POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
IN FILM
WHAT IS POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY?
When he was president of the American Psychological Association, Martin Seligman brought to the attention of his fellow psychologists that for far to long psychology has remained focused on what is 'wrong' with people rather than on what is 'right' with them. Thus, in pioneering the field of positive psychology, Seligman asked scientists to begin exploring what is best in people---such as what qualities and strengths lead to optimal and above average functioning.
Seligman brought together those researchers already studying positive qualities such as altruism and happiness and teamed up with many more to formulate this now booming field of psychology! What came of this enthusiasm was a groundbreaking manual of Character Strengths and Virtues based on both empirical and historical analysis. These strengths manifest universally through thinking, feeling, willing, and behavior and are beneficial to both oneself and others.
FILM IS NOT JUST ENTERTAINMENT!
In their popular book (above), Positive Psychology at the Movies, Wedding & Niemiec (2014) discuss the 24 core character strengths in depth as they are displayed among characters in thousands of different movies. Therefore, they make the the case that by viewing cinema and reflecting deeply on our experience of the characters journey’s that we might learn ourselves, and perhaps enact, various strengths that help us lead more fulfilling and rich lives. In each issue of this magazine we plan to do a similar task and pick a beloved movie of ours (recently released or classic) and do an analysis of character strengths we found throughout the film that stand out to us—perhaps, inspiring you to check out the film for yourself ☺. This month, as you can see, we chose the newly released film by Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel!
There are six virtues they set forth: Courage,Humanity, Wisdom, Justice, Temperance, and Transcendence. They then subdivided these virtues into 24 core human strengths (e.g. bravery, humor, zest, love, fairness etc.), which will be the focus of the articles you read from here on out in our magazine. Check out your own character strengths by taking a test at their website www.viacharacter.org. Supposedly using one or two of your strengths daily can strongly enhance overall well-being and positive emotion!
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