ABSTRACT
128Jim Pawleski is a researcher and the director of education at the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania. During his lecture on the first of day of a course called Positive Psychology: Applications and Interventions, he asks his student to undergo this thought experiment:
Imagine you find a magic lamp and after rubbing it, a genie pops out and tells you, “I have been so impressed by you as a human being that I want to transform you into a superhero. You have a choice to make, however. You have the option of either choosing a red cape or a green cape. If you choose the red cape, you will have the power to fight against all the negative things that we don’t want in the world, like poverty, injustice, violence, and hunger. If you choose the green cape, you will have the power to fight for all the positive things in the world that we want, like understanding, harmony, and justice.” 1
Pawleski then asks his students to decide which cape they would like to choose and write down why. He explains the point of this experiment is not to find the right or wrong answer, but to demonstrate that these capes are different from one another. If you choose a red cape, you are apt to look for problems in the world, and if you choose the green cape, you will be looking for positive opportunities.