Positive Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions.

✍ Scribed by Seligman, Martin E. P.; Steen, Tracy A.; Park, Nansook; Peterson, Christopher

• Book ID: 120499785
• Publisher: American Psychological Association
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 653 KB
• Volume: 60
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0003-066X
• DOI: 10.1037/0003-066X.60.5.410

✦ Synopsis

Positive psychology has flourished in the last 5 years. The authors review recent developments in the field, including books, meetings, courses, and conferences. They also discuss the newly created classification of character strengths and virtues, a positive complement to the various editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (e. g., American Psychiatric Association, 1994), and present some cross-cultural findings that suggest a surprising ubiquity of strengths and virtues. Finally, the authors focus on psychological interventions that increase individual happiness. In a 6-group, random-assignment, placebo-controlled Internet study, the authors tested 5 purported happiness interventions and 1 plausible control exercise. They found that 3 of the interventions lastingly increased happiness and decreased depressive symptoms. Positive interventions can supplement traditional interventions that relieve suffering and may someday be the practical legacy of positive psychology.