Editing Positive psychology (section)

=== <small>Key figures</small> ===
The positive psychology movement was first founded in 1998 by Martin Seligman. He was concerned about the fact that mainstream psychology was too focused on disease, disorders, and disabilities rather than well-being, resilience, and recovery. He aimed to apply mainstream psychology's methodological, scientific, scholarly, and organizational strengths to facilitate well-being rather than illness and disease.<ref name=":4" />

The field has been influenced by humanistic and [[Psychodynamics|psychodynamic]] approaches to treatment. Predating the use of the term "positive psychology", researchers within the field of psychology had focused on topics that would now be included under this new denomination.<ref name=":12" />

[[File:Martin Seligman Philadelphia 2009.jpg|thumb|To [[Martin Seligman|Seligman]], psychology (particularly its positive branch) can investigate and promote realistic ways of fostering more well-being in people and communities.]]

The term "positive psychology" dates at least to 1954, when [[Abraham Maslow]]'s ''[[Motivation and Personality (book)|Motivation and Personality]]'' was published with a final chapter titled "Toward a Positive Psychology."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Maslow |first=Abraham H. |url=https://archive.org/details/motivationperson0000masl/page/n5/mode/2up |title=Motivation and Personality |publisher=Harper & Brothers |year=1954 |edition=1st |location=New York |pages=353–63 |chapter=Toward a Positive Psychology |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/motivationperson0000masl/page/353/mode/1up |url-access=registration |chapter-url-access=registration}}</ref> In the second edition published in 1970, he removed that chapter, saying in the preface that "a positive psychology is at least available today though not very widely."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Maslow |first=Abraham H. |url=https://archive.org/details/motivationperson0000masl_o5g6 |title=Motivation and Personality |publisher=Harper & Brothers |year=1970 |isbn=978-0-06-044241-5 |edition=2nd |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/motivationperson0000masl_o5g6/page/n26/mode/1up?q=positive xxiii] |url-access=registration}}</ref> There have been indications that psychologists since the 1950s have increasingly focused on promoting [[mental health]] rather than merely treating mental illness.<ref>{{multiref2|{{cite journal|url=http://www.her.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/13/1/57.pdf|title=Current conceptualizations of mental health and mental health promotion|last=Secker|first=J.|access-date=2010-05-18|journal=Health Education Research|year=1998|issue=1|volume=13|pages=57–66|doi=10.1093/her/13.1.57 |pmid=10184883 |quote=... Amongst psychologists... the importance of promoting health rather than simply preventing ill-health date back to the 1950s|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100713234428/http://her.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/13/1/57.pdf|archive-date=2010-07-13|url-status=dead}}|{{cite book|title=An Invitation to Health|edition=Brief|chapter=Psychological Well-Being|author=Hales, Dianne|publisher=Wadsworth Cengage Learning|year=2008|page=26|isbn=9780495391920}}
}}</ref> From the beginning of psychology, the field addressed the human experience using the "Disease model," studying and identifying the [[Abnormality (behavior)|dysfunction]] of a person.

In the opening sentence of his book ''Authentic Happiness'', Seligman claimed: "For the last half century psychology has been consumed with a single topic only—mental illness,"<ref name="Seligman2002">{{cite book |last=Seligman |first=Martin E.&nbsp;P. |author-link=Martin Seligman |url=https://archive.org/details/authentichappine00seli_0 |title=Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment |publisher=Free Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-7432-2297-6 |location=New York}}</ref>{{rp|xi}} expanding on Maslow's comments.<ref>{{cite book |last=Maslow |first=Abraham |title=Motivation and Psychology |page=354 |quote=The science of psychology has been far more successful on the negative than on the positive side. It has revealed to us much about man’s shortcomings, his illness, his sins, but little about his potentialities, his virtues, his achievable aspirations, or his full psychological height. It is as if psychology has voluntarily restricted itself to only half its rightful jurisdiction, the darker, meaner half.}}</ref> He urged psychologists to continue the earlier missions of psychology of nurturing talent and improving everyday life.<ref name="Compton2005">{{cite book |last=Compton |first=William C. |url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontopo0000comp |title=An Introduction to Positive Psychology |publisher=Wadsworth Publishing |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-534-64453-6 |location=Belmont, Calif.}}</ref>{{rp|1–22}}