Movie

Now in its 10th year, I’m happy to offer you the best of the best positive psychology movies from the past year. I comb through popular, independent, and obscure films to select important films across some of the most important positive psychology themes.

I have traveled a long, rugged road to find my way back to see you with new eyes. Dear Mister Rogers, thank you for the opportunity to offer you my gratitude. You taught us that feelings are not forever. We may be sad now but we’ll also be happy again. We get to feel all of the feelings because they are all part of life.

The Positive Psychology News Movie Award series is now in its 9th year of providing the best of the best positive psychology movies. I comb through popular, independent, and obscure films from the previous year in order to share with you these awards across positive psychology themes.

Now in its 8th year, I’m happy to share my observations of the best movies using the science of positive psychology as a lens. In other words, if researchers/practitioners in positive psychology were the ones to give out Oscars for the best films, this is what they might say.

This is the last call for Michelle McQuaid’s outstanding course, Show Up, Shine, and Succeed since registration ends on Sunday, March 13. It’s also the announcement of a new movie for exploring what positive psychology is and what it brings to the world.

Get ready for the Academy Awards. The Positive Psychology Movie Awards are coming out before the Oscars this year. A PPND tradition since 2009, these awards go to films that offer some of the best portrayals of key themes in positive psychology. Here are the winners.

Get your Netflix queue ready. Fire up the On-Demand services of your cable TV. Because it’s time for an annual PPND tradition since 2009, the positive psychology movie awards! These awards go to films that offer some of the best portrayals of key themes in positive psychology. 2014 was a very strong year for positive psychology movies. Here are the winners:

All of us can learn from paragons of strengths. The film, Selma, about Martin Luther King Jr. and the march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965, is an opportunity to reflect upon and celebrate the virtue of open-mindedness and judgment.

The holiday gift giving scene is upon us. Perhaps some of the suggestions here will give fresh ideas about giving gifts that show love and build well-being.

The world premiere of North of Normal will take place on September 5 as part of the Western Positive Psychology Association Conference. Ph.D. students Monica Montijo and Angela Mouton traveled to 22 countries on six continents in order to interview people about love, passion, and peak experience. In addition to their doctoral research, they were inspired to make a documentary film to transmit their findings to a wide audience through the stories of people in diverse cultures and situations.

Positive psychology films portray the human condition, which is not always pleasant and upbeat. Some positive psychology films are intentionally raw, dark, and emotionally riveting, while others are lighthearted and fun.

This is the fifth time that Ryan Niemiec has looked back at the movies from the previous year and awarded those that shine light on what is vulnerable, authentic, conflicted, and beautiful in the human condition.

Watching movies with from a strengths perspective is fun. It is an easy and educational way of doing something that already gives so many of us pleasure. Ryan Niemiec and Daniel Wedding know their movies. They show the reader of their recently updated book how to add another layer to the viewing experience and come out stronger for it.

I have several hopes in maintaining this annual PPND tradition of giving Positive Psychology Awards to movies made the previous year:

When you think of the meaning of your life, do you think of making it, searching for it, finding it, or noticing it? Do you associate meaning with times of well-being or do you believe meaning becomes apparent primarily in times of suffering?

If you’re like most people you probably assume that movies are simply a fun way of spending a few hours and nothing more. However, many psychologists are exploring the idea…

We live in a world in which film is a dominant source of information. With influence comes power, and with power comes the need for a watchful eye. We at the Media Watch Committee track films that make significant comments on psychological issues. We seek to applaud high-quality films with accurate insights, while providing a reality-check on films that relay stigmatizing or misleading information. For example, contrast two films that deal with Borderline Personality Disorder.

Positive psychology movies teach us something about the human condition, help us face suffering, and shine a light on character strengths. Here I nominate movies for awards for exemplifying authenticity, teamwork, zest, strength paragons, having too much of a single strength, and having constellations of strengths. The article concludes with my nomination for Positive Psychology Best Picture of 2011.

Positive psychology movies are not only the lighthearted films that inspire and elevate us, but also the movies that teach us something about the human condition, help us face suffering, and shine a light on pain and tragedy. You’ll see a mixture of both types of films in my offering of the Positive Psychology Movie Awards for 2011. This is part 1. Come back tomorrow for the awards for character strengths—and the best picture award.

For those new to positive psychology, the movie, Happy, is a great introduction to the field and the work of some of its most prominent researchers, including Ed Diener, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Sonja Lyubomirsky, and Richard Davidson. Happy weaves a lot the research we’re already familiar with into a story that takes us from the slums of Kolkata to the subways of Tokyo to the bayous of Louisiana to the beaches of Brazil and other continents in between.

Have you ever wished you could find a more effective way to share what you know about happiness with your friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors? Ever wished there were an entertaining way to get across to kids what really matters when it comes to living well? Then take action now to be part of World Happy Day — a day when the movie Happy will be shown around the world.