands a sea
change in perspective. Psychologists interested in promoting human potential need to
start with different assumptions and to pose different questions from their peers who
assume a disease model. This seminar will concern itself with the basics of positive
psychology.
Relevant Web pages:
 Positive Psychology Webpage: www.positivepsychology.org
 Positive Organizational Studies Webpage:
www.bus.umich.edu/positiveorganizationalscholarship/
 Meaning
o www.meaning.ca
o http://www.meaning.ca/links/positive_psychology_links.html
o Assessment Center: http://www.ppc.sas.upenn.edu
o http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/Default.aspx
o Recent Media: http://www.apa.org/monitor/2008/04/overthinking.html?imw=Y
o European Positive Psychology: http://www.enpp.org/
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Films to Watch: Happiness, Flow, Subjective Well-being, Hope, Optimism, Positive
Illusions and Playfulness, Creativity, Giftedness and Industry, Judgment, Wisdom,
Fairness; Emotional Intelligence; Spirituality; Love and Kindness; Gratitude and Zest;
Modesty and Forgiveness; Altruism, Empathy and Social Intelligence; Leadership and
Teamwork; Curiosity, Self-Regulation, and Positive Youth Development;
Amelie
Patch Adams
Junebug
Vance Beggar
Fried Green Tomatoes
Billy Elliot
Forest Gump
Dr. Zhivago
Out of Africa
Fanny and Alexander
Life is Beautiful
Good Will Hunting
Gone with the Wind
Ordinary People
Pelle the Conqueror
My Fair Lady
Little Lord Fauntleroy
Shine
Amadeus
Awakenings
Little Buddha
The Devil’s Advocate
The Emperor’s Club
Philadelphia
Driving Miss Daisy
K-Pax
The Five Senses
Scent of a Woman
Contact
Apostle
Priest
Dead Man Walking
The English Patient
Sophie’s Choice
October Sky
Bridges of Madison County
Iris
Sunshine
My Left Foot
Gandhi
Pay it Forward
Terms of Endearment
Children of a Lesser God As Good As It Gets
LA Confidential
Dances with Wolves
Lawrence of Arabia
Finding Forester
Dead Poet Society
Old Books to Review
Moby Dick,
Ulysses,
Remembrance of Things Past(Volume 1-3),
Old Man and the Sea,
How to Win Friends and Influence People,
Think and Grow Rich
Learning Outcomes
At the end of the course the student will:
1. Display knowledge of key constructs in positive psychology research
2. Evidence competence in planning, implementing and reporting of personal and
interpersonal change efforts based in part on personal assessment results.
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3. Provide evidence of evaluation skills related to extant literature in positive
psychology.
Assignments
1.
Analysis of the science of positive psychology.
 Teams of students will evaluate 3 articles within a particular area of positive
psychology (e.g., subjective well being, hedonic treadmill, gratitude/benefit
finding, flow, parenting or other relationships), using provided framework. Three
to four group reports due each week. No late assignments accepted. 25% of
grade.
 Each student will write a thousand word critique of an assigned research report.
25% of grade.
 Each student will complete one assessment on the key scientific underpinnings
of positive psychology. 10% of grade.
2.
Action research about the personal and interpersonal effects of selected positive
psychology techniques
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Each student will register at the Positive Psychology Center to take several on
line assessment devices. Results of these will be discussed in class and can be
used to plan the action research project.
Presentation of results of an action research project. Student can provide blogs,
podcasts, or class presentation of one action research project. Each student
allowed 10 minutes of presentation time.
Sign up done on Day 3 of class.
Product will be evaluated by instructor and by class. 20% of grade
3.
Class participation will be 20% of the grade. Participation will include performance
on short quizzes, classroom responses to questions and prompts, and contributions to
classroom discussions
Suggested Readings for Group and Individual Projects
Bartlett, M. Y., & DeSteno, D. (2006). Gratitude and prosocial behavior: Helping when it
costs you. Psychological Science, 17(4), 319-325.
Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal
attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117, 497-529.
Brickman, P., Coates, D., Janoff-Bulman, R. (1978). Lottery winners and accident victims: Is
happiness relative? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 917-927.
Brown, K. W., Ryan, R. M. (2003). The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its
role in psychological well-being. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 84, 822848.
Buss, D. M. (2000). The evolution of happiness. American Psychologist, 55, 15-23.
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Cohen, S., & Pressman, S. D. (2006). Positive affect and health. Current Directions in
Psychological Science, 15, 122-125.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1999). If we are so rich, why aren’t we happy? American
Psychologist, 54, 821-827.
Damon, W. (1999). The moral development of children. Scientific American, 281, 71-78.
Davidson, R. J., Kabat-Zinn, J. et al. (2003). Alternations in brain and immune function
produced by mindfulness meditation. Psychosomatic Medicine, 65, 564-570
Diener, E. (2000). Subjective Well-Being: The Science of Happiness and a Proposal for
a National Index. American Psychologist, 55, 34-43.
Diener, E., & Diener, C. (1996). Most people are happy. Psychological Science, 7, 181-185.
Diener, E., Lucas, R. E., & Scollon, C. N. (2006). Beyond the hedonic treadmill: Revising the
adaptation theory of well-being. American Psychologist, 61, 305-314.
Diener, E., Oishi, S., Lucas, R. E. (2003). Personality, culture, and subjective wellbeing: Emotional and cognitive evaluations of life. Annual Review of Psychology, pp.
403-425.
Diener, E., Suh, E. M., Lucas, R. E., & Smith, H. L. (1999). Subjective well-being: Three
decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 276-302.
Fredrickson, B. L. (1998). What good are positive emotions? Review of
General Psychology, 2(3), 300-319.
Fredrickson, B. L. (2003). The value of positive emotions. American Scientist, 91, 330-335.
Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broadenand –build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56, 218-226
Froh, J. J. (2004, May/June). The history of positive psychology: Truth be told. The
Psychologist, 16 (3), 18-20.
Gable, S. L., & Haidt, J. (2005). What (and why) is positive psychology? Review of General
Psychology, 9, 103-110.
Gable, S. L., Reis, H. T., Impett, E. A., & Asher, E. R. (2004). What do you do when things go
right? The intrapersonal and interpersonal benefits of sharing good events. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 87, 228-245.
Harlow, H. F. (1958). The nature of love. American Psychologist, 13, 673-685.
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Kahneman, D., Krueger, A. B., Schkade, D., Schwarz, N., & Stone, A. A. (2004). A
survey method for characterizing daily life experiences: The day reconstruction method.
Science, 306, 1776-1780.
Keltner, D., & Haidt, J. (2003). Approaching awe, a moral, spiritual, and aesthetic emotion.
Cognition and Emotion, 17, 297-314.
Keyes, C. (2002). The mental health continuum: From languishing to flourishing in life.
Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 43, 207-222.
Linley, A. C., Joseph, S., Harrington, S., & Wood, A. M. (2006). Positive psychology: Past,
present, and (possible) future. Journal of Positive Psychology, 1, 3-16.
Lykken, D., & Tellegen, A. (1996). Happiness is a stochastic phenomenon. Psychological
Positive Psychology Science, 7, 186-189.
Lyubomirsky, S., Sheldon, K. M., & Schkade, D. (2005). Pursuing happiness: The architecture
of sustainable change. Review of General Psychology, 9, 111-131.
McCullough, M. E., Emmons, R. A., & Tsang, J. (2002). The grateful disposition: A conceptual
and empirical topography. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 112-127.
McCullough, M. E., Kilpatrick, S. D., Emmons, R. A., & Larson, D. B. (2001). Is gratitude a moral
affect? Psychological Bulletin, 127, 249-266.
Myers, D. G. (2000). The funds, friends, and faith of happy people. American
Psychologist, 55, 56-67.
Myers, D. G., & Diener, E. (1995). Who is happy? Psychological Science, 6, 10-19.
Oishi, S. (2002). The experiencing and remembering of well-being: A cross-cultural
analysis. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 28(10), 1398-1406.
Peterson, C., & Park, N. (2003). Positive psychology as the evenhanded positive
psychologist views it. Psychological Inquiry, 14, 141-146.
Ryan, R. M., Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic
motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55, 68-78.
Ryff, C. D. (1989). Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meanings of
psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 1069-1081.
Schwartz, B., Ward, A., & Monterosso, J. (2002). Maximizing versus satisficing: Happiness is a
matter of choice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 1178-1197.
Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction.
American Psychologist, 55, 5-14.
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Seligman, M. E. P., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology
progress: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60, 410-421.
Sheldon, K. M., & King, L. (2001). Why positive psychology is necessary. American
Psychologist, 56, 216-217.
Suttie, J. (2006, Spring/Summer) Compassion across cubicles. Greater Good, pp. 30-33.
Taylor, S. E., Klein, L. C., Lewis, B. P., Gruenewald, T. L., Gurung, R. A., & Updegraff,
J. A. (2000). Biobehavioral responses to stress in females: Tend-and-befriend, not fightor-flight. Psychological Review, 107(3), 411-429.
Trivers, R. L. (1971). The evolution of reciprocal altruism. Quarterly Review of Biology, 46, 3557.
Van Boven, L. & Gilovich, T. (2003). To do or to have? That is the question. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 85 (6), 1193-1202.
Walker, L. J., & Pitts, R. C. (1998). Naturalistic conceptions of moral maturity. Developmental
Psychology, 34, 403-419.
Wrzesniewski, A., McCauley, C. R., Rozin, P., & Schwartz, B. (1997). Jobs, careers, and
callings: People's relations to their work. Journal of Research in Personality, 31, 21-33.
Topics for Classroom Discussion and Individual Action Research
1. The Pandemic of Mental Illness in the USA: A paradox and Introduction to Positive
Psychology.
2. Happiness, flow, subjective well-being
3. Hope, Optimism, Postive Illusions and Playfulness
4. Creativity, Giftedness and Industry
5. Emotional Intelligence, spirituality
6. Love and kindness
7. Gratitude and zest and forgiveness
8. Altruism, empathy, courage,
9. Leadership and teamwork
10. Mindfulness, curiosity, positive youth development
11. Cross cultural positive psychology
12. Biological vs Ecological Models of human behavior
Books on reserve in Davidson Library
Linley, P. A., & Joseph, S. (Eds.) (2004). Positive psychology in practice. New York: Wiley.
Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook
and classification. New York: Oxford University Press/Washington, DC: American Psychological
Association.
Snyder, C. R., & Lopez, S. (Eds.) (2001). Handbook of positive psychology. New York:
Oxford University Press.
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