Today’s article is by my friend and fellow University of Pennsylvania MAPP graduate, David M. Carter. David specializes in the psychology of behavior change towards more environmentally sustainable lifestyles. I am inspired by the impact David makes on the world through his writing and speaking, promoting the theories and research discoveries in positive psychology that can […]
This week I attended the International Positive Psychology Association World Congress, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As you might imagine, it has been almost overwhelming with a variety of talks regarding the state of positive psychology today and workshops covering specific research that has been done or application of the science to a variety of domains. Here […]
“All man’s miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone.” — Blaise Pascal No longer the exclusive domain of Buddhist monks and new age hippies, meditation is going mainstream. The newfound popularity of meditation is driven by a slew of new research in both psychology and neuroscience supporting the practice […]
The playing field isn’t level. Research shows that, all things considered, negative emotions have an unfair advantage over us, grabbing and holding our attention more easily. We spend much of our time handling problems and figure that happiness will pop up on its own when the time is right. Our inherent putting-out-fires approach to life […]
Recently I wrote an article on the positive psychology of zombies, and I immediately realized that I was only telling half the story. I argued that the popularity and appeal of zombies was due to their perseverance. Unlike other mythical horror creatures, the zombies do not have super human powers or weapons to destroy their […]
Everybody loves zombies. Or at least it sometimes seems that way considering the strong foothold they have taken on popular American culture. Zombies have been a staple of popular films (Wikipedia offers a comprehensive list of them here.) Jonathan Coulton had a great song about corporate zombies that had some viral popularity (chorus: “all we […]
I previously wrote about the U.S. Army’s Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Program: the army’s step towards developing a fighting force that is as psychologically strong as it is physically. The program gets some heat from critics, for a variety of reasons, but I see it as a step towards taking better care of the men and […]
Today’s article is also published on Positive Psychology News Daily. With the release of his new book, “Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being,” Martin Seligman presents his new model for wellbeing under the codename PERMA. PERMA is an acronym for the five pillars of wellbeing that Seligman has identified through decades of research […]
I am so excited to welcome Marcello Spinella, Ph.D. as a guest blogger on The Psychology of Wellbeing. He is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. I have come to know, admire and respect him for his incredibly knowledgeable and insightful postings on the “Friends of Positive Psychology” […]
Have you ever read a book (and religious texts don’t count—that’s too easy) that you can honestly say has changed your life? For me, the one book that has changed my life more than any other is “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (say that three times fast–hint: it’s pronounced “cheek sent […]
