Designing Positive Psychology: Taking Stock and Moving Forward

Positive psychology exploded into public consciousness 10 years ago and has continued to capture attention around the world ever since. The movement promised to study positive human nature, using only the most rigorous scientific tools and theories. How well has this promise been fulfilled? This book evaluates the first decade of this fledgling field of study from the perspective of nearly every leading researcher in the field.

Scholars in the areas of social, personality, clinical, biological, emotional, and applied psychology take stock of their fields, while bearing in mind the original manifesto and goals of the postive psychology movement. They provide honest, critical evaluations of the flaws and untapped potential of their fields of study. The contributors design the optimal future of positive psychology by addressing gaps, biases, and methodological limitations, and exploring exciting new questions.

Kennon M. Sheldon is Professor of Psychology at the University of Missouri. He hopscotched the country, from Virginia to Seattle to California to Rochester NY, and is now ensconced in the middle, in Missouri. He has been involved in the positive psychology movement since its inception in Akumal, Mexico, in 1999, and is an author of the positive psychology manifesto, which helped guide the contributors to this book. He has three children. His wife is an evolutionary psychologist who keeps him on his toes.

Todd Kashdan is Director of the Laboratory for the Study of Social Anxiety, Character Strengths, and Related Phenomena at George Mason University. Kashdan is devoted to conducting cutting edge science, educating the public about science, maintaining some semblance of a once athletic body, and sharing and expanding his world with the three women in his life, Sarah, Chloe, and Raven. To date, he has published over 100 articles and book chapters and made over 100 presentations at scientific conferences. His most recent book is Curious? Discover the Missing Ingredient to a Fulfilling Life.

Michael Steger is Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Colorado State University. He is fascinated with what makes life worth living, and learning how people overcome the factors that can make life miserable at times. He practices savoring every chance he gets to wander into the Colorado mountains, and reminds himself what really matters by spending a good quantity of good quality time with his family. Most of his research has focused on living a meaningful life, and he tries to enact what this research shows in his own life. Steger's next co-edited book seeks to apply what we know about meaning to people's work lives (Purpose and Meaning in the Workplace).