Is Positive Psychology Chicken Soup For The Soul?

Is positive psychology chicken soup for the soul?
积极心理学是心灵鸡汤吗？

When it comes to positive psychology, what do you think of? Pseudoscience, Self-Consoling Delusion or chicken soup for the soul? Positive psychology has always been mistaken for ignoring suffering and being blindly optimistic. In this widely misunderstood situation, Professor Peng Kaiping, the head of the Department of Psychology of Tsinghua University and the first person of positive psychology in China, once said with a smile, "I clearly advocate chicken soup for the soul".
说到积极心理学，你会想到什么，伪科学、阿 Q 精神抑或是心灵鸡汤？积极心理学一直被误以为是忽视苦难、盲目乐观的。在这种普遍被误解的情况下，清华大学心理学系系主任、中国积极心理学第一人彭凯平教授曾笑着说：“我旗帜鲜明地宣传心灵鸡汤”。

So, is positive psychology really chicken soup for the soul? Now let's get to know the science of positive psychology, which studies happiness.
那么，积极心理学真的是心灵鸡汤吗？今天，我们就一起来认识一下积极心理学这门研究幸福的科学。

In 1960s, humanistic psychology, the third force of psychology, came to the fore. It condemned behaviorism, the first force of psychology, for treating people as machines without emotion or controllable dogs, and spurned psychoanalysis, the second force, for treating human nature so ugly.
二十世纪六十年代，心理学的第三势力“人本主义心理学”来势汹汹，它谴责心理学第一势力“行为主义”把人看作没有情感的机器或是可操控的狗，唾弃第二势力“精神分析学”把人性看得如此丑恶。

Humanistic psychologists believe that psychology should study the positive side of human nature, put forward many important concepts, such as peak experiences and self-actualization, and carried out many studies on happiness. Positive psychology is humanistic psychology born out of the study of positive human nature, which comes from the criticism and reflection on traditional psychological research.
人本主义心理学家们认为心理学应当研究人性的积极面，提出了许多重要的概念，如高峰体验、自我实现等，开展了许多对幸福感的研究。积极心理学就是脱胎于研究积极人性的人本主义心理学，它的产生源于对传统心理学研究的批判和反思。

Traditional psychology, represented by behaviorism and psychoanalysis, has always been committed to studying problems, such as behavioral problems and psychological disorder. It seems that psychology is a subject that studies diseases, and positive psychology is called pathological psychology or negative psychology.
以行为主义、精神分析为代表的传统心理学向来致力于研究问题，如行为问题、心理障碍等，似乎心理学就是一门研究病理学性质的学科，积极心理学称之为病理性心理学或消极心理学。

Martin Seligman, the founder of positive psychology, clearly proposed to create positive psychology at the American Psychological Conference in 1998, arguing that psychologists should focus on positive psychology such as love, self-esteem, motivation and happiness from the study of depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and neurosis.
积极心理学创始人马丁·塞利格曼（Martin Seligman）在 1998 年美国心理学年会上明确提出要创建积极心理学，认为心理学家们应该从研究抑郁、焦虑、精神分裂、神经症上分出精力去研究爱、自尊、动机以及幸福感等积极心理。

He believes that when a country or nation is troubled by hunger and war, the task of social science and psychology is mainly to resist and treat trauma. But in peacetime without social crisis and war, it is their main mission to make people live a better life.
他认为：当一个国家或民族被饥饿和战争所困扰的时候，社会科学和心理学的任务主要是抵御和治疗创伤。但在没有社会危机与战争的和平时期，致力于使人们生活得更美好则成为他们的主要使命。

In 1999, Seligman and others identified three main contents of positive psychology research at the meeting in Akumal: positive emotional experience, positive personality traits and positive social organization.
1999 年，塞利格曼等人在艾库马尔会议上确定了积极心理学研究的三大主要内容：积极情绪体验、积极人格特质、积极的社会组织。

1、Studying positive emotional experience refers to studying the physiological mechanism, acquisition way, and the relationship with health and success of happiness and other emotions.
1、研究积极情绪体验是指研究幸福、快乐等情绪的生理机制、获得途径，以及与健康、成功的关系等等。

2、Studying positive personality traits is to regard human beings as a self-managed, self-directed and adaptive whole and find out which personality qualities are most beneficial to people's happiness.
2、研究积极人格特质是将人类看作自我管理、自我导向、具有适应性的整体，找到哪些人格品质是最有益于人获得幸福的。

3、Studying positive social organizations is mainly to determine what kind of social system and social organizations (including family, school and work unit, etc.) are beneficial to individuals to form positive personality and obtain happiness.
3、研究积极的社会组织主要是确定什么样的社会制度和社会组织（包括家庭、学校和工作单位等）有利于个体形成积极的人格和获得幸福感。

After establishing the three major contents of positive psychology research, a new science has come to the fore. In 2000, Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi published 'Positive Psychology: An Introduction' in the journal American Psychologist, marking the birth of Positive Psychology.
确立积极心理学研究的三大内容后，一门新兴科学已经呼之欲出。2000 年，塞利格曼与米哈里·契克森米哈赖在《美国心理学家》期刊上发表《积极心理学导论》一文，标志着积极心理学的诞生。

Positive psychology, with its emphasis on positive values, seeks to overcome the shortcomings of mainstream psychology, which overly focuses on the individual level. It predominantly utilizes empirical research methodologies, and is not merely a type of 'chicken soup for the soul' science.
积极心理学以积极的价值观取向，试图摆脱主流心理学过分偏重个体层面研究的缺陷。且积极心理学具有以实证研究为主的方法论倾向，并不是单纯“在宇宙中心呼唤爱”的一门鸡汤科学。

As Professor Peng Kaiping mentioned in his interview with the Beijing Daily, "The optimism we advocate is not akin to Self-Consoling Delusion; it is an active guidance based on a clear understanding of our reality. We used to speak in a cynical and mocking tone, thinking it was particularly wise, but in fact, that is all poison. Chicken soup for the soul is commendatory in other countries, yet it has become a pejorative term in China. Chicken soup always has a nourishing effect, and I openly promote genuine chicken soup for the soul — the key is whether it is real chicken soup or merely flavoring, authentic or fake."
正如彭凯平教授在《北京日报》的采访里所说：“我们倡导的乐观主义不等于阿 Q 精神，而是在对我们现实清醒认识基础上的一种积极引导。我们过去总讲一些愤世嫉俗、冷嘲热讽、玩世不恭的话，还觉得特别有智慧，其实那都是毒药。‘心灵鸡汤’在其他国家是褒义，在中国却成贬义。鸡汤总是有滋补作用的，我旗帜鲜明地宣传心灵鸡汤——关键要看是真鸡汤，还是鸡精，是真实还是虚伪。”

At the end, what do you think of positive psychology? Welcome to leave a message to share your opinion!
读到最后，你对积极心理学有怎样的看法呢？欢迎留言分享你的观点！

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References 参考文献：
Zheng Xue. (Editor). (2014). Positive Psychology. Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press
郑雪. (主编). (2014). 积极心理学. 北京：北京师范大学出版社
Peng Kaiping: May you live a happy life-interview-China Writers Network (chinawriter.com.cn)
彭凯平：愿你活出心花怒放的人生--访谈--中国作家网 (chinawriter.com.cn)