The Role of Positive Psychology in Changing Clients’ Behavior
The Role of Positive Psychology in Changing a Client’s Behavior
Positive psychology is practical in helping clients alter their behavior and focuses on strengths rather than deficits. It promotes personal strengths, optimism, resilience, and positive emotions to successfully help clients change their behaviors at the core level. In contrast to the medical model that focuses on disorders and diseases, positive psychology emphasizes the possibilities and potential of each client. As clients develop patterns of perceiving themselves as capable and competent, they act in ways that foster positive change (Ciarrochi et al., 2022). This bears ownership and accountability, which in turn promotes motivation and act implementation. Having learned about their strengths and how they can be used daily, clients feel more solution-focused, positive, and capable of action. This change in attitude is essential in initiating and sustaining the right shift in behavior.
In addition to building on the strengths, positive psychology plays a key role in how clients interpret and cope with adversity. It assists in fostering a positive explanatory style of explaining adversities as fragmented and temporal, not pervasive. The quality of resilience rises considerably when clients are encouraged to think about the adverse events as chances for development and not as failures as individuals. Notably, clients become more adaptive to challenges and can maintain an optimistic outlook. This assists in reducing the effects of shame and self-blame and fosters the growth of proper coping mechanisms. Since clients are taught to see challenges as inevitable and natural stages of development, positive psychology enables them to confront difficult situations courageously and constructively (Horikoshi, 2023). This approach promotes self-acceptance and helps control emotional dysregulation. It also encourages safe change from within and from hope instead of fear of punishment.
How to Use Positive Psychology to Shift a Client’s Behavior
Positive psychology applied to behavior change involves helping the client and beginning with identifying and exercising strengths. This can be done through reflective discussion, diary writing, or using formatted assessment tools like strength assessments. Emphasizing the clients’ strengths leads to increased confidence and perceived self-efficacy, key factors when practicing change. Whenever clients direct their strengths to areas of difficulty, they focus on themselves and gain new enthusiasm and problem-solving skills. For instance, if a client has an identified strength as perseverance, they can be encouraged to use it to deal with adversities in their career or health development goals (Duan et al., 2022). This process corroborates the belief that growth is achievable and already within reach through existing traits. This approach helps clients act positively in a way consistent with their values and chosen identity, thus making them change their behavior sustainably and positively.
Another good practice is supporting clients’ change of thoughts, particularly in the areas of pessimistic and doubting beliefs. Cognitive restructuring is a typical part of a positive psychological approach that involves changing how a client perceives challenges. Enabling clients to perceive opportunities instead of threats in challenging circumstances fosters tenacity and endurance. Moreover, incorporating the PERMA activities of Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment can enhance clients’ insights into the relationship between behavioral change and purpose (Ibrahim et al., 2023). Finding activities that engage the patient, interact with others, or reflect their goal provides motivation beyond symptom alleviation. This broader focus engenders internal motivation and results in greater desirable and sustainable modifications. It encourages positive thinking, supports personal development, and optimizes optimal ways of coping with life, all of which help clients take personal responsibility for their change processes and long-lasting personal growth.
References
Ciarrochi, J., Hayes, S. C., Oades, L. G., & Hofmann, S. G. (2022). Toward a unified framework for positive psychology interventions: Evidence-based processes of change in coaching, prevention, and training. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.809362
Duan, W., Klibert, J., Schotanus-Dijkstra, M., Llorens, S., van den Heuvel, M., Mayer, C.-H., Tomasulo, D., Liao, Y., & van Zyl, L. E. (2022). Editorial: Positive psychological interventions: How, when and why they work: Beyond WEIRD contexts. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1021539
Horikoshi, K. (2023). The positive psychology of challenge: Towards interdisciplinary studies of activities and processes involving challenges. Frontiers in Psychology, 13(1090069). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1090069
Ibrahim, N. F., Sharif, S. M., Saleh, H., Hasan, N. H. M., & Jayiddin, N. F. (2023). PERMA well-being and innovative work behaviour : A systematic literature review. F1000Research, 12, 1338. https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.141629.1
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Question 
The Role of Positive Psychology in Changing Clients’ Behavior
Week 4 Assignment:
The information covered in this week’s lecture and reading assignments will help you answer the following assignment.
The Role of Positive Psychology in Changing Clients’ Behavior
This week’s assignment focus:
What is the role of positive psychology in changing client’s behavior? How would you use positive psychology to shift a client’s behavior?
The questions below will make up your writing assignment for the week.
Be sure to choose a citation style (e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.) and use it consistently in your citations.
Refer to prior weeks’ written assignment rubrics for writing expectations; these expectations will be applied to this assignment. Note also that each question requires citations from course material; these citations should be unique to each response (you may not reuse a citation from one question in another question).
Reading Assignment:
Unit 4 Part 1 Pages 62-77
Reference:
LMFT, C.D. M. (2018). Behavior Modification. Lionel University Content. https://online.vitalsource.com/books/BMC01S1807
Lecture Notes Week 4
1. Welcome to lecture four. Here we will discuss positive psychology, which, as you will see, creates the psychological conditions that support and maintain behavioral change. Let’s get started!
2. Psychology first began as a way to study and categorize psychological disorders. Positive psychology, however, grew out of the desire to study not what is wrong with people but rather what is right with them. In this way, positive psychology is referred to as a strengths-based approach – one that looks to identify and use peoples’ strengths to improve lives in ways that move people not just from distress to normalcy but also from normalcy to thriving.
3. Although traditional psychology also held that the way to overcome distress was to study distress directly, positive psychology feels that distress arises when a person’s strengths are not being used. This is not to say that positive psychology ignores distress symptoms altogether. Rather, it redefines them. Distress is not viewed as a weakness, negative symptoms, or even something to be avoided. Instead, distress is viewed as catalyst for growth.
4. The evolution of positive psychology stems from Martin Seligman’s (the psychologist recognized as the father of positive psychology) studies on learned helplessness. In studying the thought processes of people who had learned to be helpless, Seligman identified that it is these people’s explanatory style – also known as attributional style – or what they said to themselves about the events in their lives that differentiated people who had become helpless from those who had not. What people said to themselves about both positive and negative events greatly affected their levels of optimism or pessimism and whether or not they could grow stronger in the face of adversity.
5. Seligman separated attributions into three categories: permanent, pervasive, and personal. Permanent attributions relate to time. Some examples include the following: “Things like this always happen. I always fail. I’m never going to succeed.” Pervasive attributions, on the other hand, relate to scope within our lives. Some example include: “I am a loser. My whole life is bad right now. I am just not good at relationships.” Personal attributions relate to causality. Some examples include: “I didn’t win the race because I didn’t prepare well enough. I didn’t get the job because the employer didn’t like me.” Attributions affect both positive and negative events in our lives and, as such, define how we feel about these things. In studying attributions, Seligman created what is called the Optimism Test, which consists of several questions designed to identify our distinct explanatory style.
6. The two explanatory styles that exist are pessimistic and optimistic. When we have a pessimistic explanatory style, we interpret bad events as long lasting, allow them to pervade throughout our lives, and believe that they are our fault. An example is a person who, upon losing his job, thinks to himself that we will never get another job, falls into a slump, and stops doing other enjoyable activities (allowing the job loss to influence other parts of his life) and believes that the job loss is his fault. Pessimistic people, for this reason, have trouble bouncing back from setbacks. Alternatively, when good events happen, pessimists also have trouble internalizing them and getting much of a boost from them. That is because, opposite to their interpretations of bad events, they see good events as short lived (not permanent), not indicative of their character or identity (not pervasive), and not related to their specific efforts (not personal).
7. A person with an optimistic explanatory style, much the opposite of a pessimistic one, interprets bad events as short lived, does not allow them to pervade into others areas of life, and doesn’t feel that bad things are his or her fault (unless they really are). Optimists, also unlike pessimists, can rebound from adverse events because they don’t think they will last, they keep up with other good things in their life, and they feel that effort is tied to outcome – that is, if they keep trying, they will succeed. Optimists also interpret good events differently from how pessimists do. Good events are seen as long lasting (permanent), indicative of their character (pervasive), and related to their efforts (personal).
8. Seligman’s work dramatically changed the way we think and understand optimism and pessimism and answered the question: “Why do some people seem to always find the bright side of things, don’t let bad things bog them down, and rebound quickly when things aren’t going well?” The answer is that optimism can be learned. We can learn to interpret bad events as not long lasting, pervasive, or personal and good events as just the opposite: long lasting, pervasive, and personal. By changing what we say to ourselves about the events in our lives, we can change how we feel – often in dramatic ways.
9. How do you teach your client to think more optimistically? Here are three ways:
Look for the hidden opportunities in setbacks
Setbacks can often feel like there is nothing positive to be gained. However, setbacks, like any adversity we face, present a set of circumstances that demands our skills. And this is the opportunity that setbacks offer: to learn new skills and refine existing ones. When you can teach your clients to reframe setbacks in this way and look not to what is difficult but what must be learned, you help them take a powerful step toward thinking more optimistically.
Use Paradoxical Thinking
Paradoxical thinking is based on seeing everything in life as a paradox – with both good and bad qualities. While in love, there is joy, there is also loss. And with success, there is also struggle. Using paradoxical thinking not only helps us see life in a more balanced way, but also it lets us find creative solutions that we would have otherwise overlooked. Teaching your clients paradoxical thinking helps them see things from multiple perspectives – a critical part of thinking optimistically.
Identify Strengths
Facing challenges becomes a great deal easier when you know what your strengths are and how they can be used. By asking your clients what their strengths are and how they use them, you not only boost their confidence immediately (speaking about strengths as opposed to weaknesses has a lasting positive effect on mood), but also you help them see that these strengths can be used effectively to face the many challenges life brings.
10. Positive psychology differs from traditional psychology in that it seeks to identify people’s strengths and build upon them. It also stresses that overcoming weaknesses depends upon cultivating strengths. Although traditional psychology has the DSM of psychological disorders, positive psychology has the VIA Strengths Inventory, which Martin Seligman developed to identify strengths. Unlike traditional psychology, positive psychology holds that the reason weaknesses arise is precisely because people are not expressing their strengths fully. Expressing our strengths is an inherent need known as self-actualization. And when we are not able to recognize our potential – to self-actualize – the results are distress, apathy, and a feeling of being incomplete.
11. Positive psychology also looks at adversity much differently than traditional psychology does. Although traditional psychology seeks to avoid adversity and minimize distress, positive psychology seeks to develop a way of facing adversity that goes beyond simply mitigating the negative symptoms and emotions that may accompany it. As opposed to attempting to develop resistance to adversity, positive psychology seeks to find a use for it. Much like Victor Frankl had to find a use for his suffering, using a strength-based approach looks for ways in which difficult life experiences can be used as catalysts for growth. It is here that a strength-based approach incorporates the concept of post-traumatic growth. Originally defined by Richard Tedeschi and Richard Calhoun, two psychology professors at the University of North Carolina, post-traumatic growth reframes everything we think about traumatic and adverse life experiences. That is, that more people report growth after difficult life experiences than report distress symptoms (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004). Post-traumatic growth is obviously a dramatic step away from the DSM, which contends that adverse life experiences cause mental disorders – or at the very least negative symptomatology. Post-traumatic growth, however, contends that the struggle to find meaning that follows adversity is actually a fundamental prerequisite to growth.
12. Post-traumatic growth can be categorized into five domains: increased openness; appreciation for life (gratitude); enhanced sense of personal strength; deeper, more meaningful relationships; and a deeper understanding of faith. It is also important to note, however, that each domain of post-traumatic growth has a paradoxical element. Life is viewed as being more precious and more fragile, people report feeling both more vulnerable and stronger, and although some relationships are more tenuous, others are much deeper. It is in this way that post-traumatic growth is defined not as the absence of negative emotion but rather the presence of both positive and negative emotions (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004). Furthermore, post-traumatic growth surpasses simply becoming more resistant to challenging life events and describes the way in which adversity can spawn the emergence of adaptive skills that would otherwise not be developed. Where a resilient person might better plant his or her feet against the incoming waves, a person exhibiting post-traumatic growth would duck or dive under them.
13. How do you use setbacks to build your client’s strengths? Let’s look at three ways:
Ask What Skills Can Be Learned
When we can learn to look to setbacks as opportunities to build strength, not only are we more aware of our own strengths, but also we are more focused on the process of building strength. By teaching your clients to see setbacks in this way, you help them develop a growth mindset – one that sees abilities as dependent on effort (not inherited talent) and setbacks as a crucial part of the learning process.
Invite Vulnerability
Strength is often construed as the absence of weakness. However, growth and learning depend on vulnerability. What vulnerability allows is the ability to embrace flaws, faults, and imperfections-in service of learning. When you encourage your client to invite vulnerability, you not only help him or her see that vulnerability is acceptable (and a crucial part of learning) but that strength (and self-growth) is composed of both positive and negatives.
Encourage openness
Openness is a vital part of learning to adapt to setbacks. What openness allows us to do is shift, modify, or completely change our approach to learn a new and more effective way. When you teach your clients to embrace openness, you help them not only counteract rigid thinking, but also develop an approach to setbacks that seeks out new solutions and innovative thinking as opposed to only seeing obstacles.
14. Although Seligman’s theory of optimism achieved much acclaim, he later modified it, realizing that in pursuing life-satisfaction, he had missed other crucial components that describe a good life. In redefining his theory then, Seligman chose a different goal: instead of aiming to increase life-satisfaction, he looked to increase well-being. And where life satisfaction has one single measure, Seligman’s new theory – which he called flourishing – has five. The five elements of well-being that define flourishing include:
Positive emotions. Positive emotions, such as warmth, rhapsody, ecstasy, and pleasure are what Seligman calls the pleasant life. Although these emotions may make us feel good, they will not give our lives meaning. Positive emotions can also be quickly achieved – buying a sundae, taking a bath, and getting a massage take minimal amounts of time – and therefore require little effort.
Engagement. Engagement, which is also described as the state of flow, occurs when the challenges we face perfectly match our strengths – such that we are neither over-matched nor bored. In a state of engagement, we become completely absorbed in the activity, and both conscious thought and time appear to stop. There is an intense focus, a merging of action and awareness, and the activity is autotelic – meaning it is intrinsically rewarding. (We will explore flow more fully in the next section.)
Positive relationships. Positive relationships capture the universal human desire for connection. Essentially, it is the presence of family, friends, and social connections with whom we can feel understood, validated, and valued. It is these relationships that not only give us a sense of belonging but also serve as a resource by which to process difficult life events.
Meaning. Meaning is described as the act of belonging to and acting in service of something greater than oneself. It is through acting in pursuit of something larger than ourselves that we find a deeper sense of purpose – transcending our own self-interests. It is also through meaning that we experience a deeper unity and a deeper connection to the world around us.
Achievement. Achieving something uniquely fulfills the universal human need for mastery. And important in the definition of flourishing is that mastery can be undertaken for its own sake. That is to say that the pursuit of mastery may not lead to any positive emotions in the moment; however, it may contribute to an individual’s sense of well-being.
Known as PERMA, these five elements go beyond previous measures of life satisfaction to define a theory of well-being. No longer is happiness a single measure of life satisfaction, but rather, well-being is composed of five distinct elements – each of which may be pursued for its own sake, and can be measured independently of the others. That is to say that we may pursue achievement and measure our sense of mastery simply because we like winning. Similarly, we may increase our positive emotions by doing what makes us feel good, and we can measure the effect of things like getting massages or watching movies on our moods. What creates well-being, however, is an incorporation of all five elements.
15. How can you use flourishing to boost your client’s mood? Let’s looks at three ways:
Practice Engagement
When we are engaged in something, our attention is completely devoted to the task, and we are free from distractions that so often derail happiness. Most importantly, we are free from our own internal criticisms and self-doubt. You can help your clients find greater engagement in life by asking them when they feel most absorbed in an activity, when they feel as though times stops or that they are completely focused on the task at hand, and the ways in which they feel this enhances their life and mood. Through their becoming more aware of the times they feel engaged and the affect this has on mood, you will be helping your clients capture one of the most promising components of a happy, fulfilled life.
Deepen Relationships
Relationships are a central part of a positive mood, and yet many of us focus very little energy on developing and maintaining deep meaningful relationships with those around us – especially when we don’t feel good about ourselves. You can help your clients make use of this powerful component of mood by asking them about those who they feel the closest bonds with (or most connected to), the ways in which they spends time with these people, and the ways in which they feel this improves their lives. By drawing attention to the important relationships in their lives, the energy devoted to them, and the gains received from them, you help clients see relationships as a core part of a meaningful life.
Find Unique Achievements
Achieving is an essential part of feeling good. In many ways, people are wired to achieve, master, grow, and realize their potential. To help your clients make use of this critical component of happiness, ask them about the previous achievements they are most proud of, the achievements they are working toward right now and what they would like to accomplish in the future, and the ways in which these things bring joy and a sense of satisfaction. By drawing attention to the positive boost achievements bring, you will help clients see that realizing their potential as a vital part of a happy life.
16. Positive psychology is not just a dramatic shift in the way we study mental health, but also a way in which we look at what defines a “good life.” No longer is a good life simply the absence of distress. It also entails finding meaning in what we do, achieving our goals, cultivating positive emotions, engaging in life, and developing positive relationships. And although positive psychology forms the foundation of a good life, it also lays the foundation for behavioral change in the direction of a healthy life.
Weblinks Week 4
Below are links to resources that will complement the material covered this week.
https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/Links to an external site. Inspired by Martin Seligman, who is recognized as the father of positive psychology, this website offers readings, videos, surveys all designed to help you learn about positive psychology, and how to utilize it to inspire change in yourself, and those you work with.
Ppc.sas.upenn.eduLinks to an external site.. The website of the positive psychology center is a superb go to resource to learn about more about positive psychology, current research findings, and the latest happenings in the field of positive psychology.
Thepositivityinstitute.com.auLinks to an external site.. Much like the positivity psychology center’s website, this website is a hub of relevant, up-to-date information about positive psychology, and especially how positive psychology can be used to help inspire change.