According to Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi (2000), in contrast to traditional psychology, positive psychology has tried to draw attention to the strengths of human nature, positive personal characteristics, positive personal experience and virtue; it primarily aims to improve the quality of one's life.
Although it is stated that positive psychology emerged in the early 21st century, it is known that the views of this approach overlap with the theses and views of ancient philosophers on happiness and well-being. In the history of modern psychology, the most striking and perhaps the first scientific attempt that can be accepted within the scope of positive psychology is the efforts of W. James, the child prodigy of the century. James' questioning of why some people are able to utilize their full capacities and resources while others fail to do so was instrumental in the emergence of positive psychology.
The humanistic psychology approach, which has emerged since the mid-twentieth century, has been very influential in its contribution to the science of psychology as an approach that focuses on the positive characteristics and potentials of human beings. Maslow (1908-1970), one of the leading figures of the humanistic approach, was the first scientist to use the concept of “positive psychology”. The last chapter of his book “Motivation and Personality” is titled “Towards Positive Psychology”.
M. Jahoda (1958) laid the foundations of today's concept of psychological well-being in his book “Current Concepts of Positive Mental Health”. Frankl supported the development of the field of positive psychology by stating that individuals“ striving to find meaning in life is the most basic motivational force in his studies based on the human search for meaning. Today, the subject of ”meaning and purpose of life" is recognized as one of the important research topics of positive psychology.
In the late twentieth century, Goleman wrote the book on emotional intelligence, which includes well-being, optimism, managing emotions, empathy, mindfulness, motivation and positive human relations within its multidimensional structure. In this respect, it can be said that studies related to emotional intelligence fully overlap with positive psychology.
It is stated that the positive psychology approach started to be accepted as a new school with the intensive efforts of Martin Seligman (1998) during his term as the president of APA. Today, the founders of the positive psychology approach are recognized as M. Seligman, M. Csikszentmihalyi and C. Peterson.
Seligman (2002) states that psychology had three main fields of study before the Second World War. The first was to treat mental health problems and illnesses, the second was to improve normal lives, and the third was to support the further development of people's natural talents and qualities and to make them functional in challenging life experiences.
After the Second World War, psychological science has largely focused on relieving mental disorders, reducing or alleviating pain and distress, and the study of the happiness of normal people has been very limited. This deficiency of psychological science is being addressed by the positive psychology approach, which strives for psychology to be a holistic science and practice that includes both suffering and happiness.
However, in the rapidly changing world atmosphere after the Second World War, with increasing psychological problems and technological development, the last two important tasks of psychology were forgotten and psychologists became professionals who only focused on curing mental health problems and illnesses. This vicious perspective has led to all resources being spent on understanding and analyzing psychological problems and psycho-pathology. Seligman called this new situation the “illness model”. It should be noted, however, that thanks to this model, fourteen major mental health disorders, such as depression, anxiety disorders, phobias, and even personality disorders, can be successfully treated.
According to Seligman, the science of psychology is not part of the medical field, which deals with illness or health, but with work, education, development, insight, love, play. The science of psychology now seeks to understand and explain human behavior and to adapt the most appropriate scientific methods to the problems people face. To this end, positive psychology is an approach to psychology that not only helps individuals and groups to live and cope with adversity, but also offers very useful insights into the ways in which the process of humanization is created.
According to Peterson (2000), although positive psychology is defined in many different ways, in short, it is a scientific field that deals with what is positive, which contributes to a person's attachment to life and moving his/her life from the current position to a better position. The positive psychology approach is an approach that opposes the explanation of human behavior with the disease model that prioritizes repairing what is broken and brings a new perspective to the science of psychology. This new approach focuses on positive personal characteristics that shape normal human behavior. Accordingly, it is also interested in the kinds of values and experiences that make life on earth worth living.
Positive psychology not only provides information about normal human behavior, but also develops various intervention and protection methods and offers some suggestions for protecting people's mental health from deterioration. These methods and recommendations, especially those developed to increase happiness, life satisfaction and well-being, are used to protect people's mental health.
Positive psychology approach is a new field of study that focuses on protecting the mental health of individuals through some programs that will increase their subjective well-being levels in order to develop their positive qualities and experience positive controls.
In addition, one of the three basic assumptions of the positive psychology approach is that people are active beings who have developed to the level of being able to direct their own development. The second assumption is that people have the inner power to regulate and change their behavior. The last assumption is that changing behavior based on positive psychology leads to motivation for attachment to life. Despite the criticisms, it is seen that the intensity of research and publications focused on positive psychology continues to increase in national and international literature.
This model, which is quite successful in curing diseases, has reduced mental health workers to the status of pathologists who help people who are victimized by mental illnesses. In reality, the field of mental health should not be seen as a field of work where only mental illnesses are treated. There is also a great need for studies that will prevent the occurrence of mental health disorders and, if possible, their relapse after they occur. The positive psychology approach is more functional at this point.
Seligman, one of the founders of the positive psychology movement, in his work “True Happiness”, after criticizing the existing psychology, emphasized that the positive and optimistic aspect of the science of psychology that needs to evolve today is the positive and optimistic aspect. “It is time to create a science that seeks to understand positive emotion, to build virtues, and to make it a guide to finding what Aristotle called the “good life””.
Seligman (2002) argues that positive psychology has three pillars. These are positive emotions, positive abilities and positive institutions that support them. Life experiences that evoke positive emotions cause negative emotions to disappear rapidly. Strengths and virtues function as a buffer against traumatic experiences and increase resilience. Therefore, therapists who apply positive psychology not only heal their patients but also support them to discover and use their strengths, recognize their virtues and develop them.
As a result, today, positive psychology refers to a scientific field of study that aims to help people to connect to life from birth to death and to move their lives to a more positive point, and to reveal information and findings about what is positive in life.