Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2000) contend thatif the study of human development turns towards a “positivepsychology†then: …the social and behavioral sciences can play anenormously important role. They can articulate a vision of the goodlife that is empirically sound while being understandable andattractive. They can show what actions lead to well-being, topositive individuals, and to thriving communities. Psychologyshould be able to help document what kinds of families result inchildren who flourish, what work settings support the greatestsatisfaction among workers, what policies result in the strongestcivic engagement, and how people’s lives can be most worth living(44-45) One goal of positive psychology is to move beyond justdescribing our social reality to prescribing social policies thatcan transform society. Read Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (Selction8 of Classic Editions). What three ideas do they present incontrast to ‘psychology as pathology’? What are the implications oftheir ideas for social policy and/or your life?
