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What can Positive Psychology say about being happy at work?  No, really, what can Positive Psychology definitively say about happiness at work?  For example:

Are there some people for whom happiness at work is easier?
Are there actual ways to increase happiness at work?
What if you’re too busy at work working to have time to worry about employee […]

Is it wrong for anyone to be happy in prison? Is there to be no redemption once banished? Should the exchanges between the guards and the prisoners be always suspicious, judgmental? The US, with the UK following too closely behind for my mind, has seen, State by State with important variations, massive rises […]

I have 3 days to pack up a year of life in Philadelphia. Coming to Philly for the Master in Applied Positive Psychology at Penn is one of the best things I have ever done, and after a year working in the city post-graduation, it is time for me to move on to a distinctly […]

Today, I picked up Stephen R Covey’s book, The 8th Habit to read and my attention was immediately riveted. Covey said that the 8th habit was not a forgotten additional habit to The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People which he published in 1989. Rather the 8th habit added a third dimension, moving from effectiveness to greatness. […]

The definition of happiness and the good life was much debated among early philosophers. Two schools of thought emerged: Aristippus’ solution was hedonism, or the pursuit of sensual pleasure and avoidance of pain. Aristotle, meanwhile, thought the ultimate aim was eudaimonia, or self-actualization.

Skip forward 2,500 years, and psychologists are applying the scientific method to the problem. Does this help our understanding of what constitutes a life well lived?

I have recently read Susan Segerstrom’s Breaking Murphy’s Law and was surprised to learn that much of her research has been with law students. I wasn’t the only one; I checked with one major researcher in the field and he wasn’t familiar with that aspect of her work either. Dr. Segerstrom focuses on the relationship between optimism and immune system functioning…

Last weekend my UEL MAPP class was fortunate enough to have presentations from several external speakers, amongst them Alex Linley, founder of the UK’s Centre of Applied Positive Psychology, Peter Flade from the Gallup Organization, and Debbie Whitaker, Head of Sustainability at the global bank, Standard Chartered.
Strengths Focus 
Our focus for the two days was applying […]

What was supposed to be a 30 minute frivolous “wind down” television program last week turned out to be a moving documentary and a poignant reminder of the central rationale of positive psychology.
In “Meet the Natives,” five tribesmen, or Melanesians, from Tanna (an island of Vanuatu) journeyed to England in the hope of meeting Prince […]

As I talked to old friends and made new ones, Ilona Boniwell’s presentation came to mind over and over again. Ilona is a Senior Lecturer in Positive Psychology from the University of East London, UN. She spoke in one of the pre-forum sessions about teaching positive psychology in a postgraduate setting. Toward the end of her presentation, she mentioned that there seemed to be a “magic to MAPP.” She said that she has noticed that the people who study positive psychology in her program seem to see their studies as a calling. She said that positive psychologists seem drawn to the field and they sense a bond with other students that holds them together. […]