Psicología del Bienestar



EMERGENCE OF POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGYMauro TommasiWhen psychology was founded as an scientific discipline in Germany, German psychologists' main purpose was to explain the human mind in general; they had little interest in individual differences or in applied psychology, unlike the first American psychologists. American psychologists did not restrict themselves to research in physiological psychology, but directed their scientific interests to a wide range of topics in applied psychology, such as education and industry. As American psychologists presented their science as a great benefit to society, psychology in America was generally accepted by the public, government, and university as a legitimate practical pursuit, with much to offer to the society at large, in contrast to the negative response that it initially received in Britain and Europe (Hergenhahn, 2009). Psychological questions were matters of common interest in the urban American culture. The pragmatically oriented American psychologists focused more than their European counterparts on offering an applied scientific approach to human psychological and behavioral problems—as a discipline of immediate practical relevance to educators, medical doctors, and businessmen. One distinctive feature of early American psychology was its eclecticism, which promoted the early growth of scientific approaches to social and psychological problems that eventually developed into full-blown subdisciplines of psychology, such as educational, organizational, clinical, social, developmental, forensic, and personality psychology (Pickren & Rutherford, 2010).One school of thought that emerged in the United States in the late 20th century was Positive Psychology. According to the classic behaviorist paradigm of that time, the human mind was unobservable. Hence, nothing that happened inside of it could be measured, and therefore, addressed as scientific. Martin Seligman, the founder of positive psychology, stated that people's mood could not be explained solely by the stimuli-response model of that era, and people's explanatory style is the key ingredient in understanding people's mood. For example, optimistic people`s explanations about a negative event are typically temporary, changeable and local (Seligman, 2003).Also the psychological paradigm of that time was too much focused on pathology. On the contrary, Seligman believed that psychology is not just the study of pathology, but also the study of human strengths and virtues. Psychotherapy should then focus more on nurturing clients’ virtues rather than fixing what is wrong, missing or broken. Its mission is also helping people live up to their potential. It emphasizes prevention, rather than remediating suffering. And Seligman proved, for instance, that building optimism is an effective way to prevent depression (Randall & Seligman, 2008). Most psychological research on human behavior has been conducted in the middle-class, urban, white and Western World. The transfer of psychological findings outside the Euro-American cultural context has revealed cultural biases in the conventional descriptions of psychology. "Cultural psychology" is the empirical study of culture’s effects on human behavior (Craighead & Nemeroff, 2004). A major aim of cultural psychology is to address the multiplicity of equally valued cultural groups and contexts. This view will contribute to shape a global psychology, to avoid those cultural biases.References:Craighead, W. E. & Nemeroff, C., (2004) The Concise Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology and Behavioral Science. New Jersey: WileyHergenhahn, B. (2009) An Introduction to the History of Psychology. Belmont. WadsworthPickren, W. & Rutherford, A. (2010) A History of Modern Psychology in Context. New Jersey: WileyRandall, W., Seligman, M., Yalom, V., (Producer). (2008) Positive psychology and psychotherapy (Streaming video). Available from , M. (2003). Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment. NY: Free Press ................
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