Positive psychology takes happiness to societies, not just individuals

I have been sympathetic to some criticisms of positive psychology as being too “self”-centered – focusing on how individuals can make themselves happier or otherwise improve their own lives. It can appear that positive psychology is a continuation of a “me-me-me” egocentric, self-indulgent culture. There may well be those who are consuming information from this new discipline in that spirit – to feed their ego. I got into this whole endeavor, though, to improve the world and there is reason to be hopeful.

Albert Bandura (1969; 1986) made a foundational contribution to psychology in explicating the phenomenon of social learning. We learn so much by observing others around us and we do much of this automatically. As I have read findings such as the recent study by Fowler and Christakis (2008) on the spread of happiness in social networks, or Haidt’s (2006) research on the phenomenon of “elevation,” I have wondered to what degree social learning is at work.

Is it true that if we are happy we make others around us happy?

Read more about happiness, positive psychology and find out the answer to this question at Psychology Today – just click here