Evolution of Positive Psychology: Increasing "Positivity" Across the World: History of Positive Psychology

Positive psychology is a rapidly developing field that focuses on the science of positive aspects of human life, such as happiness, well-being and flourishing. As summed up by Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in 1998, positive psychology is "a scientific study of optimal human functioning [that] aims to discover and promote the factors that allow individuals and communities to thrive." This "positive" branch of psychology intends to complement, not to replace, the traditional areas of psychology that mainly concern with the "negatives".

Although Positive psychology has a relatively short history, it has roots in the humanistic psychology that focused heavily on happiness and fulfillment. Several leading humanistic psychologists including Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, and Erich Fromm developed theories and practices pertaining to human happiness and flourishing. And this area became "official" when Prof. Martin Seligman, considered as the Founder of Positive Psychology, chose it as the theme for his term as president of the American Psychological Association since 1998.

Positive psychologists aims at enhancing the psychological well-being of human by living a "good life", which means "using your signature strengths every day to produce authentic happiness and abundant gratification" according to Seligman. Positive psychologists are interested in four topics: (1) positive experiences, (2) enduring psychological traits, (3) positive relationships and (4) positive institutions. And they considered "complete mental health" should be consisted of high emotional well-being, high psychological well-being, and high social well-being, along with low mental illness.

As a new and growing area, the central theories in the field are continuing to evolve. In 2011, Prof. Seligman has introduced a new theory of well-being called "P.E.R.M.A." that stands for "Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning and purpose, Accomplisment". Interesting, this new theory was developed when his "authentic happiness" theory had been challenged by Senia - Publisher of PPND!