Sharon Begley The Benefits Of Positive Psychology

Ben-Shahar speaks correctly while discussing how individuals must give themselves permission to experience negative feelings before they reach the point where they can completely experience the positive feelings. Therefore, positive feelings are inadvertently blocked by negative feelings. Dr. Mathieu (2011) from Psychology Today, discusses how “providing so many positive solutions can inadvertently blame people for their suffering” (para. 3). Henceforth, whenever people see articles on being happy and social media posts where everyone has their happiest face on, they do not accept the it is okay to have negative feelings as well. Ben-Shahar discusses how many people feel inferior while experiencing negative feelings, but in reality every person except the dead and psychopathic experience the same feelings. Counseling Directory (2016) identifies that “we are continually setting ourselves up to fail” (para. 5). Furthermore, acting as part of the human race means that individuals are imperfect. Striving to reach perfection is the beginning of failure because of the impossibility forever block the

Happiness is a popular topic that is constantly being discussed by experts around the world. In the article “Happy Like God”, written by Simon Critchley, Critchley proposes his view on happiness and its inability to be measured or found through sources outside of ones-self. In another piece written by Richard Schoch, titled “A Crtique of Positive Psychology”, Schoch also discusses the topic through a process of critiquing studies and experiments that claim to have the answer to happiness. Both of these texts not only make claims that happiness cannot be measured, but they also bring questions to the table that provide valuable insights on the wrong answers in order for us to find the right ones.

Trained in the profession of psychology, Sharon Begley had multiple pieces published in The Wall Street Journal, and conducted several survey critiques of happiness. Begley introduces the article by talking about a book labeled “The Loss of Sadness: How Psychiatry Transformed Normal Sorrow Into Depressive Disorder.” Essentially, the novel depicts how today’s society relies too much on a pill for solving ones disputes. It is normal to feel dismal after an event such as a break up, and instead of letting an individual cope with the feelings the assumption is that a person is depressed and needs to seek medical attention. Begley proceeds to touch on the fact that “...only by experiencing sadness can we experience the fullness of the human condition” (557). It is necessary to feel all different emotions rather than masking them all with one. Begley is not stating that happiness is a bad thing, rather she interprets that it is healthier to be in a state where you can have improvement in your life.

She is an “award-winning staff writer at Newsweek” and “has written scores of articles that decode the complexities of science for lay readers” (554). In addition, Begley also “wrote for the ‘Science Journal’ column for the Wall Street Journal” which “first appeared on the Newsweek-affiliated Web site the Daily Beast” (554). These credentials are evidence that allow the reader to trust her as a reliable author. Begley’s article is also trustworthy because she introduces sources that have published research on happiness, are psychologists or psychiatrists, and support her argument. For example, Begley mentions Ed Diener, a psychologist “who has studied happiness for a quarter century” (555). She also mentions the global research that has concluded that the people with “the highest levels of happiness” tend to put in less effort into improving and changing their lives (556). Begley also supports her article by mentioning several examples of well-known people who used their “negative emotions, including sadness, to direct [their] thinking” (557). For example, Begley mentions that “Beethoven composed his later works in a melancholic funk” (557). Begley believes that the negative emotions that lead famous people to their critical thinking can also help people such as, college students (557).

Jennifer Senior discusses her research concerning positive psychology and whether or not happiness is teachable and highlights some of the darker sides of happiness. To start the article, Senior reveals her score on her test from the Authentic Happiness Inventory. The test designed by Chris Peterson of the positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania. This test is intended to numerically score ones level of happiness. In a scale of 1 to 5, Jennifer got a grade of 2.88. This indicated she was below average for most rankings such as “age, education level, gender and occupation” (422). Senior states she is at the 50 percent mark for her given zip code. She stated that liking her

As human beings we are naturally wired to seek happiness wherever we can find it. When we don’t, we may enter a stage of anger, anxiety, or distress. That’s why it is our personal goal to look for happiness and preserve it once we acquire it. Many have explored ways to find what triggers this feeling of “happiness” and what we can do to keep it; nonetheless, the evidence found is hardly sufficient to make a public statement on how to find happiness. For this reason, most of the time we speculate what might provoke this feeling of contentment. “Happiness is a glass half empty,” an essay written by Oliver Burkeman, highlights the importance of happiness and discloses how we can find delight through unorthodox methods. The prime objective of this piece of writing is to inform the audience about the effect of happiness on their lives and how their usual attempts of becoming happier can sabotage achieving this feeling. Furthermore, he wants to promote the benefits of pessimism and describe how it can help us in the long run. The author utilizes pronouns, logos, and pathos in order to prove his point and draw the audience into his essay, in an attempt of making them reconsider the way they live their lives and adopt this new pessimistic way that would greatly boost their level of happiness.

In the video titled “The Happy Secret To Better Work”, Shawn Achor really outlines how being happy and staying positive can really change your life. In other words Achor is referring to positive psychology. When referring to the world around us Achor really believes the majority of people focus on only the negatives and not the positives. He also talks about how that reality might not be what shapes us but in actuality it is our brain that puts a lens on how we perceive things and that may change our happiness. Achor also outlines another trait of our brain, which is that we as humans set progressing goals that never seem to be fulfilled due to human nature. He finishes his presentation by giving the audience some ways to help reverse the way we see the world and help our work and life in general.

Lyubomirsky defines happiness as the “experience of joy, contentment, or positive well-being, combined with a sense that one’s life is good, meaningful, and worthwhile” (184). She challenges the myths that people can find happiness by changing their circumstances and that people either are “born happy or unhappy” (186). Happiness is not something that can be found or something that not everyone can have. People make their own happiness, despite the difficulties they may face. Happiness comes by “choosing to change and manage your state of mind” (185). Lyubomirsky gives cases of people who are happy even though they suffer from losses and setbacks. These are the people whose circumstances should make them unhappy, but their intentional actions bring them joy. She also gives cases of people who have not suffered any major losses but are still unhappy because they may see events negatively and feel helpless before them. Lyubomirsky asserts that “changes in our circumstances, no matter how positive and stunning, actually have little bearing on our well-being” (186). Even though a person’s circumstances may be positive, those circumstances do not make them happy. Lyubomirsky uses a Subjective Happiness Scale to measure happiness, which takes the average of numerical answers to four questions. She argues that in order to become happier, “you need to determine your present personal happiness level, which will provide your first estimate of your happiness

to stay on point and manages to sound very scientific. One of the main ways he does this is by

When having good experiences, most people, if asked, would claim that they feel happy. However, if one decided to ask Martha Nussbaum, author of “Who is the Happy Warrior? Philosophy Poses Questions to Psychology,” she would most likely respond that she was feeling pleasured. In her article, she draws a restrictive line between pleasure and happiness. She introduces the viewpoints of many intellectuals who have spoken on the definition of happiness, and then offers her own opinions in regards to theirs. Her thoughts generally align with those of Aristotle, Plato, and the ancient Greek thinkers – the very ones she spent much of her higher education studying. Her main ideas, that happiness is too complex to be concretely defined and that pleasure is a feeling that we may experience while doing certain things, are well-explained and supported. She offers the idea that happiness is not an emotion – rather, it is a state of being that we should all hope to attain as a result of self-reflection. Nussbaum continually counters the beliefs proposed by psychologists, like the notion that happiness is a one-note feeling, or the concept that happiness is only influenced by positive emotions. In my essay, I will explain how Martha Nussbaum’s explanation of the complexities of happiness is superior, as well as how the ideas of two psychologists, Sonja Lyubomirsky and Daniel Gilbert, are faulty and disreputable. However, it is important to note that just because Nussbaum is the least wrong

In Professor Seligman’s TED Talk he presents to us the state of psychology today. Just what is the state of psychology today? According to Seligman it is good, not good, and not good enough. In the “good” update for psychology today, it is beneficial that psychology is progressing forward. Once what was an extreme science of finding out what is wrong with someone has progressed forward into also finding out how to improve one’s life quality. Seligman states that just sixty years ago no disorder was treatable. However in today’s world of modern psychology not only are fourteen disorders treatable, but two are even curable. In the terms of not good, in Seligman’s opinion, there has been too much of an extreme focus on mental illness. Seligman believes that psychology has gone a pessimistic route and in turn forgotten about improving “normal” lives to make people less miserable. He believes that there should not only be interventions in terms of treating mental illness, but also interventions to make people happier. Seligman lists a few different ways that positive psychology could improve itself to go this route. The main idea is that psychologists should be concerned with both strength and weakness of people, therefore building strengths and repairing weakness. From further research in modern positive psychology has sought to answer just what are happy people and what makes them happy? Seligman explains that

As human beings we are naturally wired to seek happiness wherever we can find it. When we don’t, we may enter a stage of anger, anxiety, or distress. That’s why it is our personal goal to look for happiness and preserve it once we acquire it. Many have explored ways to find what triggers this feeling of “happiness” and what we can do to keep it; nonetheless, the evidence found is hardly sufficient to make a public statement on how to find happiness. For this reason, most of the time we speculate what might provoke this feeling of contentment. “Happiness is a glass half empty,” an essay written by Oliver Burkeman, highlights the importance of happiness and discloses how we can find delight through unorthodox methods. The prime objective of this piece of writing is to inform the audience about the effect of happiness on their lives and how their usual attempts of becoming happier can sabotage achieving this feeling. Furthermore, he wants to promote the benefits of pessimism and describe how it can help us in the long run. The author utilizes pronouns, logos, and pathos in order to prove his point and draw the audience into his essay, in an attempt of making them reconsider the way they live their lives and adopt this new pessimistic way that would greatly boost their level of happiness.

“Thoughts become perception, perception becomes reality. Alter your thoughts, alter your reality” (James “William James Quote”). This sentiment from William James who was a leading philosopher and psychologist at the turn of the 19th Century inspires one to challenge their labeling of a current circumstance, suggesting happiness is a perception that can be manipulated. This mind over matter approach to life’s struggles has become commonplace in the repertoire of motivational speakers, close friends, coaches, and other well-meaning influencers alike. This ambiguous concept has the ability to produce very real consequences, even death. In

Positive psychology, which has emerged recently, is the scientific study of human thriving. Psychology traditionally focuses on dysfunction—on people with mental illness or other psychological problems and how to treat them. Positive psychology, by contrast, is a relatively new field that examines how ordinary people can become happier and more fulfilled. In his 1998 APA presidential address, Seligman, the founder of positive psychology, argued that psychology had become too focused on curing mental illness according to a disease model, and that, for all intents and purposes, it had become a “victimology” (Seligman, 1998). What was needed, he averred, was a new “science of human strengths,” a positive psychology (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000).

Psychologists have not located assured causes that lead people to well-being. David G. Myers in his article “The Funds, Friends, and Faith of Happy People” published in the American Psychologist (2000) and Michael Wiederman in “Why It's So Hard to Be Happy” published in the Scientific American Mind (2007), discuss the reasons which lead people to be happy, and the factors which contribute to unhappiness.