[Introduction to, 9 Keys to Self-Esteem: Positive Psychology, ©2023]

Self-esteem. We know what it is – and we know we’d like more of it.

Or we think we know. Often equated with self-confidence, self-image, self-worth, or self-acceptance, it’s none of these, while there are relationships among them.

The American Psychological Association [APA] defines it as, “the degree to which the qualities and characteristics contained in one’s self-concept are perceived to be positive. It reflects a person’s physical self-image, view of his or her accomplishments and capabilities, and values and perceived success in living up to them, as well as the ways in which others view and respond to that person.”

We think of self-esteem in 3 ways, actually: our personal positive self-concept, as well as relational, and also collective, esteem (Du et al., 2017). These aren’t just 3 categories or types, but also 3 ways in which we rate our own esteem: am I a decent person with capability? do others like me, and do I have the ability to form relationships? And am I able to function appropriately as a member of my society?

We conceive of it variously as an emotion – “what he said about me really hurt my self-esteem” – and a trait – “she’s a person with high self-esteem” – and both are true (Salice, 2020). For this book, we’re focusing on the latter – self-esteem as a quality we possess, and which can be enhanced.

Both versions are fragile, however, dependent on our relationship with others, the societal context, and how we view ourselves on a daily basis. For this reason, one of the founders of positive psychology (more on that in a minute), Dr. Martin Seligman, was hesitant to include it in the list of character strengths for the field’s handbook (more on that coming, too). We can build our self-esteem, and it can be sufficiently strong for us not to sway with every breeze and event that comes along – secure in our own self-concept – but this is still not a strength to be developed, rather a trait or characteristic or quality of the self.

So why this book?

Countless books, articles, and websites on the topic of self-esteem, and how to enhance it, have been made available over the years. We’re obsessed with the topic, and rightly so. Our self-esteem begins to form in early childhood, becomes especially fragile during adolescence when the development of identity is paramount and highly vulnerable to the opinions of others, and then stabilizes – but needs to be fed and maintained – throughout the lifespan. Some of this comes naturally, as we gain skills and abilities; it’s also subject to compromise, as we lose abilities or fail to gain some, as we age or our health becomes compromised, as the world changes and we can’t quite adapt, as crises in life occur.

The continual care and nurturing of our esteem – while not tipping over into narcissism, in which one’s abilities are maximized and esteem becomes excessive, disconnected from reality – is a lifelong task.

The good news is, much of this occurs without our direct intervention, as we simply become better at tasks and learn from our experiences.

In the well-known ‘hierarchy of needs’ (remember the pyramid design?) conceived in 1943 (yes, 80 years ago!) by Dr. Abraham Maslow, self-esteem is near the top. All of our basic needs of survival must be relatively met – we must have a general sense of safety and security, shelter, nourishment, and, as humans are social creatures, some measure of companionship and society, before we can consider our self-esteem. Naturally, humans can feel good about themselves, and possess knowledge and capability, even when those other areas are compromised – but we can only really consider the growth and nurturing of an intangible area like self-esteem when our basic physical needs of survival are adequately addressed.

The final layer of the pyramid, the top if you will (though others have theorized additional layers), was added by Maslow much later: self-actualization, or the development into our highest or most expansive capabilities – philosophy, the composition of music or creation of art, and so on. Many don’t reach or have an interest in that uppermost level, also known as peak experience, though self-esteem is included in one’s foundational requirements.

We’ll circle back to our topic in a moment. But first, a word about positive psychology.

The premise of our book is that of a positive psychology approach to the development and care of self-esteem, and while this newest field of psychology (established 25 years ago – not so new anymore) doesn’t include self-esteem in its core philosophy of character strengths, it certainly has much to contribute.

Positive Psychology was introduced as a specialty in 1998, by our aforementioned Seligman, then president of the APA, and his co-founder, Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Seligman’s scholarship at the time was focused increasingly in the area of happiness, while Csikszentmihalyi’s research was focused on creativity and artistic engagement – what he would soon term ‘flow’. Together with additional colleagues, they formed this specialty to complement other areas of psychology which were focused on a medical model of mental illness and neurological disease; their new school of thought took as its focus all that goes well with the brain, and how we can achieve ever greater levels of function.

In 2004, Seligman and Dr. Christopher Peterson published Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification [CSV], meant to complement the APA’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders [DSM] widely used by the psychology field. The CSV was also published by the APA; in it, they describe 6 categories referred to as human virtues: wisdom, courage, justice, temperance, humanity, and transcendence, within which lie 24 character strengths, possessed to some degree by all humans according to positive psychology. These character strengths include (wisdom) curiosity, creativity, judgment, perspective, and love of learning; (courage) bravery, honesty, perseverance, and zest; (justice) fairness, leadership, and collaboration; (temperance) forgiveness, humility, prudence, and self-regulation; (humanity) love, kindness, and social intelligence; and, (transcendence) hope, humor, gratitude, meaning, and appreciation of beauty / excellence. (Peterson and Seligman, 2004)

One other key model in this field, also introduced by Seligman (2011; 2018), is known by its acronym, PERMA: Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishment. These 5 categories encompass the positive psychology concept of mental health and wellbeing, and are broadly applicable to areas of education, work, leisure, and relationships (Wagner et al., 2021). The character strengths, meanwhile, are the specific areas in each of us which may be under- or over-represented, or well-balanced – and by which we can enhance our mental health, and in this topic: our self-esteem.

Returning now to our key topic: when do we build our self-esteem, and do we continue to develop it throughout our lifespan?

In a large-scale review of prior research conducted by Orth et al. (2018), which included 331 longitudinal (long-term) studies and a total of 164,868 participants of a 4-94 age range, there were some very interesting findings. Their analysis indicates that in a healthy environment, our self-esteem increases from ages 4-11, as we continually gain skills and knowledge; it remains relatively stable between 11-15 years of age, then increases strongly to around age 30, continues to increase more gradually between 30-60, remains more or less constant to age 70, decreases only slightly between 70 and 90, then drops more sharply after age 90 when losing capability and a sense of self becomes the norm. In other words: self-esteem is relevant, and we can actively develop, maintain, and protect it, throughout our lives.

Are there gender differences?

Another meta-analysis of 1148 studies (Zuckerman et al., 2016) indicated that there was a slight difference in favor of males, which we can easily equate to societal inequalities; this difference exponentially increased with age to late adolescence, declining thereafter. The gender difference is greater in developed than in developing countries, possibly attributable to higher expectations of females countermanded by limitations of opportunity, and is less significant in studies after 1995 than in those prior.

And is self-esteem culturally related?

Americans are often considered by other cultures to be brimming with self-esteem and self-confidence, and placing great (i.e., too much) emphasis on it, while the British are more understated with a self-deprecating humor style. The Chinese, meanwhile, extol the virtue of modesty (Cho et al., 2023; Sin, 2023; Zheng et al., 2022). We can consider that individualistic cultures place high value on self-esteem (or self- anything, for that matter), while collectivist or interdependent cultures place greater emphasis on harmony, and thus value modesty and humility while concepts related to the self are underrated. However, at least for those collectivist cultures in Northeast Asia, influenced by Confucianism, the idea of ‘face’ – maintaining one’s dignity and the respect of others – is paramount and indeed can be conceived as another face, if you will, of self-esteem. What does seem to differ across cultures, according to Hornsey et al. (2018), is the question of ‘how much is enough?’

Considering its potential for tipping over into narcissism, its seeming contradictory nature in collectivist cultures, and its fragility in comparison to other constructs of self, we must ask: is self-esteem beneficial?

When we consider its cousins – self-confidence, self-value, self-acceptance – we may think that a focus on self-esteem, so fragile and dependent on circumstances and the input of other people, may be less important after all. Rather than focus on building up our self-esteem, wouldn’t we do well to embrace self-acceptance and love ourselves as we are in this moment?

Yes, and.

In a recent comprehensive analysis of prior studies (a ‘mega-analysis’, if you will, as it included several prior meta-analyses and focused especially on longitudinal or long-term research), Orth and Robins (2022) found self-esteem related to improved social relationships, greater success at both work and school, increases in physical and mental health, and decreases in antisocial behavior; overall, they concluded that self-esteem benefits not only the individual but the society as well.

As we saw in Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs, still relevant today, self-esteem is just above our needs of basic survival including human bonds – and as such marks the difference between merely surviving, and thriving, on our way to transcendence (the peak of the pyramid). Self-esteem is the primary driver of our motivation, our relationships, our decision-making, our sense of agency or self-efficacy (a generalized capability), and our potential for growth.

Self-esteem has been correlated with both subjective and psychological wellbeing (Azañedo et al., 2021; Du et al., 2017), and benefits our working life both in performance and in managing transitions (Costantini et al., 2019; Krauss & Orth, 2022; Reitz et al., 2022). For adolescents, an especially vulnerable time for self-esteem development, it relates to mental health (Ahrnberg et al., 2021), prosocial behavior such as kindness and altruism (Hu et al., 2021), health-related quality of life (Mikkelsen et al., 2020), and life satisfaction even when facing social exclusion (Arslan, 2019). In more good news, despite expectations to the contrary, adolescent self-esteem doesn’t appear to determine same in adulthood (Coffey & Warren, 2020) – so while still critically important, low or problematic self-esteem early on can be repaired and enhanced as we mature and gain experience and skills. And finally, strong self-esteem counters the mortality-related anxiety across the lifespan that’s unique to humans (Pyszczynski et al., 2004), and death anxiety among the elderly (Zhang et al., 2019).

How, then, to increase it?

Broadly, this includes self-assessment, becoming aware of – and refuting – your inner critic (we all have a ‘not good enough’ voice, but failure in one area doesn’t mean that we’re a failure as a person, for example), setting achievable goals, investing time and effort in our self-development, and establishing and maintaining interpersonal relationships as well as gaining related social skills.

Naturally, we’ll explore that across our 9 keys in this book. Overall, the strengths-based approach of positive psychology lends itself to the enhancement of self-esteem (Niveau et al., 2021; Padilla-Walker et al., 2020; Toback et al., 2016), as we become aware of the character strengths we possess, emphasize our strongest 5-7 in order to boost self-esteem, and continue to develop others throughout our lifespan. Some of these strengths are especially useful, and those are 8 of our keys: perseverance, gratitude, kindness, love, social intelligence, meaning, humor, and hope.

The 9th, which will be our first, is mindfulness. While not one of the positive psychology character strengths, this trait and practice has been strongly adopted and is widely applicable across multiple character strengths (Kennes et al., 2023; Pang & Ruch, 2019) – and so we begin there.

Let’s build our self-esteem!

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References:

Ahrnberg H, Appelqvist-Schmidlechner K, Mustonen P, et al. (2021). Determinants of Positive Mental Health in Adolescents–A Cross-Sectional Study on Relationships between Positive Mental Health, Self-Esteem, Character Strengths and Social Inclusion. International Journal of Mental Health Promotion 23:3, 361-374. https://doi.org/10.32604/IJMHP.2021.016408

Arslan G (2019). Mediating role of the self–esteem and resilience in the association between social exclusion and life satisfaction among adolescents. Personality and Individual Differences 151:109514. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.109514

Azañedo CM, Artola T, Sastre S, et al. (2021). Character Strengths Predict Subjective Well-Being, Psychological Well-Being, and Psychopathological Symptoms, Over and Above Functional Social Support. Frontiers in Psychology 12:661278. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.661278

Cho I, Hu B, and Berry CM (2023). A matter of when, not whether: A meta-analysis of modesty bias in East Asian self-ratings of job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology 108:2, 291-306. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0001046

Coffey JK and Warren MT (2020). Comparing adolescent positive affect and self-esteem as precursors to adult self-esteem and life satisfaction. Motivation and Emotion 44, 707-718. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-020-09825-7

Costantini A, Ceschi A, Viragos A, et al. (2019). The role of a new strength-based intervention on organisation-based self-esteem and work engagement: A three-wave intervention study. Journal of Workplace Learning 31:3, 194-206. https://doi.org/10.1108/JWL-07-2018-0091

Du H, King RB, and Chi P (2017). Self-esteem and subjective well-being revisited: The roles of personal, relational, and collective self-esteem. PLoS One 12:8. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0183958 

Hornsey MJ, Bain PG, Harris EA, et al. (2018). How Much Is Enough in a Perfect World? Cultural Variation in Ideal Levels of Happiness, Pleasure, Freedom, Health, Self-Esteem, Longevity, and Intelligence. Psychological Science 29:9, 1393-1404. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797618768058

Hu H, You Y, Ling Y, et al. (2021). The development of prosocial behavior among adolescents: A positive psychology perspective. Current Psychology https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02255-9

Kennes A, Lataster J, Janssens M, et al. (2023). Efficacy of a School-Based Mental Health Intervention Based on Mindfulness and Character Strengths Use Among Adolescents: a Pilot Study of Think Happy-Be Happy Intervention. Journal of Happiness Studies 24, 677-697. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-022-00611-5

Krauss S and Orth U (2022). Work Experiences and Self-Esteem Development: A Meta-Analysis of Longitudinal Studies. European Journal of Personality 36:6, 849-869. https://doi.org/10.1177/08902070211027142

Mikkelsen HT, Haraldstad K, Helseth S, et al. (2020). Health-related quality of life is strongly associated with self-efficacy, self-esteem, loneliness, and stress in 14–15-year-old adolescents: a cross-sectional study. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 18:352. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12955-020-01585-9

Niveau N, New B, and Beaudoin M (2021). Self-esteem Interventions in Adults – A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Journal of Research in Personality 94:104131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2021.104131

Orth U, Erol RY, and Luciano EC (2018). Development of self-esteem from age 4 to 94 years: A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 144(10), 1045–1080. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000161

Orth U and Robins RW (2022). Is high self-esteem beneficial? Revisiting a classic question. American Psychologist 77:1, 5–17. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000922

Padilla-Walker LM, Millett MA, and Memmott-Elison MK (2020). Can helping others strengthen teens? Character strengths as mediators between prosocial behavior and adolescents’ internalizing symptoms. Journal of Adolescence 79, 70-80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2020.01.001

Pang D and Ruch W (2019). The Mutual Support Model of Mindfulness and Character Strengths. Mindfulness 10, 1545-1559. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-019-01103-z

Peterson C and Seligman ME (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. Oxford University Press; American Psychological Association.

Pyszczynski T, Greenberg J, Solomon S, et al. (2004). Why do people need self-esteem? A theoretical and empirical review. Psychological Bulletin 130:3, 435-68. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.130.3.435

Reitz AK, Luhmann M, Bleidorn W, et al. (2022). Unraveling the complex relationship between work transitions and self-esteem and life satisfaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 123:3, 597-620. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000423

Salice A (2020). Self-Esteem, Social Esteem, and Pride. Emotion Review 12:3, 193-205. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073920930788

Seligman ME (2011). Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-Being. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Seligman ME (2018). PERMA and the building blocks of well-being, The Journal of Positive Psychology, 13:4, 333-335. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2018.1437466

Sin W (2023). Modesty, Confucianism, and active indifference, Educational Philosophy and Theory. 55:2, 158-168. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2022.2082939

Toback RL, Graham-Bermann SA, and Patel PD (2016). Outcomes of a Character Strengths-Based Intervention on Self-Esteem and Self-Efficacy of Psychiatrically Hospitalized Youths. Psychiatric Services 67:5. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201500021

Wagner L, Pindeus L, and Ruch W (2021). Character Strengths in the Life Domains of Work, Education, Leisure, and Relationships and Their Associations With Flourishing. Frontiers in Psychology 12:597534. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.597534

Zhang J, Peng J, Gao P, et al. (2019). Relationship between meaning in life and death anxiety in the elderly: self-esteem as a mediator. BMC Geriatrics 19:308. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-019-1316-7

Zheng C, Wang X, and Wu Y (2022). Modesty brings gains: The mechanisms of individual psychology and social culture. Advances in Psychological Science 30:5, 1131-1142. https://doi.org/10.3724/SP.J.1042.2022.01131

Zuckerman M, Li C, and Hall JA (2016). When men and women differ in self-esteem and when they don’t: A meta-analysis. Journal of Research in Personality 64, 34-51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2016.07.007

[Introduction to, 9 Keys to Optimism: Positive Psychology, ©2023]

Optimism is a belief in a benign world. It can be difficult to maintain in these times, however.

So what is it, exactly, and how do we get more of it – or at least keep what we’ve got?

Is it hope? Avoidance of reality? Simple choice? Is it even obtainable, or is it a trait that we’re born with – or not?

Yes, and.

Optimism is first of all an outgrowth of our core trust in a benign universe. If we were fortunate to be in a healthy environment at our earliest stage of life, we developed a fundamental trust that when we had a need or concern, it would be soothed. As infants, we cried when uncomfortable, hungry, lonely, or afraid – and someone came to our aid. Our sense of trust that unpleasant situations will eventually right themselves begins to develop from the moment we’re born.

And so, optimism is this basic unconscious belief, that while there may be times of difficulty and even disaster, eventually things will be okay again.

Surely, catastrophes can come along that shatter this sense – natural disaster, violence, sudden death of a loved one, a disfiguring or disabling accident, the thing we unconsciously believed would never happen to us. Or perhaps we were not so fortunate in our infancy, and that basic trust was never developed in the first place. Can we develop or recover our trust in a benign world, and our optimism?

In a word: yes. We’ll circle back to that.

Hope is often equated to optimism, though while they share a close relationship, they’re not the same thing. We’re going to explore hope in detail, as our first key to optimism. For now: optimism is a general approach to life, while hope is a wish for the future. If optimistic, I assume that the future will generally be okay; if hopeful, I’m wishing that it will be, while entertaining the possibility that it won’t. A fine distinction at times, perhaps.

What optimism is not, is an avoidance of reality. Surely even optimism can be excessive, tipping over into a state in which we refuse to acknowledge that anything’s wrong. (Perhaps we’ve done this for far too many years when it comes to issues of climate change.) In its true form, however, it’s absolutely realistic, in seeing the whole picture and choosing to focus more – though not solely – on the positive aspects, a directing of attention.

This is a neurobiological function. When we’re optimistic, our brains are creating some magic by which cognitive processes of expectancy and attention interact with and mutually reinforce one another. Our attention is drawn to signs that fit our expectancy, and vice versa. This doesn’t mean that we don’t see what doesn’t fit our belief, but it’s not where we place our focus. If we’re generally optimistic, our optimism guides our attention more often to positive information; we’re aware of the negative, but we don’t live there. This also means, then, that we can train our attention in order to increase our optimism, as this relationship is bidirectional (Kress and Aue, 2019).

And the reason we’d do well to pay attention to optimism, and to further develop our own?

Optimism has been shown to decrease pain, both acute and chronic (Basten-Günther et al., 2019) and is a clear predictor of positive health outcomes — while the presence of pessimism is an even stronger predictor of negative outcomes (Scheier et al., 2021). It’s been closely correlated with mental health in young adults (Chen et al., 2019) and in adolescents (Rincón-Uribe et al., 2022). It’s also a matter of survival, as it’s been directly linked to longevity beyond 85 years of age (Jacobs et al., 2021). And it’s been shown to increase a subjective sense of wellbeing, with self-esteem as the mediator; that is, one’s positive feelings about oneself act as a bridge between one’s optimism and one’s wellbeing (Duy and Yıldız, 2019).

Optimism continues to develop throughout the adult lifespan, affected by our positive as well as negative experiences (Schwaba et al., 2019). In a study of adults in an age range of 51-93, males were found to be more optimistic than females, as were those who were physically active, and those in a relationship (Martínez-Moreno et al., 2020). Sabouripour et al. (2021) demonstrated that optimism was linked to resilience, the ability to recover from or thrive in the presence of hardship, without the mediation of self-efficacy – that is, one’s belief in a positive outcome was separate from the belief in one’s own capability.

There are two primary concepts of optimism: dispositional (trait) and explanatory (state, or conditional). In the former, optimism is conceived of as essentially a trait that develops early in life, when we’re able to set and achieve goals, or when that which we expect is often enough realized – so, a relatively consistent fulfilment of expectation. Through reinforcement over time, we develop this personality trait. The explanatory model, on the other hand, refers more to how a person explains or interprets his/her/their world – the age-old ‘glass half-full or empty’ description, in which optimism leads us more often to positive interpretations. (Dursun et al., 2021)

This is where Seligman’s theory of ‘learned optimism’ comes in (Seligman, 1991).

Martin Seligman is the leading theorist and one of the founders of the positive psychology field. Before we go on with ‘learned optimism’, let’s take a brief look at positive psychology itself.

The positive psychology field, established in 1998 and based on earlier relevant research, has as its focus the healthy functions of the brain and the ability to accentuate same. It provides a counterbalance to other approaches to psychology, which largely focus on and attempt to address mental illness and developmental concerns. One of this field’s key features is a strengths-based model of 6 virtue categories and 24 character strengths, by which we function and can strive to enhance; the Character Strengths and Virtues (CSV) handbook (Peterson & Seligman, 2004) aims to complement traditional psychology’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).

A recent study of character strengths by Gander et al. (2022) identified the 3 most important to our wellbeing as zest for life, hope, and humor. In the study, optimism strongly correlated with each of these three, and also with curiosity, gratitude, and love.

Another primary model of the field is best known by its acronym PERMA, inclusive of positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment (Seligman, 2011). Within this concept of ‘flourishing’ or developing our mental health potentials, the majority of healthy psychological functions can be viewed (Seligman, 2018).

And so, back to learned optimism. Seligman’s concept of learned optimism stems from his ‘learned helplessness’ research of depression (Seligman, 1974), by which a person eventually loses hope after repeated failure; he posited that if we can ‘learn’ helplessness, we must also be able to learn optimism. In this way he envisioned optimism more as a state or condition than as a personality trait, not fixed but malleable. Two key concepts of this model include the ‘3 Ps’ view of characteristics which distinguish optimism and pessimism, and the ‘ABCDE’ approach to developing the former.

The ABCDE approach is: adversity (negative event or circumstance), belief (our interpretation of same), consequence (our behavior, feeling, reaction to said adversity), disputation (our internal rebuttal of our belief about this adversity), and energization (the result of our refutation, including an increase in positive energy and emotion).

As an example, let’s say that I’ve failed an exam (adversity); on analysis of my internal belief, I find that I believe I’m ‘just no good’ at taking exams, or worse, I believe that I’m stupid, worthless, will never amount to anything. On examination of my reaction, I see that I’ve given up on myself before in this circumstance – and that I also didn’t study sufficiently this time, and that exams make me anxious. I dispute my belief – I am NOT stupid, I don’t always fail, I’m not worthless, reminding myself of those times when I did well on exams or those areas in which I do succeed; and in follow-up, I find myself energized to study harder and retake the exam, more secure in the knowledge that I’m not incapable of passing it.

The 3 Ps are permanence, personalization, and pervasiveness. At a glance, if we’re optimistic we don’t view a given circumstance as permanent, don’t consider negative events as a reflection on our personal character, and don’t see it as all-encompassing but can categorize it into that part of life to which it belongs (e.g., not “I’m stupid” but “I’m not as skilled at mathematics as I am in other areas,” or even, “I didn’t do well on that exam but I know that I do have mathematics skills”). The pessimist, by contrast, takes negative events personally, seeing them as permanent and pervasive.

Can we be optimistic at all times, and should we even attempt to be? According to de Meza and Dawson (2021), both are extremes; they advocate for a realistic perspective that doesn’t always expect the positive or the negative, and doesn’t maximize nor minimize one’s capabilities. I would advocate for a ‘realistic optimism’, however – by which one views oneself and the world in a realistic assessment, while still choosing to focus more often on the positive than on the negative.

And what of pessimism? Is it entirely bad? It turns out, pessimism can be advantageous in certain circumstances – we can visit it, but it’s not a place in which we want to live. Seligman himself (Genecov & Seligman, 2023) has recently outlined a downside of optimism in unrealistic assessment of one’s circumstance or ability, and a vulnerability to disappointment. Further, we can think of a pessimistic view as protective on occasion; if we view our ability as lower than it is, we may be less likely to engage in risky behavior.

The benefits of optimism far outweigh any alternative, however. And so, on we go to our exploration of 9 keys to the enhancement of optimism. We begin with those 6 optimism-associated character strengths as identified by Gander et al. (2022): hope, zest for life, humor, curiosity, gratitude, and love; to this we add 2 more strengths from the positive psychology scheme: appreciation of beauty and excellence, and spirituality or life meaning and purpose. Finally, we look at mindfulness which, in its broad array of applications, has plenty to contribute to the enhancement of optimism.

Let’s go!

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References:

Basten-Günther J, Peters M, and Lautenbacher S (2019). Optimism and the Experience of Pain: A Systematic Review. Behavioral Medicine 45:4, 323-339. https://doi.org/10.1080/08964289.2018.1517242

Chen Y, Su J, Ren Z, et al. (2019). Optimism and Mental Health of Minority Students: Moderating Effects of Cultural Adaptability. Frontiers in Psychology 10:2545. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02545

de Meza D and Dawson C (2021). Neither an Optimist Nor a Pessimist Be: Mistaken Expectations Lower Well-Being. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 47:4, 540-550. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167220934577

Dursun P (2021). Optimism, Hope and Subjective Well-Being: a Literature Overview. Çatalhöyük Uluslararası Turizm ve Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi 6, 61-74. Retrieved from https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/cutsad/issue/63565/946124

Duy B and Yıldız MA (2019). The Mediating Role of Self-Esteem in the Relationship Between Optimism and Subjective Well-Being. Current Psychology 38, 1456-1463. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-017-9698-1

Gander F, Wagner L, Amann L, et al. (2022). What are character strengths good for? A daily diary study on character strengths enactment.  Journal of Positive Psychology 17:5, 718-728. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2021.1926532

Genecov M and Seligman ME (2023). Optimism and pessimism. In DJA Dozois and KS Dobson (Eds.), Treatment of psychosocial risk factors in depression (pp. 253–280). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000332-012

Jacobs JM, Maaravi Y, and Stessman J (2021). Optimism and Longevity Beyond Age 85. Journals of Gerontology: Series A 76:10, 1806-1813. https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/glab051

Kress L and Aue T (2019). Learning to Look at the Bright Side of Life: Attention Bias Modification Training Enhances Optimism Bias. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 13:222. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2019.00222

Martínez-Moreno A, Ibáñez-Pérez RJ, Cavas-García F, et al. (2020). Older Adults’ Gender, Age and Physical Activity Effects on Anxiety, Optimism, Resilience and Engagement. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17:20, 7561. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17207561

Peterson C and Seligman ME (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. Oxford University Press; American Psychological Association.

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[Introduction to, 9 Keys to Creativity: Positive Psychology, ©2023]

We could all use more creativity. Doctors tell us, our art teachers tell us, our bosses tell us, happiness experts tell us: Be more creative. Engage in creative acts. Use your imagination. Practice your problem-solving. Come up with innovative ideas. Think. Feel. Create.

But I’m not creative, you may be thinking just now. I’m no artist! I have trouble coming up with new ideas. My cultural background is very analytical. That’s not me.

First: creativity and talent are two different things. Second: all humans are creative, in a myriad of ways. Third: creativity, while affected by one’s culture, is not culture specific.

But before we go on with this concept of creativity, and how to get more of it, we must take a look at positive psychology.

The positive psychology field was established in 1998, the concept co-created (see what we did there?) by Martin Seligman, then president of the American Psychological Association, and Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi. (Don’t worry. No one has ever been able to pronounce or spell it.) These two brilliant scholars were already doing research and deep thinking in areas related to this emerging field, Seligman in the area of happiness and Csíkszentmihályi on this very topic of creativity. Other scholars were doing similar research, and thus the field of positive psychology was born.

In short, this school of psychology looks at all that’s right with the brain, and mental health and wellbeing — and how to enhance that. It emerged in response to psychology’s increasing focus on mental illness and disability, while much of the time, our brains are simply astonishing organs capable of an array of functions, many of which we still don’t fully understand: the final frontier of science. It doesn’t in any way deny that things can go very wrong with our brains, from mood disorder to psychosis to profound developmental disability and more, but seeks to enhance our knowledge about those areas of healthy functioning.

One of the key frameworks in this field is known as PERMA: positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment. This structure provides a way of looking at 5 primary areas of human existence related to the brain and its function, in which we’re getting things right.

We’ll circle back to that. All of these areas bear some relationship to creativity — notably, that of engagement, to which Csíkszentmihályi’s lifetime of scholarly work was dedicated, and which he termed, ‘flow’ or the flow state.

Another significant concept of positive psychology, for understanding ourselves and how we function in the mental-emotional realm, is that of virtues and character strengths. As this school of thought focuses on healthy psychological functioning, it presumes that we all have numerous strengths to varying degrees and which we can strive to enhance, alongside virtues that relate to our sense of self as a ‘decent’ person and provide us with a sense of meaning. This approach will also be critical to our understanding of creativity, and how we can enhance it, from the positive psychology perspective.

In this model, there are 6 virtues which serve as categories, and 24 character strengths which fall within them. The first, most relevant to our topic of creativity, is the virtue of Wisdom; the strengths associated with this include creativity itself, along with curiosity, judgment, a love of learning, and perspective, each of which we’ll look at more deeply as we go along. For now, we note: creativity is a type or aspect of wisdom and knowledge, a way of understanding the world and ourselves.

Other virtues include Courage, with strengths of bravery, persistence, integrity, and vitality; Humanity, which encompasses love, kindness, and social intelligence; Justice, in which we find collaboration, fairness, and leadership; Temperance, which gives us forgiveness, humility, prudence, and self-regulation; and, Transcendence, within which we see appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, humor, and spirituality or life meaning.

Positive psychology, then, focuses on a strengths-based approach in which assumption is made that we all possess these character strengths to one degree or another, that they can be assessed, and that we can enhance them – or re-balance those we may be overusing. The key is balance, of each strength and of the relationships among them (Niemiec, 2019).

Of note is that virtues aren’t values; to clarify, they’ve been termed “values in action” or how one’s ethical code is lived (Stichter and Saunders, 2019). They’re universally accepted and cross-cultural, though how they’re weighted from one culture to the next may vary. In a study including 75 nations with a minimum of 150 respondents in each, the most supported strengths were honesty, fairness, kindness, judgment, and curiosity, the latter two of which we’ll see in relation to creativity (McGrath, 2015).

 It’s the premise of this book that, as creativity in this model falls within the virtue of wisdom, the other elements of that same virtue are its ‘cousins’; the relationship between creativity and curiosity is obvious, while connections will be made between creativity and each of the others as we explore our 9 keys. Diez et al. (2022), in an analysis of big data of more than 1.2 million survey respondents, obtained from the VIA Institute, demonstrated that there are strong relationships among these specific character strengths within the wisdom virtue.

But perhaps we should ask the question, what is creativity?

Naturally, the term has many — perhaps a creative number of — definitions. We tend first to think of art, yet creativity is perhaps more accurately defined as originality and ingenuity — thinking about, seeing, and approaching the world in new ways. Psychological flexibility is also an element of creativity, as we must encourage our brains to be highly flexible — a quality we can learn and enhance — in order to ‘think outside of the box’ or in ways that differ from, or expand beyond, accepted norms. In this way, deep thinking is also related to creativity. Adaptability, too; in the pursuit of creativity, some attempts will fail, or won’t result as we’d imagined, and we make adaptations, and try again.

But I don’t see myself as an intellectual! You may protest. The kind of deep thinking necessary for creativity, however, doesn’t have to be Mensa-quality or ground-breaking; rather, in order to engage in creativity, we must simply be willing to think. That is, we must consider ways to do things differently than that first standard or norm that automatically pops into our heads precisely because it’s the way the thing has always been done.

But isn’t thinking the opposite of creativity? You may well ask. Doesn’t too much thinking, or analyzing, get in creativity’s way? Yes. And, no. The brain is a highly complex structure. And while some areas light up on a PET scan when certain activities or thoughts are engaged, and like a computer motherboard we can see that certain areas of the brain are related to mathematics or languages while others focus on emotions, for example, in the end, there is a good deal of crossover in the brain’s function. So much so, that is, that when there’s damage in one part of the brain, we can often see that other areas will begin to take over those tasks. And the best news of all: contrary to decades of belief about the aging brain and a lack of new neural pathways accompanied by cell death, we now know that this isn’t the whole truth; our brain continues to lay down new neural pathways, albeit at perhaps a slower processing speed in some instances, throughout the course of our lives. We may someday be too old to jump — but we are never too old to think, and to learn new things.

And — yes. We’ve all had the experience of overthinking a problem when its solution was simple and right in front of us. We can surely go into analytical overdrive at the expense of our creativity. But when in balance, the processes of thinking, feeling, and creating are highly complementary to one another.

Is creativity a form of wisdom? Really? You may find yourself wondering, about now.

Seeing the world in new and creative ways has always been the core of wisdom. What separates us from being creative and living as an automaton is precisely this ability to imagine, to see possibility and solution and innovation and, yes: art.

Are we humans the only species to engage in creativity? Surely not. We now know that other species, and not only those within the order of primates to which homo sapiens belong, are capable of innovation, creativity, and surely problem-solving. Other species use tools to get their food, such as certain birds; species often get very creative and adaptable when food is the motivator. Creativity can come in many forms; the male bower bird, for example, creates the most beautiful ‘honeymoon suite’ that he can, in order to attract a mate. And perhaps all species are continually engaged in problem-solving as a matter of their survival.

There are myths about creativity, too — the madness myth, for one. That oft-quoted “thin line between genius and insanity,” as famously described by Oscar Levant, was in fact postulated by Aristotle in ancient times. We can equate ‘genius’ to creativity, in that both expand the brain’s capacity, and both invite one to think and experience life differently than others. We have the archetype of the ‘mad scientist’, and any number of conflicted creatives such as Virginia Woolf, Vincent van Gogh, Frida Kahlo, Ernest Hemingway, or Sylvia Plath. Positive mood is also closely linked to creativity, as we’ll soon see, along with the healthy and well-functioning brain, with an uncountable number of creatives who don’t fall into that darker, troubled category.

Other myths commonly associated with the quality and act of creativity include mystery, magic, and frivolity. Creativity may be associated with fun, and hobby, or entertainment; talent also often seems mysterious to its observers, a giftedness without explanation. This lends itself to the myth that being creative is somehow magical, or supernatural, when in reality: we are all creative.

Finally, why should we care? Beyond pure enjoyment, which we can obtain in any number of ways, why strive to be more creative, to enhance the creativity that we know we possess, as we would improve a skill? Why bother?

In a word: happiness. Also: wellbeing. Even as we consider those creatives with depression or other mental concerns, the science lines up otherwise, and there’s an incredible amount of research, much of the most recent to be found in this book, that indicates being creative is good for us. Simply put, it makes our lives better, and ourselves more highly functioning and capable individuals, with the science to back that up.

We know this. Whether we create art, or cook creatively (one of my great pleasures), or write (ditto), or develop new and game-changing theories, or for that matter, develop games, not to mention that everyday creative act of problem-solving, we know that (a) we are in fact creative, and (b) it’s good for us.

What’s more: flow. Engagement. The first key of this book, soon to commence. When we’re creative, we’re ‘in the zone’, singularly focused and losing all track of time or other distractions; we’re in a Zen state, as Japanese Buddhists have shared with the world. Our endorphins flow, we do indeed have a tiny sense of magic, we feel alive, and our experience of the world is all the better for it.

That final category in the PERMA framework, accomplishment, is also a reason to engage in creativity, and to enhance it in ourselves. Daring to be creative also means a willingness to fail, for when we try new things, failure may well be the outcome. But when we’re able to create something new, or beautiful, or meaningful — if only to ourselves — the sense of accomplishment is sufficient reward.

Circling back to whether you, dear reader, are or are not creative, we must touch upon the concept of creative self-efficacy.

Self-efficacy can be simply termed, one’s belief in one’s own ability. It isn’t specific, but a view of general capability. And while that’s another book in itself, it relates directly to the ‘accomplishment’ category mentioned above. As we accomplish tasks and gain ability — even small abilities — our self-efficacy grows. This is the developmental work of early childhood, as we must learn so many things in our first bout with independence, and a process which continues throughout our lives. Naturally, we aren’t skilled at or naturally capable of all things equally; however, we can develop and encourage our overarching belief in ourselves as generally capable.

This too applies to creativity. We must use creativity every day in order to accomplish tasks in an alternate way when the standard isn’t possible, in solving problems, in our choice of clothing, in making a meal for ourselves, and in many other ways. It’s not all about art. And so, we must develop our creative self-efficacy alongside our generalized belief in our own capability. I’m not only a capable person; I’m capable of creativity, by virtue of being human.

Our 9 keys to creativity, then, are these: curiosity, flow, judgment, open-mindedness, love of learning, perspective, mindfulness, appreciation of beauty and excellence, and imagination. (We’ll have a few bonuses at the end, too.)

“Creativity is a central source of meaning in our lives,” according to Csíkszentmihályi.

And so: let’s get creative!

.

References:

Diez G, Roca P, Nieto I, et al. (2022). The network structure of the VIA-120 inventory of strengths: an analysis of 1,255,248 respondents, Journal of Positive Psychology 18:6, 827-840. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2022.2109205

McGrath RE (2015). Character strengths in 75 nations: An update. The Journal of Positive Psychology 10:1, 41-52. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2014.888580

Niemiec RM (2019). Finding the golden mean: the overuse, underuse, and optimal use of character strengths, Counselling Psychology Quarterly 32:3-4, 453-471. https://doi.org/10.1080/09515070.2019.1617674

Stichter M and Saunders L (2019). Positive psychology and virtue: Values in action. Journal of Positive Psychology 14:1, 1-5. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2018.1528381

[Introduction to, 9 Keys to Happiness: Positive Psychology, ©2023]

Happiness is sometimes elusive. We all want to be happy — perhaps it’s even a basic human right, though some would say too much emphasis is placed on happiness, and its definition is surely subjective — and culturally specific.

Positive psychology, in existence as a specialty field since 1998, has a great deal to say about happiness. This approach to psychology was developed to be complementary to other schools of thought, which tend to center on a medical model of disease and approaches to understanding and curing mental illness. In antithesis, positive psychology takes as its focus all that goes well with the human mind — and how we can focus on and gain more of that, in a strengths-based approach (Seligman, 2019).

The brain, after all, and its counterpart the mind, a term we use for those less well explained functions of the organ itself — such as emotions, consciousness, personality, and identity — is a most mysterious thing of beauty. It’s thought to be the final frontier in scientific research, as there’s still so much about its function that we don’t completely understand. Yet, we each possess one — and to one degree or another, we feel that we know our own minds.

So much gets in the way of happiness, however. Much of what happens to us — the family, culture, era, and circumstances in which we’re born, the trajectory of our lives, disease or other challenges we may face — seems beyond our control, and often greatly impacts our ability to feel happy, to experience pleasure, to find contentment. In recent years, there’s an ever-growing despair around the world, that our climate and possibly our species – largely as a result of our own actions — is heading for an imminent crisis and collapse.

And yet —

Happiness is learned. That’s not quite the same as saying it’s a choice, for much can stand in the way of what we perceive as a simple choice to be happy. It is, however, something we can learn, strengthen, and practice daily, like any skill or habit. Some of that is an unlearning — letting go of those patterns of thought that prevent us from experiencing happiness, such as perfectionism, maximizing, or social comparison. At the same time, we can learn and implement healthier behaviors, by which we develop new neural pathways in our brains, at any age.

This is where positive psychology can help.

According to the research of Alexander et al. (2021), what we call ‘happiness’, together with wellbeing and a general satisfaction with life, form a complex combination of emotions and stimuli stemming from our experiences and how we interpret them. This allows for a wide range, as the same experience can be interpreted in a multitude of ways; it also gives us a fair measure of control over our response. The same study found that happiness tends to increase with age, good news for us all. Social connectedness, as well as our engagement in playful activity, enhance our capacity for happiness exponentially. And two of the techniques that best help us to achieve and sustain happiness and wellbeing are meditation or similar contemplative practice, and the experience of a ‘flow’ state — deep serenity and intense focus, or being ‘in the zone’, to be later discussed.

A key set of terms in the positive psychology field is buffering, bolstering, and building (Waters, et al., 2021). As a general approach to life, we want to buffer or protect ourselves against harmful influences such as the stressors that come and go in life, negative people, crises of health or other, our own spiraling down into darkness. We can learn many coping skills to help buffer against the fierce storms that may come our way. Bolstering refers to the support that surrounds us: our own mental resources, and the habits and people who help us maintain a sense of equilibrium. In building, we’re adding to our skills, learning new ways to be healthy and happy while letting go of those ways that aren’t helpful.

The PERMA model of positive psychology (Seligman, 2018) can be useful: positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment. Firstly, we want to identify and strengthen our positive emotions, and there are many exercises that can help us do just that. Engagement is the experience of going along with the current of one’s life rather than fighting against it, not in terms of resignation but in being fully engaged with the daily rhythms of one’s existence and following one’s fate, if you will. It also describes that ‘flow’ phenomenon previously mentioned, of intense focus coupled with a sense of being ‘elsewhere’, a primary element of creativity. The artist describes the process of making art as a phenomenon that flows through the artist and onto the canvas, the writer a similar process in the development of a book. Each of us can also experience ‘flow’ as we engage in our own creativity. Inspiration feels much the same, as the idea flows into our head and through our being as if water.

Relationships, in the PERMA model, are a reference to general social connectedness rather than isolation. While considering the distinctions between extraverts and introverts, for example, this is not to say that engaging with others is superior to solitude; rather, a close relationship or two can be sufficient in that we feel seen, heard, and supported, which bolster our psyche and our resilience. The idea of ‘meaning’ refers to a sense of purpose in life, in opposition to a belief that one’s life is meaningless. It doesn’t describe the degree of significance, or two whom, and meaning can be derived from a vast array of sources that may have nothing to do with fame or recognition by others. A life of meaning can be as simple — and as profound — as engaging in small and anonymous acts of kindness in order to contribute to the wellbeing of others, and in so doing, to help make the world a better place. There are countless ways to discover and embrace meaning in one’s life. And finally: accomplishment. Like meaning, this is entirely subjective and not proscribed; accomplishment, in this model, refers simply to a feeling of achievement — in new awareness and understanding, a new or improved skill, in the living of a good life as one deems it.

Most of us don’t strive for greatness. We want to live a life that feels meaningful to us, have a general sense of accomplishment and capability, create and develop bonds with others, be fully engaged in our lives including our creativity, and experience more positive than negative emotions. Together, these 5 areas constitute positive psychology — and go a very long way in the pursuit of happiness.

Some of the primary areas of positive psychology, alongside that of happiness and a contented life, can be found in a focus on one’s existing strengths and virtues (to be later discussed), resilience, mindfulness, and the aforementioned meaning-making as well as ‘flow’, or engagement, creativity, and inspiration. The field embraces self-compassion, positive emotions and social relatedness, coping, and courage. (Neuhaus et al., 2022)

Our ability to experience happiness can be compromised by many things, not the least of which is our mental health and wellbeing, as well as personality type; other factors often considered include socioeconomics, attachment or ability to form healthy social bonds, physical health, goals and perceived ability to achieve them, and conditions of time and place.

And why should we care about happiness? Naturally, creatures human and otherwise seek pleasure and contentment, two core aspects of happiness no matter how its definition may vary. Beyond that, however, our positive emotions lend themselves to an increased immune function and overall health including longevity, work performance, quality of relationships, prosocial behavior, creativity, resilience, and coping mechanisms. Simply put, when we’re happier, we’re healthier, and we function better.

A good deal of research is currently being conducted in the relationship between happiness and health, a longstanding scientific interest but of particular emphasis recently, as indicated in multiple reviews of the literature (Brazier et al., 2022; Cheng et al., 2022; Levine et al., 2021; Pressman et al., 2019; Van Eijk et al., 2023). As an example, the study of Kushlev et al. (2020) demonstrated that when participants engaged in activities meant to boost their wellbeing and state of mind, they consistently reported improvement in physical health as well.

Many studies included in the reviews above have indicated a bidirectionality: happiness or lack thereof affects health, and the reverse is also true. We can easily understand that if our physical health is compromised, it’s difficult to feel happiness; the more interesting news is its parallel, in that our efforts to achieve and sustain happiness will also have direct bearing on our physical as well as mental health. Further, our happiness is not only found in the ‘hedonic’ area — our feelings of joy and pleasure — but also in the ‘eudaimonic’ realm, in having a sense of meaning and purpose in life, as well as how we evaluate our wellbeing, typically referred to as life satisfaction — and its absence in our life can directly contribute to an increased risk of disease (Steptoe, 2019).

There are so many wide-ranging reasons for us to actively engage in activities and practices for increasing and sustaining our sense of happiness.

In yet another study, this time by An et al. (2020), physical activity was found to directly relate to happiness and overall life satisfaction, and across all age groups. This does not exclude those with disability, for whether we are capable of physical activity ourselves, or rely on someone else such as a family caregiver or physical therapist to exercise our bodies for us, the end result is similar. This study, too, found that happiness and life satisfaction tend to increase with age. This may seem counterintuitive, as our overall ability, stamina, and desirability decrease with age, yet studies consistently show that the older we get, the happier we tend to be.

And now, to our 9 keys to happiness.

There’s a very useful Venn diagram of happiness, as conceptualized by the field of positive psychology — and as a framework for this book. In it, there are 3 realms of a person’s existence: the pleasant life, the good life, and the meaningful life.

In the pleasant life, we enjoy our simple pleasures of daily living — our food, home, bed at night, relationships. The good life is that area in which we focus on our strengths and our virtues, and strive to live what we consider a decent life, one in which we know and engage our skills and talents, and the values we embrace. The third, a meaningful life, encompasses all that which subjectively brings us meaning and purpose: kindness toward others, volunteer or charity work, teaching what we know to others, or in any other way that we contribute to the greater good and a better world.

In this Venn diagram, happiness lies at the overlap of these 3 realms. But how do we achieve and sustain it?

This handbook provides 9 keys to happiness, based on these principles of positive psychology. In it, we have “3 of 3” — these 3 areas of the pleasant, good, and meaningful realms of our life, and 3 key factors within each that can bring us greater, and sustainable, happiness. Nine practices, with minimal to moderate effort, for a happy life.

Let’s begin, shall we?

References:

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An H, Chen W, Wang C, et al. (2020). The Relationships between Physical Activity and Life Satisfaction and Happiness among Young, Middle-Aged, and Older Adults. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(13):4817. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17134817

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Seligman ME (2019). Positive Psychology: A Personal History. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology 15:1, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-050718-095653

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Waters L, Algoe SB, Dutton J, et al. (2022). Positive psychology in a pandemic: buffering, bolstering, and building mental health, The Journal of Positive Psychology, 17:3, 303-323. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2021.1871945