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Ask an expert: What is 'positive psychology'?
Dr. Corey Lee M. Keyes is an assistant sociology professor at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. He is also a member of the Collaborative Center on Child Well Being, and he has spoken and written numerous articles on psychological and social well-being. Keyes is one of 18 scholars who conceptualized the principles for "positive psychology," a recent development in social and psychological study. He spoke with CNNfyi.com Senior Editor Lynn McBrien about the discipline and the implications in the classroom. CNNfyi: Just what is "positive psychology"? Corey Lee M. Keyes: In January 1999, I was one of a group of scholars who met in Mexico about this concept. We were challenged with the task of creating a manifesto for positive psychology. A very short definition would be "the scientific study of optimal functioning." We look at questions such as how would you know if you were looking at a human who is in the condition of optimal functioning? How did they get that way? How can we make this opportunity available to people across boundaries of race, culture and nations? CNNfyi: How does positive psychology differ from traditional psychology? Keyes: Over the past 100 years, traditional psychology and sociology have focused on the presence or absence of pathology. People are diagnosed to be in various states of health or disease. The press covers and the public is interested in the results of pathologies: unrest, violence, depression, psychotic illness. The thought process has been that if we rid ourselves of mental and social pathologies, all would be well. Positive psychologists would not agree. When the negative states are absent, something must still fill the void. We really need two distinct avenues of social science studies: One would look at the presence and absence of pathology, and the other would focus on the presence and absence of positive traits. CNNfyi: Does positive psychology correspond to psychology professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's theory of "flow"? Keyes: Flow is considered part of the science but not all. Flow is a state of being, a time of high concentration and initiative. A person is working at a degree of challenge that meets his or her skills but does not reach to a level of anxiety or fear of failure. It becomes a state of pure joy. Hours slip away as though they are minutes. It is a highly productive state. There are limits to flow though. It is more of a temporal state than a trait or condition of human functioning. While there are studies on how to prolong it, flow is not seen as something that people can live within all the time. CNNfyi: Are there aspects of positive psychology that are more continuous? Keyes: Another study within positive psychology is one that I call "human flourishing." It is the epitome of mentally healthy adults -- adults who have in their lives high levels of emotional well-being. They are happy and satisfied with life. They tend to see their lives as having purpose; they feel a certain degree of mastery, accepting all parts of themselves. Flourishing adults have a sense of personal growth -- they are growing, evolving, changing. They also have a sense of autonomy -- they choose their fate in life, rather than see themselves as victims of fate. Flourishing humans have high levels of social well-being. They are socially integrated into their communities. They feel that they belong, derive comfort from their community and feel that others value what they do. They are also socially accepting, in that they are comfortable with and accepting of people around them. Beyond self-actualization, they also believe in social actualization. In other words, they are healthy people who see the potential in society to develop, grow and change as well as in themselves. Research done to date indicates that only about one-third of Americans are in the condition of flourishing. Others fall into the category of mental health illness or the condition that I call "languishing." These people, while not mentally ill, also lack the traits to flourish. So we need to learn more about what contributes to this positive state and what prevents more from reaching their potential. CNNfyi: What are other implications of languishing and flourishing conditions? Keyes: I study flourishing in contrast to adults who are languishing. I define these people as having no mental illnesses -- they are not depressed -- but they have low or little emotional, psychological or social well-being. I have been studying how they function, how much they deal with physical illness, etc. The results are interesting, and they show the importance of promoting positive psychology. For instance, languishing adults have the same amount of chronic diseases as those who are depressed. Flourishing adults, on the other hand, are doing exceptionally well in physical health. Languishing adults also miss as many days at work as those who are depressed. They actually visit doctors and therapists more than depressed adults, perhaps because they sense an emptiness and they go in search of understanding why they feel a sense of suffering. Many of these people are probably labeled to have psychosomatic illness. CNNfyi: You have told me that most of the work in the field so far has been on adults. How do you think that positive psychology may impact children and students? Keyes: Imagine a school filled with flourishing adult teachers. Those teachers who really connect are those who feel really connected in life. We need to find more ways to support teachers in their well-being. In my studies, I have yet to find even one study that measures the well-being of teachers in this country. We are concerned with our kids. We know maternal depression affects kids. But we haven't made the link about languishing teachers in the classroom nor about those teachers who drop out of the profession. I have a hunch that their leaving is probably connected to the kids in their classrooms, the mental states that the students bring to the school and the ability to connect or not connect to those students. We're worried about exposing our kids to mental illness. We don't yet get that the absence of flourishing is as serious as the presence of mental illness. Kids are exposed to too many adults who just aren't doing well. CNNfyi: You told me that you are doing research for a nonprofit organization called WorldPlay. The activity of the project is for children around the world to make indigenous toys to share and teach to children in other countries. Are you looking at how that may impact children's social and emotional well-being? Might it tie in with positive psychology? Keyes: Yes, I definitely see a connection, and I have observed it in pilot school sites in the Atlanta area. I think that when kids create things from their immediate environment, they learn to be engaged in their lives, to find their work interesting, to see the potential for joy and creativity. The emphasis of WorldPlay is on achievement, rather than success or failure; it is a no-fail opportunity. Students get to teach each other ... they can achieve a sense of competence and self-mastery. They get to participate, promoting strength and resilience. CNNfyi: In terms of education, do we know yet what contributes to creating a flourishing condition in humans? Keyes: We still have much to study concerning educational implications of positive psychology. One thing we know in adults -- and I suspect it is true in youth -- is that those exhibiting high levels of flourishing are also engaged in social participation. Is this because flourishing adults are more likely to become involved, or is it because social involvement contributes to a flourishing lifestyle? I think it is a little of both. I don't think we engage children and adolescents enough in civic duty and social engagement. Emphasis is on personal achievement and successful testing. We don't spend enough time asking essential questions. Then in college we suddenly expect them to care about these issues. We need to start a dialogue on what gives kids a sense of purpose -- in their neighbors and schools. What creates a sense of environmental mastery and social contribution? What will students want to be involved in that will build optimal functioning? Teens are almost defined as noncontributors to society. That certainly doesn't contribute to their feelings of well-being. RELATED STORY: Toy story RELATED SITES: Keyes hopes social science will 'accentuate the positive' | ||||
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