Positive Psychology
Positive psychology helps us to better understand the nature of heroism and altruism and the personality factors and characteristics of individuals who perform heroic acts.
A relatively new branch of psychology, positive psychology, researches human strengths and virtues. This new movement has been founded by psychologist Martin Seligman (University of Pennsylvania). Traditionally, psychology has been focused on identifying and treating various mental disorders and dysfunction. Over the last century, we have gained deeper insight into the biological, situational, and systemic forces that lead individuals to experience unpleasant emotions, make poor decisions, and encourage antisocial behavior. Until recently, however, little ground has been gained in understanding the other half of psychology – the realm of positive mental health and improving the lives of already healthy people.
Positive Psychology and HIP
Some of the concepts in the individual and positive psychology literature that allow us to better understand heroism include:
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It is equally important to study Social Psychology which tells us that our decisions on how to behave are highly influenced by social and situational cues around us.
References:
Peterson, Christopher; Seligman, Martin E. P. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
