Prompted Post #6: Evaluating Sources; The Negative Side of Postive Psychology

Positive Psychology is used to make normal life more fulfilling. It uses
research and intervention techniques to understand the positive, adaptive, creative and emotionally fulfilling aspects of human behavior. Its goal is to ultimately study how looking at the bright side of things and staying positive can lead to a happier and more fulfilled life; sounds great, doesn't it? Well not everyone agrees that this is the best way to go about things. An article by Barbara S. Held  called "The Negative Side to Positive Psychology" from the Journal of Humanistic Psychology, argues the reasons she believes there's a dark side to Positive Psychology.

Point 1) The Negative Side Effects
Barbara believes that "our professional culture is saturated with the view that we must think positive thoughts, we must cultivate positive emotions and attitudes, and we must play to our strengths to be happy, healthy, and wise." She believes that these thoughts are clouding our judgment, and that we are ultimately lying to ourselves. The reason for this is that this method of psychology is like a "one size fits all" when really it is not for everyone. Some people may not be able to get over their sadness, no matter how hard they try, and they will think something is wrong with them for it. Also she believes that this is a way of ignoring your problems so they can just get worse.

Point 2) The Negativity of Positive Psychologists
In this section she talks about how negativity is a normal part of human life and functioning. She says that it is impossible to be completely positive all the time because negativity is in our human nature. Therefore Barbara comes to the conclusion that Positive Psychologists are negative about being negative; they think its a horrible thing to be negative. When really we need to use pessimism at necessary times  in our life. Psychologists have done research on this and came to the conclusion that you need to have the correct balance of positive and negative thoughts to live a healthier life. Also that positive emotions can sometimes be a negative rather then a positive.

Point 3) The Wisdom of William James
William James devoted 2 lectures to positive psychology and healthy mindedness. He says that healthy minds are blind to evil and deny negative things with positive illusions. He has come to realize that he has found virtue in negative events and has learned from them. He could accept it for what it was without masking it with positivity. Life lessons come with negative things so its in your best interest to not try and sugar coat it with positive thoughts.

I think that Barbara makes a very solid argument. There were times in my life when I couldn't help but look at an event and see the negativity in it. I would think something was wrong with me because I couldn't just pretend like it didn't happen. But from being able to see the situation as a negative one, I was able to accept it and move on with my life. I think it is good to have a good balance of positive and negative thoughts because it is exhausting to be completely positive all the time. I think that there are necessary times for both and that it is just part of human nature. However i do disagree on the fact that Positive Psychology is a bad thing; I think that it is good to look at things through a positive light and to be able to see the best in everything. I just think that you shouldn't take it took far, and you should only use the necessary amount to positivity, but to still be able to accept the bad things that happen in life.




Sources:
Held, Barbara S. "The Negative Side of Positive Psychology." Journal of Humanistic Psychology 44.1 (2004): 9-46. Print.

"Positive Psychology." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 03 Oct. 2014. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.