What is Positive Psychology?

The Barton Blueprint for Emotional Intelligence is the home of all things related to emotional intelligence. In this week's episode, we ask what is positive psychology? We also talk about who made positive psychology, the history of positive psychology, and well even go over a positive psychology exercise. Thanks for watching.

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 What is Positive Psychology?
4:22 Take-Away Tip
5:57 Summary

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Buy Dr. Ilona Boniwell's "Positive Psychology in a Nutshell."

Credits- Written, Performed, and Edited by Damian Barton

Photo credits-

[andrewaupositivepsychology]

Very well scripted and presented. Kudos to you for spreading positive psychology this way!

[kylewilson]

I liked what you were saying about going to therapy. Well said.

[Michaelmyrers]

Very nice explanation. Easy to understand.

[markmyren]

Nice practice activity! Very constructive process because although I vaguely understand the life I want to lead, it forces you to consider the steps you have to take to achieve your aspirations.

[akumanosakyubasu]

happy to be the 1k subscriber, the video is wonderful.
hopefully that you become more known overtime.

[MykolaKindrat]

Great channel! Love the quality and depth of the videos. Keep them coming!

[ajmarr]

The Affective Neuroscience of Positive Thinking

Positive thinking ‘works’, but works best ‘affectively’ when performed persistently while in a relaxed state. Below is the neuroscience behind this simple idea, which can be easily tested if one gives this slight modification of positive thinking a try.

And it all has to do with the neuroscience of pleasure. Unlike other functions in the brain, from perception to thinking, the neural source of our pleasures are localized in the brain as specialized groups of nerve cells or ‘nuclei’, or ‘hot spots’, located in the mid-brain. These nuclei receive inputs from different sources in the nervous system, from proprioceptive stimuli (neuro-muscular activity) to interoceptive stimuli (satiation and deprivation) to cognitive stimuli (novel positive or negative means-end expectancies), and all modulate the activity of these nuclei which release or inhibit endogenous opioids, and elicit the rainbow of pleasures which mark our day.

For example, relaxation induces opioid activity and is pleasurable, but tension inhibits it and is painful. Similarly, satiation inhibits our pleasure when we eat, and deprivation or hunger increases it. Finally, positive novel means-ends expectancies enhance our pleasures, and negative expectancies inhibit them. Thus, for our sensory pleasures (eating, drinking), watching an exciting movie makes popcorn taste better than when watching a dull or depressing movie. This also applies to when we are relaxed, as thinking or performing meaningful activity and is reflected in ‘flow’ or ‘peak’ experiences when we are engaging in highly meaningful behavior while relaxed. (Meaning would be defined as anticipated or current behavior that has branching novel positive implications, such as creating art, doing good deeds or productive work)

But again, don’t mind this verbiage, just prove it to yourself
Just get relaxed using a relaxation protocol such as progressive muscle relaxation, eyes closed rest, or mindfulness, and then follow it by exclusively attending to or performing meaningful activity, or in other words, positive thinking, and avoiding all meaningless activity or ‘distraction’. Keep it up and you will not only stay relaxed, but continue so with a greater sense of wellbeing or pleasure. The attribution of affective value to meaningful behavior makes the latter seem ‘autotelic’, or reinforcing in itself, and the resultant persistent attention to meaning crowds out the occasions we might have spent dwelling on other unmeaningful worries and concerns.

References:

Rauwolf, P., et al. (2021) Reward uncertainty - as a 'psychological salt'- can alter the sensory experience and consumption of high-value rewards in young healthy adults. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (prepub)

A more formal explanation from a neurologically based learning theory of this technique is provided on pp. 44-51 in a little open-source book on the psychology of rest linked below. (The flow experience is discussed on pp. 81-86.)

More on the Neuroscience of Pleasure
Berridge Lab, University of Michigan

[milliemagic]

Thank you so much for this. I’m happy I found you. I recently have been into learning more about “flow state”. I learned a lot in your video thank you.

[christineclarke]

Thankyou so much for this advice. The content was awesome and really interesting and the fact you used sunflowers made my heart sing there my favourite flowers Thankyou 🌻

[EditsByAntilez]

How about a video on reducing ego/ stop taking everything personal. im not sure that would be interesting for you tho