This book presents recent advancements in positive psychology, specifically its application across broad areas of current interest. Chapters include submissions from various international authors in the field and cover discussion and presentation of relevant research, theories, and applications. The volume covers topics such as CBT, Psychotherapy, Coaching, Workplaces, Aging, Education, Leadership, Emotion, Interventions, Measurement, Technology, Design, Health, Relationships, Experiences, Communities. With the growing interest in the applications of positive psychology across diverse fields within psychology and beyond, this book will make a worthwhile contribution to the field. It will also fill the current need for a volume that highlights specifically the various recent advancements in positive psychology into diverse fields and as such will be of benefit to a wide range of professionals, including psychologists, educators, clinicians, therapists, and many others.

The best minds in positive psychology survey the state of the field Positive Psychology in Practice, Second Edition moves beyond the theoretical to show how positive psychology is being used in real-world settings, and the new directions emerging in the field. An international team of contributors representing the best and brightest in the discipline review the latest research, discuss how the findings are being used in practice, explore new ideas for application, and discuss focus points for future research. This updated edition contains new chapters that explore the intersection between positive psychology and humanistic psychology, salugenesis, hedonism, and eudaimonism, and more, with deep discussion of how the field is integrating with the new areas of self-help, life coaching, social work, rehabilitation psychology, and recovery-oriented service systems. This book explores the challenges and opportunities in the field, providing readers with the latest research and consensus on practical application. Get up to date on the latest research and practice findings Integrate positive psychology into assessments, life coaching, and other therapies Learn how positive psychology is being used in schools Explore possible directions for new research to push the field forward Positive psychology is being used in areas as diverse as clinical, counseling, forensic, health, educational, and industrial/organizational settings, in a wide variety of interventions and applications. Psychologists and other mental health professionals who want to promote human flourishing and well-being will find the second edition of Positive Psychology in Practice to be an informative, comprehensive guide.

Collating for the first time a range of techniques in positive psychology, this handbook introduces topics such as courage, empathy and humor, and spans areas as diverse as gratitude, forgiveness and strengths. It also explores special considerations such as ethics and motivation, and offers informed conjecture on future directions in research and practice. Comprehensive content summarizes theory and research on many areas of positive psychology intervention for the first time and provides essential updates on established interventions Features contributions from an array of leading researchers, including Bob Emmons, Sonja Lyubomirsky and Shane Lopez Covers established interventions – for instance, coaching and family therapy – as well as newly developed interventions – such as schizophrenia or stopping smoking

This volume presents clearly defined and described evidence-based positive psychology interventions (PPIs), which have been validated in multi-cultural contexts. It discusses validated PPIs which have been shown to have a significant impact in both clinical and real-world settings. From the late 1990s, there has been an upsurge in popular psychological “self-help” publications drawing from processes and principles of positive psychology. These publications are based on clinically validated PPI studies and translated in a “consumer friendly” manner. However, in these popular works the intervention methods are significantly altered from the original forms, and the contexts of the consumers are meaningfully different from those of the original study populations, the impact on outcome variables are often misinterpreted or over-inflated, and incorrect outcome variables are targeted. Original research articles also do not extensively discuss the content of the interventions, but merely present short descriptions of the PPI. As such, the intervention content cannot accurately be translated into practice. Hence, the need for this volume which discusses in depth how validated PPIs in various multi-cultural contexts work in both clinical and real-world settings.

The emergence of Positive Psychology has highlighted the importance of studying the good life and how to attain it. Positive life outcomes, such as well-being, thriving, flourishing, and happiness were discussed and investigated. Among them, different orientations to happiness were identified, such as a life of pleasure, life of meaning, and life of engagement. Other outcomes, such as subjective and objective fulfillment in life or societal recognition have been less studied. Among the characteristics that facilitate positive outcomes, the VIA-classification of strength and virtues distinguishes 24 strengths with humor/playfulness being one of them. Only a small segment of humor entered the definition of humor as character strengths, namely the parts that contain some “goodness”. Humor as a character strength facilitates a lot of positive outcomes, such as positive emotions and positive relationships, and there is a “lightness” accompanying humor/playfulness. The field is broader though and transcends the definition of humor as used in positive psychology, in at least two ways. First, there is actually a family of overlapping but still distinct concepts with different research traditions. We include next to humor (and types of humor), also laughter, playfulness, and cheerfulness. We think that more research is needed on how they do overlap and what makes them distinct. Second, while positive psychology is interested in the goodness of we do want to stress that there is the need to study the non-virtuous parts as well. That is, laughter may not only be expressing amusement but scorn directed at people, humor may be benevolent but there is also sarcasm, and playfulness may elicit positive emotions but also risk-prone and immature types of behavior. Therefore, the aim of this Research Topic was to collect current perspectives on humor, playfulness, laughter, and cheerfulness in both adults and children, to study their full diversity but also interrelations and overlapping features, to introduce new instruments or ways for their assessment in future studies, and to study their causes and consequences in a variety of life domains. We encouraged studies on differences due to gender or nationality, the embodiment in different groups (e.g., class clowns, psychiatric patients), or whether or not they can be trained. We also welcomed contributions from adjacent disciplines (e.g., education, leisure studies, or therapy/counseling) and different regions of the earth. The outcome is a set of 33 manuscripts from altogether 101 authors. Not all areas are covered and not all aims were met; while we made progress there is much left to do. In this sense, the merging of these topics may be the first milestone but like every milestone, it only marks the beginning of a long journey.

The Handbook of Positive Psychology in Schools offers the most current and comprehensive insights into how positive psychology principles provide a framework for young people to become active agents in their own learning. The third edition of this groundbreaking volume assembles the latest global research identifying fundamental assets—hope, optimism, gratitude, self-efficacy, emotional regulation, among others—that support students’ learning and well-being. Chapters examining social-ecological perspectives on classroom quality and school climate provide best practice guidance on schoolwide policies and practices. These 35 new chapters explore positive psychology’s ongoing influence and advances on prevention, intervention, and assessment practices in schools.

This volume provides theoretical perspectives on and approaches to the development or enhancement of positive psychological capacities within various multi-cultural professional and organizational contexts. Specifically, it presents theoretical frameworks for the identification, development and optimization of positive psychological capacities through a contemporary, multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary lens. In recent years, the applicability of positive psychological intervention (PPI) techniques has transposed the boundaries of clinical practice into a wide array of complementary domains such as law, education, business and even design sciences such as architecture. These interventions target the enhancement of positive psychological capacities (e.g. strength-identification and use; high-performance learning; appreciative design; job-crafting) in order to not only improve individual functioning, well-being and the treatment of various forms of psychopathology but also to enhance team functioning/performance, organizational growth and community development. Despite its importance, very little research has been done on the design of PPIs applicable to multi-cultural contexts. The contributions to this volume provide insights into this hitherto neglected area of research.

This volume presents innovative and contemporary methodologies and intervention protocols for the enhancement of positive psychological attributes in multicultural professional and organizational contexts. Most methods, models and approaches that underpin positive psychological interventions are confined to clinical samples, closed systems or monocultural contexts, which restrict their applicability to particular contexts. Extensive practical intervention protocols, designs and methods which usually accompany first draft intervention papers are condensed into brief paragraphs in final manuscripts or removed in their entirety. This, in turn, reduces their potential for replicability or adoption by consumers, practitioners, or industry. This volume develops guidelines for enhancing positive psychological attributes, such as positive moods (e.g. positive affect; life satisfaction), strengths (e.g. gratitude; humour), cognitions (e.g. hope; optimism) and behaviours (e.g. emotional regulation; positive relationship building) within various multicultural contexts. Thereby, it shows how positive psychology interventions can be replicated to a wide-range of contexts beyond those in which they were developed.

Positive Psychology Coaching in Practice provides a comprehensive overview of positive psychology coaching, bringing together the best of science and practice, highlighting current research, and emphasising the applicability of each element to coaching. With an international range of contributors, this book is a unique resource for those seeking to integrate positive psychology into their evidence-based coaching practice. Beginning with an overview of positive psychology coaching, the book includes an assessment of theories of wellbeing, an examination of mindfulness research, a guide to relevant neuroscience, and a review of a strengths-based approach. It also contains chapters which explore the application of ACT, the role of positive psychology in wellness and resilience coaching, positive leadership theory, and developmental psychological theories as they relate to coaching through significant life transitions. In each chapter, theory and research is thoroughly explored and applied directly to coaching practice, and supported with a list of relevant resources and a case study. The book concludes with the editors’ views on the future directions of positive psychology coaching. Positive Psychology Coaching in Practice will be essential reading for professional coaches in practice and in training seeking to enhance their evidence-based practice, coaching psychologists, practitioners of positive psychology, and academics and students of coaching, coaching psychology and positive psychology.