Expanding Opportunities For Diversity in Positive Psychology: An Examination of Gender, Race, and Ethnicity

Authors

Stewart I. Donaldson, Claremont Graduate UniversityFollow
Meghana A. Rao, Claremont Graduate University

Document Type

Article

Department

Community and Global Health (CGU)

Publication Date

8-2015

Disciplines

Multicultural Psychology | Psychology

Abstract

In their seminal article introducing the field of positive psychology, Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000) observed that the social sciences had been operating from a deficit-based perspective in which researchers and practitioners had been primarily concerned with what goes wrong in human affairs and how to remedy problems and ameliorate dysfunction. They recommended a shift from the “preoccupation only with repairing the worst things in life” to a more balanced perspective that includes improving understanding of how to build “positive qualities” (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000, p. 5). It was hoped that a scientific focus on thriving or optimal functioning would suggest “new ways to address some of the most pressing issues facing today’s societies” (Donaldson, 2011, p. 5).

Rights Information

© 2015 Educational Publishing Foundation

DOI

10.1037/cap0000036

Recommended Citation

Rao, M. A., & Donaldson, S. I. (2015). Expanding opportunities for diversity in positive psychology: An examination of gender, race, and ethnicity. Canadian Psychology/ Psychologie Canadienne, 56(3), 271-282.