ABSTRACT
W hile psychologists across diverse specialties have tended to focus on problems and dysfunction, there have always been a few who were more interested in human thriving—that is. in oeonle feeling good or functioning well (Argyle, 1987; Bradburn, 1969; Jahoda, 1958; Winnicott, 1982). In 1998, during his Presidency of the American Psychological Association, Martin Seligman launched the Positive Psychology movement that brought together researchers who had already been asking questions such as why some people are happier or more resilient than others; why some people age more successfully than others; or what are the social or biological processes associated with positive emotional states. Seligman had, in short, recognized a readiness and eagerness to understand and promote positive mental states and positive behaviours, and inte-est in positive psychology is growing at an unprecedented rate. With this new approach comes the possibility of improving the lives of ordinary people, and not just of those with disorder or dysfunction. This conceptual shift is based on the growing recognition that positive health or well-being is more than the absence of disorder, that its determinants might not simply be the absence of risk factors for disorder, and that it deserves to be studied in its own right. Within social psychology in particular, Michael Argyle (1987) in Oxford and Ed Diener (1984) in Illinois have done much to establish the study of positive affectivity as an important aspect of understanding everyday social behaviour.
