Positive Psychology: Power of Positive Thinking Is Psychology's Latest Focus - US News and World Report

Positive Psychology: Power of Positive Thinking Is Psychology's Latest Focus - US News and World Report:

5 areas of life where a positive approach can produce positive results
By Lindsay Lyon
Posted June 24, 2009

Excerts:

Last weekend, Philadelphia got an injection of positivity when the leading authorities in the field of positive psychology descended on the City of Brotherly Love for the First World Congress on Positive Psychology. Roughly 1,500 practitioners, researchers, and other professionals from around the globe convened to present their latest findings and to describe efforts to disseminate the principles of the discipline. The four-day event was the inaugural conference of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA), just a year old.

"Several conference presenters shared their research and insights with U.S. News. Here are five areas of life where positive psychology can have an impact:

1. Getting ahead at work. How can people truly flourish at work? That question has been at the center of Michael Frese's positive psychology research for years, and the professor of organizational psychology at Germany's University of Giessen believes he has identified an answer: what he calls 'active behavior,' which is akin to personal initiative. His studies of employees suggest that people who engage in a high degree of active behavior at work are more successful on the job—they gain more empowerment, meaning they have greater control over their work and their work is more complex; they gain even more personal initiative; and they find new jobs more easily if they become unemployed. Those findings hold true across many different workplaces and countries, he says. And active behavior not only pays off for the individual, he's found, but can change the workplace environment for the better, even boosting a firm's income.

Active behavior is comprised of three components, says Frese. The first is self-starting behavior; self-starters do things not just because a boss demands it, but because they see those things as being important. The second component is proactive behavior, or actions that people take when they think of future opportunities and prepare for them now. The third is persistence in the face of professional obstacles. These three things must all be done together, he says, to lead to positive effects. 'Every job you can imagine'—from blue-collar to sto starchy white—"can be discussed and described in this way," says Frese.

More areas where positive psychology can help:
2. Raising resilient kids3. Building solid relationships4. Increasing your happiness5. Balancing positive and negative emotions

Read Full Article: http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/brain-and-behavior/2009/06/24/using-positive-psychology-in-your-relationships.html

***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.