Philosophers defend theories of what well-being is but ignore what
psychologists have learned about it, while psychologists learn about
well-being but lack a theory of what it is. In_ The Good Life_,
Michael Bishop brings together these complementary investigations and
proposes a powerful, new theory for understanding well-being. The
network theory holds that to have well-being is to be "stuck" in a
self-perpetuating cycle of positive emotions, attitudes, traits and
accomplishments. For someone with well-being, these states -- states
such as joy and contentment, optimism and adventurousness,
extraversion and perseverance, strong relationships, professional
success and good health -- build upon and foster each other. They form
a kind of positive causal network (PCN), so that a person high in
well-being finds herself in a positive cycle or "groove." A person
with a lesser degree of well-being might possess only fragments of
such a network -- some positive feelings, attitudes, traits or
successes, but not enough to kick start a full-blown,
self-perpetuating network.Although recent years have seen an explosion
of psychological research into well-being, this discipline, often
called Positive Psychology, has no consensus definition. The network
theory provides a new framework for understanding Positive Psychology.
When psychologists investigate correlations and causal connections
among positive emotions, attitudes, traits, and accomplishments, they
are studying the structure of PCNs. And when they identify states that
establish, strengthen or extinguish PCNs, they are studying the
dynamics of PCNs. Positive Psychology, then, is the study of the
structure and dynamics of positive causal networks._The Good Life_
represents a new, inclusive approach to the study of well-being, an
approach committed to the proposition that discovering the nature of
well-being requires the knowledge and skills of both the philosopher
in her armchair and the scientist in her lab. The resulting theory
provides a powerful, unified foundation for future scientific and
philosophical investigations into well-being and the good life.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780199923120
Publisert
2020
Utgiver
Vendor
Oxford University Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter