Can Positive Psychology Make Us Happier - Research Paper Example

 Can Positive Psychology Make Us Happier? Introduction Positive psychology is an emerging new approach in psychology that primarily focuses on helping individuals become happier or lead healthier prosperous lives by encouraging them to develop and cultivate positive feelings rather than the negative aspects of human life. The approach generally employs both psychological science and practice to address human strength and weaknesses, and focused on developing high-quality things in life while repairing the worst. For example, positive psychology not only concerned with enhancing the human physical, emotional, mental and spiritual wellbeing but is focused on increasing the happiness of individuals by fostering various coping strategies needed to overcome negative emotions. The use of positive psychology to increase happiness is particularly premised on the belief that people often have an innate need to cultivate the best within themselves, lead meaningful lives as well as to enhance their experiences of love, play and work. According to many experts, positive psychology may potentially lead to happiness through a number of ways such as by fostering strong social bonds, decreasing negative emotions, enhancing physical activities and enhancing strong employee motivation. Proponents of positive psychology particularly argue that the goal of life would be to pursue happiness. , the approach to happiness under positive psychology is complex, and a combination of practices and activities. Happiness in this context can be defined by the ability to control one’s negative emotions by engaging in activities that foster happiness. The goal is to enhance one’s sense of wellbeing, and leading a life full of happiness. However, despite the increasing popularity of the use of positive psychology, a number of critics are skeptical of its potential effectiveness as they see the approach to be is unrealistic, owing to the fact that negative emotions represent a realistic life. This paper argues that positive psychology can make us happier with particular focus to its pros as well as a few cons of relying on this approach. Cons of Positive Psychology Positive psychology helps individuals to quit negative ways of thinking as an approach to transform their inner feelings. In general, the roots of positive psychology are found in the principle that the human kind will often be worried more about the future than the past or the present. Despite the thinking process varying from one person to another, a person’s ability to draw from the inner part of the brain has the potential to positively transform his life and lead to happiness. Such elements of happiness are often manifested in spheres such as improved psychological well-being, improved emotional well-being, improved social well-being as well as reduced instances of mental illness. Certainly, anybody experiencing the above stated conditions would be considered to be living a happy life. Generally, happiness is widely believed to be two dimensional with the cognitive aspect and the affective aspects. The cognitive aspect encompasses how people think regarding their lives, the level of satisfaction that they attach to their daily lives, and whether they feel they are making any progress as far as realizing their life goal is concerned. The affective aspect encompasses the frequency with which a person witnesses negative and positive emotions. It is worth noticing that a positive emotion is arguably a pillar of happiness and such are only attained in individuals who have a positive psychology about life. Decreasing Negative Emotions Negative emotions are often perceived to be the main cause of unhappiness. On the other hand, a number of sources point that the foundation for heightening and sustaining human happiness lies in the creation of positive emotions (Diener, 2000). This class of emotions range from exercising acts of kindness to engaging in activities that arouse positive emotions. Typical activities include spending time with one’s family members and taking part in a morning pastry. With negative feelings come sadness, feelings of despair, and even some mental disorders such as depression. A number of diseases such as type 2 diabetes have also been attributed to negative feelings. With these complications, people become unhappy in life. It is therefore necessary to ensure that one controls negative emotions to have happiness. However, it is worthwhile that the person pursuing these activities in a bid to create positive emotions uses a Person-Activity Fit Diagnostic prior to choice of what to practice. The aforementioned activities can trigger positive psychology and ultimately lead to happiness especially if a person frequents the activities in addition to being determined to become happier. Physical Education Positive psychology has been associated with good physical health. This is particularly because happiness enlightens the spirit and reduces depression. Most scientists have termed it an ambiguity. It has later been thought that good health instead is the result of positive thinking and more energy in the body (Diener, 2000). In addition, the positive psychology indicates that people can improve their emotional wellbeing through physical activities. This may include walking, playing, or going to the gym. Happiness is not only concerned with promotion of mental and emotional stability, but physical fitness as well. Many diseases, such as high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity have been associated with lack of physical exercises. The positive psychology indicates the importance of physical exercises, arguing that it has the potential to enhance happiness. Nurturing relationships Positive psychology has found a correlation between strong social bonds and happiness. This is especially the family relations. The positive psychology indicates that one can gain happiness through fostering strong social bonds. People with such bonds are able to share their negative emotions with their family members. Lonely people do not have people with whom they can share their emotions. As a result, they are likely to be overwhelmed by negative emotions hence becoming unhappy. For this reason, the positive psychology argues that it is imperative to foster strong social bonds if one is to become happy. Employee motivation According to many experts, most job performances have been boosted through changing the mindsets of workers to positive thinking. Generally, positive psychology identifies the job environment as one of the areas where people are likely to be stressed to the point of suffering from mental ailments. It has been found that the major cause of unhappiness is lack of motivation among the employees. Further, the unhappiness has also been associated with lack of proper coping mechanisms. Creating favorable working conditions for employees will be able to foster happiness. On the other hand, human awareness is likely to expand whenever positive psychology reigns. We will literally figure out things in a more precise manner alongside reasoning in a broad-scoped fashion thus leading to the expansion of our peripheral vision. Interestingly, individuals with such positive emotions are the people who are often interested in developing closer connections with other people. This move not only takes their optimism a notch higher, but also helps them to stay away from depression thus leading to a happy life. Cons Adopting a positive psychology does not guarantee a happy life because of the following reasons. First, nurturing a positive psychology does not relieve a person of the actual problems that she or he experiences. Second, positive psychology does not replace or discard the other aspects of human psychology, yet these aspects also influence a person’s overall happiness. Finally, ee live in a world that features a great difference between living a depression-free life and walking out of bed whilst enthusiastic about a day ahead. Thus, harboring a positive psychology is not a guarantee to happiness. Distortion of Reality Despite all the commendable popular emphasis on positive psychology, it has widely been criticized for being unrealistic and lack of objectivity as it may potentially distort reality regarding the expression of certain emotions. A positive outlook in harsh situations has been termed as not useful. The need to face the reality of a harsh condition like disasters is a necessity (Diener, 2000). Pessimists are characterized by fear of the unknown. This leads to being prepared. Some researches have said that pessimists are better people in times of trouble. They tend to perform better than optimists in hard conditions. Lack of positive thinking in an individual would mean that in occasions such as death or failure they hold the situation well. This is because they spent their time thinking about the possibility of this outcome. Many critics particularly argue that happiness is not just a state that is just arrived by learning how to control one’s negative emotions. The argument is that happiness is a product that is achieved by a life well lived. It is nothing that one need to create within a short time, since this will be temporary. According to Sundararajan (2005), the positive psychology has erred by assuming that negative feelings affect people who are pessimistic, and who cannot control such emotions. It is argued that negative feeling, including stress, and depression are a reflection of the reality of the life that people live. It is a true reflection of what people feel when faced with different issues in life. Negative feelings only become pathological when they adversely affect the normal functioning of the people. This is especially when people begin developing the mental ailments. Nevertheless, happiness should not be defined as the absence of negative emotions, since this is part of the real life. A typical perusal of psychology texts books in the today’s society for example reveals largely a predominance of the topics dealing with the dark psychological aspects of life (Tuagade & Fredrickson 2007). The dark sides of psychological life include; crime, addiction, prejudice, mental illness. The likes of such positive psychology probably reflected a conceptualized aim of remediating both social and personal problems. The bourgeoning discipline of positive psychology aims at exploring the causes and consequences of happiness, virtues and character strengths, resilience as well as various important aspects of psychological adaptions. The positive psychology nonetheless lacked a better understanding approach as to why individual psychological role player indulge into deviant and resilient activities (Storbeck & Clore 2005). Positive psychology does not wholesomely push for cheerfulness at any cost. Sundararajan(2005) particularly warns that optimism of positive psychology may sometimes blind individual psycho-social role players from seeing reality in relation to the necessary clarity. Many individuals seemingly applaud and advocate for a perspective that openly implies that positive psychological behaviors is good for each and every individual. These attributes of positive psychology nonetheless lack are predominantly weak (Sundararajan 2005). Much of data supporting positive psychology school of thought are weak and baseless. Although people who are optimistic in life are physically healthier than others and may additionally live longer, there are no tentative correctional cause and effect of such eminent conclusions as per the psychological scientific paradigm. Thus, thinking positive might make us physically and psychologically healthier, but being healthier in itself may instead lead us to thinking positively. Additionally, positive psychology and good health may ideally be as result of third elementary factor that is being energetic. Finally the positive psychology also presents itself with a lot of ambiguity towards the explanation of individual’s egoistic view of positive thinking. This psychological attribute postulates in ambiguity that optimism boost job moods or lift depressed moods of individuals. Even if more concomitant results of optimism in relation to positive psychology ultimately surfaces, a rosy outlook as per these findings is likely to benefit at least everyone. Defensive pessimists, for instance, tend to fuss a better deal regarding the upcoming stressors such a job-oriented ones or exam stressors; and they overwhelmingly estimate the likelihood of such stressors failures without any connections to positive psychology. Lastly, positive psychology shows a worst scenario in relation elderly participation in the community. Pessimist elderly individuals are less prone to depression that the optimists especially in the psychologically surveillance indication of negative life events. Conclusion In conclusion positive psychology may potentially lead to happiness through a number of ways such as by fostering strong social bonds, decreasing negative emotions, enhancing physical activities and enhancing strong employee motivation. In this context, the approach may be seen to be complementary to the traditional therapy rather than its replacement. However, despite all the commendable popular emphasis on positive psychology, it has widely been criticized for being unrealistic and lack of objectivity as it may potentially distort reality regarding the expression of certain emotions. References Pro Diener, E. (2000). Subjective well-being: The science of happiness and a proposal for a national index. American Psychologist, 55(1), 33-43. Diener, E., & Oishi, S. (2005). TARGET ARTICLE: The Nonobvious Social Psychology of Happiness. Psychological Inquiry, 16(4), 162-167. Martin, M. W. (2007). Happiness and Virtue in Positive Psychology. Journal for The Theory of Social Behaviour, 37(1), 89-103. Rashid, T. (2009). Positive interventions in clinical practice. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 65(5), 461-466. Seligman, M. E., Steen, T. A., & Peterson, C. (2005). 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