An In introduction to Positive Psychology was one of the more enjoyable textbooks I have read throughout my college career. William C. Compton choice to format his book in small sub-sections with in the chapters made the information much easier to process and retain. The comprehensive history of positive psychology that Compton provides throughout the book was also a great addition. Having a historical account to reference allowed me to gain a much clearer understanding of what elements of “traditional psychology” lead Seligman and others to create this fairly new field of positive psychology.
When I finished the book and began reflecting on what main points the author was trying to convey and I came away with the mental image of a puzzle. Imaging sitting down with the intent to complete a massive jigsaw puzzle. The puzzles pieces in front of you come with no instructions explaining how to best put them together. There is a picture on the front of the box that lets you know what the end result should look like but how you reach that goal is entirely up to you.
If you ask someone who enjoys assembling puzzles and does so on a regular basis if there is a system they use to put a puzzle together they will most likely answer “yes, there is.” I remember as a child being told that when working with a puzzle it is best to start with the corners of the image and then work towards the center. As I said before this instruction was not issued to me with the puzzle but rather taught to me by someone who had previous experience with assembling puzzles. It would stand to reason that the person who taught me this puzzle trick most likely had it taught to them. This suggest that while puzzles themselves come with no instruction the individuals who enjoy putting them together have devised there own type of passed down “spoken instructions” through a process of trial and error.
I believe this metaphor I have just described illustrates the point that Compton is making throughout this book. Our lives our like individual puzzles. They come with no set of standard instructions on how to most effectively assemble them. However, we are provided with (or should I say we develop) a picture much like the image on the front of a puzzle box that lets us know what the end result of our lives should look like. Since we are issued no set of formal instructions for our lives we rely on tactics that have been developed and passed down throughout our human history to help us reach our idealized end result.
It is my belief that Compton intends this book to be a collection of well-documented life tactics. When implemented properly these tactics well aid an individual in more effectively constructing their own life puzzle. One of my favorite examples of this idea from the book is the application of the intrinsic motivation vs. extrinsic motivation theory. A study done by Lepper, Greene, and Nesbitt in 1973 showed us that if you reward people for doing something they love, after awhile the love for that activity is replaced by a desire to obtain the reward. The reason I love this example is because it demonstrates how important social science is to helping us understand how construct the most fulfilling life puzzles.
While watching CNN the other day I saw a small story about a school district in Atlanta George that is contemplating a program that would pay high school students $8 an hour for attending after school tutoring sessions if their GPA was below a C average. The representative for the school district said they thought it would be a good idea because it would reward students monetarily for hard work at school the same as a job would. On the other side of the argument was a psychologist who explained (using this same study by the way) that by rewarding the students with money the school district was setting a dangerous president. The school district very well might see an initial rise in the student’s grades but once the reward was removed, the little motivation the students previously had towards academics would be lost.
Over all I enjoyed the book and look forward to further discussing its content in class. Positive psychology seems to be an excellent source of life tactics for constructing the unpredictable puzzle that is life and I think Compton did an excellent job illustrating that.
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