Opening new doors: Using positive psychology to unlock the formula for positive change and resilience in the face of adversity

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Synard ◽  
N. Gazzola
Keyword(s):  
Positive Psychology ◽  
Positive Change ◽  
The Face

scholarly journals To Be Happy: A Case Study of Entrepreneurial Motivation and Entrepreneurial Process from the Perspective of Positive Psychology

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaohua Su ◽  
Shengmei Liu ◽  
Shujun Zhang ◽  
Lingling Liu
Keyword(s):  
Positive Psychology ◽  
Positive Emotion ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Cognitive Structure ◽  
Entrepreneurial Intention ◽  
Entrepreneurial Process ◽  
Entrepreneurial Motivation ◽  
Wealth Maximization ◽  
The Face ◽  
New Perspective

The pursuit of wealth maximization is considered to be the greatest driving force of entrepreneurship. However, this economic rational perspective cannot sufficiently answer why potential or continuous entrepreneurs still choose entrepreneurship or even continuous entrepreneurship in the face of high failure rate and tremendous uncertainty. On the basis of the dynamic process of entrepreneurship and the perspective of positive psychology, this study attempts to interpret the sustained motivation mechanism of entrepreneurs. This study uses multiple cases to investigate the emotion, cognition, and behavior of entrepreneurial process. Through NVivo software and emotion dictionary, more than 27,000 micro blogs (Weibo) of six entrepreneurs were analyzed, and the model of positive emotion in entrepreneurial process was constructed. The findings are as follows. (1) In the process of establishing a business, entrepreneurs can persist in a highly uncertain environment by acquiring positive emotions. That is, the motivation of sustainable entrepreneurship originates from the emotion of happiness and satisfaction that entrepreneurs obtain. (2) Positive emotions affect the formation and expansion of key activities of entrepreneurship through cognition and then persist with entrepreneurship. Specifically, positive emotion promotes the formation of entrepreneurial intention by expanding cognitive structure, intuitive processing, and analytical processing to promote the acquisition of entrepreneurial resources and the expansion of entrepreneurial ability. (3) In the process of entrepreneurship, emotional return is a performance dimension parallel to economic return. This conclusion provides a new perspective towards revealing the entrepreneurial motivation of entrepreneurs in highly ambiguous environments.

scholarly journals Strength, solidarity, strategy and sustainability: A counseling psychologist’s guide to social action

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca L. Toporek
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Counseling Psychology ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Positive Change ◽  
Individual Change ◽  
Or Practice ◽  
The Face ◽  
Counseling Psychologists ◽  
The Way

The roles of counseling psychologists vary by setting, population, and circumstances. Yet, social justice can be a unifying force beyond the boundaries of daily responsibilities. No matter how insightful or profound counseling psychology theories or practice are, if they are focused on individual change alone, they will never sufficiently address injustice. Injustice and the inadequacy of traditional, individually focused paradigms present tensions between counseling psychologists’ work to help individuals cope with life’s challenges and inadvertent (or intentional) support of systems that perpetuate oppression. This paper explores this dichotomy, avenues for moving to action, and personal sustainability in the face of professional fatigue. Experiences as a counselor and counseling psychologist, as well as research, shape the way I see advocacy and activism and have given rise to strategies I have found helpful. A resulting framework for developing a “personal social action plan” is represented by four pillars: Strength, Solidarity, Strategy and Sustainability (S-Quad). National and local challenges across the globe reflect enormous differences in contexts, needs, politics, and resources. Yet, sharing strategies for social action, activism, and advocacy can provide seeds for optimism and action toward justice and positive change.

The Reading & Interpretation of Matthew 18:21-22 in Relation to Multiple Reconciliations: The Zimbabwean Experience

Exchange ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 331-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis Machingura
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Structural Violence ◽  
Positive Change ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Political Views ◽  
The Face ◽  
Different Shapes ◽  
Unconditional Forgiveness ◽  
Reading Interpretation

AbstractThe mention of the terms ‘healing, truth and reconciliation’, conjure up different meanings across religio-political, social and economical divide in Zimbabwe. This paper seeks to explore the possible implications of the reading of Matthew 18:21-22 in relation to reconciliation in the face of continual and structural violence in Zimbabwe. This rose as a result of the multiple reconciliation undertakings that have been witnessed by the Zimbabweans since the attainment of Independence in 1980. These healing whistles have been sounded in 1980, 1987 and recently 2008 after the brutal violence that took place in different shapes and depth. Most of the victims belonged to both political parties but mostly opposition parties save the violence before Independence as shall be shown in this paper. What is interesting is that, the recent 24-26 July 2009 healing calls by Mugabe are no longer a new phenomenon in Zimbabwe, as they do not produce any positive change on people’s behaviour and attitude; when it comes to how Zimbabwean people should relate and integrate each other without resorting to violence in the face of different political views. Surprisingly the calls for peace, unity, reconciliation, integration and forgiveness have left the Zimbabwean society more: wounded, divided and polarised than healed; and more disintegrated than integrated. How does one reconcile with someone who murdered your father, raped your mother or sister in your face; and that person is not made accountable for his actions but is only asked to apologize? This paper seeks to argue that healing or any reconciliation without the seeking of truth and justice is a goose chasing as it still leaves Zimbabwe a ‘violence infested’ country. I also take issue with Religious Leaders who quote Matthew 18:21-22; as a precursor for unconditional forgiveness on the part of the victim when it comes to reconciliation and healing in Zimbabwe.

scholarly journals Protectors of Wellbeing During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Key Roles for Gratitude and Tragic Optimism in a UK-Based Cohort

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica P. Mead ◽  
Zoe Fisher ◽  
Jeremy J. Tree ◽  
Paul T. P. Wong ◽  
Andrew H. Kemp
Keyword(s):  
Positive Psychology ◽  
Protective Factors ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Connection To Nature ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Adverse Impacts ◽  
The Face ◽  
Current Sample ◽  
Global Threat

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a global threat to physical and mental health worldwide. Research has highlighted adverse impacts of COVID-19 on wellbeing but has yet to offer insights as to how wellbeing may be protected. Inspired by developments in wellbeing science and guided by our own theoretical framework (the GENIAL model), we examined the role of various potentially protective factors in a sample of 138 participants from the United Kingdom. Protective factors included physical activity (i.e., a health behaviour that helps to build psychological wellbeing), tragic optimism (optimism in the face of tragedy), gratitude (a prosocial emotion), social support (the perception or experience of being loved, cared for, and valued by others), and nature connectedness (physical and psychological connection to nature). Initial analysis involved the application of one-sample t-tests, which confirmed that wellbeing (measured by the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being scale) in the current sample (N = 138; M = 46.08, SD = 9.22) was significantly lower compared to previous samples (d = −0.36 and d = −0.41). Protective factors were observed to account for up to 50% of variance in wellbeing in a hierarchical linear regression that controlled for a range of sociostructural factors including age, gender, and subjective social status, which impact on wellbeing but lie beyond individual control. Gratitude and tragic optimism emerged as significant contributors to the model. Our results identify key psychological attributes that may be harnessed through various positive psychology strategies to mitigate the adverse impacts of hardship and suffering, consistent with an existential positive psychology of suffering.

scholarly journals The Joyful Life: An Existential-Humanistic Approach to Positive Psychology in the Time of a Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brent Dean Robbins
Keyword(s):  
Positive Psychology ◽  
Personal Growth ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
The Face ◽  
Autobiographical Narrative

In the midst of a global pandemic, psychology has a duty to identify dispositional or character traits that can be cultivated in citizens in order to create resiliency in the face of profound losses, suffering and distress. Dispositional joy holds some promise as such a trait that could be especially important for well-being during the current pandemic and its consequences. The concept of the Joyful Life may operate as bridge between positive psychology and humanistic, existential, and spiritual views of the good life, by integrating hedonic, prudential, eudaimonic and chaironic visions of the good life. Previous phenomenological research on state joy suggests that momentary states of joy may have features that overlap with happiness but go beyond mere hedonic interests, and point to the experience of a life oriented toward virtue and a sense of the transcendent or the sacred. However, qualitative research on the Joyful Life, or dispositional joy, is sorely lacking. This study utilized a dialogical phenomenological analysis to conduct a group-based analysis of 17 volunteer students, who produced 51 autobiographical narrative descriptions of the joyful life. The dialogical analyses were assisted by integration of the Imagery in Movement Method, which incorporated expressive drawing and psychodrama as an aid to explicate implicit themes in the experiences of the participants. The analyses yielded ten invariant themes found across the autobiographical narrative descriptions: Being broken, being grounded, being centered, breaking open, being uplifted, being supertemporal, being open to the mystery, being grateful, opening up and out, and being together. The descriptions of a Joyful Life were consistent with a meaning orientation to happiness, due to their emphasis on the cultivation of virtue in the service of a higher calling, the realization of which was felt to be a gift or blessing. The discussion examines implications for future research, including the current relevance of a joyful disposition during a global pandemic. Due to the joyful disposition’s tendency to transform suffering and tragedy into meaning, and its theme of an orientation to prosocial motivations, the Joyful Life may occupy a central place in the study of resiliency and personal growth in response to personal and collective trauma such as COVID-19.

scholarly journals The Ideological Function of “Positive Energy” Discourse: A People’s Daily Analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Triggs
Keyword(s):  
Positive Psychology ◽  
Positive Energy ◽  
Main Function ◽  
The People ◽  
Analysis Theory ◽  
People’S Daily ◽  
The Face ◽  
Grassroots Level ◽  
People's Daily ◽  
Party Dominance

Following its emergence as a popular social byword, in 2012 the term “positive energy” was adopted into frequent usage in Chinese political discourse. Previous studies have analysed the term’s usage in a social context alongside a growing interest in positive psychology, resulting in a portrayal of its main function as that of spreading hope and optimism in the face of challenges. This study now seeks to understand the ideological function the term has served in the political sphere, arguing for a deeper understanding of positive energy discourse within a Gramscian framework of political consensus-building, aimed at reinforcing CCP hegemony. This is shown through an exploratory analysis of People’s Daily Online articles inspired by framing and content-analysis theory, which considers the thematic components, sub-frame problems and actors of the term since the beginning of Xi Jinping’s time in power. The results of this analysis reveal four key trends. These are a focus on challenges which undermine Party dominance; an emphasis on ideas of social responsibility, and communality of interest between the state and the people; a promotion of moral action a grassroots level; and the advocation of state authority over the Internet. The results demonstrate how positive energy discourse has encouraged a popular consensus around CCP hegemony, creating a Gramscian “common sense” due to its grassroots origins, association with an increasingly popular positive psychology movement, and in-built connotations of happiness.

Collect Your Happiness: A Case Study of Using Positive Psychology Principles in Technology Design for Positive Change

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lekai Zhang ◽  
Kevin Wolterink ◽  
Kejun Zhang ◽  
Chuchu Jin ◽  
Baixi Xing
Keyword(s):  
Positive Psychology ◽  
Positive Change ◽  
Technology Design

The Impact of Storytelling in Leadership

2018 ◽  
pp. 145-156
Author(s):  
Linda Ellington
Keyword(s):  
Positive Psychology ◽  
Positive Change ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Real People ◽  
Effective Relationships ◽  
Change Leaders ◽  
Positive Organizational Psychology ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Organizational Approach

Tell the organizational story! Take the data of the organization and turn it into real people doing real things and you just might influence education. This chapter demonstrates the relevance of the skills of storytelling and its impact on change. Leaders who tell stories compellingly communicate important messages in a memorable way, develop more effective relationships with those they lead, and create an inspirational culture as their organizations go through positive change. Storytelling does not need to be a foreign concept, as we can all search our own history and experiences of important lessons learned that can be communicated in the form of a narrative. The role of stories and storytelling contribute to a positive organizational approach – positive in the sense of positive psychology, positive organizational psychology, and appreciate inquiry.

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