Martin Seligman defines positive psychology as, “the study of the factors and processes that lead to positive emotions, virtuous behaviours and optimal performance in individuals and groups”. (Seligman, 2004). The first books on positive psychology started appearing in the 1980’s followed by several academic journals. However it wasn’t until the turn of the millennium that the positive psychology movement started to become recognised. Since then, positive psychology has become the focus of many famous psychologists such as Maslow and Rogers.
Positive Psychology in a Nutshell by Iona Boniwell was written in 2006 and revised and republished in 2008. This book is a comprehensive, user friendly, thoughtful introduction and critique of the field of positive psychology. The areas covered in this relatively small text are captured within 14 short chapters. Each includes an introduction, walk through the related research, tables, diagrams and lots of tips and tools boxes. What can easily escape the reader is that each of these chapters is, in fact, a somewhat casual illustration of a very serious literature review and incisive critique of the field.
The author of this book takes a more relaxed approach when examining such things like the idea of subjective well being, the pros and cons of feeling good and some of the problems the field of subjective well being faces. This is compared to emotional happiness and the idea of eudaimonic well being. However, this book displays more of an emphasis on the application of these ideas such as self determination theory and intrinsic motivation and values. Ideas like that of time perspective are discussed in detail in regards to their positive and negative characteristics. Other areas of the field such as goal setting, decision making and identifying strengths are also discussed quite thoroughly.
The book flows relatively well, it is organised by concept rather than applications. At times the changes between concepts are quite sudden and unexpected but this is understandable as it is quite a small text which summarises a vast area of psychology. Also as a result of its small size, it frequently occurs that the discussion of an idea suddenly stops and the reader is left with unanswered questions. However enough information is provided if the reader wished to research the idea his or her self.
Throughout the book, Boniwell emphasises just how many scientifically orientated psychology books, courses, and research programmes focus on “fixing” what is wrong with an individual and how few focus on defining well being and explaining how it is attained. Basically the focus has always been on negative aspects of psychology rather than positive. The positive psychology movement which originated in the 50’s is an attempt to redress this deficiency by finding a meaning of “the good life” and finding ways to promote this. Unlike the humanistic psychology of Maslow and Rogers, positive psychology is intended to move past biographical studies and philosophising the human condition, to experiments that determine what defines and maintains optimal human functioning. Positive psychology asks questions like, what is it that makes us happy? What is it that makes people healthy? It also “seeks to understand positive experiences and positive personality characteristics”, (Peterson & Seligman, 2004). As a result, positive psychologists hope that it will broaden our understanding of what it is to be human by considering not only how we can free ourselves from negative experiences but also how we can maintain positive mental health.
Boniwell states that, “the ingredients of happiness are well-being and positive health”, (Boniwell, 2006). Various research efforts point to the importance of unvarnished optimism, as well as religious faith, close personal relationships and a sense of self determination. These qualities appear to influence not only a person’s mental life but also basic physical health. ( Salovey et al, 2000). For example, evidence indicates that people who are generally optimistic also have a better functioning immune system with potential consequences for their physical health. (Segerstrom, 2000). Cross-cultural research suggests that some predictors of well being, such as satisfaction with friends and family are consistent across cultures. (Diener et al, 2003). Other predictors of well-being, though, vary by culture. For example, in individualistic cultures, satisfaction with self is closely related to overall well-being. However, in collectivistic cultures, satisfaction with self is less important.
Across all cultures, one factor that is said to be crucial in determining ones happiness is the phenomenon of adaptation, the fact that humans quickly grow accustomed to any stimulus or state to which they are continuously exposed. One very interesting example mentioned in Boniwell’s book comes from a study that compared the sense of well-being among a group of people who had won the lottery and a group of paraplegics. (Brickman et al, 1978). Unsurprisingly, it was found that the two groups were quite different soon after the winning of the lottery or the loss of the use of their limbs. When surveyed several months later, interestingly the two groups were extremely similar in their sense of contentment with their lives. This demonstrates the extraordinary power of adaptation and the human capacity for adjusting to extreme circumstances.
Although adaptation allows us to cope with life’s negative events, their is a downside to it because we can also adapt to life’s gains. Winning the lottery might make us happy for a few months, but then we adapt and no longer take pleasure from our winnings. Getting a new job or buying a new car might likewise make us happy for a period of time, but again, we adapt and so treat our new circumstances as normal with no gain in well-being.
Fortunately though, Boniwell emphasises in her book that adaptation to positive events is not inevitable. In one study, participants were randomly assigned either to a control condition (in which they wrote about their early memories for a week) or to one of several interventions which included tasks such as writing down three good things that happened each day for a week. (Seligman et al, 2005). The data showed that, 6 months later, participants in the intervention groups demonstrated greater well-being and lesser depression. These findings suggest that indeed it may be possible to create interventions that increase long-term happiness.
The psychology of “happiness” attempts to answer some very fundamental questions pursued over the years by philosophers, theologians and politicians. The most prevalent question is of course, how exactly is happiness defined? Happiness is described by Boniwell as a state of well-being, contentment, peace of mind or fulfilment, engaging in life satisfaction or the absence of psychological distress. The term most often used by Boniwell is subjective well-being. This means how individuals make a general overall and personal judgement about their own lives and general satisfaction. These self-evaluations can be broken down into two components; satisfaction at work and home and satisfaction with self and others. Boniwell states that a person can be high on one but low on another but they tend to correlate highly.
However, there is also evidence of heritability of subjective well-being. Twin studies by Bartels et al (2009) have shown that just as people inherit a predisposition for mental illness, they do so for happiness as well. But environmental factors may play a part, particularly childhood home environments. There is some evidence that particular societies and individuals are simply happier then others. Latin nations seem happier than Pacific Ring nations. Seligman et al (2006) found that two things seem to relate to overall national happiness: the wealth, stability and democratic nature of the society in which people live, the social norms and conventions governing the desirability of experiencing positive and avoiding negative emotions. The evidence shows that dire poverty certainly makes people unhappy but great wealth has little effect on subjective well-being. Evidence also shows that the more materialistic one is, the less happy and the happiest people all seem to have good friends.
Throughout the book Boniwell emphasises that there are many simple things people can do to increase happiness. The first is not to confuse success with happiness. The next is to take control over their lives and schedules. Boniwell states that, “if you act happy (smile, express optimism, be outgoing), it makes others react to you differently and you feel happy in return”. (Boniwell, 2006). She also states that finding work and leisure activities that really engage your skills and passions help a great deal, particularly if you can find your “flow state”. Also, having regular exercise and sleeping and eating well help keep up a good mood. However is Boniwell just stating the obvious?
Many of the aspects of positive psychology seem rather obvious and common-sense. Many people know what makes them happy, they know their strengths and weaknesses, they know how to maintain good relationships, they know how to motivate themselves etc. Is it necessary for a book to tell us these things? While reading the book one can became somewhat frustrated as everything that Boniwell is discussing seems very basic and common sense. It is almost as if positive psychology has taken the theme of happiness and positivism and desperately endeavoured to turn it into a science. But, as Boniwell states many times, it is not about knowing what happiness is, it is about maximising your state of happiness. One must keep this is mind while reading this book otherwise everything may seem quite unnecessary and in some cases useless.
Maximising happiness is something which Boniwell emphasises as the core of positive psychology. A series of evidence based interventions are detailed in the last section of the book. These interventions include things like reflecting on positive memories every night, doing random acts of kindness, responding to people’s news in an “active-constructive way”, identifying signature strengths etc. To the reader these interventions seem somewhat ridiculous and useless, it is only the fact that Boniwell emphasises that they are evidence based which makes the reader take them seriously.
One theme of the book, which is in some sense hidden, is Boniwell’s disregard of the contributions of normal or negative psychology. She gives off the impression, although not directly stated, that psychology to date has been overly focused on the negative and completely disregarded the positive. This is very untrue. Gable et al, (2005), discuss the three main reasons why psychology is focused on negative health rather then positive. “The first is compassion. Those who are suffering should be helped before those who are doing well. The second reason is pragmatic and historical, after World War II, psychologists found funding agencies were prioritizing research into mental illness and other problems. The third reason may very well reside in our own nature and our theories about psychological processes. Negative events have more of an impact than positive events and information about bad things are processed more thoroughly than good”. (Gable et al, 2005).
Boniwell’s arguments against this would be that positive psychology has the potential to armour a person with happiness that could help them deal more effectively with negative emotions and life events. But nonetheless, it seems that the focus of psychology has not essentially been on the negative, but more on how the negative can be fixed. In this light mainstream psychology can be seen as more positive then usually noted. Overall, positive psychology has significantly contributed to the understanding of human happiness and optimism. It is certainly a field worth while researching and exploring, but nonetheless the focus of mainstream psychology will always be on the negative. In a positive light, positive psychology has now attracted the interest of economists, theologians, educationists and even business people. It is a movement that is rapidly gathering momentum and converts to examine scientifically the most essential of human conditions, happiness.
