Positive Psychology: how can you be really happy?

We review the main theories of one of the most interesting currents of psychology.

Positive psychology is one of the most recent trends in psychology, and it is not surprising that it has attracted a lot of interest. of psychology, and it is not surprising that it has aroused much interest. It is based on the study of the positive experiences and traits of individuals, as well as their strengths, virtues, motivations and capabilities; how these help to improve their quality of life and develop human potential.

Psychological theories generally focus on pathologies and negative behaviors. On the contrary, Positive Psychology proposes strategies to achieve and optimize people's strengths. Thus, it proposes to focus more on prevention than on treatment.

In the following we will see in detail what are the fundamentals of Positive Psychology?how it appeared and what goals it sets out to achieve.

How Positive Psychology appeared

The antecedents of the Positive Psychology go back to the 20s and 30s in the works of Terman and Watson, in which already mention was made of some important concepts and themes such as talent in students, the care of infants and psychological factors involved in marital happiness.

Before World War II, psychologists focused on actions that contributed to making the lives of individuals more productive and fulfilling, so they and strengths in patients to cope with various situations. to cope with various situations.

However, as a consequence of the war, the general focus of psychology was changed so that it was primarily concerned with assessing mental disorders and trying to alleviate human suffering. As an opposition to this trend focused on pathology, authors such as Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow, within the humanist trend, worked on some ideas of human strengths and happiness, setting a precedent from which Positive Psychology would later emerge.

At the end of 1990, Martin Seligman, American psychologist and educator, decided to turn the dominant approach around and presented his Positive Psychology proposal for the first time at the ceremony in which he was appointed president of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in 1998. Since then, many researchers have oriented their work towards the study of the psychological potentialities of the human being.

Flow, strengths and positive emotions

Another important author is Mihaly Csikszentmihalyia Hungarian psychologist who proposed the term flow as a positive state of mind, has also studied factors that contribute to the motivation, challenge and success of individuals.

One of the fundamental components within the theory is temperament, as it is considered to be one of the most important predictors of the levels of positive experiences a person will feel. There are also the character strengthsThese are psychological traits or characteristics that present themselves in different situations over time and their consequences are usually positive. Some of them are: optimism, interpersonal skills, faith, work ethic, hope, honesty, perseverance and ability to flow.

In addition, from Positive Psychology a categorization of positive emotions was madeDepending on the time in which they are visualized: in the present are joy, tranquility, euphoria, pleasure and optimal experience; those of the past are satisfaction, complacency, personal fulfillment, pride and serenity; and in the future are optimism, hope, faith and confidence.

Currently there is sufficient evidence that positive emotions favor health, personal growth and well-being of the individual. They increase people's intellectual, physical and social resources so that they can respond in the best way when unexpected or difficult situations arise.

The conquest of happiness, according to Seligman.

On the other hand, Seligman proposed the model "The three ways to Happiness" (1999) which were:

Several years later, he changed his proposal a little and created the PERMA model (PERMA) model, with the 5 components that are present in people who claim to be happy. With this he changed his object of study from happiness to well-being. Each element must comply with 3 properties to be considered within the theory:

These are the components:

1. Positive emotions

Recognize the benefits of positive emotions in all aspects of the individual's life.

2. Commitment

Make a commitment to ourselves, focus on our strengths and seek to have optimal experiences. seek to have optimal experiences. Generation of pleasure derived from commitment to the effective task and the ability to experience flow experiences.

3. Positive relationships

Increase our social skills to interrelate with others.

4. Sense

Search for the meaning, sense and purpose of our life.

5. Achievement

Personal agency that allows growth and development of human capabilities.

Another theory of Positive Psychology is the Flow theory, proposed by Csikszentmihalyi. Flow, in simple terms, is the state in which the person is completely devoted to an activity for pleasureeverything flows and time flies. It usually occurs when a balance is reached between the challenges represented by the task and the skills that the individual has to solve it.

Barbara Fredrickson and the Enlargement - Construction Proposal

One more theory is the Amplification - Construction proposal, by Dr. Barbara Fredrickson, a social psychologist.a social psychologist. The main idea is that positive emotions cause changes in cognitive activity, expand the possibilities of action and improve physical resources. According to this model, there are 3 sequential effects of positive emotions:

This new experimentation based on Positive Psychology increases personal resources, which can be used in different contexts and under different emotional states. Traditional models of psychology, focused on negative emotions, deal with how these have the function of activating basic defense mechanisms for survival. This model, on the other hand, presents positive emotions as drivers of personal growth and construction of different thoughts and actions, which can be used depending on the present situation.

Its use as a psychological intervention

The main fields of application of the proposal are the clinical, health and educational areas. In the clinical and health area, what is sought is the generation of strategies for prevention and treatment of problems derived from negative emotions, mainly depression, stress and anxiety. It has been proven that patients with affective and anxiety disorders have lower performance in daily tasks and find it much more difficult to solve problems. The goal is to promote positive emotions to create a barrier against psychological disorders.

Within education, it focuses on students' extrinsic motivation, academic motivation, generationThe goal is to promote positive emotions in order to create a barrier against psychological disorders. This favors students' reactions to situations they have to face. In addition, in those institutions that promote the achievement of goals to obtain rewards, increase motivation and decrease the conflictive attitudes of children and young people.

Currently is beginning to be implemented in the organizational area.The objective is to provide tools to generate strategies to improve the work environment and therefore the efficiency in processes and greater productivity of employees.

And to learn more about Positive Psychology...

Here are some recommendations of books in which the main theme revolves around positive psychology:

• The engaged life
• The meaningful life
  • That it contributes to well-being.
  • That many people choose it for its own sake, not only to obtain any of the other variables.
  • That it is defined and measured independently of the rest of the variables in the model.
  • Amplification: they broaden thinking and action tendencies.
  • Construction: it favors the construction of personal resources to face difficult or problematic situations.
  • TransformationThe individual becomes more creative, shows a deeper understanding of situations, is more resilient to difficulties and socially better integrated. An ascending spiral is reached, leading to the experience of new positive emotions.

  • "Flow (Flow): a psychology of happiness", by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

  • "Authentic Happiness", by Martin E. P. Seligman.

  • "The science of well-being: foundations of a positive psychology", by Carmelo Vázquez and Gonzalo Hervás.

  • "Optimismo inteligente: psicología de las emociones positivas" (Intelligent optimism: psychology of positive emotions), various authors.

  • "Overcoming adversity: the power of resilience", by Luis Rojas Marcos.

  • "Flow in business", by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

  • "Is Your Bucket Full? Strategies to boost your positive emotions", by Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton.

  • "Positive Psychology: the scientific and practical explorations of human strengths", various authors.

  • "The science of happiness", by Sonja Lyubomirsky.

  • "The futility of suffering", by María Jesús Álava Reyes.

  • "The life that flourishes", by Martin E. P. Seligman.

  • "Psychologically Speaking", various authors.

  • "The happiness trap", by Russ Harris.

  • "The habits of a happy brain", by Loretta Graziano.

  • "Positive psychology: the consciousness of happiness", by Alan Carr.