Seite 17 [17]
OCR
1 POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY Positive psychology focuses on mental well-being while living, and not just on understanding mental hardship and eliminating the influences that cause the condition. Positive psychology makes people happier and it eliminates the negative effects on a person’s mental health. It is a scientific study of developing the potential and superposition of a person’s personality, along with building the best life traits for quality living (Seligman, 2012). The content of the term positive psychology consists of these subcategories: happiness, love, gratitude, optimism, hope, character, vitality, meaningful moments of life, and enriching relationships between people, which is the basis for optimal human development in today’s modern times. 1.3 THEORIES AND RESEARCH RELATED TO POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY The power of emotions for human life is perceived by philosophers, psychologists, sociologists, and educators. Several representatives of the positive psychology movement were inspired by the works of ancient philosophers such as Aristotle, Hippocrates, Socrates, and Heraclitus. In their work, we find reflections on happiness, the meaning of life, moral motivation, wisdom, and spirituality. Aristotle, the Greek philosopher in his work Nicomachean Ethics, characterizes happiness as a virtue. When can a person be virtuous and believe that happiness will come in the form of kindness, generosity, justice, wisdom, friendship, and morality? The correct answer is the simplest: when a person’s all efforts are directed toward being happy. In 1954, Abraham Maslow was the first person who used the adjective positive for psychology in his book Motivation and Personality (Solcova, 2005, in Slezäckovä, 2012). Theoretical and empirical studies of positive psychologists present concepts, scientific backgrounds, findings and strategies. They can be applied in everyday life, in an individual form, such as the ability to love, to show courage, to help a person to be better, to be more courteous, more tolerant, more responsible to himself, but also in family, team, nation — everywhere where people work together and live as a society. Theoretical starting points contain conceived theories and strategies that form the basis of pedagogical reality and practice in the educational process. Flow concept The importance of positive psychology for human life is an inspiration, help, leadership, and a demonstration of how to achieve mental well-being in an authentic full life. Psychologist Csikszentmihalyi conceived a timeless concept +15 e
