In 1998, Dr Martin Seligman was elected president of the American Psychological Association. Until this point, the focus of psychology and its research had been on treating mental illness and pathology, but Dr Seligman had a different vision for the future. Seligman decided to shift the focus of Psychology to understanding and increasing human happiness and wellbeing.
This is how Positive Psychology was born – ‘the scientific study of what makes life worth living’ (Peterson, 2008). Positive psychology differs from self-help, philosophy, and religion, although they cover similar topics, as Positive psychology has its foundations in the scientific model and its models are produced by its research.
The PERMA+ Model
One influential model in positive psychology is known as the PERMA+ model, developed by Dr Seligman in 2012.
In his book ‘Flourish’, Seligman explains the concept of Wellbeing and the components that make up and contribute to wellbeing in a person’s life. He distinguished well-being from happiness by explaining that happiness is a ‘thing’, whereas well-being is a ‘construct’. Where happiness is a measurable entity that can be operationalised, well-being on the other hand can not be measured, but it’s made up of several things that can.
He uses an analogy where happiness is compared to windchill factor I meteorology. It’s something that’s measured and defined using a specific set of measures. However, well-being is more like weather. Whether itself can’t be measures, as it is abstract. It’s made up of many factors such as temperature, humidity, windspeed etc. In the same way, well-being is made up of several components. In an attempt to help people improve their own wellbeing, Seligman searched for 5 components of wellbeing, each of which people pursue for their own sake.
The components of wellbeing that Seligman found were: positive emotion, engagement, positive relationships, meaning, and achievement. We will explore each of these components further below.
Positive Emotion
Many people imagine that feeling happy is what positive psychology and wellbeing is all about, however, this is only one piece of the puzzle. Also, positive emotion doesn’t only include happiness. It includes a huge range of emotions like gratitude, comfort, excitement, love, and compassion to name a few.
Although your level of positive emotion in life is largely genetically predetermined, you can also learn to become more joyful to a certain extent. In his book ‘Flourish’, Seligman provides exercises that we can use to increase our level of positive emotion in our everyday lives.
Engagement
Engagement, also know in positive psychology as ‘Flow’, is a concept presented by Dr Csikszentmihalyi (1989). Flow describes the state of consciousness we experience when we are completely absorbed in a activity and we lose self-consciousness and track to time. This state often occurs for people when the difficulty level of what they are doing correctly matches their level of strength in that area. For example, if a skilled pianist attempts to learn how to play a new piece that is quite difficult, they will likely enter a state of flow.
In order to enter this state more in your own life, Seligman recommends using your to top strengths everyday. You can identify what your character strengths are by completing these questionnaires on Dr Seligman’s website.
One additional way to increase engagement in your life is to practice mindfulness. To learn more about this, see my post about it here.
Positive Relationships
Dr Seligman points out that as humans are naturally very social animals, it’s not surprising that most of the joy we experience in life is in the company of others. Connecting with others is one of the most meaningful things most people do in life.
Therefore, by increasing or improving the quality of our relationships with others – whether they’re friends, colleagues, family members, or our partners – we can increase our own wellbeing. Seligman specifically stresses the value of helping others and it’s effect on well-being. In his book, he states that ‘doing a kindness produces the single most reliable momentary increase in well-being of any exercise we have tested.’
Meaning
Seligman believes that a universal human need is to feel a sense of meaning by belonging to, and/ or contribution to something bigger than ourselves. This will look different for everyone as meaning is something we have to decide on and create ourselves. Meaning can often be found in things like career, religion, family, and creativity. Meaning is often also found in helping others, which ties in well with the positive relationships component
Try looking at what you enjoy doing in life that you’re also fairly good at, or you at least have the motivation and ability to become good at it! The see if you can find a way to use this thing in a way that will help others or contribute to society. For example, you might decide to become an artist because you enjoy creating things and you’re willing to put in the time and hard work to become good at it. You are likely to not only enjoy doing this, but you may also find meaning in also inspiring and improving the lives of the people who enjoy your art!
Achievement
The final component, achievement, is highly linked to a sense of wellbeing. Setting and achieving goals in your life can bring you a lot of pride and satisfaction. This is especially true for internal goals like personal growth and improvement, rather than external goals like wealth and fame.
A good way to enjoy a sense of achievement is to set yourself small but meaningful goals every week (or even everyday), so that you can celebrate your hard work and success regularly. It’s also important to set goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time bound. This will make your more likely to achieve them, as well able to recognise when they have been achieved.
Other Important Factors
The + in the PERMA+ model: As well as the main components of Wellbeing, Seligman also prescribes optimism, physical activity, good nutrition, and sleep. These are all things that research has shown to be essential for good mental and physical health. These components can increase our resilience, energy, mental clarity and self-esteem, as well as decreasing depression, anxiety and stress! Without them, wellbeing would be extremely difficult, if not impossible to obtain.
So, make sure you move your body everyday, focus on eating whole foods and limiting processed food, get seven to nine hours of quality sleep a night, and try to believe that good things will happen to you! For more information on optimism, Dr Seligman has written another book called ‘Learned Optimism’, entirely devoted to this emotion and how you can increase it within yourself. If this is something you think is missing from your life, I highly recommend giving his book a read!
If you want to improve your life, the PERMA+ model is a great reference and broad, yet simple, view of Wellbeing. Have a look at which areas might be lacking in your life right now and focus on where you can improve them. If you need more help with this, check out Martin Seligman’s book Flourish, which you can find on the book list, or have a look at Positivepsychology.com. This website is a great recourse on all things Positive psychology! You can read their article on the PERMA+ model here.