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The Negative Side of Positive Psychology

Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine

This article explores three ways in which the positive psychology movement’s construction and presentation of itself are negative. First, the negative side is construed as the negative side effects of positive psychology’s dominant, separatist message. Second, the negative side is construed as the negativity that can be found within the positive psychology movement. Here the author elaborates on the negative or dismissive reactions of some spokespersons for the movement to ideas or views that run counter to the movement’s dominant message: (a) negativity about negativity itself, which is explored by way of research in health psychology and coping styles; and (b) negativity about the wrong kind of positivity, namely, allegedly unscientific positivity, especially that which Seligman purports to find within humanistic psychology. This constitutes an epistemological position that contributes to "reality problems" for positive psychologists. The author concludes with the implications of positive psychology’s "Declaration of Independence" for psychology’s much discussed fragmentation woes. She appeals to the wisdom of William James for guidance in finding a third, more positive meaning of positive psychology’s negative side. This third meaning can be gleaned from a not-yet-dominant but more integrative message emerging within the movement, one compatible with the reactions of some humanistic psychologists to positive psychology.

Key Words: positive psychology • scientific realism • defensive pessimism • fragmentation • postmodernism • optimism • negativity

Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Vol. 44, No. 1, 9-46 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/0022167803259645


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