TARGET ARTICLE: Does the Positive Psychology Movement Have Legs?

Abstract

American psychology seems suddenly to be enmeshed in a new ideological movement that is being referred to as positive psychology. Its premise is that if individuals engage in positive thinking and feeling and abandon or minimize their preoccupation with the harsh and tragic-that is, the stressful side of lifethey will have found a magic elixir of health and well-being. It is an old idea that has usually been popular, though we still are uncertain about the conditions under which an emotion could have major effects if any. My generation enjoyed the Hoagy Carmichael song which states You have to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch onto the affirmative, and don't mess with Mr. In-between. This is, I believe, a good general translation, not literal of course, of the main implication of the positive psychology outlook, at least as it is understood by many psychologists. I would be critical, too, if anyone was urging accentuating what is referred to as negative psychology, which would be equally unsatisfactory. As of now, the movement is, in my view, in danger of being just another one of the many fads that come and go in our field, which usually disappear in time, sometimes to return again in another form because the issues addressed are important but unresolved (Roskies & Lazarus, 1988). After a time, we will once again veer toward some other set of issues that are regarded as God's gift to advanced psychological understanding, but it too will ultimately disappear. My business here is not to speculate about why our field is like this; it just is.