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Cited by 332

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 147 of the 147 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Positive Psychology, Ethnocentrism, and the Disguised Ideology of Individualism

Christopher, John Chambers, Hickinbottom, Sarah·2008·Theory & Psychology

Abstract

This article aims to examine critically the attempts by positive psychologists to develop a science of happiness and positive human functioning that transcends temporal and cultural boundaries. Current efforts in positive psychology are deconstructed to reveal an adherence to the dominant Western conception of self and its accompanying vision of the good life as personal fulfillment. It is argued that in failing to recognize the tacit cultural and moral assumptions underlying their investigations, positive psychologists not only distort the outlooks of cultures that do not subscribe to an individualistic framework, they also insulate themselves from reflecting critically on their work. Alternative forms of inquiry are offered to assist positive psychology in overcoming these limitations.

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Metadata

Authors
Christopher, J. C., & Hickinbottom, S.
Venue
Theory & Psychology
Published
2008-10
Volume
18
Issue
5
Pages
563-589
ISSN
  • 0959-3543 (ISSN-L)
  • 1461-7447
OpenAlex
W2136969179
Cited by
332
References
147
FWCI
12.16
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Positive Psychology, Ethnocentrism, and the Disguised Ideology of Individualism. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1177/0959354308093396
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Christopher, J. C., & Hickinbottom, S. (2008). Positive Psychology, Ethnocentrism, and the Disguised Ideology of Individualism. Theory & Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959354308093396

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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.