Positive Education: A Way to Foster and Promote Psychological Flourishing in Schools

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology & Educational Sciences, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran

2 Department of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran

3 Ferdowsi university of Mashhad,Faculty of Education and Psychology

4 Department of General Psychology, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran

Abstract

Abstract

Introduction: The increasing importance of the movement of positive psychology and consequently positive education has led scientific study to foster and promote human psychological flourishing. This research aimed to provide an educational-interventional protocol to foster and promote flourishing and evaluate its effectiveness.
Method: With a pretest and posttest design and a control group, this study was performed on 34 teachers from two schools in Tehran, selected by multi-stage cluster sampling. After randomly allocating teachers to the test and control groups, they complete the Human Psychological Flourishing Scale and Flourishing Questionnaire. Then, the educational-interventional flourishing protocol was only presented to the test group during 14 sessions. The questionnaires were filled again by all the subjects at the end of the course.
Results: According to the results of the univariate and multivariate covariance analyses, flourishing training significantly increased all the components of flourishing in the test group, compared to the control group.
Conclusion: According to the results, the application of educational-interventional flourishing protocol increased all the components of flourishing among teachers (e.g., positive emotion, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment, sense of satisfaction/happiness, individual competency and social contribution). Therefore, this protocol can be applied to promote the flourishing of teachers.

Keywords


References
1. Hojabrian H, Rezaei AM, Bigdeli I, Najafi M, Mohammadifar MA. Construction and Validation of the Human Psychological Flourishing Scale (HPFS) in sociocultural context of Iran. Practice in Clinical Psychology. 2018;6(2):129-39.
2. Seligman ME, Rashid T, Parks AC. Positive psychotherapy. American psychologist. 2006;61(8):774.
3. Gable SL, Haidt J. What (and why) is positive psychology? Review of general psychology. 2005;9(2):103-10.
4. Khodayarifard M, Ghobari-Bonab B, Akbari-Zardkhaneh S, Zandi S, Zamanpour E, Derakhshan M. Positive psychology from Islamic perspective. International Journal of Behavioral Sciences. 2016;10(1):77-83.
5. Compton WC, Hoffman E. Positive psychology: The science of happiness and flourishing: SAGE Publications; 2019.
6. Oades LG, Robinson P, Green S. Positive education: Creating flourishing students, staff and schools. InPsych: The Bulletin of the Australian Psychological Society Ltd. 2011;33(2):16.
7. Seligman M. Flourish: a visionary new understanding of happiness and well-being. Policy. 2011;27(3):60-1.
8. Norrish JM, Williams P, O'Connor M, Robinson J. An applied framework for positive education. International Journal of Wellbeing. 2013;3(2).
9. Yeo S-E. Resilience, Character Strengths and Flourishing: A Positive Education Workshop for Singapore Teachers. 2011.
10. White MA. Positive education at Geelong grammar school.  Oxford Handbook of Happiness2013.
11. Keyes CL. Mental illness and/or mental health? Investigating axioms of the complete state model of health. Journal of consulting and clinical psychology. 2005;73(3):539.
12. Soleimani S, Rezaei AM, Kianersi F, Hojabrian H, Khalili Paji K. Developement and validation of flourishing questionnaire based on seligman's model among Iranian university students. Journal of Research and Health. 2015;5(1):3-12.
13. Huppert FA, So TT. Flourishing across Europe: Application of a new conceptual framework for defining well-being. Social indicators research. 2013;110(3):837-61.
14. Gokcen N, Hefferon K, Attree E. University students' constructions of'flourishing'in British higher education: An inductive content analysis. International Journal of Wellbeing. 2012;2(1).
15. Lopez SJ, Magyar-Moe JL, Petersen SE, Ryder JA, Krieshok TS, O'Byrne KK, et al. Counseling psychology's focus on positive aspects of human functioning. The Counseling Psychologist. 2006;34(2):205-27.
16. Hojabrian H, Bigdeli I, Najafi M, Rezaei A. providing the psychological model of human flourishing based on the grounded theory: A qualitative research. Educational Psychology. 2015;10(34):207-32.
17. Hekmati I, Vahedi S, Babapour J. Explanatory and Confirmatory Factors Analysis of Social Well-being Questionnaire. International Journal of Behavioral Sciences. 2014;8(1):11-9.
18. Rashid T, Lopez S. Positive psychology: Exploring the best in people. Westport: Praeger Publishers; 2008.
19. Frankl VE. Man's search for meaning: Simon and Schuster; 1985.
20. Seligman ME. Authentic happiness: Using the new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment: Simon and Schuster; 2004.
21. Steger M, Wong P. The human quest for meaning: Theories, research, and applications. 2012.
22. Locke EA. Motivation through conscious goal setting. Applied and preventive psychology. 1996;5(2):117-24.
23. Peterson C, Seligman ME. Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification (New York: American Psychological Association & Oxford University Press, 2004). Reflective Practice: Formation and Supervision in Ministry. 2012;32.
24. Hays PA. Addressing cultural complexities in practice: A framework for clinicians and counselors: American Psychological Association; 2001.
25. Ivey AE, Ivey MB, Zalaquett CP. Intentional interviewing and counseling: Facilitating client development in a multicultural society: Nelson Education; 2013.
26. Watson D, Clark LA, Tellegen A. Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: the PANAS scales. Journal of personality and social psychology. 1988;54(6):1063.
27. Fredrickson BL. The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American psychologist. 2001;56(3):218.
28. Fredrickson BL, Losada MF. Positive affect and the complex dynamics of human flourishing. American psychologist. 2005;60(7):678.
29. Reivich K, Shatté A. The resilience factor: 7 essential skills for overcoming life's inevitable obstacles: Broadway Books; 2002.
30. Fredrickson BL, Cohn MA, Coffey KA, Pek J, Finkel SM. Open hearts build lives: positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources. Journal of personality and social psychology. 2008;95(5):1045.
31. King LA, Miner KN. Writing about the perceived benefits of traumatic events: Implications for physical health. Personality and social psychology bulletin. 2000;26(2):220-30.
32. Stephens JP, Heaphy E, Dutton JE. High quality connections. The Oxford handbook of positive organizational scholarship. 2012:385-99.
33. Gable SL, Reis HT, Impett EA, Asher ER. What do you do when things go right? The intrapersonal and interpersonal benefits of sharing positive events. Journal of personality and social psychology. 2004;87(2):228.
34. Costa PT, MacCrae RR. Revised NEO personality inventory (NEO PI-R) and NEO five-factor inventory (NEO-FFI): Professional manual: Psychological Assessment Resources, Incorporated; 1992.
35. Lorig KR, Holman HR. Self-management education: history, definition, outcomes, and mechanisms. Annals of behavioral medicine. 2003;26(1):1-7.
36. Burnard P. Effective communication skills for health professionals: Nelson Thornes; 1997.
37. Shernoff DJ, Csikszentmihalyi M. Cultivating engaged learners and optimal learning environments. Handbook of positive psychology in schools. 2009:131-45.
38. Bundick MJ, Quaglia RJ, Corso MJ, Haywood DE. Promoting Student Engagement in the Classroom. Teachers College Record. 2014;116(4):n4.
39. Seligman ME, Steen TA, Park N, Peterson C. Positive psychology progress: empirical validation of interventions. American psychologist. 2005;60(5):410.
40. Frisch MB. Quality of life therapy: Applying a life satisfaction approach to positive psychology and cognitive therapy: John Wiley & Sons; 2005.
41. Dweck C. Mindset: The new psychology of success Random House. New York, NY. 2006.
42. Salovey P, Mayer JD, Rosenhan DL. Mood and helping: Mood as a motivator of helping and helping as a regulator of mood. 1991.
43. Peterson C. A primer in positive psychology: Oxford University Press; 2006.
44. Tabachnick BG, Fidell LS, Ullman JB. Using multivariate statistics: Pearson Boston, MA; 2007.
45. Feicht T, Wittmann M, Jose G, Mock A, Von Hirschhausen E, Esch T. Evaluation of a seven-week web-based happiness training to improve psychological well-being, reduce stress, and enhance mindfulness and flourishing: a randomized controlled occupational health study. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2013;2013.
46. Barber LK, Bagsby PG, Munz DC. Affect regulation strategies for promoting (or preventing) flourishing emotional health. Personality and Individual Differences. 2010;49(6):663-6.
47. McKnight PE, Kashdan TB. Purpose in life as a system that creates and sustains health and well-being: An integrative, testable theory. Review of General Psychology. 2009;13(3):242-51.
48. Pals JL. Narrative identity processing of difficult life experiences: Pathways of personality development and positive self‐transformation in adulthood. Journal of personality. 2006;74(4):1079-110.
49. King LA, Hicks JA, Krull JL, Del Gaiso AK. Positive affect and the experience of meaning in life. Journal of personality and social psychology. 2006;90(1):179.
50. Fredrickson BL, Tugade MM, Waugh CE, Larkin GR. What good are positive emotions in crisis? A prospective study of resilience and emotions following the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11th, 2001. Journal of personality and social psychology. 2003;84(2):365.
51. Danner DD, Snowdon DA, Friesen WV. Positive emotions in early life and longevity: findings from the nun study. Journal of personality and social psychology. 2001;80(5):804.
52. Levy BR, Slade MD, Kunkel SR, Kasl SV. Longevity increased by positive self-perceptions of aging. Journal of personality and social psychology. 2002;83(2):261.
53. Xu J, Roberts RE. The power of positive emotions: It’sa matter of life or death—Subjective well-being and longevity over 28 years in a general population. Health Psychology. 2010;29(1):9.
54. Garland EL, Fredrickson B, Kring AM, Johnson DP, Meyer PS, Penn DL. Upward spirals of positive emotions counter downward spirals of negativity: Insights from the broaden-and-build theory and affective neuroscience on the treatment of emotion dysfunctions and deficits in psychopathology. Clinical psychology review. 2010;30(7):849-64.
55. Tugade MM, Fredrickson BL. Resilient individuals use positive emotions to bounce back from negative emotional experiences. Journal of personality and social psychology. 2004;86(2):320.
56. Diener E, Biswas-Diener R. Happiness: Unlocking the mysteries of psychological wealth: John Wiley & Sons; 2011.
57. Diener E, Oishi S, Lucas RE. Personality, culture, and subjective well-being: Emotional and cognitive evaluations of life. Annual review of psychology. 2003;54(1):403-25.
58. Barrick MR, Mount MK. The big five personality dimensions and job performance: a meta‐analysis. Personnel psychology. 1991;44(1):1-26.
59. Myers DG. The funds, friends, and faith of happy people. American psychologist. 2000;55(1):56.
60. Lyubomirsky S, Sheldon KM, Schkade D. Pursuing happiness: The architecture of sustainable change. Review of general psychology. 2005;9(2):111-31.
61. Andersson P. Happiness and health: Well-being among the self-employed. The Journal of Socio-Economics. 2008;37(1):213-36.
62. Cohn MA, Fredrickson BL, Brown SL, Mikels JA, Conway AM. Happiness unpacked: positive emotions increase life satisfaction by building resilience. Emotion. 2009;9(3):361.
63. Lawler III EE. Performance management: The next generation. Compensation & Benefits Review. 1994;26(3):16-9.
64. Diener E, Wirtz D, Tov W, Kim-Prieto C, Choi D-w, Oishi S, et al. New well-being measures: Short scales to assess flourishing and positive and negative feelings. Social Indicators Research. 2010;97(2):143-56.