Positive Psychology: Positive Environments

Culture

• Individualism

  • A perspective in which the needs of the individual are placed above the needs of the group
  • Core emphases: independence, uniqueness
  • Fundamental unit of analysis: individual

• Collectivism

  • A perspective in which needs of the group are placed above the needs of the individual
  • Core emphases: dependence, conformity, the desire to fit in
  • Fundamental unit of analysis: group

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Ubuntu

• Human flourishing is dependent in many ways on the quality of our relationships, because human beings are social creatures.
• To truly flourish, humans need each other.
• Ubuntu - I am who I am because of who we all are.

Strong, Happy Families

• Most of literature about families is on dysfunction (Sheridan et.al)
• What about studying family successes, and strong and happy families?

Hallmarks of a Happy Family

• It's not money: No economic or social class has cornered the market on family happiness.
• Happy families have a religious affiliation or professed a strong “philosophy of life.”
• Storytelling and traditions: Storytelling is central in happy families, as are traditions and ceremonies. Making time to be together, often at mealtime, is a priority.
• Rules: Happy families have only a few rules, stated broadly.
• Kids and risks: Children are allowed to take some risks, especially in pursuits away from the family.
• Individualization: The family's focus at times is directed toward one family member’s goal, but that member knows the focus will shift.
• Conflict resolution: Happy families have predictable ways to deal with conflict. Family members know that disputes will not threaten the family.
• Private space: Family members have their own spaces, no matter how small, to be alone.
• Gathering space: Some part of the house, often the kitchen, is the accepted gathering place. And, homes of happy families are gathering places for the neighborhood
• By discovering and developing the strengths of each family member and of the collective, children and adults can learn to do more of what they do best in the household.
• We can measure strengths of individuals but we have not created tools to measure and promote family strengths.
• Family-centered positive psychology can create a robust measure of family strengths and to develop empirically supported techniques for helping families become stronger and happier.

Positive Schooling

• Strengths Based Education
  • Dewey (1938) believed that “the purpose of education is to allow each individual to come into full possession of his or her personal power”
  • Starts when educators discover what they do best and develop and apply their strengths as they help students identify and apply their strengths in the learning process so that they can reach previously unattained levels of personal excellence.
  • 5 Dimensions
  • Measurement of strengths, achievement and determinants of positive outcomes
    • Strengths and other positive personal variables (e.g., hope, engagement, and well-being) can be measured with confidence.
  • Individualization, which requires a tailoring of the teacher’s/advisor’s methods to student needs and interests
    • Encouraging students to set goals based on their strengths and helping them to apply their strengths in novel ways highlight unique student qualities and goals that make academic and social pursuits more successful and provide feedback on the use of these qualities and on their role in the successful pursuit of meaningful goals.
  • Networking with friends, family, and professionals who affirm strengths
    • “Strengths develop best in response to other human beings” (Clifton & Nelson, 1992, p. 124).
    • Clifton believed that relationships help define who we are and who we can become, positioning strengths as the qualities that establish connections between people whereas weaknesses create division in relationships (Clifton & Nelson).
  • Deliberate application of strengths in and out of the classroom
    • Strengths-based educators believe that part of their core responsibility is to draw out the strengths that exist within students by heightening students’ awareness of them and cultivating a greater future orientation around how students’ strengths might be catalyzed as they approach their education
  • Intentional development of strengths through novel experience or focused practice across a period such as a semester, academic year, or an internship
    • If students are to maximize their strengths, they will need to cultivate the discipline of proactively seeking new experiences that will expose them to information, resources, or opportunities to heighten their skills and knowledge about how to mobilize their strengths most effectively.
  • By capitalizing on strengths, hope can happen, fostering engagement and transforming strugglers into thrivers, we can turn every school into a happy place to celebrate the love for learning.
  • POSIPSY should collaborate and create a national well-being or promise index for students and to develop empirically supported techniques for helping students move up the ladder of life.
• As an effect of Strengths Based education, it is the hope that students develop:
  • Care, trust and respect for diversity
  • Clear end goals at the end of their academic journey
  • Learning plans and motivation to reach these goals
  • Hope for learning new things and turning weaknesses into achievements
  • Positive contributors to society
• Calling/Vocation
  • A strong motivation in which a person repeatedly takes a course of action that is intrinsically satisfying.
  • Hopefully, your college degree can be a gateway to discovering your true vocation (eg. as psychologists, entrepreneurs, HR practitioners, academicians etc.).

Positive Workplaces

• Many sources of evidence indicate that understanding how people approach work and what they get from it is vital to learning how to achieve the best possible outcomes for individuals and organizations.

• Job Satisfaction

  • Emotional reaction that results from perceptions that one’s job fulfills or allows the fulfillment of one’s important job values.
  • Factors
  • Work that contributes to a healthy life by providing:
    • Variety
    • Safe working environment
    • Sufficient income
    • Sense of purpose in work done
    • Happiness and satisfaction
    • Engagement and involvement
    • Sense of performing well and meeting goals
    • Companionship and loyalty to co-workers

• Meaningful Work

  • Work is meaningful when people are able to understand who they are as workers, what their organization is about, and how they uniquely fit within—and contribute to—their organization

• Internal and Organizational  Factors

  • Internal Factors
  • Some people are endowed with an internally generated sense of meaning and purpose about their work. Research suggests that organizations should energetically seek to identify and recruit these individuals.
  • Organizational Factors
  • Organizational mission and leadership.
  • In order for the typical worker to feel like his or her work matters, a compelling organizational mission should be clearly communicated.

  

• Human Capital

  • Positive Emotions at Work
  • Realizing that your work is your calling
  • Being in flow at work
  • Emotional intelligence in action
  • Developing your strengths. Improving on weaknesses.

• Positive Work Environment

  • Work Redesign
  • Skill variety, task identity and task difficulty are structured to provide a healthy work environment.
  • Task control is important
  • Teams and Work Groups
  • Positive impact of team building and work groups the company’s productivity.
  • Group cohesion = benefits for the company
  • Shared purpose at work
  • Transformational Leadership
  • Style of leadership in which supervisors, managers and members of the team establish a sense of mission or vision for the future.
  • Making the workplace more meaningful

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