THE ROUGH GUIDE TO PSYCHOLOGYAssociation, Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania
attempted to change that. He called on his colleagues to expand their
focus to include people’s strengths, to study the positives – such as how
to nurture talent – and not just the negatives. The Positive Psychology
movement was born.
The Journal of Positive Psychology published its first issue in 2006
and the International Positive Psychology Association was formed in
- Other key players include Mihály Csíkszentmihály at Claremont
Graduate University, who conceived the idea of flow (see p.268), Barbara
Fredrickson at the University of Michigan, and Alex Linley, founding
director of the Centre for Applied Positive Psychology in the UK.
Central to Positive Psychology is the idea that positive emotions
are more than just the absence of negativity – they have active, func-
tional benefits. According to Fredrickson’s Broaden-and-Build Theory,
whereas negative emotions like fear cause us to narrow our focus and
prepare our bodies for fight or flight, positive emotions such as joy
widen our focus and prompt us to engage in activities – such as sport
and art, that trigger a cascade of long-term positive benefits – improving
our health and broadening our social networks.
The Dalai Lama and Martin Seligman (right) share the stage at a conference on
“The Mind and Its Potential” held in Sydney, Australia in 2009.