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- Education - can what or how we learn in school really be beneficial to our happiness? Martin Seligman one of the leading proponents of the positive psychology movement proposed that a positive psychology curriculum (PPC) can 1) promote skills and strengths that are valued by most including parents 2) produce measurable improvements in studets' wellbeing and behaviour and 3) facilitate students' engagement in learning and achivement (Seligman et al 2009).
- 1 positive psychology curriculum the Penn Resiliency Prorame (PRP) has provided support for Seligmans' claims. Students on the programme showed reduced symptoms of depression compared to a control group (Gillham et al 1995). At 24 months after the intervention only 22% of the PRP group showed symptoms compared to 44% of the control group.
- Seligman et al 2009 also conducted research. They randomly assigned 347 ninth grade students to a PPC class or a non-PPC class. Students, their parents and teachers completed standard questionnaires. The study found that the PPC students were more cooperative and had better social skills. Seligman et al claim that increasing the skills of wellbeing does not antagonise the traditional goals of classroom learning, but rather enhances them.
- Work - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi research has shown that work can be the major source of our happiness. His 'flow' theory posits that our experiences will be most positive when both challenges and skills are high; the person is not only enjoying the moment, but is also stretching their capabilities with the likelihood of learning new skills and increasing self esteem. Surprisingly, Csikszentmihalyi and LeFevre 1989 found that most people experience flow situations more than 3x as much at work than during leisure. This suggests that our working environments generally offer more opportunity for positive experiences which is probably contrary to what many people claim. Csikszentmihalyi and LeFevre went on to comment that if workers admitted to themselves that work can be as or more enjoyable than most of their leisure time, they might work more effectively and in the process also improve the quality of their own lives.
- Leisure and lifestyle advice - Csikszentimihaliyi and LeFevre 1989 advocate that people increase their experience of flow and the quality of their lives by being more conscious of and more active in their use of leisure time. Positive psychology is evident in many online projects that aim to make life in UK society better, such as Action for Happiness. Claim they are a 'movement for positive social change. We're bringing together people from all walks of life who want to play a part in creating a happier society for everyone'. Although the site offers support for those struggling with problems and depression, the majority of the site offers content such as '10 keys to happier living'.
- Health - Kubzanksy and Thurston's research followed more than 6,000 men and women aged 25 to 74 for 20 years. They found that those participants with high levels of 'emotional vitality' (sense of enthusiasm, hopefulness, engagement in life and the ability to face life's stresses with emotional balance) had a reduced risk of coronary heart disease. Medical professionals might treat patients with advice about how to increase their happiness, along with other lifestyle advice.
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- Education - Lack of empirical evidence for most positive psychology programmes. Spence and Shortt 2007 argue that the research that does exist tends to be based on small scale or short term interventions. The widespread dissemination of positive psychology in schools should not be taken without further, more long term research. Seligman et al 2009 have also admitted that further research needs to be conducted in order to ensure that such programmes are 'effective with students from a variety of socio-economic and cultural backgrounds'.
- Adding positive psychology to the curriculum is likely to mean that other sources have to be dropped. Schools have limited budgets and have many curricular demands; they cannot add positive psychology techniques without subtracting other essential subjects. An editorial in the Financial Times 2007 suggested that this means society may end up paying more for students to leave school with fewer academic achievements.
- Work - Although positive psyhology may report research findings which support the concept of 'choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life'. It is not a new idea. Therefore we have to question whether positive psychology in the workplace has really offered us anything more than empirical support for something which must of society already know.
- Work may make you happy but the other aspect of work, having more money, does not appear to the relevant to happiness. Diener et al 1993 found a modest correlation of +12 between income and happiness. However, in societies where people are poor, money is more important and work may be important for money rather than happiness. The Western, developed world may have the luxury of seeking happiness through work, a luxury not available elsewhere.
- Leisure and lifestyle advice - Leisure activities that may increase flow experiences are likely to be prohibited to many, either because of a lack of dedicated leisure time or because of the financial costs that they incur. It is difficult to assess the impact that movements such as Action for Happiness have on UK society. In order to conduct objective research all variables would need to be controlled. It might be that wealthier people are attracted to such movements, and therefore beneficial outcomes might be due to their wealth rather than the programme itself causing happiness.
- Health - it is difficult to prove a cause and effect relationship between happiness and health. Are people healthy because they are happy or happy because they are healthy? Positive psychology could be a significant influence in the health sector, however, it perhaps isn't taken as seriously because it has difficulty in conducting research that draws clear cause and effect conclusions.
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- Can creating happiness as positive psychology suggests have an economic impact? Evidence to suggest that it does.
- Looking at unhappiness and stress there is evidence of high costs to business and the economy in general. Staff sickness, 'presenteeism' and staff turnover were estimated to be costing the UK economy £26 billion per year (Foresight Mental Capitala and Wellbeing Project, 2008).
- In recent laboratory research conducted by Oswald et al 2009 happy workers were found to be 12% more productive. This suggests a direct link between happiness and productivity.
- Measures that increase happiness may appear to cost a lot but in the long term may produce overall savings. For example, the Boorman Review 2009 estimated the NHS could save £555 million with healthier work environments. In the private sector Google (frequently tops charts in happiest places to work) found that the costs of increasing their standard maternity leave from 3 months to a flexible 5 month system were outweighed by lower staff turnover. The number of female staff leaving the company dropped by 50% because they were happier with their working conditions.
- The economic impact of monitoring and improving the wellbeing of the workforce seems to be evident on a small scale but until positive psychology increases its profile and demonstrates these benefits on a wider scale it is unlikely that employers will be willing or able to introduce such investment especially in times of economic uncertainty.
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- Positive psychology has refocused psychology on research and advice that will help people improve their lives and the society in which they live, rather than being concerned with the negatives such as aggressive behaviour or addiction. Such a focus has led to some interesting lines of research and new programmes in schools, work and leisure.
- However, such programmes may only be a small part of a person's life or only available to a small number of people and thus have little impact. The positive approach may also be something relevant only to the Western, developed world.
- The positive approach is relatively new and it may take time before its impact is felt. Perhaps the debate that really needs to be answered first is how can positive psychology be made more relevant in today's society?
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