Understanding Happiness : A Critical Review of Positive Psychology

We all want to be happy, and there are plenty of people telling us how it can be achieved. The positive psychology movement, indeed, has established happiness as a scientific concept within everyone’s grasp. But is happiness really something we can actively aim for, or is it simply a by-product of how we live our lives more widely? Dr. Mick Power, Professor of Clinical Psychology and Director of Clinical Programmes at the National University of Singapore, provides a critical assessment of what happiness really means, and the evidence for how it can be increased. Arguing that negative emotions are as important to overall well-being as the sunnier sides of our disposition, the book examines many of the claims of the positive psychology movement, including the relationship between happiness and physical health, and argues that resilience, adaptability in the face of adversity, psychological flexibility, and a sense of generativity and creativity are far more achievable as life goals. This is a book which will fascinate anyone interested in positive psychology, or anyone who has ever questioned the plethora of publications suggesting that blissful happiness is ten easy steps away. UNDERSTANDING HAPPINESS - FRONT COVER UNDERSTANDING HAPPINESS TITLE PAGE COPYRIGHT PAGE DEDICATION CONTENTS PREFACE CHAPTER 1: HAPPINESS: AN OVERVIEW Introduction Popular conceptions and misconceptions of ‘happiness’ Well-being, quality of life and other abstract states The HAS and the HAS-nots CHAPTER 2: LOVE AND MANIA: DISORDERS OF HAPPINESS Introduction The art of love So what is love? Disorders of love and happiness Biases of happiness The repressive coping style Happiness and excess Further points and conclusions CHAPTER 3: THE POWER OF NEGATIVE EMOTIONS Introduction The function of negative emotions Complex emotions Emotion coupling Emotion regulation Positive negative emotions Creativity and negative emotions Conclusion CHAPTER 4: THE HAPPINESS INDUSTRY Introduction Identity and group membership Work and emotional labour Bottled happiness Conflict and prejudice War and happiness Conclusion CHAPTER 5: A TIMESHARE IN PARADISE: OF GODS AND THE AFTERLIFE Introduction The afterlife: happily never after Psychology and the afterlife More benefits of religion Religion, stress and purpose in life Science’s challenge to religion Psychology’s challenge to religion Healthy atheists Conclusions CHAPTER 6: POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY, HEALTH AND ILLNESS Introduction Happiness and health Cancer, personality and happiness The Type A personality story Back to the -isms: optimism, pessimism and realism Conclusions CHAPTER 7: TRANSFORMING THE SELF Introduction Survival under extremes Flexibility, emotions and the self Back to flexibility Existential questions, fulfilment and lifestyle Conclusions REFERENCES AUTHOR INDEX SUBJECT INDEX "We all want to be happy, and there are plenty of people telling us how it can be achieved. The positive psychology movement, indeed, has established hapiness as a scientific concept within everyone's grasp. But is happiness really something we can actively aim for, or is it simply a by-product of how we live our lives more widely? Dr. Mick Power, Professor of Clinical Psychology and Director of Clinical Programmes at the National University of Singapore, provides a critical assessment of what happiness really means, and the evidence for how it can be increased. Arguing that negative emotions are as important to overall well-being as the sunnier sides of our disposition, the book examines many of the claims of the positive psychology movement, including the relationship between hapiness and physical health, and argues that resilience, adaptability in the face of adversity, psychological flexibility, and a sense of generativity and creativity are far more achieveable as life goals. This is a book that will fascinate anyone interested in positive psychology, or anyone who has ever questioned the plethora of publications suggesting that blissful happiness is 10 easy steps away"--First preliminary page