Extending Traditional Psychological Disciplines to Positive Psychology: A View from Subjective Well-being

This article reviews how research from traditional psychological disciplines has been extended and applied to the area of positive psychology (PP), specifically in the area of subjective well-being (SWB). Moving from a universal to cultural perspective, then to a group, and finally an individual perspective, this article draws theories from evolutionary, cultural, social, and personality psychology. The evolutionary perspective that negative emotions (i.e. evolved psychological mechanisms) are an impediment to positive psychology’s goal of building positive experiences has been extended and modified. Research in PP now recognizes the pitfalls of excessive positive emotions and happiness, and how negative emotions can contribute to optimal human functioning. The cultural approach investigates cultural variations in conceptualizations of SWB and highlights that the benefits and detrimental effects of positive and negative emotions are not universal. Theories on social dynamics further our understanding of how evaluative judgments influence well-being, and address a fundamental question in PP: Is the goal of increasing people’s well-being viable? Finally, personality theories explain individual differences in well-being and the practice of PP. In sum, the recognition that PP encapsulates the negative, and growing awareness of the importance of culture, social context, and the individual, heralds the evolving conceptualization of PP.     

当前积极心理学变革的新趋向及理论价值

近20年来西方积极心理学以其独特的研究视角曾经吸引过全球人的目光,被誉为是理论心理学研究的一个新的重要方向。积极心理学主要围绕着“一个中心三个支撑点” 来开展相关的研究,即以主观幸福感为中心,以积极体验、积极人格、积极社会制度为支撑点。在强硬的现实面前,具有“理想主义情怀”的积极心理学也面临着许多困境与挑战。近年来西方一些学者正在寻求突破积极心理学的瓶颈性因素,围绕着“美德、意义、韧性和幸福”这四大支柱打造新的版本,促进积极心理学理论研究的可持续发展和升级换代。     

Tracing the size,reach, impact,and breadth of positive psychology

This study quantitatively assessed the size, disciplinary reach, impact, and topic breadth of positive psychology (PP), in order to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the growth and significance of the field. Over 1.7?million documents in 700 PsycINFO ^® journals covering the fields of psychology, psychiatry, neuroscience, management, business, public health, and sport science were analyzed using semantic and bibliographic methods. Results indicate that PP covers many different research topics from a diverse range of disciplines, and that PP literature has been growing rapidly in significance. Over 18,000 documents were identified as belonging to PP, with 2300 published in 2011. These documents represent over 4% of PsycINFO ^® documents within the data-set published that year, and make PP close to the median size of all disciplines listed in the Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Reports ^®, Social Sciences Edition. The aggregate impact factor for PP in 2011 was 2.64.     

How do High School Youths’ Educational Experiences Relate to Well-Being? Towards a Trans-Disciplinary Conceptualization

Educational research and practice could benefit from and contribute to multi-disciplinary study of well-being. In particular, research on the well-being of youth within and beyond school may benefit students, educators, administrators, and the community. This review provides a conceptual framework that (a) integrates research on well-being from economics, sociology, psychology and the health sciences, (b) organises this literature within seven domains of inquiry: Having, Being, Relating, Thinking, Feeling, Functioning, and Striving, and (c) highlights research pertinent to senior high school level educational experiences. This framework provides an important foundation from which further research on well-being can be developed.     

Self-Affirmation Theory and the Science of Well-Being

Social psychological self-affirmation research shows that value affirmations often boost adaptive functioning. Yet, such effects are under-recognized within the fields of well-being studies and positive psychology. This paper reviews self-affirmation theory and the principles by which self-affirmation is understood to facilitate resilient responses to self-threats. Next, it reviews research on the impact of self-affirmation on well-being, including feeling good and functioning well. The positive-activity model is employed to conceptualize self-affirmation as a well-being intervention and to underscore potential mediators and moderators of the relationship between self-affirmation and well-being. Future lines of investigation are outlined, including the role of self-affirmation within existing well-being interventions, the use of self-affirmation to enhance other well-being interventions, and the measurement of individual differences in trait self-affirmation in the prediction of well-being.     

Marital virtues and their relationship to individual functioning,communication, and relationship adjustment

Extant research has documented both individual well-being and couple communication as important predictors of marital adjustment. In the recent years, researchers have looked beyond problem-based predictors, shifting the focus from pathology and communication to include positive actions and ways of being. This study used Fowers’ [(2005) Virtue and psychology: Pursuing excellence in ordinary practices. Washington, DC: APA Press] framework of virtue ethics to test additional potentially important linkages. This framework posits that characteristics, such as compassion and generosity, which are foundational to relationship adjustment. This study examined the direct and indirect links among individual functioning, marital virtues, communication, and marital adjustment. Data were collected from a sample of 422 married and cohabitating individuals using a self-report survey. Individual well-being significantly and consistently predicted virtues, communication, and relationship functioning. Marital virtues and communication were found to mediate the relationship between individual well-being and relationship adjustment. In addition, communication was found to mediate the relationship between marital virtues and relationship adjustment. Findings provide support for the notion that character strengths – enacted as marital virtues – influence communication and relationship adjustment.     

Service Delivery Issues and Program Evaluation in Pediatric Psychology

Presents a framework for categorizing pediatric psychology research into practice and service system outcomes and functioning. The questions of importance are (a) who is being served, (b) what services are provided, (c) how treatments are implemented, (d) how services are organized and staffed, (e) what are the outcomes of the services, (f) how do various consumers perceive services, (g) how services are reimbursed, and (h) what are alternatives and innovations? The framework of program evaluation is detailed for domains most germane to service delivery in pediatric/child health psychology. Such domains include diagnostic information on patients, types of intervention, behavioral/psychological outcome variables, costs of treatments, service system functioning, and perceptions of satisfaction from multiple sources. This framework may be useful in directing future research on the delivery of services in pediatric psychology settings, thereby adding to the value of the field.     

Personality Traits and Metacognitions as Predictors of Positive Mental Health in College Students

Presence and absence of both psychological distress and well-being are important in predicting life outcomes among youths. Recently, scholars have been paying increased attention to the role of positive mental health (PMH) in predicting psycho-social well-being among young people. The present study aims to test a model designed to assess the unique contribution of personality traits and metacognitions to four domains of PMH (belief-in-self, belief-in-others, emotional competence, and engaged living) among young adults. A total of 795 Italian college students participated in the study. Path analysis revealed that different personality traits were contributors to different PMH domains, and that four of the five metacognitions domains (negative beliefs about thoughts, cognitive confidence, need to control thoughts, and cognitive self-consciousness) differently predicted the four PMH domains. In conclusion it would appear that a combination of personality traits and metacognitions are differently involved in PMH domains. These should be taken into account when developing preventive programmes to promote PMH among young adults.     

Évaluer le fonctionnement optimal : échelles de psychologie positive validées en langue française

Positive psychology research studies have lead to greater consideration and promotion of optimal functioning in the different fields of psychology. This article introduces an epistemological questioning about optimal functioning assessment and practical considerations on the use of existing psychopathology scales which can be reinterpreted in order to assess well-being and positive characteristics (if one considers human psychology as a continuum going from disorders to optimal functioning), and the use of existing questionnaires measuring specific positive personality traits (if one considers that the continuum theory may not explain all the phenomena observed). The authors present a selection of questionnaires validated in French, which can be used for research studies and clinical practice.     

Positive Psychology Interventions for Chronic Physical Illnesses: A Systematic Review

Positive health focuses on enhancing health along with curing illness to bring about well-being. Treatment for physical illness generally involves drug therapy, while the psycho-social aspects, specifically the positive psychology perspectives, are largely ignored; nevertheless, a growing number of investigations are now studying the effects of positive psychology interventions on health outcomes. The objective of this paper is to systematically review positive psychology interventions in chronic physical illness. A literature search through the databases of EBSCO, PubMed and PsycINFO, reference lists of significant papers and grey literature was conducted following four criteria set for this review. The number of studies selected finally that acceded to the criteria was 14. These studies were analysed by focusing on the study characteristics, kinds of intervention and outcomes of positive psychology interventions. Overall findings reveal that different intervention programmes have been devised by combining various exercises, writing is the most commonly used method for administration and positive psychology interventions are considered feasible and acceptable by patients, but findings about their usefulness are inconclusive. Suggestions for future research, clinical practice and application in communities have been provided which may be useful for clinicians, practitioners and caregivers.     

Self,social identity and psychological well-being

Self and social identity are key elements in the understanding of a person’s strivings for health and well-being. This review (i) examines the concepts of self, social identity, and psychological well-being; (ii) integrates empirical evidence that relates various self-aspects or social identities to psychological well-being; (iii) analyzes within a stress and coping framework the well-being consequences of socially devalued self or threatened identities, perceived discriminations, challenges of acculturation and identity management; and (iv) delineates the role of self, social identity and related psycho-social variables as moderators and mediators in pathways leading to psychological well-being. Besides listing some methodological issues and empirical deficits, major concerns for future research are also identified. An explicit self and social identity perspective of this research synthesis brings personal and social aspects together, and this interface offers exciting opportunities for research advancement.     

Happiness,excellence, and optimal human functioning revisited: Examining the peer-reviewed literature linked to positive psychology

Since the original call by Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000) for a new science of happiness, excellence, and optimal human functioning, there has been an explosion of activity in, acclaim for, and criticism of positive psychology. The purpose of this study was to identify and examine the peer-reviewed literature linked to the positive psychology movement. An extensive systematic review identified 1336 articles published between 1999 and 2013. More than 750 of these articles included empirical tests of positive psychology theories, principles, and interventions. The results show a fairly consistent increase in the rate of publication, and that the number of empirical studies has grown steadily over the time period. The findings demonstrate that positive psychology is a growing and vibrant sub-area within the broader discipline of psychology, committed to using the same rigorous scientific methods as other sub-areas, in pursuit of understanding well-being, excellence, and optimal human functioning.     

Sleep of Reason: critical reflections on performance arts-based research as psycho-social commentary in expressive arts therapy praxis

This arts-based case study is a critical reflection on how performance art can be used as psycho-social commentary. It is an attempt to amplify arts-based inquiry using critical understandings of diverse and inclusive meaning making in expressive arts praxis and psychology. It examines the use of performance art in the expressive arts to understand psycho-social proximity to and complicity in dehumanization and structural racism. This arts-based research exists in the intersections of culture, race, the arts, and social commentary with the goals of learning how it facilitates awareness of psycho-social justice and how current uncritical expressive arts and psychology praxis and practitioners can perpetuate structural racism and racial trauma. It asserts performance art can be utilized as a catalyst for psycho-social transformation in creative ways.     

TRANSFORMING THEORY AND RESEARCH WITH WOMEN

We look at some of the ways in which feminist theorists and researchers apply new insights to established topics in psychology, as they explore the landscape of the unknown and unspoken in the lives of girls and women. The articles in this special issue present research and reflections by a group of feminist scholars, some of us from the editorial board of the Psychology of Women Quarterly and others from the larger academic community. Each contributor, selecting from a personal interest or expertise, reconceptualizes a topical area of psychology with the intent of reframing our understanding of its meaning, its impact on women's functioning, and/or its application to feminist research and theory. To provide a background, we review a sample of contributions of feminist thought to the contemporary revolution in science. We then ask the question: In what ways have feminist perspectives and scholarship transformed psychology in the particular areas addressed by these authors?     

Domain-Specific Growth Mindsets and Dimensions of Psychological Well-Being Among Adolescents in Hong Kong

With a view initiated by the positive psychology movement that research emphases should be directed to examining human positives and well-being rather than psychopathology and dysfunctioning, this study explored the growth mindset as a character strength affecting the well-being of adolescents. Specifically, this study investigated the domain-specificity of growth mindsets, with a focus on exploring the beneficial effects of different growth mindsets on adolescents’ positive psychological well-being, taking into consideration gender and age group differences. A sample of Hong Kong adolescents (N = 856) completed the Growth Mindset Rating Form that assesses respondents’ growth mindsets in the domains of intelligence, ability, personality and relationship, and the Chinese version of Ryff’s Psychological Well-Being Scale. Results from model-comparison using Confirmatory Factor Analysis indicated that a four-factor model provided the best fit to the mindset data, supporting the domain-specificity of growth mindsets. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses results suggested that the four growth mindsets had differentiated effects on six dimensions of psychological well-being over and above the effects of gender and age group. Such domain-specific effects of growth mindsets on psychological well-being dimensions could be interpreted as largely applicable to boys and girls, and to younger and older age groups, based on regressions conducted with separate groups. These separate group analyses also identified some notable group differences for growth mindsets of ability and relationships. Implications for promoting the cultivation of different growth mindsets as character strengths for adolescent positive functioning are discussed.

     

Cognitive-behavioral,solution-focused life coaching: Enhancing goal striving,well-being,and hope

Research is in its infancy in the newly emerging field of coaching psychology. This study examined the effects of a 10-week cognitive-behavioral, solution-focused life coaching group programme. Participants were randomly allocated to a life coaching group programme (n =?28) or a waitlist control group (n =?28). Participation in the life coaching group programme was associated with significant increases in goal striving, well-being and hope, with gains maintained up to 30 weeks later on some variables. Hope theory may explain such positive outcomes. Life coaching programmes that utilize evidence-based techniques may provide a framework for further research on psychological processes that occur in non-clinical populations who wish to make purposeful change and enhance their positive psychological functioning.     

A complex dynamic systems approach to lasting positive change: The Synergistic Change Model

This paper argues that psychological and social functioning is fundamentally complex, and that this complexity is critical to understanding how lasting positive changes can be achieved. Principles from complex systems theory are integrated into an empirical positive psychological framework to propose a domain-based systems model of positive change called the Synergistic Change Model. This model proposes that enduring positive change depends on the formation of mutually supportive interactions across multiple domains of psychological and social functioning. The paper uses the model to explore three types of response to intervention – relapse, spill-over, and synergy – which have been supported in the existing positive psychology literature. Three practical intervention strategies arising from the model are outlined to inform the design of future positive interventions. The model challenges reductionistic approaches to positive change and offers several approaches to embrace the complexities of lasting positive change in future theory and research.     

Recent advances in the psychology of creativity / Avances recientes en psicología de la creatividad

Abstract

This introduction to Studies in Psychology presents a collection of theoretical and empirical works covering various areas of research into the psychology of creativity. This issue contains five articles that present theories or review evidence regarding various approaches to creativity and three articles that are empirical reports. The articles cover a broad range of topics related to the psychology of creativity. Thus, this collection of articles highlights the fact that research into creativity expands our basic understanding of the functioning of the mind, has an impact on other related areas of psychological research and has an increasing number of applications.     

The benefits of studying immigration for social psychology

This Agenda article argues that studying the continuing world‐wide migration and the resulting cultural diversity has specific benefits for social psychology: it raises new questions for the field, introduces new topics of research, and challenges conventional ways of thinking. The argument is developed in relation to four issues. The first one relates to the literature on ethnic and civic nationhood and the importance for social psychology to study citizenship and lay understandings of genetics. The second issue relates to the social psychological literature on threat and prejudice and the relative lack of interest in prosocial behavior and intergroup toleration. Third, the limiting implications of the majority–minority schematic framework that dominates in social psychology are discussed. Finally, the relevance of studying immigration for the evidentiary value movement that has developed in response to the current ‘crisis’ in (social) psychology is discussed.