[Neurons] 2023 Neurons #1 WHAT'S NOT POSITIVE ABOUT POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

[Michael Hall]

From: L. Michael Hall

2023 Neurons #1

January, 2, 2023

 

WHAT'S NOT POSITIVE

ABOUT POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

 

I have long appreciated, quoted, and acknowledged the work of Martin
Seligman in his well-known studies Learning Helplessness (1975) and Learned
Optimism (1991) and integrating the core of that in my work on resilience
(Resilience: Being the Phoenix, 2019).  In those two books, he moved from
being a Behaviorist to becoming much more a Cognitivist Behaviorist as he
recognized the role that cognition plays in depression and other emotional
states.  Later he became the President of the American Psychological
Association (APA).  And with that one-year term, he launched his version of
psychology, known as Positive Psychology.

 

But from the beginning, I have had questions and concerns.  "What in the
world could I say that would not be positive about Positive Psychology?"
Actually, a lot.  Here are some of them.  First, the term itself "Positive
Psychology" originated in Abraham Maslow's 1964 book, Toward a Psychology of
Being.  Positive Psychology was one of his chapter titles.  But if you read
in the field of Positive Psychology, you would never know that.  Neither
Seligman nor any of his students acknowledge such or give credit to Maslow
for the term.  And not giving credit to sources is always a sign of poor
scholarship and low integrity.  This means that not Seligman but Maslow is
the true father of Positive Psychology.

 

Second, as I read books on Positive Psychology, and I have read many of
them, not giving credit for the name itself is not the only thing they
overlook.  For the most part, the writers completely overlook that it was
Abraham Maslow who began the focus on the positive side of human nature way
back in the 1930s and 1940s.  Somehow they completely ignore that (or
intentionally overlook it).  They also overlook the work of Carl Rogers in
his focus on the positive side of human nature and even the Human Potential
Movement which arose in the 1960s from Maslow and Rogers (see
Self-Actualization Psychology, 2008).

 

Third, when Seligman does mention Maslow, which is very seldom, it is almost
always in a context where he disagrees with Maslow and criticizes him.  Now
I'm fine with one scholar offering a critique of another, but when every
single reference is a critique and there is not a single acknowledgment of
Maslow's contributions- something is wrong.  In other books on Positive
Psychology, the first mention of Maslow or Rogers will be some 100 pages in
and again, most of the references are critical of them.  In Martin Bolt's
book A Positive Psychology Guide (2004), the first reference to Maslow is on
page 135, the next was on p. 153 where he criticizes Maslow.

 

Now why would anyone do that?  Why would a famous psychologist do that?
Typically when a person has to push someone else down it is in order to push
himself up-which is a sick neurotic behavior.  It is an illegitimate and
unhealthy maneuver to prop up oneself.

 

Now also unknown to most people, the reason Positive Psychology got a big
boost and became recognized as quickly as it did was because Seligman was
given over 30 million dollars in grants from having been voted President of
APA in 1998.  Dr. Carl Lloyd, who teaches Positive Psychology, says, "It was
these two things which really helped him to launch research in the field of
Positive Psychology."  And with 30 million dollars, who couldn't make a
gigantic splash in any field of Psychology?

 

Fourth, another concern about Positive Psychology relates to the online
research pieces they have distributed.  Often it really does not reflect the
best research.  Dr. Lloyd noted that his junior-level students who had some
studies in undergrad sequence of research and statistics have raised

relevant questions about the validity and reliability of the research
methods and results.  

"For instance, they can take one questionnaire and then repeat it several
days later and get fairly different results.  That's a problem with
reliability.  It begs the question if the research concerns are defined well
enough to be valid.  Anyone can collect tons of data, but is it enriching
the field at all or answering the questions that are being asked?"

 

Fifth, in reading much of the literature on Positive Psychology from
Seligman, there is the presence of what can only be characterized as
arrogant self-promotion.  It reeks of self-promotion in a lot of the
writings.

 

Sixth, Positive Psychology seems to be almost exclusively for normal people
or those who only need a bit of counseling.  It does not seem to address the
deeper issues of therapy, neurosis and character disorders.  In Bolt's book,
there is not a single mention in the entire book of therapy, trauma, or
neurosis.  He quotes Seligman: 

"The main purpose of a positive psychology is to measure, understand, and
then build the human strengths and the civic virtues." (2004, p. 2)

 

When Positive Psychology was first launched, all of the original books were
mostly academic and offered very little in terms of practical applications.
Over the years, others entered into the field and began creating
applications, especially in the areas of appreciating, thriving,
flourishing, personality strengths, looking for a positive frame, etc.
Today Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi are considered the founders of Positive
Psychology, both of them have contributed significantly to psychology and
especially to humanistic psychology.  In Neuro-Semantics I have from the
beginning given plenteous acknowledgment to Seligman for his work in learned
helplessness and learned optimism.  I also gave full credit to Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi for his work in "flow."  In relating to how flow relates to
the genius state, I quoted many of his books. 

 

The kind and quality of psychology that we use in Neuro-Semantics is
certainly positive psychology.  It was developed from the developers in the
Human Potential Movement-people who predated Seligman by 50 years.  It was
demonstrated by Satir, Perls, Bateson, and others which is how it entered
and formed NLP.

 

 

 

 

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

ISNS Executive Director

P.O. Box 8

Clifton Colorado 81520 USA

(970) 523-7877

drhall at acsol.net  



 

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