Positive Debate

Question 1

It Positive Psychology relevant in today’s society?

Answer 1

• Education
• Work
• Leisure and lifestyle advice
• Health

Question 2

Relevant - Education

Answer 2

• Martin Seligman - Positive psychology curriculum can: Promote skills and strengths that are valued by most, produce measurable improvements in students’ well-being, facilitate students’ engagement in learning and achievement
• Randomly assigned 347 ninth grade students to a PPC class or a non-PPC class, students, parents, teachers completed questionnaires. Found that PPC students were more cooperative and had better social skills.

Question 3

Irrelevant - Education

Answer 3

• Lack of emprical evidence for PP programmes
• Spence and Short: research that does exist tend to be based on small-scale interventions. - PP in schools shouldn’t be taken without any further, more long-term research
• Seligman admitted that further research needs to be done to ensure that they are effective with students from a variety of socio-economic and cultural backgrounds
• Adding PP to the curriculum is likely to mean that other courses have to be dropped due to limited budgets

Question 4

Relevant - Work

Answer 4

• Mihaly - work can be the major source of our happiness: Flow theory that our experiences will be most positive when challenges and skills are high as that person is enjoying the moment and stretching their capabilities, increasing self-esteem, learning new skills.
• Found that working environments offer more opportunity for positive experiences, and if people admitted to themselves that work can be as enjoyable than most of their leisure time they might work more effectively and improve their QoL.
• staff sicknesses estimated to be costing £26 billion per year
• NHS could save £555 million with healthier work environments

Question 5

Irrelevant - Work

Answer 5

• Not a new idea, only offered empirical support for something most of society know arleady.
• economic impact of improving well-being in workforce is only on a small scale.
• Until PP demonstrate these benefits on a wider scale it is unlikely that employers are able to introduce such investments.

Question 6

Relevant - Leisure and lifestyle advice

Answer 6

• Lefevre- people increase their experience of flow and the quality of their lives by being more conscious and active in their leisure time.
• Allowed us to develop online projects such as Action for Happiness that is a movement for positive social change.

Question 7

Irrelevant - Leisure and lifestyle advice

Answer 7

• Leisure activities that increase flow experiences might not be available for everyone due to lack of leisure time or financial costs.
• Difficult to assess impact of movements such as Action for Happiness on UK society - as in order to conduct objective research all variable needs to be controlled

Question 8

Relevant - Health

Answer 8

• Kubzansky and Thurston - followed more than 6,000 men and women 25-75yo and found that those with high levels of ‘emotional vitality’ ( a sense of enthusiasm, hopefulness, face stress) had a reduced risk of coronary heart disease.
• Medical professionals can treat them with advice on how to increase their happiness.

Question 9

Irrelevant - Health

Answer 9

• Difficult to prove cause and effect relationship between happiness and health.