Positive Groups & Organizations

Positive Groups & Organizations

George Edw. Seymour

Aeschylus wasa famous Greek poet who lived about 400 BCE, almosttwenty-five centuries ago. He is considered the Father of Greek Tragedy. Why do you suppose Aeschylus said that? [1]

“For most of its history, psychology had concerned itself with all that ails the human mind: anxiety, depression, neurosis, obsessions, paranoia, delusions. The goal of practitioners was to bring patients from a negative, ailing state to a neutral normal, or, as University of Pennsylvania psychologist Martin Seligman[2] puts it, “from a minus five to a zero.” It was Seligman who had summoned the others to Akumal that New Year’s Day in 1998—his first day as president of the American Psychological Association (A.P.A.)—to share a vision of a new goal for psychology. “I realized that my profession was half-baked. It wasn’t enough for us to nullify disabling conditions and get to zero. We needed to ask, What are the enabling conditions that make human beings flourish? How do we get from zero to plus five?”[3]

But Seligman was not the first psychologist to value human potential and a positive personal philosophy. Below are some of the early psychological thinkers in positive psychology.

Positive Psychology Foundations: A Quick Glance Backwards
Year / Who / What
1902 / William James[4] / Healthy Mindedness: “The healthy-minded have a naturally positive outlook on life. Perhaps influenced by the popularity of the Mind-Cure Movement, a social pressure group of the day that promoted positive thinking as a cure for disease and depression, James assumed that some people simply are happy. "We find such persons in every age, passionately flinging themselves upon their sense of the goodness of life, in spite of the hardships of their own condition.”
1958 - 1961 / Gordon Allport[5] / “Gordon Allport described the "mature person” as someone who:

Sets and strives to achieve goals
Assumes personal and social responsibility
Accepts the human condition for what it is
Has courage to be who s/he really is
Actively involved with life
Compassionate, tolerant, has capacity for intimacy, etc.

1954 - 1972 / Abraham Maslow / “Of central interest to Maslow (1962) was the process by which individuals could become self-actualized, a state in which they had access to the full range of their talents and strengths. These talents and strengths, which Maslow cited as characteristic of a self-actualized person, are very much the subject of current positive psychology research….Indeed; Maslow included a chapter entitled “Toward a Positive Psychology” in his landmark Motivation and Personality (1954).”
1964 / --[6] / Historic Humanistic Psychology meeting at old Saybrook, Connecticut attended by Gordon Allport, J.F.T. Bugental, Charlotte Buhler, Abraham Maslow, Rollo May, Gardner Murphy, Henry Murray and Carl Rogers.

But not all agree with this positive movement. “In an article in an American Behavioral Scientistspecial issue on virtue ethics and the behavioral sciences, Alan Tjeltveit also questions positive psychology’s normative bent, although for slightly different reasons. [7] He writes that empirical science cannot “find” moral facts, and claims that the majority of positive psychology projects, with their strong emphasis on scientific method, make this precise mistake. In his view, values cannot be drawn from empirical investigation, and even if positive psychologists do make ethical assumptions, they never spell them out.”

However, Seligman et al (2002) agreed that the word “happiness” is a scientifically unwieldy term, and he and others have addressed that topic. His “fledgling movement is already off to an impressive start. In 1998, it raised several million dollars, including $800,000 from the Adenberg School of Commitment and $750,000 from the Templeton Foundation, and, in late 1999, it held its first-ever Positive Psychology Summit in Lincoln, Nebraska. While one summit participant, psychologist and best-selling author Mary Pipher, Ph.D.,[8] went so far as to call Martin Seligman "the Freud of the next century," the man and his field are not without their critics. Some "humanistic" psychologists claim that Abraham Maslow, Ph.D., and Carl Rogers, Ph.D., came up with the concept 40 years ago—and that Seligman is just "reinventing the wheel." But Seligman counters that there's a big difference between humanistic psychology and positive psychology. "Maslow and Rogers were hostile toward empirical science and there was never any science in their journals," he says. "For positive psychology, however, there are already at least 60 science-based research projects under way."” [9]

Five psychologists in particular provide creative insights into achieving a more positive personal perspective and set of outcomes in life:

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: “to gain satisfaction from everyday monotony, we should do what athletes and creative types do: choose tasks that are in line with our abilities, set clear goals and seek feedback from friendly observers.”

Barbara L. Fredrickson: “Why might optimists enjoy all these advantages? Several studies point to their key trait—resilience. Because they don't turn setbacks into catastrophes, optimists are better able to bounce back from emotional and physical stress than others.”

Dacher Keltner: “humor can transform the sadness of a tragedy. "Laughter is a healthy mechanism; it allows you to disassociate yourself from the event so you can engage in more healthful and social emotions.”

Jonathan Haidt: “The virtues of "giving" are as underinvestigated as those of laughter. But when you do a good deed, you are helping more than just the recipient. "You are helping everybody,"”

Paul Stoltz: “uses the acronym CORE to preserve psychological health in negative situations. He explains:

"C" is for Control—recognize your own power in a situation.
"O" is for Ownership—what part of the problem do you take responsibility for solving?
"R" is for Reach—don't catastrophize, and don't let the problem leak into other parts of your life.
"E" is for Endurance—don't let adversity get you down for long.

Stoltz believes that, on our own, we can get to the "core" of our potential for happiness.

Tal Ben-Shahar is the current instructor of the most popular course at Harvard University. His online talk “discusses the findings of current research on the science of happiness and introduces ideas and tools that can actually make a difference in one's life.” “Research shows that people who are merit-finders - who find the silver lining in a dark cloud, make lemonade out of lemons, look on the bright side of life and do not fault a writer for using too many clichés - are not only happier, but are also more successful and healthier, and actually live longer.”

“In another study, researchers showed that people who spend a few minutes a day writing down things for which they are grateful enjoy higher levels of optimism and happiness and are also more likely to achieve their goals.” When Tal was asked recently during an interview──What one lesson of positive psychology do you think has helped you the most in increasing your own happiness? He replied, “The permission to be human and to simplify my life.”

What do the data tell us?

In 1963, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi began a long-term cross-cultural study on the quality of life and sense of motivation of artists, musicians and athletes. After conducting more than 8,000 interviews and amassing a quarter of a million questionnaire responses from people around the world, he discovered that one key to human happiness is loving your everyday profession. "Whenever people are doing something they enjoy, something they want to do and keep doing because of the experience they get from the activity itself, they report very positive phenomenological states."

In Csikszentmihalyi's book Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life (Basic Books, 1997), he explains that to gain satisfaction from everyday monotony, we should do what athletes and creative types do: choose tasks that are in line with our abilities, set clear goals and seek feedback from friendly observers.

Lyubomirsky et al (2005) performed a meta analysis of 225 papers, comprising over 275,000 participants, and computed 313 independent effect sizes. With respect to work they report that, “In a meta-analysis of 27 studies of affect and job satisfaction, Connolly and Viswesvaran concluded that 10%–25% of the variance in job satisfaction was accounted for by measures of dispositional affect. In their analyses, the mean corrected correlation between positive affect and job satisfaction was .49.” [10]

Jehn (1997) writes, “This is what much of my recent researchhas focused on, specifically using field experiments to “train” workgroups to have aconstructive conflict profile – that is, to focus on task debates, to realize that they arenot personal attacks, and to value the task arguments as productive and respectful.We are getting nice results with basically a 20 minute training where we introduce thetypes of conflict and how they influence group productivity – in fact, we find resultsin both student work teams and organizational groups. And we still find positiveinfluences of the training six months later.”

Seligman et al (2005) conducted “a 6-group, random-assignment, placebo controlledInternet study, the authors tested 5 purportedhappiness interventions and 1 plausible control exercise. They found that 3 of the interventions lastingly increasedhappiness and decreased depressive symptoms. Positiveinterventions can supplement traditional interventions thatrelieve suffering and maysomeday be the practical legacyof positive psychology.”

A Practical Perspective on Happiness Attainment

(Time Magazine, 2005)

University of Pennsylvania Authentic Happiness Questionnaire Center

“These questionnaires measure character strengths and aspects of happiness. All are yours to use at no charge. For each one, you'll immediately receive your score and see how it compares to the scores of others who have used this website. We'll keep a record of your scores, so that you can return later and see how far you've progressed. To see your earlier scores, log in and choose the Test Center link.

You must complete our free registration form to use the questionnaires. Once you are registered, you may log in whenever you like to use them again or view your scores.

Your responses to these questionnaires will be used in research about happiness, but your e-mail address, name, and password will not be included with them. We use them only to give you access to your own records and to send information about the website, if you agree to receive our e-mails.”

VIA Signature Strengths QuestionnaireMeasures 24 Character Strengths
Authentic Happiness Inventory QuestionnaireMeasures Overall Happiness
Work-Life QuestionnaireMeasures Work-Life Satisfaction
PANAS QuestionnaireMeasures Positive and Negative Affect

Resources:

Akumal Manifesto by Sheldon, K., Frederickson, B., Rathunde, K., Csikzentmihalyi, M., & Haidt, J. (2000).

Authentic Happiness Website:

Balltes, Paul B. & Staudinger, Ursula M. (2000). Wisdom: A Metaheuristic (Pragmatic) to Orchestrate Mind and Virtue Toward Excellence. American Psychologist 55, 122-136.

Ben-Shahar, T. (2006). Positive Psychology: The Science of Happiness. Here is the video:

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: Harper & Row Publishers.

Diener, E. & Oishi, S. (2004). The Nonobvious Social Psychology of Happiness.

Gillman, J. (2000). The Science of Optimism and Hope: Research Essays in Honor of Martin E. P. Seligman.

Hirz, R. (1999). Martin Seligman's Journey from Learned Helplessness to Learned Happiness.

Huy, Quy Nguyen (1999). Emotional Capability, Emotional Intelligence, and Radical Change. Academy of Management Review, 24, 325-349.

Isen, Alice M. (2000). Positive Affect and Decision Making. In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland-Jones (Eds) Handbook of Emotions 2nd Edition, 417-435. New York, Guilford Press.

Jehn, K. (1997). A qualitative analysis of conflict types and dimensions inorganizational groups.” Administrative Science Quarterly, 42: 530-557.

Judge, Timothy A.; Thoresen, Carl J.; Pucik, Vladimir & Welbourne, Theresa M. (1999). Managerial Coping with Organization Change: A Dispositonal Perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84, 107-122.

Lyubomirsky, S., King, L. & Diener, E. (2005). The Benefits of Frequent Positive Affect:Does Happiness Lead to Success? Psychological Bulletin:

Positive Psychology Center:

Positive Thinking Magazine: or

Quinn, Robert E.; Spreitzer, Gretchen M. & Brown, Matthew V. (2000). Changing Others Through Changing Ourselves: The Transformation of Human Systems. Journal of Management Inquiry, 9, 147-164.

Ryan, Richard M. & Deci, Edward L. (2000). Self Determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation, Social Development, and Well-Being. American Psychologist, 55, 68-78.

Salovey, Peter; Rothman, Alexander; Detweiler, Jerusha B. & Steward, Wayne T. (2000). Emotional States and Physical Health. American Psychologist, 55, 110-121.

Seligman, M. E. P. (1998). Learned Optimism: How to Change You Mind and Your Life. New York: Pocket Books.

Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (2000). Positive Psychology: An Introduction. American Psychologist, 55, 5-14.

Seligman, M.E.P., Steen, T., Park, N. & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions. American Psychologist:

Simonton, Dean Keith (2000). Creativity: Cognitive, Personal, Developmental, and
Social Aspects. American Psychologist, 55, 151-158.

Snyder, C. R. (1994). The Psychology of Hope. New York: The Free Press.

Wallace, C. (2005). The New Science of Happiness. Time.

Wanberg, Connie R. & Banas, Joseph T. (2000). Predictors and Outcomes of Openness to Changes in a Reorganizing Workplace. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 132-142.

Endnotes:

[1] Here is a list of Aeschylus’ (say Es Ca Lus) commonly recognized quotes. How many of them do you suppose are applicable today?

[2] “Martin E.P. Seligman is an American psychologist….well known for his work on…"learned helplessness", and more recently, for his contributions to leadership in the field of Positive Psychology. According to Haggbloom et al's study of the most eminent psychologists of the 20th Century, Seligman was the 13th most frequently cited psychologist in introductory psychology textbooks throughout the century.”

[3] This quote from Time magazine was written by Wallace (2005).

[4] William James (1902).

[5] Gordon Allport:

[6] Humanistic Psychology meeting: “The conferees questioned why the two dominant versions of psychology did not deal with human beings as uniquely human nor with many of the real problems of human life. They agreed that if psychology were to become more than a narrow academic discipline limited by the biases of behaviorism, and if it were to study human attributes such as values and self-consciousness that the depth psychologists had chosen to de-emphasize, their "Third Force" would have to offer a fuller concept and experience of what it means to be human.” See:

[7] Alan C. Tjeltveit, “Implicit Virtues, Divergent Goods, Multiple Communities: Explicitly Addressing Virtues in the Behavioral Sciences,” American Behavioral Scientist 47 (4), pp. 395-414.

[8] Mary Pipher’s internationally acclaimed books can be found here: I heard her speak in San Diego some years ago, and her book, Reviving Ophelia, is highly recommended.

[9] Wellner and Adox (2000) Happy Days:

[10] These authors conclude, “happy people appear to be more successful than their less happy peers in the three primary life domains: work (mean r = .27),relationships (mean r = .27), and health (mean r = .32).