Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences
Psycho Social Aspects of Happiness
Three Dimensions toAmity
Happiness
Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences
• Seligman’s concludes that happiness has three dimensions that can be
cultivated: the Pleasant Life, the Good Life, and the Meaningful Life.
• According to Seligman, we can experience three kinds of happiness:
1) pleasure and gratification
2) embodiment of strengths and virtues
3) meaning and purpose.
Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences
1. The Pleasant Life: Past, Present & Future
• The Pleasant Life entails People to think constructively about the past,
obtain optimism and hope for the future, and, as a result, earn greater
happiness in the present.
• Dealing with the Past- Gratitude and forgiveness.
• Happiness in the Present-To enhance happiness in the present,
Seligman suggests breaking habits, savouring experiences, and practising
mindfulness.
• Optimism about the Future-When it comes to the future, Seligman
recommends having a positive view through Hope and Optimism.
Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences
2. The Good Life: Embodying the 6 Virtues & Cultivating the 24 Strengths
Virtues
• One notable contribution of Seligman is his cross-cultural study to create an
“Authoritative Classification and Measurement System for the Human Strengths”
• He collaborated with Dr. Christopher Peterson, a leading authority in the subject of
hope and optimism, to develop a classification system that would allow psychologists
to assess the success of positive psychology.
• Good character being consistently and firmly associated to lasting happiness was
utilised to test its efficacy. They made a concentrated effort to investigate and
research a wide array of religious and philosophical literature from all around the
world in order to stay true to their aspirations to build a universal classification
system.
6 Core Virtues
Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences
• They found 6 particular virtues that were valued in almost every culture,
valued in their own right (not just as a means to another end) and are
attainable.
• These 6 core virtues are:
1. Wisdom & Knowledge.
2. Courage
3. Love & Humanity
4. Justice
5. Temperance
6. Spirituality & Transcendence
Strengths
Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences
• Strengths, according to Seligman, are the routes via which we acquire
virtues in our lives.
• Seligman distinguishes between talents and strengths by characterizing:
– Strengths as moral characteristics that can be developed, learnt, and
improved with effort.
– Talents are often innate and can only be developed from what already
exists rather than through effort (Seligman 2002, p. 134).
• Many people, for example, believe that musical ability is innate and can
only be strengthened. On the other hand, one can cultivate the strength of
patience, which can lead to the virtue of temperance.
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• Seligman sees the healthy exercise and development of
strengths and virtues as a key to the good life – a life in which
one uses one’s “signature strengths every day in the main
realms of your life to bring abundant gratification and authentic
happiness.”
• The good life is a place of happiness, good relationships and
work, and from this point, Seligman encourages people to go
further to seek a meaningful life in the continual quest for
happiness (Seligman 2002, p. 161).
Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences
The Meaningful Life
• While a pleasant life may bring more positive emotion into one's life, we
must explore the domain of meaning to create a deeper and more lasting
contentment.
• A mundane, inauthentic, empty pursuit of pleasure tends to nibble away
at one's potential without the application of one's particular strengths and
the development of one's virtues towards an aim bigger than oneself.
• Seligman builds on the work of his contemporary and colleague, Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi, in the subject of "flow."
• Putting one's heart and soul into creative work gives one a stronger
feeling of purpose in life and, as a result, a higher sense of happiness.
Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences
Altruism
• Seligman goes one step further than Csikszentmihalyi by exploring the
experience of flow and the loss of self-consciousness that is involved in
acts of altruism and of kindness.
• The exercise of kindness is a gratification in contrast to pleasure.
Martin Seligman 'Flourishing - a new understanding of wellbeing' at Happiness &
Its Causes 2012
Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences
References Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences
• Martin Seligman & Positive Psychology: Theory and Practice. (2022). Retrieved 19
April 2022, from [Link]
seligman psychology/#:~:text=Seligman's%20conclusion
• Seligman, Martin E.P. (2002). Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive
Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment. New York, NY: Free
Press.
