Positive Psychology

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Positive Psychology scientifically studies the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to prosper. The field is based on the belief that humans long to live meaningful and fulfilling lives, to achieve what is best within themselves, and therefore enhance their experiences of love, work, and play (ppc.sas.upenn.edu).

Psychology has often been a misunderstood subject; from solving mental problems to solving complicated crime scenes, people, I included associate the subject with negativity. It may be that the assertions are based on the frequent use of the word “psychology” in cases of mental instability. Courts of law often rely on psychiatrists to determine if the accused individuals are sane enough for trial. These assertions have however been dispelled during my undertaking of the psychology class (Goodtherapy.com). I now recognize that the subject also deals with positive issues that improve one’s life if adopted. I am the subject in the essay and intend to analyze the surveys I undertook to analyze my strengths and weaknesses. The aim of undertaking and analyzing the surveys is to improve my personality and consequently improve my career goals. Undertaking the surveys was not easy as they required total honesty. Some of the surveys revealed results that were contrary to my expectations. This was shocking and I was almost tempted to manipulate the results to suit my preferences. This was a major challenge but I managed to overcome it by accepting that I undertook the study to improve myself; to do this, I have to be totally honest. Through positive psychology, one learns how to live a meaningful and fulfilling life that is founded on love, work and play (Fredrickson 2011). I hope that the study will help me achieve this objective especially with my career path.

In this paper, I will start with stating briefly the main topics that learning them have to a certain level changed the way of my thinking towards my career and my personal life. In addition, I will go over the opportunities and issues arising from learning these new aspects. This will form the introduction of the research. In the following section, I will go into more details about selected topics that influenced me the most. Lastly, I will conclude with a summary of lessons learned from the field of positive Psychology and the way forward.

Topics

The study aims to focus on the following surveys; Realistic optimism, Type A personality inventory and Locus of control scale.

Opportunities and Issues Discovered

I have discovered that my main strength is the ability to listen to others. I am able to understand them better and react to their feelings as required. As a leader, I have learnt that the best way to woo people is by listening to everyone’s opinion. Understanding people creates a friendly atmosphere where individuals can freely express their minds. Opportunities that I need to work on are;

Self awareness

Self blame

since I have an internal locus of control I need to work on improving my personality and attitude

Detail Topic Reflection and Analysis

Topic 1. Type A Personality Indicator.

The Type A personality consists of four behavioral tendencies: extreme competitiveness, significant life imbalance (typically coupled with high work involvement), strong feelings of hostility and anger, and an extreme sense of urgency and impatience. I scored 14 in competitiveness which means I have pronounced tendency of the behavior. I agree with the results fully since I have always strived to be the best. The behavior is a strength in that it inspires confidence in me. I view life as competitive in most aspects; be it in school or career. The feeling of being in control enables one to work hard so as to be better than the rest. I tend to think that society will not appreciate you fully if you are not competitive at what you are. Competitiveness also leads to self satisfaction; the fact that I do not bow down to obstacles makes me feel better about myself. I know that the strength will be valuable in advancing my career. I intend to be a member of the senior management of our company in five years. Competitiveness in my work will come in handy if am to achieve my dream. I am aware that excessive competitiveness could turn out to be a weakness. Instances where individuals use underhand means to ensure they appear competitive could turn out to be their greatest undoing. In my workplace some employees have been be sacked owing to cases of sabotage. To ensure I do not get to such levels of competitiveness, I will always be ethical and honest in my career.

I scored 14 in life imbalance, an indicator that my work involvement is too high. This is a weakness that I need to rectify. Spending too much time on work related activities will affect my life negatively in the long run. The high imbalance could be as result of the high competitiveness. I therefore have to strike a balance between work and other aspects of life. My relationship with my partner often suffers greatly due to the inadequate time allocated to it. Walters, 2013, argues that overworking leads to negative effects on one’s physical, mental and emotional health. High blood pressure and lack of sleep related ailments are conditions associated with workaholics. I accept that this is a weakness that could impede my career goals in the long-run. I will therefore draw up a schedule which will indicate the amount of time for activities in my day to day life. I will stop carrying unfinished work to my residence and create more time for my family.

I scored 9 on hostility and anger, which indicates I do not have pronounced tendency for the trait. I agree with the score to an extent; however I tend to be angry when disappointed especially if the incidence is work related. Generally am able to check my temper in other incidences and am quick to let disappointing moments pass. However, I really get angry in instances where fellow employees at my workplace let me down. I am not able to express my anger and therefore get stressed about such incidences. Now I know this is a weakness and I have to work hard in dealing with disappointments in ways that do not leave me stressed. The will to achieve my career objectives could be the reason for my stress when fellow employees disappoint. To deal with this weakness, I intend to always communicate my feelings, no matter how hurting, to my fellow employees who disappoint. I also have to consider that my colleagues possess different attitudes to work and may therefore not have the zeal I have (Van 2010).

I scored 11 on impatience which implies I do not have a pronounced tendency of the trait. I do not agree with the result since my colleagues and family always complain of my impatience. I recognize that it’s a weakness that needs to be mitigated. Ever since I was in high school, my teachers and friends always claimed that my patience levels were wanting. Recently, I was reprimanded by my manager for excessively calling a major client in our firm. I was assigned to work on his accounts for the financial year 2013. The client promised to personally issue a report on my work a month after completion. I finished my assignment in August and by November he had not sent the report. I had reminded him twice in August to send the report since it would go a long way in pushing my quest to join top management. In the month of September and October I sent about eight reminders; little did I know that he was forwarding them to my manager. I did not even receive the recommendation I was seeking, worse I got a reprimand. Though the impatience enables me to beat deadlines and always get the praise for being always the first in finishing my work assignments, I now realize that the impatience can cost me my job, trashing all my career dreams.

Topic 3: Realistic Optimism

From the test, I scored above 3.5 in both questions which imply that I explain things as being caused by myself rather than other people or circumstances. I have always believed that I am responsible for my successes and failures. I do not blame anyone if my expectations are not met; therefore I totally agree with the results of the tests. Over the years, I have learned how easy it is to blame others once disappointments arise (robbertpriddy.com). We tend to think that others are the failures and we are immune to it. For example, in relationships, most people think that their partners are to blame for the failed relationships. However, a trip to a marriage counselor reveals otherwise. This is a strength in that I take it upon myself to ensure that people I work with understand my expectations since I do not want blame games. To be at the top management I need to embrace responsibility, and in doing so I should not be passing blames to my colleagues. The test also revealed that I expect that causes of bad events are temporary. This is very true as my religion teaches me so. Christianity advises believers to be faithful and have trust in God. During trying times, it is one’s faith being tested; Christians, I included, believe that difficult times are an indication of good times ahead. I have always used this principle in life especially during troublesome moments. I find this as a source of inner strength and mental power to push on with life. This is a major strength as disappointments do not get better of me. As pointed out earlier, my colleagues stress me when they disappoint in performance of duties that will have a negative effect on my work. The stress does not last and am quick to forget the incidence as am aware that I need the same colleagues to achieve my career objectives

Topic 4: Self Determination and Locus of Control

From the questionnaire on locus of control scale, I realized I have an internal locus of control. I therefore believe that rewards in life are guided by my own decisions and efforts (boundless.com). Locus of control aims to determine individual’s extent in controlling events that affect them. I believe that am in charge of my destiny. My decision to study psychology deeply was informed by the need to understand my life better. Throughout my life I have strained to ensure am bettering my career to achieve success. I have not always been successful; especially with social life. My passion for work and any other responsibilities accorded to me has proven to be a challenge. I failed to have a meaningful social life at the expense of the duties and responsibilities accorded to me.

Reflection.

From the surveys conducted, I will need to revise my career goals since I have found out some traits I possess will negatively affect my life. I have revised the time frame to achieve my career goal of being on the firm’s top management from five to seven years. This is informed by the need to be more patient and reduce my competitiveness.

Conclusion

Positive psychology has really re-defined my view of life especially at my age. I now understand my strengths better and seek to turn my weaknesses into opportunities. I know am a leader and I should work to realize my political dream. Being a strong willed, hardworking and persuasive individual, am sure that I will be successful (McLeod 2010). Understanding my locus of control has made me appreciate that I am responsible for my successes and failures.

References

Boundless.com.,Bandura and Rotter’s Perspectives.2013. Web. December 18 2013. HYPERLINK “https://www.boundless.com/psychology/personality/the-social-cognitive-perspective/bandura-and-rotter-s-perspectives/” https://www.boundless.com/psychology/personality/the-social-cognitive-perspective/bandura-and-rotter-s-perspectives/

Van A., If You Think You Can’t …Think Again: The Sway of Self-Efficacy. 2010. Web. December 18 2013. HYPERLINK “http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/flourish/201002/if-you-think-you-can-t-think-again-the-sway-self-efficacy” http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/flourish/201002/if-you-think-you-can-t-think-again-the-sway-self-efficacy

Robertpriddy.com, Self-awareness in psychological understanding. 2013. Web. December 18 2013. HYPERLINK “http://robertpriddy.com/P/2selfaware.html”http://robertpriddy.com/P/2selfaware.html

Cohen A., Self-Awareness: The PopEye Strength. 2007. Web. December 18, 2013. HYPERLINK “http://positivepsychologynews.com/news/aren-cohen/20070411197″http://positivepsychologynews.com/news/aren-cohen/20070411197

McLeod S., Kolb- Learning Styles. 2010. Web. December 18 2013. HYPERLINK “http://www.simplypsychology.org/learning-kolb.html”http://www.simplypsychology.org/learning-kolb.html

Goodtherapy.org, Positive Psychology. 2013. Web. December 18, 2013. HYPERLINK “http://www.goodtherapy.org/Positive-Psychology.html”http://www.goodtherapy.org/Positive-Psychology.html

Fredrickson B., The Role of Positive Emotions in Positve Psychology. 2011. Web. December 18 2013. HYPERLINK “http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3122271/”http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3122271/

Upenn.edu, Positive Psychology Center. 2013. Web. December 18, 2013. HYPERLINK “http://www.ppc.sas.upenn.edu/”http://www.ppc.sas.upenn.edu/

Walters J., Are You a Workaholic? How Overworking can Hurt Your Health. 2013. Web. December 18 2013. HYPERLINK “http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/wellness_articles.asp?id=1551” http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/wellness_articles.asp?id=1551