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Mapping the Contours of Contemporary Positive Psychology
Kenneth E. Hart and Thomas SassoUniversity of Windsor
This paper seeks to quantify scholarly interest in the rapidly emerging field of Positive Psychology (PP)
and to empirically map the contours of the discipline using six different methodologies. Results document
extraordinary growth in the last decade and confirm that scholars in this area have devoted the lion’s
share of their attention to two of the three ‘Pillars’ of PP as proposed by Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi
(2000): (1) the study of positive subjective experience and (2) positive personal traits. While interest in
positive institutions has been somewhat sparse, there has been increased concern with the topics of
‘resilience’ and eudaimonia (broadly defined). The latter developments help to dispel the myth that PP
is an elite endeavour solely concerned with Pollyanna-style ‘happiology’ in people who find themselves
in idyllic circumstances. Hopefully the results of our content analysis of the field will encourage
instructors who teach PP to provide their students with a well-balanced curriculum, one that accurately
reflects the heterogeneity of the field, and one that mirrors recent scholarly trends.
Keywords: definition, positive psychology, review, domains, temporal trends, specializations
As Noted by Yen (2010),
“over the past 10 years, there has been a literal explosion of work
within the new subdiscipline of positive psychology. Commanding
record enrollment rates in undergraduate psychology courses across
North America and around the world, and attracting a considerable
amount of media attention, positive psychology has become positively
faddish. It is Harvard’s most popular course, having recently sup-
planted introductory economics. . . . Within the academy, the field has
rapidly established itself through a large and growing body of re-
search data, journals, books, articles and special issues, international
associations and conferences, funding, dedicated research centers,
and courses and graduate programs.” (p. 67 )
While a number of authors have noted that increased attention is
being given to Positive Psychology (PP), pronouncements of a
boom have rarely been substantiated by empirical research that has
approached the question using a quantitative methodology. In the
current article, we document the growth of scholarly interest in PP
by performing a year-by-year count of citations contained in
PsycINFO. At the same time, in an effort to contribute to ‘bound-
ary work,’ we also empirically map the contours of the field using
six different methodologies. To briefly preview our findings, we
were able to confirm anecdotal observations (e.g., Yen, 2010)
suggesting PP has experienced extraordinary growth in the past
decade. Our empirical efforts to demarcate PP’s self-narrationyielded a heterogeneous picture. Content analyses of subdomains
of concern to PP suggest a complex identity, one that is incongru-
ent with the popular cultural stereotype that depicts PP as an elite
endeavour concerned solely with grinning yellow smiley faces and
Pollyanna-style positive thinking. We conclude our paper by en-
couraging instructors who teach PP to make use of the current
results so as to provide students with a well-balanced and com-
prehensive curriculum, one that accurately reflects the empirically
determined breadth and scope of the field.
What Is the Evidence for a Boom?
Wong (2011) agrees with Yen (2010) in suggesting PP has
rapidly become a ‘hot’ topic in academic circles and in the popular
culture. While anecdotal accounts touting the PP boom are plen-
tiful, research is lacking that documents changes in the extent of interest in the academy over time. There is also a dearth of
empirical evidence to quantify how much scholarly attention has
been given to specific topic areas and whether interest is burgeon-
ing equally in these emerging subdomains of inquiry. Thus, we do
not know whether the boom that has ostensibly occurred since the
year 2000 is generalised or localised to a few constructs/processes.
The concern of the current paper, is to characterise trends within
the broad scholarly literature that is indexed in PsycINFO.
With regards to prior research in this area, results of a prelim-
inary effort to take stock of developmental trends in the field of PP
have been reported by Lopez et al. (2006). Unlike the current
study, which examined trends in psychology as a whole, Lopez et
al. (2006) assessed temporal trends in the prevalence of PP content
in the counselling psychology literature. Based on their prior
knowledge of the field, these authors identified (on an a priori
basis) a total of 35 concepts/processes they deemed of central
concern to PP. They then performed a content analysis to assess
mention of these topics in 1,135 articles published in four coun-
selling psychology journals. Results showed that PP constructs
were represented in 25% of the literature during the 20-year period
of the 1970s and 1980s. During the 1990s, PP content increased in
popularity, showing a prevalence of 34%. During the first five
years of the 2000s, scholarship bearing on PP concepts/processes
increased to 40%. These findings suggest that increased efforts
have indeed been made over time to integrate PP into the field of
Kenneth E. Hart and Thomas Sasso, Psychology Department, University
of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Kenneth
E. Hart, Psychology Department, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario
N9B 3P4, Canada. E-mail: [email protected]
Canadian Psychology © 2011 Canadian Psychological Association2011, Vol. 52, No. 2, 82–92 0708-5591/11/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0023118
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counseling psychology. The escalating pattern of citations of PP
content reported by Lopez et al. (2006) has recently been repli-
cated in a paper that examined PP content in health psychology
journals (Schmidt et al. 2011). Thus, there is empirical evidence
that PP has become increasingly popular, at least in these two areas
of specialization. Results reported by Lopez et al. (2006) have
recently been replicated in a paper that examined PP content inhealth psychology journals (Schmidt et al. 2011).
In a third empirical study, Froh, Heubner, Youssef, and Conte
(in press) took stock of the interface of PP and scholarly literature
in the specialised area of school psychology. Their methodology
involved a content analysis of 1,168 articles published in four
school psychology journals, and their goal was to perform a
frequency count of the occurrence of any of 76 concepts/processes
they felt typified core concerns of PP. Results showed that PP
constructs were represented in 27% of the literature during the last
50-year period. Of special concern to the current study is the temporal
trend they presented in Figure 1 of their paper. Froh et al. (in press)
show the proportion of scholarly output devoted to PP has not in-
creased subsequent to the year 1998 (the year Seligman first issued his
call for PP scholarship). The flat trajectory of the 50-year publication
trend is inconsistent with results of Lopez et al. (2006) and Schmidt
et al. (2011). It also fails to support narrative pronouncements of rapid
growth of PP (see Wong, 2011 and Yen, 2010).
The null results of Froh et al. (in press) are surprising given
anecdotal evidence hinting at rapid infiltration of PP into the
domain of school/educational psychology. Examples of this trend
can be seen in the recent publication of The Handbook of Positive
Psychology in Schools (Gilman, Huebner, & Furlong, 2009), the
recent call for papers by the Journal of Positive Psychology on
work connecting PP to education, and recent landmark publica-
tions in peer review journals (e.g., Seligman, Gillham, Reivich,
Linkins, & Ernst, 2009, and Lopez & Louis, 2009).
To summarise, prior empirical efforts to quantify the growth of scholarship involving PP concepts/processes have produced find-
ings that are limited in their generalisability and mixed in terms of
their conclusions. Evidence strongly indicates scholarly efforts to
integrate PP into counseling and health psychology have increased
over time. However, for the area of school/educational psychol-
ogy, the data for escalation is less convincing.
The first purpose of the current paper is to extend existing
inquiry by evaluating the extent to which PP content is represented
in the broad range of behavioural science literature that is indexed
in PsycINFO. To this end, we performed frequency counts of PP
content using ‘keyword’ searches. Each count covered a 2-year
period, starting in 1990 and ending in 2009. Because we assessed
a 20-year period, we were able to determine whether and to what
extent interest in PP has accelerated subsequent to 1998, the year
that Seligman gave his inaugural message as the President of the
American Psychological Association.
With regards to coding of PP content, we did not make use of the
a priori list of 35 PP terms identified by Lopez et al. (2006) or the
more comprehensive list of 76 used by Froh et al. (in press). Ourprocedure for coding was different in a number of ways. To parse the
many PP constructs/processes into a smaller number that is more
manageable, we adopted a post hoc approach that capitalized on
converging findings of narrative data derived from four different
methodologies. These methods are described more fully later in this
paper. Briefly, one of the methods involved a content analysis of 53
published narratives that purported to define the field of PP.
A cluster analysis of these definitions produced six main themes
or clusters (results shown in Table 1). The labels we gave to these
themes informed our coding of PP content. The terms we included
in our ‘keyword’ searches of PsycINFO were also informed by a
content analysis of topics represented in PP course syllabi (results
shown in Tables 3 and 6) and contents of tables of contents of PP
books (results shown in Table 7). Finally, we also asked CanadianPP scholars to identify topic areas they felt were core to the field
(results shown in Table 2).
Convergence of the results of these four methods provided
labels for our keyword search of PsycINFO. Convergence also
enabled us to extend prior empirical research that addressed the
question of whether PP is expanding its influence on the discipline
and profession of psychology. A unique contribution of the current
study is that it promises a more precise characterisation of the
specific nature of developmental trends. Our efforts to organise
and distill a wide range of PP content resulted in the identification
of clusters or themes. Our taxonomy permitted us to document the
presence or absence of growth in scholarship within eight different
subareas of PP specialization. These clusters of content, in turn, ledus to restrict our PsycINFO ‘keyword’ searches to concepts/
processes related to the following eight themes: (1) resilience, (2)
happiness, (3) life satisfaction, (4) character/strengths/virtues, (5)
meaning and purpose in life, (6) flourishing/thriving, (7) the good
life, and (8) the life worth living. For the themes 6, 7, and 8 we
conducted exact phrase searches. For themes 1 through 5, we searched
using a variety of synonymous terms. Where appropriate, we ex-
cluded irrelevant content (e.g., semantic meaning in linguistics).
Empirical Documentation of the Growth of PP
Scholarship
The first research method that we used to document the osten-
sible rise of academic interest in the field of PP involved a 20-year
count of papers that have been published in peer-reviewed sources
that involved concepts and terms related to PP. Our literature
searches were conducted in the summer of 2010, and results are
visually depicted in Figures 1, 2, and 3. What is not shown in the
Figures is our search of the term ‘PP.’ When PP was entered into
a PsycINFO keyword search as an exact phrase, just over 10,000
citations were located over the 20-year span from 1990 to 2009
When the term ‘PP’ was entered in a title search of PsycINFO, 866
hits were identified. In light of the counts shown in Figure 1, we
conclude the scope of PP-related scholarship is not adequately
captured by the term PP.Figure 1. Growth of scholarly interest in positive psychology: A search
of keywords found in PsycINFO.
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Figure 1 represents composite or aggregate (sum score) values
depicting levels of publication for the eight subdomains of PP thatare noted above. Inspection of Figure 1 reveals the following.
Since the year 1998 there have been more than 20,000 PP-related
references published in PsycINFO. This finding suggests wide-
spread popularity as reflected in a high level of scholarly interest and
scholarly output. Figure 1 also documents a developmental trend in
which scholarly output in the PP subdomains under consideration has
substantially increased since Seligman gave his APA Presidential
Address. We conclude that, as a disciplinary area of inquiry, PP is not
merely surviving; it is thriving and flourishing!
Given that the field of PP comprises a number of subdomains and
that levels of scholarly interest may vary as a function of the nature of
these areas, we performed a number of ‘area-specific’ keyword
searches of the PsycINFO database. We conducted the subdomain
analysis in hopes that such an increased level of specificity would
enable us to empirically evaluate whether PP is nothing more than the
study of happiness and positive emotions. By painting a more fine-
grained picture of the field, we felt this would help clarify the
branches of PP and bring its various themes into bold relief.
In taking stock of the published literature, we examined publication
rates within each of the following eight topic areas: (1) ‘resilience,’ (2)
‘happiness,’ (3) ‘life satisfaction,’ (4) ‘character and/or strengths
and/or virtue,’ (5) ‘meaning and purpose,’ (6) ‘flourishing,’ (7) ‘the
good life,’ and the (8) ‘life worth living.’ Synonyms for most of these
terms were also searched. For instance, a number of synonyms for
happiness were searched. Some of these included ‘positive emotions,’
‘zest,’ ‘gratitude,’ and the like. For each search, exclusionary criteriawere implemented where appropriate. For instance, we screened out
false positives related to linguistics and etymology (when searching
the PP subdomain ‘meaning/purpose’ in life, mentions of semantic
meaning were excluded). We also excluded articles that had the term
‘purpose’ in the title or as keyword when it had nothing to do with
purpose in life. Finally, in regards to PsycINFO searches of meaning/
purpose in life, we did our best to include relevant contributions to the
‘goal-striving’ literature.
The histogram shown in Figure 1 represents aggregate statistics.
In other words it collapses across the eight subdomains that we
adopted for consideration. Because of its monolithic nature, the
levels of scholarly output depicted in Figure 1 may be hiding
divergent trajectories of growth amongst the different facets. To
provide a more differentiated picture of developmental trends
extending back over the last two decades, we present Figures 2 and
3. The main criterion used to distinguish between the two Figures
was the base-rate of PsycINFO citations. Given the base-rate was
higher in Figure 2, we refer to the subdomains depicted there as
‘Tier 1’ constructs. By comparison, we refer to the three topic
areas depicted in Figure 3 as ‘Tier 2’ constructs.
In looking at Figures 2 and 3, it is apparent that PP scholar-
ship has been accelerating since Seligman’s 1998 inauguration
speech. From 1998 to 2002, many (but not all) of the sub-
domains of PP experienced a pivotal transitional period. With
Table 1
Taxonomy of PP Themes Derived From 53 Published Definitions
Themesa Frequencyb Consensusc
Theme 1 views the core of PP as the study of virtues, character strengths, positive personality traits andrelated attributes and abilities, and talents. 21 39.6%
Theme 2 views the core of PP as the study of phenomena indicative of happiness, positive emotionalwell-being, subjective sense of fulfillment, and satisfaction with the quality of life. 18 34.0%Theme 3 views the core of PP as the study of the developmental process of becoming, growth,
fulfillment of capacities, actualization of potential, and development of the highest/authentic self. 11 20.8%Theme 4 views the core of PP as involving the “good life” or “life worth living.” 9 17.0%Theme 5 views the core of PP as involving thriving and flourishing. 7 13.2%Theme 6 views the core of PP as involving optimal or adaptive functioning/behaviour, otherwise known
as resilience (positive coping under conditions of stress/hardship). 6 11.3%
a We adopted a liberal approach to forming the themes. Concepts that were judged to reflect similar underlying content were grouped together. b Weexamined a total of 53 published definitions of positive psychology. The frequency statistic reflects the number of published definitions that includedcontent pertinent to each theme. c Given that some of the 53 published definitions that we examined were multi-factorial in nature, the cumulative percentexceeds 100.
Table 2Taxonomy of PP Themes Offered by 39 Canadian Scholars
Themesa Frequencyb Consensus
Theme 1: Happiness/positive subjective experience/subjective well-being, satisfaction, & quality of life 14 25.9%Theme 2: Resilience/coping/adaptive behaviour/optimal functioning/adaptive functioning or behavioural adjustment 11 20.4%Theme 3: Virtues/character strengths/positive personality traits/positive personal qualities 10 18.5%Theme 4: The becoming process/growth/progressive fulfillment of potential/development/movement towards truest self 9 16.7%Theme 5: The “good life”/“life worth living” 7 13.0%Theme 6: “Thriving”/“flourishing” 3 5.5%
a We adopted a liberal approach to forming the themes. Concepts that were judged to reflect similar underlying content were grouped together. b Eachof the 39 respondents to the questionnaire was asked to provide their understanding of positive psychology. The frequency statistic reflects the number of responses that included content pertinent to each theme, thus the frequency total was out of 54.
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the exception of the subdomain of resilience, a positively sloped
linear pattern of growth seems to characterise interest in PP in
the decade of the 1990s. As can be seen in Figures 2 and 3, in
the past decade, the pattern of growth seems to have increased
exponentially. However, a microanalysis of the growth trajec-
tories of each of the PP subdomains under consideration sug-gests differential patterns of growth over time.
As noted above, we have labelled the five most popular topic
areas as Tier 1 themes. These are shown in Figure 2. Within the
Tier 1 cluster, it is clear that the area of ‘resilience’ has captured
the lion’s share of scholarly interest (especially in the last six
years). Thus, in terms of rank order of scholarly attention, the
PP subdomain of resilience ranks first. Inspection of Figure 1
shows that while resilience leads the field, there is also a
considerable amount of contemporary interest in the topics of
‘happiness,’ ‘life satisfaction,’ ‘character strengths/virtues,’
and ‘meaning and purpose.’ Curiously, for reasons unknown,
Figure 2 shows scholarly output during the past four years
decreased for ‘Character, Strengths and Virtues’ (CSV), and
failed to grow for meaning/purpose (MP) in life. By way of
contrast, Figure 2 documents that output has continuously in-
creased for each of the other three branches of PP scholarship.
Figure 3 depicts developmental trends in PsycINFO scholarship
that have focused on what we have come to call Tier 2 themes. In
rank order of their popularity, these themes include ‘flourishing,’
‘The Good Life,’ and ‘the Life Worth Living.’ It is a curious fact
that interest in the Tier 2 concepts seems to have reached a plateau
in the last four years. One possibility is that the actual rate of recent
growth is still accelerating, but that scholars may have relabelled
these subdomains differently using newer terms such as eudaimo-
nia, well-being, or the virtuous life. In considering the plateaus, it
may also be argued that the three Tier-2 concepts can all be
grouped together as reflecting the subdomain of the meaningful
life or purposeful living. As can be seen in Figure 2, work on
meaning/purpose in life has waned since 2007. In addition to the
Tier 2 terms (F, TGL, LWL) falling out of favor, another expla-
nation for the plateau pattern shown in Figure 3 involves a ‘satu-
ration’ theory. According to this line of speculation, the “band-wagon” may be full to capacity. Thus, the three constructs may
simply be failing to attract new scholars. Finally, interest in Tier 2
constructs in existing scholars may be fading. In this regard, it will
be interesting to see in the future whether Seligman’s (2011) book
entitled “Flourish” will reinvigorate scholarly interest in a concept
that may have recently plateaued in popularity.
In closing this section of the paper, we would like to speculate
on possible reasons for why the publication trends are so different
when comparing the rates for the 1990s and the first decade of the
new millennium. A possible contributing factor is that English
speaking scholars have heeded the call issued by Seligman in his
APA Presidential ‘call to arms.’ Thus, Seligman and his team at
the University of Pennsylvania may be given partial credit for the
widespread growth of interest in PP over the past decade. At thesame time, it is likely that the co-occurring influx of research and
infrastructure funding has also nurtured the growing popularity of
PP amongst psychologists. In this regard, the best known benefac-
tor of PP is the John Templeton Foundation, who funded a massive
“forgiveness” initiative in 1997–1998. Growth can also be attrib-
uted to other grant-making agencies such as the Fetzer Institute,
the Atlantic Philanthropies, and the Mayerson Foundation.
We also wish to go on record by saying that findings reported in
Figure 2 tentatively suggest that ‘resilience’—not happiness—may
prove to be the Alpha dog of PP. Perhaps Kristjansson (2010) was
premature to pronounce ‘happiness’ as the hub or core of PP. We
suggest that ‘resilience’ and positive coping (in the face of adver-
sity) may offer a gravitational centre to the PP of the next gener-
Figure 2. Number of publications in PsycINFO for five subdomains of
PP scholarship: Tier 1 themes. R ϭ Resilience; Hϭ Happiness; LSϭ Life
Satisfaction; CVSϭ Character and Strengths/Virtues; and MP ϭMeaning
and Purpose.
Figure 3. Number of publications in PsycINFO for three additional
subdomains of PP scholarship: Tier 2 themes. F ϭ Flourishing; TGL ϭ
The Good Life; and LWL ϭ Life Worth Living.
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ation. It could be, as Wong’s (2011) model of PP 2.0 suggests, that
the ongoing maturation of PP has broadened the scope and identity
of PP, resulting in a model that is more balanced, more humane,
and more sensitive to harsh existential realities of life.
What Exactly Is Positive Psychology?
In the next section of the paper we extend the work of Snyder et al.
(2006), Schmidt et al. (2011), and Froh et al. (in press). Our goal is to
make further efforts to clarify the nature of PP and better define its
boundaries. We will describe the use of four different methodologies
in our quest to answer the question “What, exactly, is PP?”
Definitions of PP Published in PsycINFO: Method 1
Our first methodology was to compile a list of 53 published
definitions of PP culled from the scholarly literature published in
PsycINFO, thus excluding popular culture definitions.1 We then
carefully analysed the definitions. This resulted in six subdomains
or themes. The verbatim narratives for the 53 definitions served as
the raw data upon which we conducted a concept analysis. Fol-
lowing an inductive method, we developed a coding scheme on a
post hoc basis which formed the basis for the development of
themes or subdomains. The coding scheme emerged from iterative
keyword searches of the definitions themselves. In repeatedly
combing through the 53 definitions, we conducted frequency
counts of many types of keywords that reflected PP concepts and
PP phenomena. Using a thesaurus type of approach, we identified
clusters of concepts that shared similar features. For instance, the
key terms of ‘happiness’ and ‘positive emotions’ have similar
meaning. Because of their shared meaning, we combined them into
the same category. As a result of this type of a process, like
phenomena were clustered together and ‘themes’ emerged. These
themes were then rank ordered on the basis of the level of con-sensus among the 53 definitions. For instance, results shown in
Table 1 suggest the theme of ‘happiness and subjective sense of
emotional well-being’ was ranked second in terms of how often it
was identified in the 53 definitions of PP. Thus, while ‘happiness’
(liberally and broadly defined) is clearly a core member of the
conceptual subdomain that constitutes the subject matter of PP, it
is not ranked first, at least not according to the current analysis.
Table 1 provides a rank ordered summary description of the six
basic subdomains that we were able to discern based on the method-
ology described above. The content areas with the highest levels of
interauthor consensus are featured in the Table and are described
below.
While six core clusters were identified, the theme of ‘virtues/
character strengths’ was ranked highest in terms of the level of
interauthor definitional consensus. Inspection of Table 1 shows
that 21 of the 53 definitions (almost 40%) explicitly or implicitly
endorsed ideas that we have grouped under Theme 1. Inspection of
the contents of this cluster suggests a view that defines PP as the
study of ‘virtues,’ ‘strengths of character,’ and related ‘positive
personality traits,’ ‘abilities,’ and ‘talents.’
Which other clusters factored into the “top three” list? As can be
seen in Table 1, the theme with the second highest level of
interauthor consensus involved ‘happiness.’ According to the sec-
ond definitional theme, PP is popularly understood as involving
the study of ‘happiness,’ ‘positive emotional well-being,’ ‘subjec-
tive sense of fulfillment,’ and ‘satisfaction with the quality of life’
(synonyms were included as well). Eighteen of the 53 definitions
(34%) included some reference to this subdomain. Rounding out
the “top-three list” was definitional Theme #3, which suggested PP
involves the study of the developmental process of ‘becoming.’
Key terms and main ideas within this category included ‘growth,’
‘fulfillment’ (of capacities), ‘actualization’ (of potential), and ‘de-velopment of the highest/truest/authentic self.’ Eleven of the 53
definitions (20.8%) included reference to this subdomain, suggest-
ing a high level of interauthor consensus.
Lesser ranked, but still important, themes were as follows. Table
1 shows the fourth theme suggested PP deals with the scientific
study of ‘the Good Life’ or ‘life worth living.’ Nine of the 53
definitions (17%) included content that mapped onto this area.
Definitional theme 5 identified the core of PP to be the study of
‘thriving and flourishing.’ These terms were mentioned in seven of
the 53 definitions (13.2%). The sixth and final theme defined the
core of PP as the study of ‘positive functioning’ under conditions
of stress. Key terms that we coded for inclusion in this cluster were
‘adaptive functioning,’ ‘adaptive behaviour,’ ‘resilience,’ or ‘cop-
ing’ (abbreviated as ‘resilience/coping’).Given that there is a lack of consensus as to what the field of PP
entails, faculty who are considering teaching a course in this area
clearly need to exercise discretion when designing their syllabi.
Results shown in Table 1 suggest a possible structure for thematic
organisation of content. Syllabi that communicate a broad spec-
trum of themes will ensure that students receive a balanced un-
derstanding of the field. Of course, instructors who give attention
to broad and general constructs, such as the ‘good life’ or the ‘life
worth living’ or ‘thriving,’ ought to be careful to educate students
about definitional ambiguities.
It should be noted that most of these definitions came from
American scholars, thus it is possible that the six-cluster structure
that emerged from our analysis may have been culturally biased. Inthe next section we shift our attention to Canadian perspectives on
PP.
Definitions of PP Offered by Canadian Scholars:
Method 2
The second method we used to clarify the definitional bound-
aries of PP involved asking over 100 Canadian PP scholars to
disclose their personal understandings of the field. Collated and
distilled results derived from 39 of these faculty members are
discussed below. These results also reveal that PP is far more than
the study of ‘happiness.’
In February and March of 2010 we conducted a PsycINFOsearch for the purpose of identifying Canadian scholars who were
publishing on topics related to the concepts identified in Table 1.
Using this method, 155 scholars were identified who were based in
Canada. Of these, valid e-mail addresses were obtained for 138.
E-mails were sent asking for responses to 15 questions. Of rele-
vance to the current analysis are replies to an open ended question
which asked “could you briefly give us your understanding of what
PP means to you”? Thirty-nine scholars returned valid data in time
1 For a complete verbatim list of the 53 published definitions of PP from
2000–2009 used for this analysis, please contact the first author.
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for inclusion in the current analysis, thus the response rate was
only 28.26%. Each narrative response was coded for key terms
indicative of PP content. Using a thesaurus-type method, com-
monly mentioned (high consensus) terms were clustered together
to form groups or themes. No a priori structure was imposed;
instead, clusters emerged inductively.
Table 2 summarizes the rank ordered results showing the vari-ous types of understandings of PP that emerged from a content
analysis of the 39 Canadian scholars who we surveyed. When
interpreting our statistics, it should be noted that some of the
respondents provided multiple key terms. For this reason, the
absolute numbers of the coded key terms sum to 54, not 39.
The highest level of interscholar consensus involved the theme
that PP deals with ‘happiness.’ To be classified into Theme 1, our
coding scheme was rather broad, including key terms such as
‘positive emotional wellbeing,’ ‘subjective sense of fulfillment,’
and ‘satisfaction with the quality of life.’ Our results showed these
exact terms or synonyms of these terms were endorsed a total of 14
times, for a consensus rate of 25.9%. The theme that was ranked
second expressed the view that PP involves the study of ‘resil-ience/coping.’ To be classified into Theme 2, our coding scheme
was rather broad, including key terms such as ‘positive function-
ing’ (under conditions of stress), ‘adaptive functioning,’ and
‘adaptive behaviour.’ These terms or synonyms of these terms
were endorsed a total of 11 times, for a consensus rate of 20.4%.
Rounding out the top three high consensus understandings of PP
was a theme suggesting PP deals with the study of ‘virtues/
character strengths,’ ‘positive personality traits,’ ‘talents,’ and
‘interests.’ These key terms or synonyms were endorsed a total of
10 times, for a consensus rate of 18.5%.
Lesser ranked themes were as follows. Ranked fourth was a
theme suggesting a main concern of PP is studying the develop-
mental process of ‘becoming’ (16.7% consensus). Ranked fifth
was the idea that PP involves the scientific study of ‘the Good
Life’ or ‘life worth living’ (13.0% consensus). Finally, ranked
sixth and last was the theme that PP is the study of ‘thriving’ or
‘flourishing’ (5.5% consensus).
Consistent with results shown in Table 1, Table 2 illustrates a
wide diversity of understandings of the field of PP. Although
‘happiness’ was ranked number one, it is clear that Canadian
scholars do not subscribe to the view that PP solely involves the
study of ‘happiness.’ In the next section, we shift to an analysis of
American faculty who have taught PP at the undergraduate level.
Definitions Offered in American PP Course Syllabi:
Method 3
In a further effort to provide an empirically based answer to the
question “What is PP?” we downloaded eight American PP course
syllabi published on Seligman’s PP website (www.positivepsychology
.org). Using the content of the outlines as our database, we thenconducted a count of keywords indicative of PP concepts.
A taxonomy of cluster groupings was formed on a post hoc basis
using an inductive method. This cluster analysis resulted in the iden-
tification of five main themes. These especially popular topic areas
were rank ordered in terms of how often they were represented across
the different syllabi. As was the case in all the categories, membership
in a given theme was granted if the key terms shown in Table 3 were
used or if conceptually similar terms were used.
As shown in Table 3, two themes tied for the rank of ‘most
popular.’ Most (87.5%) of the syllabi included content related to
Theme 1, which referred to ‘happiness’ and closely aligned con-
cepts. Thus there was high consensus among the eight syllabi that
‘happiness’ is a key facet of the field of PP. The second theme that
tied for the rank of ‘most popular’ included content related to key
terms such as ‘relationships,’ ‘forgiveness,’ and ‘gratitude.’
Seventy-five percent of the syllabi included content related to the
third conceptual cluster, which mapped onto the theme of ‘virtues’/
‘strengths of character.’ Results shown in Table 3 are consistent
with results shown in Tables 1 and 2 in the sense that all three
tables suggest PP is not one-dimensional. In the next section, we
shift to an analysis of Canadian faculty who have taught PP at the
undergraduate level.
Definitions Offered in Canadian PP Course Syllabi:
Method 4
We also obtained a sample of syllabi of PP courses taught at
Canadian universities. In ‘recruiting’ the syllabi, we searched
course catalogues contained in websites of all 83 Canadian uni-
versities. These searches were completed between the months of
March and June 2010. We also emailed all psychology department
chairs in Canada, asking them to identify faculty who have taught
PP. This search resulted in the identification of nine universities in
Canada (10.8%) where PP had been taught as a stand-alone course
at the undergraduate level. Considering there were no universities
in Canada offering undergraduate PP courses before 2004, the
Table 3Taxonomy of PP Themes Found in Eight American Course Syllabi
Themesa Frequencyb Consensusc Citation referenced
Theme 1: Happiness/positive emotions/subjective well-being/flow 7 87.5% 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8Theme 2: Interpersonal/relationships/forgiveness/gratitude 7 87.5% 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8Theme 3: Virtues/character strengths/values/talents/interests 6 75% 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8Theme 4: Resilience 4 50% 2, 4, 7, 8Theme 5: Hope/self-efficacy/perceived control 4 50% 2, 3, 6, 8
a We adopted a liberal approach to forming the themes. Concepts that were judged to reflect similar underlying content were grouped together. b Weexamined a total of eight course syllabi. The frequency statistic reflects the number of syllabi that included content pertinent to each theme. c Given thatsome of the syllabi touched upon multiple themes, the cumulative percent exceeds 100. d Numbers shown in the citation reference column correspondto syllabi shown in Table 4.
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10.8% base rate in 2010 suggests there has been a growth of
interest in teaching PP over the past six years.
From the initial population of nine, we were able to obtain
syllabi for eight of the courses. We believe these results may
provide a reliable first estimate of the ways in which Canadian
faculty who teach PP understand the field. Table 5 reports a
summary of the collated and distilled contents of the Canadiancourses. Our analysis of core content of these syllabi identified six
themes that were especially popular. Similar to the methodology
used with the American syllabi, themes were formed inductively
on a post hoc basis. The themes that emerged were then rank
ordered in terms of how often they were represented across the
different syllabi.
As can be seen in Table 5, three themes ranked as the ‘most
popular.’ Themes with exceptionally high intersyllabus consensus
included ‘happiness’ (100%), ‘virtues/strengths’ (87.5%), and ‘inter-
personal’ PP content (62.5%). Results shown in Table 5 are consistent
with results shown in Tables 1 through 3. All four tables suggest PP
is multifaceted. Furthermore, it appears that there is a reasonably high
level of concordance between what is being taught in PP (i.e., Tables
3 and 5), what is being researched in PP (i.e., Figures 2 and 3), and the
proposed core constructs of PP (i.e., Tables 1 and 2). Thus, there is a
high degree of thematic convergence between constructs considered
to be at the core of PP and what is being taught and researched. In the
next section, we report the results of a cluster analysis of tables of
contents of PP textbooks that are suitable for use in undergraduate
teaching.
Definitions of PP Offered in Published Undergraduate
Textbooks: Method 5
In a fifth and final effort to provide an empirically based answer
to the question “What is PP?,” we examined the tables of contents
of 14 PP textbooks that we judged to be potentially suitable for usein undergraduate courses. We excluded handbooks, technical
books, and narrowly focused research specialty books. We also
excluded most of the PP trade books written for general public
audiences. Books upon which our analysis is based are included in
the reference list of this article. As in our prior analyses, our goal
was to identify core subdomains.
Our approach involved an inductive method in which key concepts
found in tables of contents were grouped together to form themes. We
adopted a liberal approach to conducting our cluster analysis. Super-
ficially dissimilar concepts that we felt were indicative of similar
underlying content were grouped together. For example, books that
mentioned ‘happiness’ were clustered into the same thematic cluster
as books that mentioned ‘subjective well-being.’ The content clusters
or themes that we identified were then rank ordered in terms of how
often they were represented across the different books.
As can be seen in Table 7, a number of different clusters
emerged and these showed varying levels of consensus. The top
ranked cluster that had the highest rate of endorsement involved
the ‘happiness’ theme. Content related to happiness was repre-
sented in the tables of contents of 100% percent of the books we
examined. Approximately 93% of the books included content
related to Theme 2, which centered on ‘virtues/character
strengths.’ Fifty-seven percent of the books included content re-
lated to Cluster 3, which included real world application of PP
principles (e.g., work, health, family, relationships).
PP in Canada and America
Results reported in the current paper permit a limited comparison of
Canadian and American perspectives on PP. While not reported in
any of the tables, we did ask the 39 Canadian scholars who have
published in the field of PP whether they saw any noticeable differ-
ences between the American view of PP and the Canadian perspec-tive. Results showed that 52.6% did not see a difference. A further
18.4% said there was a difference, while 28.9% were unsure.
When we probed the seven Canadian scholars who saw Canadian–
U.S. differences, an emerging consensus was uncovered in which the
Canadians perceived themselves as being more heavily invested in PP
research that incorporates the ecological context(s) of well-being and
living ‘The Good Life.’ In this regard, when contrasting their view to
American-style PP research, one of the Canadians referred to the latter
using the term ‘self-contained individualism.’
We tentatively propose that Tables 2 and 5 may offer insights
into the Canadian experience, while Tables 1, 3, 4, and 7 may be
more indicative of the American experience. Inspection of the data
reveals that academics in both countries are similar in strongly
endorsing the themes of ‘happiness’ and ‘virtues/characterstrengths’ as core aspects of PP.
Our results also indicate that PP academics in Canada and the
United States are similar in terms of their perceptions of ‘resil-
ience’ as an established subdomain within the field. Inspection of
the tables show that ‘resilience’ consistently emerged as a core
theme. However, with one exception (see Table 2), subject matter
of ‘resilience’ was consistently ranked lower than subjects of
‘happiness’ and ‘virtues/character strengths.’ The comparatively
low ranking of ‘resilience’ is paradoxical given results depicted in
Figure 2 which show very high levels of scholarly interest in the
topic of resilience, especially in the last five or six years.
A satisfactory explanation for the ‘resilience gap’ is not imme-
diately available. However, it is possible that the pictures of PPrevealed in Tables 1, 3, 5, and 7 reflect the state of the field before
the contemporary ‘boom’ in the resilience domain over the past 5
or 6 years. In this regard, it should be noted the differentiated
picture of PP shown in Table 2 reveals a fairly recent snapshot that
was obtained from Canadian scholars who were surveyed in Feb-
ruary and March 2010. That ‘resilience’ emerged in Table 2 as the
second highest ranked subdomain may reflect the contemporary
scientific zeitgeist shown in Figure 2. An additional explanation
for the ‘resilience gap’ involves the intellectual identity that might
be held by scholars who are publishing on the topic of resilience.
It is possible that a disproportionate segment of these scholars fail
to see themselves as being aligned with Positive Psychology (e.g.,
child psychologists in developmental psychopathology, or social
work scholars concerned with social justice issues).
General Discussion
Given that PP is just as much a popular culture movement as it is
a fledgling academic discipline, it is not surprising that many people
misunderstand the core content that preoccupies PP scholars. Our
purpose in conducting the current research was to use the data to
educate educators about the nature of PP. We approached this goal by
mapping the various subdomains of PP using diverse methodologies
that are amenable to quantification. We believe the findings of our
analyses provide the first ever empirically derived approximation of
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the scope and boundaries of the field. Hopefully, future research will
extend and refine our results. While the results provided in Tables 1
through 7 and Figures 1 through 3 reflect more than narrative con-
jecture, we wish to acknowledge a number of methodological weak-
nesses. In some instances we had small sample sizes. Two additional
limitations involved the fact that our coding scheme methodology wasunderspecified and we did not perform inter-rater reliability analyses
when performing our concept analyses and when identifying emer-
gent themes. As a result, selection bias and other idiosyncratic biases
could have distorted the findings.
Until replicated by future research, this study should be consid-
ered a preliminary inquiry that supports and extends conclusions
offered by Lopez et al. (2006) and Schmidt et al. (2011). These
authors provide evidence to suggest scholarly interest in integrat-
ing PP concepts into the fields of counselling psychology and
health psychology have increased markedly, especially since the turn
of the millennium. Our own findings support the external validity of
the counselling and health results. In particular, our results extend
prior research by showing the burgeoning field of PP also seems to be
having a more generalized impact on the field of psychology as a
whole. A unique contribution of the current study is that it provides
one of the first efforts to take stock of the field of PP. Hopefully
continued empirical inquiry along this trajectory will improve on our
methodology so as to better quantify and better characterise the nature
and extent of the generalised impact.
Despite the fact that caution should be exercised in drawing
inferences, results of the content analyses reported here support
narrative pronouncements of a boom in the field of PP (see Yen,
2010 & Wong, 2011). Our efforts to empirically map the contours
of the field also provide a clearer identity of the nature of the
various subdomains that we believe constitute the emerging field
of PP. Developmental trends in terms of the degree of scholarly
interest in these subdomains may have implications for forecasting
the future of PP. Hopefully, our data-driven approach to under-
standing the parameters of the field will prove useful to postsecondary instructors who are responsible for educating the next
generation of scholars. In particular, we hope our findings provide
teachers with empirical guidelines for picking and choosing topics
for purposes of lesson planning.
When considered in the aggregate, the five sets of results we
have reported in Tables 2 through 7 support conjecture offered by
Kristjansson (2010) who pronounced ‘happiness’ is a core sub-
domain in the field of PP. The fact that there is convergent
consistency to this pattern across the different methodologies that
we employed suggests there is strong empirical endorsement for
the conclusion that PP is deeply concerned with the study of
‘happiness’ and other synonymous concepts.
Additional findings, however are inconsistent with Kristjansson’s
(2010) suggestion that happiness is “the gravitational hub” of PP.
The trends that we observed in our empirical findings draw atten-
tion to a more complex picture. We found an apparent agreement
amongst academics that ‘happiness’ and ‘virtues/character
strengths’ are twin core concerns to the field of PP. The strong
endorsement of these two subdomains may reflect high levels of
interest in the theoretical concept known as ‘eudaimonia.’ As
noted by Huta (in press), there is confusion and controversy
regarding the nature of eudaimonia. While its status as a philo-
sophical and theological construct is well established, the status of
Table 4
Descriptive Information for Analyzed Undergraduate American Course Syllabia
Professor Course Institution
1. Peterson (2006) Special Seminar in Psychology: Positive Psychology University of Michigan2. Froh (2006) Positive Psychology Hofstra University
3. Rashid (2006) Positive Psychology: An Experiential Course Farleigh Dickinson University4. Shafe (2006) Resiliency and Positive Psychology Rollins College5. Markus/Curhan (2006) The Science of Well-Being Stanford University6. Ben-Shahar (2006) Positive Psychology Harvard University7. Compton (2006) Psychology of Happiness Middle Tennessee State University8. Haidt (2004) Flourishing University of Virginia
a American course syllabi were found at the website www.positivepsychology.org.
Table 5
Taxonomy of PP Themes Found in Eight Canadian Course Syllabi
Themea Frequencyb Consensusc Citation referenced
Theme 1: Happiness/positive emotions/subjective well-being/flow 8 100% 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8Theme 2: Virtues/character strengths/values/talents/interests 7 87.5% 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8Theme 3: Interpersonal/relationships/forgiveness/gratitude 5 62.5% 2, 3, 4, 5, 6Theme 4: Health 4 50% 2, 3, 4, 5Theme 5: Meaning/self-efficacy/hope/perceived control 4 50% 1, 4, 6, 7Theme 6: Resilience/coping 3 37.5% 5, 6, 7
a We adopted a liberal approach to forming the themes. Concepts that were judged to reflect similar underlying content were grouped together. b Weexamined a total of eight course syllabi from Canadian institutions. The frequency statistic reflects the number of syllabi that included content pertinentto each theme. c Given that some of the syllabi touched upon multiple themes, the cumulative percent exceeds 100. d Numbers shown in the citationreference column correspond to syllabi shown in Table 6.
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eudaimonia as a scientific concept is underdeveloped. As a scien-
tific concept, Huta (in press) has identified two schools of thought.
The first conceptual camp views eudaimonia as an outcome or type
of well-being that is characterised by subjective feelings of vitality
and other positive phenomenological experiences. The second
point of view sees eudaimonia as a style of living characterised by
the mindful pursuit of human excellence and intentional striving
toward authenticity. We believe the two schools of thought pro-
posed by Huta (in press) may correspond to the two high-
consensus subdomains of PP that we have documented in the
current study. It is possible the ‘happiness’ cluster we observed in
our analyses maps onto the experiential/phenomenological (well-
being) model of eudaimonia. This understanding comprises a point
of view suggesting eudaimonia ought to be defined as a subjective
outcome (of factors such as virtuous living, etc). Similarly, it is
possible that our identification of the theme ‘virtues/character
strengths’ relates to the Huta’s ‘lifestyle model’ of eudaimonia.
Before moving to a comparison of Canadian and American
understandings on PP, we wish to take a moment to briefly
mention a breakthrough article by Kristjansson (2010) entitled“Positive Psychology, happiness, and virtue: The troublesome
conceptual issues.” As noted by Wong (2011) there has been a
noticeable lack of critical conceptual scrutiny addressing the topics
of happiness/positive emotions and virtue. Kristjansson’s paper
serves as a correction of this oversight. Among other contributions,
he offers a pluralistic model of happiness that goes beyond the
hedonic model, and draws attention to the political and ecological
aspects of PP. For instance, he suggests that people in Rwanda and
Calcutta are probably less interested in achieving happiness by
developing their character virtues than they are in facilitating
change in the kind of society in which they live.
This suggestion is part of Kristjansonn’s philosophical analysis
of whether or not PP has been co-opted in service of conservative
political individualism. In this regard, recall that some of the
Canadian scholars who were surveyed felt an allegiance to the
ecology of PP. This is an approach we feel aligns with the PPcontent domain involving ‘resilience’. Consistent with Wong’s
(2011) model of PP 2.0, Kristjansson also proposes that PP ought
to be less negative about life’s negatives and instead be more
positive about life’s adversities and hardships. This latter senti-
ment is something that we have noticed is being borne out with
increased frequency in the scholarship on ‘resilience’ that has
become progressively more popular in the last five or six years
(see top most line in Figure 2 and Theme 2 in Table 2).
Conclusions
Our goal was to take stock of the field by empirically mapping
the contours of emerging themes. We accomplished this task byusing six different research methodologies. Results document ex-
traordinary growth in the last decade and confirm that scholars in
this area have devoted the lion’s share of their attention to two of
the three ‘Pillars’ of PP as proposed by Seligman and Csikszent-
mihalyi (2000): (a) the study of positive subjective experience and
(b) positive personal traits. Thus, our findings suggest the vision of
PP put forward at the turn of the millennium by Seligman and
Csikszentmihalyi (2000) is a fairly accurate description of the state
of the field a decade later. Coupled with the fact that interest in
Table 6
Descriptive Information for Analyzed Undergraduate Canadian Course Syllabi
Professor Course Institution
1. Dick Day (2011) Positive Psychology McMaster University2. Gregory Gunn (2010) Positive Psychology St. Mary’s University
3. Ulrich Schimmack (2010) The Science of Well-Being University of Toronto Mississauga4. Kenneth Hart (2009) Intro to Positive Psychology University of Windsor5. Stan Sadava (2009) Intro to Positive Psychology Brock University6. Sherry Beaumont (2006) Positive Psychology University of Northern British Columbia7. Paul Wong (2006) Positive Psychology of Meaning Tyndale University College8. John M. Zelenski (2004) Personality & Well-Being Carleton University
Table 7
Taxonomy of PP Themes Found in 14 Undergraduate Textbooks
Themea Frequencyb Consensusc
Theme 1: Happiness/subjective well-being/life satisfaction/quality of life 14 100%Theme 2: Virtues/character strengths/positive traits 13 92.86%Theme 3: Application of PP in real world (i.e., work, health, relationships, family) 8 57.14%Theme 4: Meaningful life/best self/actualization 6 42.86%Theme 5: Resilience/coping 5 35.71%Theme 6: Religion/spirituality 5 35.71%
a We adopted a liberal approach to forming the themes. Concepts that were judged to reflect similar underlying content were grouped together. b Weexamined a total of 14 undergraduate level positive psychology textbooks. These are identified in the Reference list. The frequency statistic reflects thenumber of textbooks that included content pertinent to each theme. c Given that some of the textbooks touched upon multiple themes, the cumulativepercent exceeds 100.
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positive institutions (the third pillar) has been somewhat sparse is
the fact that contemporary PP has witnessed an increase in schol-
arship on the topic of resilience under conditions of hardship. The
later comprises a topic area that was not originally foreseen by
Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000).
We find it curious and significant that the rise in scholarship on
resilience and positive coping is coupled with a rise in PP scholarshipin eudaimonia. We tentatively interpret this pattern as evidence that
helps dispel the widespread cultural and scientific myth that PP is an
elite endeavour solely concerned with the study of Pollyanna-style
hedonic ‘happiology’ in research participants who find themselves
living in idyllic circumstances. In contrast to this stereotype, the
contours of the boundaries we have identified suggest a new identity
is emerging for PP in the second decade of the millennium.
This neophyte identity extends the boundaries of the field be-
yond the study of ‘enjoyable feelings’ and ‘happy thinking’ in
fortunate people who are privileged to live in pleasant circum-
stances. Resilience research (e.g., positive coping in stressful con-
texts/posttraumatic growth) acknowledges that—in the face of
harsh ecological conditions—there is hope for the morphing of the
experience of suffering, and possibly hope for the transformation
of the conditions that give rise to this suffering. Continued research
within this emerging subarea may eventually show that (while the
less fortunate in society may not be able to achieve high levels of
hedonic happiness) people facing harsh realities may still be able
to achieve a type of eudaimonia characterised by a subjective sense
of meaning and purpose and a style of virtuous living marked by
a quest for authenticity.
The resilience aspect of contemporary PP that we have de-
scribed in the current study is consistent with a second gener-
ation model of PP that Wong (2011) has called “PP 2.0.”
Wong’s PP 2.0 complements the three pillar model originally
proposed by Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000). It does so
by broadening the scope of the field to include the study of people who function in troubled human ecologies marked by the
existential realities of lack and limitation. Dana Dunn of Mora-
vian College is helping to lead the resilience field in this
direction, having published seminal peer-reviewed papers in
Rehabilitation Psychology. Some of her titles include “Pros-
pects for a Positive Psychology of Rehabilitation” (Dunn &
Dougherty, 2005) and “Defining the Good Life Following Ac-
quired Physical Disability” (Dunn & Brody, 2008). Hopefully,
continued work along the trajectory of PP 2.0 will encourage
instructors who teach PP to provide their students with a well-
balanced curriculum, one that accurately reflects the heteroge-
neity of the field and one that mirrors recent areas of growth
(such as ‘resilience’) that were not anticipated by the founders.
Acknowledging the multifacted nature of PP seems particularly
important because the prevailing cultural stereotype suggests PP is
monolithic and homogeneous. Despite the fact that we were able to
demonstrate PP is broad in scope, Western media has chosen to
characterise the field as having a single minded obsession with
‘hedonic happiness.’ Thus, online, radio, print, and televised
pieces have marketed PP as concerning nothing more than grin-
ning yellow smiley faces. This media-fueled identity of ‘Happiol-
ogy’ makes it difficult for PP educators and researchers to be taken
seriously and do their work effectively. In this regard, leading PP
scholar Barbara Fredrickson has expressed her frustration with the
media in a media interview in which she was quoted as saying
“The curse of working in this area is having to distinguish it from
Chicken Soup for the Soul” (Ruark, 2009).
The narrow scope unidimensional popular understanding of PP
is illustrated in a recent two-part series of articles published in
Psychology Today. In these articles VanNuys (2010a, 2010b) took
PP to task, asking whether the science of happiness is overrated
and whether this has generated a cultural backlash. VanNuys aptlyidentifies Barbara Ehrenreich’s (2010) best-selling pop psychol-
ogy book, Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive
Thinking Has Undermined America as evidence of a backlash.
Unfortunately, like many people, Ehrenreich mistakenly equates
PP with nonscientific ‘happiology.’ Results of our own research
suggest this characterisation misrepresents the truth: scholars who
embrace PP 2.0 (such as Dana Dunn) simply do not recommend
that clients should be encouraged to adopt a passive style of
denial-based coping that involves the naıve and mindless repetition
of wishful or magical thoughts.
Given this larger cultural context of misunderstanding, I (K.H.)
am not surprised to observe that university students who register in
my PP courses come to class with ready-made stereotypes. Overthe past four years, I have observed a consistent trend in which
some of my students will express surprise in their (end of semes-
ter) teaching evaluations that the course that was delivered was not
the simplistic ‘bird course’ they initially expected it to be. I have
also noticed that similar culturally transmitted stereotypes seem
prevalent among my colleagues. As a reaction against this back-
drop, I have become increasingly involved in a quest to debunk
counterfeit PP and educate my students and my peers about the
true nature of authentic PP.
In conclusion, this paper provides evidence to support the ex-
ternal validity and generalisability of results of prior research
demonstrating PP has increasingly infiltrated scholarship in the
specialized areas of counselling psychology (Lopez et al., 2006)and health psychology (Schmidt et al., 2011) psychology. The
current paper also provides a formalised extension, into the larger
academic domain, of my local pedagogical efforts to correct mis-
perceptions of the boundaries of PP. The research we have de-
scribed provides an empirically based reality check meant to
educate stakeholders about the true nature of PP. We used six
different research methods in our efforts to shed light on the many
contours of the domain.
Hopefully, the current findings will encourage instructors who
teach PP to correct student misconceptions that PP is nothing but
Pollyanna-style ‘happiology.’ Ideally, future students who receive
postsecondary education in PP will receive a well-balanced curricu-
lum, one that accurately reflects the heterogeneity of the field, and onethat mirrors recent areas of growth such as resilience and positive
coping in ecologies marked by challenge and hardship. Giving more
attention to difficult circumstances will help silence critics (e.g., Held,
2005) who accuse PP of being elitist. At the same time, it will also
help create a more expansive ‘new generation’ identity in which the
field becomes more balanced, more humane, and more in touch with
harsh existential realities. In this regard, we look forward to the day
that undergraduate textbooks acknowledge there has been growth,
differentiation, and metamorphosis in the past decade and that PP 2.0
(see Wong, 2011) captures the next generation of scholarship in the
continuing evolution of the field.
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Resume
Cet article vise a quantifier l’interet des chercheurs a l’egard de la
psychologie positive (PP), domaine qui connaıt une evolution
rapide, et d’en definir les limites au moyen de six methodes
distinctes. Les resultats temoignent d’une croissance extraordinaire
au cours de la derniere decennie et confirme que les chercheurs ontconsacre la plus grande part de leur attention a deux des trois
piliers de la PP definis par Seligman et Csikszentmihalyi (2000) :
1) l’etude de l’experience subjective positive, et 2) les traits de
personnalite positifs. Si l’interet a l’egard des institutions positives
a ete quelque peu rare, l’interet pour les sujets de la resilience et de
l’eudemonie s’est rapidement accru. Les deux derniers elements
contribuent a dissiper la notion erronee que la PP est une entreprise
essentiellement elitiste qui ne s’interesse qu’au bonheur de gens
vivant des situations idylliques. Les auteurs esperent que leur
analyse du domaine incitera les educateurs a presenter la PP afin
d’offrir aux etudiants une formation equilibree, qui temoigne a la
fois de l’heterogeneite et des tendances recentes.
Mots-cles : definition de la psychologie positive, empirique, de-termination du contenu
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Received September 12, 2010Revision received February 4, 2011
Accepted February 7, 2011 Ⅲ
92 HART AND SASSO
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