Editing Positive psychology (section)

=== Reality distortion ===

==== Positive illusions ====
In 1988, psychologists [[Shelley E. Taylor]] and Jonathan D. Brown co-authored a ''[[Psychological Bulletin]]'' article that coined the phrase [[positive illusions]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Taylor |first1=Shelley E. |last2=Brown |first2=Jonathon D. |title=Illusion and well-being: A social psychological perspective on mental health. |journal=Psychological Bulletin |date=1988 |volume=103 |issue=2 |pages=193–210 |doi=10.1037/0033-2909.103.2.193 |pmid=3283814 }}</ref> Positive illusions are the [[cognitive processes]] people engage in when they [[Self aggrandizing|self-aggrandize]] or [[Self-enhancement|self-enhance]]. They are unrealistically positive or self-affirming attitudes that individuals hold about themselves, their position, or their environment. They are attitudes of extreme optimism that endure in the face of facts and real conditions.

Taylor and Brown suggest that positive illusions protect people from negative feedback that they might receive, and this, in turn, preserves their [[psychological adaptation]] and subjective well-being. However, later research found that positive illusions and related attitudes lead to psychological [[Maladaptation|maladaptive]] conditions such as poorer social relationships, expressions of [[narcissism]], and negative workplace outcomes,<ref>{{Cite news|first=Nancy|last=Luksch|date=2010-02-27|title=Positive Illusions and Positive Psychology: Do Positive Illusions Foster Mental Health?|url=http://positivepsychology.org.uk/positive-illusions/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170331204615/http://positivepsychology.org.uk/positive-illusions/|archive-date=2017-03-31|access-date=2020-11-29|website=PositivePsychology.org.uk|language=en-US}}</ref> thus reducing the positive effects that positive illusions have on subjective well-being, overall happiness, and life satisfaction.

[[Kirk J. Schneider|Kirk Schneider]], editor of the ''[[Journal of Humanistic Psychology]]'', pointed to research showing high positivity correlates with positive illusion, which distorts reality. High positivity or [[flourishing]] could make one incapable of psychological growth, unable to self-reflect, and prone to holding racial biases. By contrast, negativity, sometimes evidenced in mild to moderate depression, is correlated with less distortion of reality. Therefore, Schneider argues, negativity might play an important role: engaging in conflict and acknowledging appropriate negativity, including certain negative emotions like guilt, might better promote flourishing. Schneider wrote: "perhaps genuine happiness is not something you aim at, but is... a by-product of a life well lived—and a life well lived does not settle on the programmed or neatly calibrated."<ref>{{Cite news|first=Kirk J.|last=Schneider|date=2010-11-29|title=Toward a Humanistic Positive Psychology: Why Can't We Just Get Along?|url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/awakening-awe/201011/toward-humanistic-positive-psychology-why-cant-we-just-get-along|access-date=2020-11-29|website=Psychology Today|language=en-US}}</ref>

==== Role of negativity ====
[[Barbara S. Held]], a professor at [[Bowdoin College]], argues that positive psychology has faults: negative side effects, negativity within the positive psychology movement, and the division in the field of psychology caused by differing opinions of psychologists on positive psychology. She notes the movement's lack of consistency regarding the role of negativity. She also raises issues with the simplistic approach taken by some psychologists in the application of positive psychology. A "one size fits all" approach is arguably not beneficial; she suggests a need for individual differences to be incorporated into its application.<ref name="Held2004">{{cite journal |last1=Held |first1=Barbara S. |title=The Negative Side of Positive Psychology |journal=Journal of Humanistic Psychology |date=January 2004 |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=9–46 |doi=10.1177/0022167803259645 }}</ref> By teaching young people that being confident and optimistic leads to success, when they are unsuccessful they may believe this is because they are insecure or pessimistic. This could lead them to believe that any negative internal thought or feeling they may experience is damaging to their happiness and should be steered clear of completely.<ref name="Ciarrochi 2016">{{Cite journal |last1=Ciarrochi |first1=Joseph |last2=Atkins |first2=Paul W. B. |last3=Hayes |first3=Louise L. |last4=Sahdra |first4=Baljinder K. |last5=Parker |first5=Philip |year=2016 |title=Contextual Positive Psychology: Policy Recommendations for Implementing Positive Psychology into Schools |journal=Frontiers in Psychology |language=English |volume=7 |page=1561 |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01561 |pmc=5056194 |pmid=27777564 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Held prefers the Second Wave Positive Psychology message of embracing the dialectic nature of positive and negative, and questions the need to call it "positive" psychology.{{r|Held2004}}

==== Toxic positivity ====
{{Further|Toxic positivity}}
[[File:20230516 Toxic positivity - Google Trends search term history.svg|thumb| upright=1.25 | Though the concept of unrealistic optimism had already been explored by psychologists at least as early as 1980, the term ''toxic positivity'' appeared in J. Halberstam's 2011 ''[[The Queer Art of Failure]]''<ref name="AppliedCorpusLinquistics_20220125">{{cite journal |last1=Lecompte-Van Poucke |first1=Margo |title='You got this!': A critical discourse analysis of toxic positivity as a discursive construct on Facebook |journal=Applied Corpus Linguistics |date=April 2022 |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=100015 |doi=10.1016/j.acorp.2022.100015 }}</ref> ("...to poke holes in the toxic positivity of contemporary life"). Beginning in about 2019, the term ''toxic positivity'' became the subject of a greater number of Internet searches.]]
One critical response to positive psychology concerns "toxic positivity".<ref>{{multiref2|{{Cite book |last=Halberstam |first=Jack |date=2011 |title=The Queer Art of Failure |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-0-8223-5045-3}}{{pn|date=December 2024}}|{{cite journal |last1=Wright |first1=Colin |title=Happiness Studies and Wellbeing: A Lacanian Critique of Contemporary Conceptualisations of the Cure |journal=Culture Unbound |date=October 2014 |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=791–813 |doi=10.3384/cu.2000.1525.146791 |doi-access=free }}
}}</ref> Toxic positivity is when people do not fully acknowledge, process, or manage the entire spectrum of human emotion, including anger and sadness.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lukin |first=Konstantin |title=Toxic Positivity: Don't Always Look on the Bright Side |url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-man-cave/201908/toxic-positivity-dont-always-look-the-bright-side |access-date=2020-11-29 |website=Psychology Today |language=en-US}}</ref> This genre of criticism argues that positive psychology places too much importance on "upbeat thinking, while shunting challenging and difficult experiences to the side."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Jen Rose |date=17 September 2020 |title=When does a good attitude become toxic positivity? |url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/17/health/toxic-positivity-mental-health-wellness/index.html |access-date=2020-11-29 |website=CNN}}</ref> People who engage in a constant chase for positive experiences or states of high subjective well-being may inadvertently [[stigmatizing|stigmatize]] negative emotional conditions such as [[depression (mood)|depression]], or may suppress natural emotional responses, such as [[sadness]], [[regret]], or [[Psychological stress|stress]]. Furthermore, by not allowing negative emotional states to be experienced, or by suppressing and hiding negative emotional responses, people may experience harmful physical, [[cardiovascular]], and [[Respiratory system|respiratory]] consequences.<ref>{{multiref2|{{Cite web|first=Zawn|last=Villines|editor-last=Johnson|editor-first=Jacquelyn|title=What to know about toxic positivity|url=https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/toxic-positivity|website=Medical News Today|date=31 March 2021}}|{{Cite journal|last1=Gross|first1=J. J.|last2=Levenson|first2=R. W.|year=1997|title=Hiding feelings: the acute effects of inhibiting negative and positive emotion|journal=Journal of Abnormal Psychology|volume=106|issue=1|pages=95–103|doi=10.1037/0021-843x.106.1.95|pmid=9103721}}|{{Cite journal|last1=Campbell-Sills|first1=Laura|last2=Barlow|first2=David H.|last3=Brown|first3=Timothy A.|last4=Hofmann|first4=Stefan G.|year=2006|title=Effects of suppression and acceptance on emotional responses of individuals with anxiety and mood disorders|journal=Behaviour Research and Therapy|language=en|volume=44|issue=9|pages=1251–1263|doi=10.1016/j.brat.2005.10.001|pmid=16300723}}
}}</ref> Opponents of toxic positivity advocate accepting and fully experiencing negative emotional states.