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Positive Psychology: The Science of Happiness and Flourishing [with Hoffman Positive Psychology: A Workbook for Personal Growth and Well-Being]
Course bundle: Positive Psychology: The Science of Happiness and Flourishing, 3e + Hoffman: Positive Psychology: A Workbook for Personal Growth and Well-Being
503 pages, Paperback
First published February 7, 2012
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247 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 29, 2017
Excellent textbook on all the areas and research up-to date on Positive Psychology. A textbook and a reference book for anyone interested in the topic. After reading this book, you pretty much have an idea on everything Positive Psychology related.
"In positive psychology, the good life is seen as involving a combination of three elements: connections to others, positive individual traits, and life regulation qualities. Aspects of our behavior that contribute to forging positive connections to others include the ability to love, the presence of altruistic concerns, the ability to forgive, and the presence of spiritual connections to help create a sense of deeper meaning and purpose in life. Positive individual traits include such elements as a sense of integrity; the ability to play and to be creative; and the presence of virtues like courage and humility. Finally, life regulation qualities allow us to regulate our day-to-day behavior so that we can accomplish our goals while helping to enrich the people and institutions we encounter along the way. These qualities include a sense of individuality or autonomy; a high degree of healthy self-control; and the presence of wisdom as a guide to behavior."
"In positive psychology, the good life is seen as involving a combination of three elements: connections to others, positive individual traits, and life regulation qualities. Aspects of our behavior that contribute to forging positive connections to others include the ability to love, the presence of altruistic concerns, the ability to forgive, and the presence of spiritual connections to help create a sense of deeper meaning and purpose in life. Positive individual traits include such elements as a sense of integrity; the ability to play and to be creative; and the presence of virtues like courage and humility. Finally, life regulation qualities allow us to regulate our day-to-day behavior so that we can accomplish our goals while helping to enrich the people and institutions we encounter along the way. These qualities include a sense of individuality or autonomy; a high degree of healthy self-control; and the presence of wisdom as a guide to behavior."
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April 22, 2024🫡 positive psych.
April 23, 2023
So I am reviewing an academic text because of the busy semester leaving me little to no room to read for leisure. I have been needing an academic text to organize my class around this year, it was only halfway thought the semester I recognized this book and adapted some of my classes around it.
The main reason this text appeals to me is that it is organized into 12 weeks, and 12 weeks is all I got. It is also covering most topics in a simple enough manner that is suitable for undergraduate studies, and the most important part is that it is low key pretty comprehensive. Almost no area in positive psychology is left untouched, and a course based around this is likely to cover sufficient topics to broaden students' perspectives of psychology and the concepts they can actually study, write, and do research on. This is an incredible pro that most textbooks in positive psychology doesn't match. Most positive psychologists have their own dedicated areas of interest and are not great generalists. This is at least an amazing generalist, fox-over-hedgehog kind of book. It covers the basics of PERMA, various perspectives of wellbeing, physical health, spirituality, and so on. It also dedicated an entire chapter to optimal well-being, and even covers some psychotherapeutic perspectives. Just in terms of teaching content and topical coverage, this book is the most well-rounded out there. Like there are lengthier books that actually cover less topics.
However, this gets thrown behind when it comes to coherence and redundancy. While I liked the organization of the whole book, the organization of points within the chapters is mediocre and if I blindly follow them my teaching will be dragged through the ground. Within each chapter, most of them lack a coherent story about the topic. Most of its talking points is built on definitions and jumps straight into research examples with some commentary. I liked the commentary because they help arrange a semblance of a narrative for that chapter, but its not enough. It also doesn't help that most of the research talking points are often very redundant, and are simply variations of 'X variable is positively linked with well-being'. It is not the authors' fault that the discipline is the way it is, but it would have helped a lot to not depend on them as talking points, or at least organized the paragraph enough.
I feel that if the authors sat back and reread the text themselves, they would be able to see the content from a more 'meta' perspective and synthesized the information beforehand.
This book is also not helpful for teaching in general, very lacking in interactive exercises (some are included like an afterthought), and absolutely missing with teaching aids like visualization exercises and psychometric tools. It also lacks case examples for students to apply their thinking on.
I am not exactly done 'reading', but I don't expect my impressions to change soon. Will still be using it for another year for class content, but I absolutely wouldn't recommend students to buy.
The main reason this text appeals to me is that it is organized into 12 weeks, and 12 weeks is all I got. It is also covering most topics in a simple enough manner that is suitable for undergraduate studies, and the most important part is that it is low key pretty comprehensive. Almost no area in positive psychology is left untouched, and a course based around this is likely to cover sufficient topics to broaden students' perspectives of psychology and the concepts they can actually study, write, and do research on. This is an incredible pro that most textbooks in positive psychology doesn't match. Most positive psychologists have their own dedicated areas of interest and are not great generalists. This is at least an amazing generalist, fox-over-hedgehog kind of book. It covers the basics of PERMA, various perspectives of wellbeing, physical health, spirituality, and so on. It also dedicated an entire chapter to optimal well-being, and even covers some psychotherapeutic perspectives. Just in terms of teaching content and topical coverage, this book is the most well-rounded out there. Like there are lengthier books that actually cover less topics.
However, this gets thrown behind when it comes to coherence and redundancy. While I liked the organization of the whole book, the organization of points within the chapters is mediocre and if I blindly follow them my teaching will be dragged through the ground. Within each chapter, most of them lack a coherent story about the topic. Most of its talking points is built on definitions and jumps straight into research examples with some commentary. I liked the commentary because they help arrange a semblance of a narrative for that chapter, but its not enough. It also doesn't help that most of the research talking points are often very redundant, and are simply variations of 'X variable is positively linked with well-being'. It is not the authors' fault that the discipline is the way it is, but it would have helped a lot to not depend on them as talking points, or at least organized the paragraph enough.
I feel that if the authors sat back and reread the text themselves, they would be able to see the content from a more 'meta' perspective and synthesized the information beforehand.
This book is also not helpful for teaching in general, very lacking in interactive exercises (some are included like an afterthought), and absolutely missing with teaching aids like visualization exercises and psychometric tools. It also lacks case examples for students to apply their thinking on.
I am not exactly done 'reading', but I don't expect my impressions to change soon. Will still be using it for another year for class content, but I absolutely wouldn't recommend students to buy.
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April 20, 2020Excellent book
December 1, 2021
Read for a psychology course. Informative and well written.
November 2, 2024
mid textbook. Some grammatical errors, long chapters. nice bibliography
December 18, 2025
Very insightful!
March 24, 2017
My ratings could be a result of bias becaus I really am a passionate in Positive Psychology.
Thanks to Compton, now I have broader view on what (hot) topics currently discussed in this field.
Juat a year before I read (skimming) Handbook of Positive Psy by Snyder & Lopez. Me and a friend agreed upon how this book could be as a better version of that Handbook.
Compton provide series of analysis by chapter to chapter in good flow (this term indeed prompting Mihalyi), and delicate mannerism so that me as a reader could follow his analysis.
Love it!
Thanks to Compton, now I have broader view on what (hot) topics currently discussed in this field.
Juat a year before I read (skimming) Handbook of Positive Psy by Snyder & Lopez. Me and a friend agreed upon how this book could be as a better version of that Handbook.
Compton provide series of analysis by chapter to chapter in good flow (this term indeed prompting Mihalyi), and delicate mannerism so that me as a reader could follow his analysis.
Love it!
August 3, 2016
This is a very good intro to positive psychology text. I can't say one negative thing about it ;)
January 7, 2014
A wonderful overview of the field of positive psychology. It touches on the nature of well being from different perspectives.
November 27, 2016
Well rounded and thought provoking textbook
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews