Books in the Positive Psychology News series
The positive functioning of groups, institutions, and organizations.
IN THE NEWS TODAY 1/3/08 – REUTERS – Happiness may be good for your health “In a study of nearly 3,000 healthy British adults, … [researchers] found that those who…
Newly qualified solicitors can earn as much as 50,000 pounds in their early 20s. Despite such lucrative prospects, cumulative research over the past 10 years indicates that lawyers are among professionals most likely to suffer from stress, depression, and alcohol abuse. If status, reputation, material rewards, and bright prospects cannot offer happiness, what would?
Psychological Capital introduces both a significant stream of research and an important framework for the application of positive psychology to organizations.
Workplace hierarchy has been shown to have negative impact on an employment relationships. Hierarchy also kills communication, demotivates, and hinders employee performance. Even though workplace hierarchy is the usual practice in Chinese organizations, this by no means implies that we can do nothing with it.
Make the most of your regrets: never smother your sorrow, but tend and cherish it till it comes to have a separate and integral interest. To regret deeply is to…
Over the last year, I have started to develop my stories. At first, they simply came out as part of speaking to audiences of lawyers about positive psychology. Eventually, I realized that I was just doing what many of those I admire do also.
I had the pleasure of hearing Mike Morrison, VP and Dean of University of Toyota, speak at last month’s Global Well-Being Forum (formerly the International Positive Psychology Summit) at Gallup’s…
Our time gives us the extraordinary challenge we call sustainability: to collectively change the way we live to be in balance with the planet. It is very easy to talk about sustainability in a way that drains the energy for change out of people. So how do we talk about sustainability in ways that lead instead to hope and personal responsibility?
What can Positive Psychology say about being happy at work? Are there some people for whom happiness at work is easier? Are there actual ways to increase happiness at work? Yesterday, a few of us answered questions on a radio show with host and best-selling author, Karen Salmansohn.
Is it wrong for anyone to be happy in prison? Is there to be no redemption once banished? Should the exchanges between the guards and the prisoners be always suspicious,…
People who are passionate about a social cause or looking for a way to have a positive impact on the world, do you wonder what kinds of collective action have real, beneficial, and substantial impacts? Scott Sherman talked about his research involving analysis of 60 case studies to figure out what factors are associated with successful social action.
September 7 and 8, I attended the reunion of the World War II crew of the USS Bream, a submarine that made 6 patrols in the Pacific in 1944 and…
This is part two of coverage of the 2007 Appreciative Inquiry Conference. The main events were a panel on how to run an AI Summit, a keynote by Peter Coughlan of IDEO, and many companies presenting their results in using AI and strengths.
Cooperrider went broad, Buckingham went specific, and Seligman went cohesive: Cooperrider talked about strengths elevating an organization, Buckingham hit home the message that using strengths at work starts with the individual, and Seligman outlined findings of positive psychology that support the work of Cooperrider and Buckingham.
It’s September and that means back to school time for American kids and business planning time for American businesses. In most organizations the business planning cycle is in full swing preparing for the upcoming year and beyond: and that means lots of meetings! Unfortunately, planning meetings are often met with huge groans as executives recall last year’s mind-numbing, PowerPoint presentations. Energize your business planning? That can sound like an oxymoron. […]
There are many facets of work and life in general that we do not control. But we can increase our control over our own responses to them. One way to raise our overall level of well-being even in the face of trouble and stress is to practice and grow stronger at being grateful.
Governments have tried to increase their citizens’ well-being since time immemorial. But when it comes to assessing how they’re doing, they have generally stuck to objective measures such as GDP, as famously criticized by Lord Layard. This changed earlier this summer, when the British Government became the first in the West to track its citizens’ subjective well-being.
Jon Haidt in The Happiness Hypothesis suggests the metaphor of a rider on an elephant for how we live life. The rider is our conscious thoughts (and emotions). The elephant…
No company is static. Change takes place everyday but some changes are more more visible and have greater wide-reaching implications on stakeholders. Indeed whether change is in the guise of CEOs and management, takeover bids and M&A, business process reeendineering or new technology, or even office re-location, managing change is fraught with challenges and concerns. Change begets more change – planned or anticipated as a consequence of corporate moves or unexpectedly. Companies who do not communicate their position and intention to their employees lose a valuable source of support and strength. […]
As someone who is passionately interested in how technology changes lives, I was intrigued by Gerald P. Koocher’s article “Twenty-First Century Challenges for Psychology.” Koocher, former President of the American…