The Psychology Book

198

IN CONTEXT

APPROACH

Positive psychology

BEFORE

1943 Abraham Maslow’s A

Theory of Human Motivation

lays the foundations for a

humanistic psychology.

1951 Carl Rogers publishes

Client-Centered Therapy, a

humanistic approach to

psychotherapy.

1960s Aaron Beck introduces

cognitive therapy as an

alternative to psychoanalysis.

1990s Martin Seligman

switches from “learned

helplessness” and depression

to “positive psychology.”

AFTER

1997 Csíkszentmihályi works

on The GoodWork Project with

William Damon and Howard

Gardner, publishing Good Work:

When Excellence and Ethics

Meet and Good Business:

Leadership, Flow, and the

Making of Meaning in 2002.

ECSTASY IS

A STEP INTO AN

ALTERNATIVE REALITY

MIHALY CSIKSZENTMIHALYI (1934– )

When we engage in an activity that we enjoy and that gives

enough challenge to our skills...

...we become absorbed in that activity and reach

a state of “flow” in which...

Above all, we are not conscious of ourselves or the

world around us.

Flow is similar to a state of ecstasy.

...we are

totally

focused.

...we feel a

sense of

serenity.

...we feel a

sense of

timelessness.

...we have a

feeling of

inner clarity.

D

uring the “cognitive

revolution,” there was a

growing movement in

clinical psychology away from

seeing patients solely in terms

of their disorders, toward a more

holistic, humanistic approach.

Psychologists such as Erich

Fromm, Abraham Maslow, and

Carl Rogers were beginning to

think about what constituted a

good and happy life, rather than

merely alleviating the misery of

depression and anxiety. From this

grew a movement of “positive

psychology,” which concentrated

on finding ways to achieve this

good and happy life.