Many current books revolve around or talk about a “fashionable” concept: positive psychology. However, this is not entirely new, as we can even find evidence of Aristotle’s influence on positive psychology.
In many cases, this type of literature is not well valued, since some authors, in defending it, do not hesitate to exaggerate their power, projecting the idea that after embracing the axioms of this type of psychology will open up a world of roses without thorns. .
- The purpose of this literature is to instill positivism and make readers happier.
- However.
- These books in no way replace the great help that psychologists provide in their consultations.
Although positive psychology has left a gap on the shelves, its main idea has very little “modernity. “Throughout this article, we will discover the influence of aristotle on positive psychology, how he understood it and how this concept has evolved to this day.
Ethics in Nicomaque is a work that Aristotle wrote in the 4th century, where we can already see some traces of what is now called positive psychology, in this work Aristotle speaks of happiness, virtue, practical reason and emotions as pillars of what he called the “good life”, something that he believed everyone was looking for. To realize this beautiful life, he said that it was necessary to develop virtues (good habits) and have certain strengths.
The strengths for Aristotle would be the personality traits that each person possesses in an innate way that allows him to attain well-being and happiness, yet not all were born with these essential forces to achieve ‘good living’.
For example, an insecure person has many more difficulties than a person who, by nature, tends to take risks and leave his comfort zone, however, Aristotle said that through self-control and self-regulation, these forces can be acquired, even if, in return, an exercise of will is necessary.
“This proves that the purpose of human actions is happiness, and that true happiness is to do things according to the right reason, that is, to guide your actions in the practice of virtuous actions. -Aristotle-
It is important to consider the Aristotelian concept of “practical wisdom”, better known as the phrase, in relation to what we now call positive psychology. For Aristotle, this concept was the main virtue of the human being: it would allow us to make better decisions.
American psychologist and writer Seligman and his collaborators published in the article?Positive Psychology Progress Empirical Validation of Interventions ?, some proposals for actions that would enable people to achieve well-being through “practical wisdom”. These ideas were outlined by Carnicer and Gomez in their article “Contributions of positive psychology applied to teacher training?Here:
This kind of action brings us closer to the wisdom Aristotle was talking about: he felt that virtue should always be learned through experience, a thought shared by psychologists Schwartz and Sharpe.
“Life inflicts the same setbacks and tragedies on the optimist and pessimist, only that the optimist resists better. “- Seligman-
There is an idea present in positive psychology and also in Aristotle: only with new habits and changing certain attitudes is it possible to achieve the “good life”. In addition, practice and perseverance are a real success: achieving this well-deserved well-being.
Now that we know more about this concept, it is important to know some interesting books with which we can start absorbing this idea, in addition, it should be mentioned that positive psychology should not be used to mask discomfort or camouflage problems, which gives everything a fantastic and wonderful appearance. We can use it for our benefit, as long as we run away from the lies that often lurk in this area of psychology.