[Commpsych] FW: Announcing theInternationalPositivePsychologyAssociation

Thu May 8 09:50:38 WST 2008

There is also the really nice discourse analysis (Wilkinson and Kitzinger) looking at how the well-intentioned "be positive and your cancer will be more likely to be cured" discourse that some medical people and others use also actually blames the victims: if you do not get well you were not being positive enough.

They also nicely analysed some of the strategies the women used to counter this rhetoric.

Wilkinson, S., & Kitzinger, C. (2000). Thinking differently about thinking positive: A discursive approach to cancer patients' talk. Social Science & Medicine, 50, 597-811.

Kitzinger, C. (2000b). How to resist an idiom. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 33, 121-154.

Bernard

Professor of Psychology

University of South Australia

GPO Box 2471 Adelaide

South Australia 5001

Bernard.Guerin at unisa.edu.au <mailto:Bernard.Guerin at unisa.edu.au> 

http://people.unisa.edu.au/Bernard.Guerin <http://people.unisa.edu.au/Bernard.Guerin> 

CRICOS provider 00121B

-----Original Message-----
From: commpsych-bounces at lists.curtin.edu.au [mailto:commpsych-bounces at lists.curtin.edu.au] On Behalf Of Lauren BREEN
Sent: Thursday, 8 May 2008 11:08 AM
To: commpsych at lists.curtin.edu.au
Subject: Re: [Commpsych] FW: Announcing theInternationalPositivePsychologyAssociation

I also have serious reservations about positive psychology. With its individualist and 'blaming' ideology (in that people who remain distressed are just not thinking positively enough),  it is part of the problem rather than part of the solution (to use a cliché). It doesn't actually do anything to tackle the structural causes of factors that leads to distress - things like poverty, abuse etc etc.

It reminds me of something I hear Rod Watts say when here was here in Australia about 8 or 9 years ago. He said you can throw a tennis ball at the wall and it bounces back, but if you took a phot of the ball as it hit the wall you could see how distorted the ball becomes on impact. He said we should stop focussing on resilience (the things that help us bounce back) but we should stop throwing the balls at the wall in the first place (that is, stop causing the distress).

Lauren

---

Lauren Breen, PhD

Postdoctoral Research Scholar

Centre for Social Research

&

Sessional Lecturer

School of Exercise, Biomedical and Health Sciences

Edith Cowan University

Room: 4.234C

Tel: (08) 6304 5162

Fax: (08) 6304 5866

________________________________

From: commpsych-bounces at lists.curtin.edu.au on behalf of Darrin Hodgetts

Sent: Thu 8/05/2008 4:17 AM

To: Heather Gridley; Amiee-Jade Pember; commpsych at lists.curtin.edu.au

Subject: Re: [Commpsych] FW: Announcing the InternationalPositivePsychologyAssociation

I couldn't agree more Heather :-)

Darrin 

________________________________

From: commpsych-bounces at lists.curtin.edu.au on behalf of Heather Gridley

Sent: Wed 7/05/2008 8:50 p.m.

To: Amiee-Jade Pember; commpsych at lists.curtin.edu.au

Subject: Re: [Commpsych] FW: Announcing the International PositivePsychologyAssociation

Hi AJ and everyone

A bit belated, but I have just responded to a query from a Social Work student about the legitimacy of this same invitation, so I thought I'd post my thoughts on CommPsych and see how others respond:

Dear xxxx

I have seen this invitation to join IPPA in a few places, and it's quite legitimate as an organisation that is gathering lots of interest internationally, especially while one of its founders, Martin Seligman, is here in Victoria spending time at Geelong Grammar (for a huge amount of money, I understand).  It is refreshing to see a countervoice to psychology's tendency to pathologise and subdivide human experience into categories of disorder and dis-ease. I like Seligman's emphasis on what we do with our lives, as a basis for 'authentic happiness', rather than worrying excessively about how we feel from one moment to the next.

Personally though, I have reservations about the Positive Psychology movement. Some of them are encapsulated by the very fact that Seligman spends time at Geelong Grammar and not, say, Braybrook or Broadmeadows or Frankston (or Wadeye or Yuendemu, for that matter) where a few realities would make 'learned optimism' a much more difficult task.  I think the best way to 'teach' someone to be optimistic is to give them a real experience of success; otherwise it's a false promise.  There have been links made between positive psychology and life coaching, a concept that I think is designed to market psychological services to people who have the least need of them but the greatest capacity to pay exorbitant fees.

There have been other criticisms of the movement from those who see it as masking or denying 'negative' human emotions such as sadness, pain and anger.  Our VU head of psychology, Jenny Sharples,  wrote a paper in the Australian Community Psychologist a couple of years ago that included some references to these critiques - you can access it at: http://www.groups.psychology.org.au/Assets/Files/ACP_18(3)a.pdf <http://www.groups.psychology.org.au/Assets/Files/ACP_18(3)a.pdf> 

Despite the theme on the IPPA website "Positive psychology is the scientific study of what enables individuals and communities to thrive", another concern of mine is that the movement is very much focussed on individuals rather than communities. There is very little reference to power dynamics or the structural/global causes of human misery. 

I hope this is helpful - I'd be interested to know what caught your attention about the invitation, and where it fits with your own work and life experiences.

Heather Gridley 

School of Psychology 

Footscray Park Campus 

Victoria University 

PO Box 14428 

Melbourne 

VIC 8001 

Australia 

TEL +61 3 9919 5224 

FAX +61 3 9919 4324 

MOBILE: 0419 113 731 

Email: heather.gridley at vu.edu.au

________________________________

From: commpsych-bounces at lists.curtin.edu.au on behalf of Amiee-Jade Pember

Sent: Fri 7/03/2008 12:15 PM

To: commpsych at lists.curtin.edu.au

Subject: [Commpsych] FW: Announcing the International Positive PsychologyAssociation

Amiee-Jade Pember 

-----Original Message----- 

From: Louisa REHAK [mailto:l.rehak at ecu.edu.au] 

Sent: Friday, 7 March 2008 8:57 AM 

Subject: FW: Announcing the International Positive Psychology Association 

FYI - Positive Psychology 

Louisa Rehak 

Postgraduate Support Officer 

School of Psychology & Social Science 

Edith Cowan University 

100 Joondalup Drive 

Joondalup, Western Australia 6027 

Telephone: +61 8 6304 5301 

Facsimile: +61 8 6304 5834 

________________________________ 

From: Kathryn RUSSELL 

Sent: Fri 07/03/08 8:24 AM 

To: Louisa REHAK 

Subject: FW: Announcing the International Positive Psychology Association 

Louisa, 

This new organisation may be of interest to postgrads and staff interested 

in positive psychology 

Kathryn 

Kathryn Russell 

Phone: 0419 807 142 

Email: k.russell at ecu.edu.au 

________________________________ 

From: Authentic Happiness [mailto:announce at authentichappiness.org] 

Sent: Fri 7/03/2008 6:17 AM 

To: Kathryn RUSSELL 

Subject: Announcing the International Positive Psychology Association 

Dear Kathryn, 

We are delighted to announce the founding of a new organization: The 

International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA).  The purpose of this 

organization is to promote the science and practice of positive psychology 

and to facilitate communication and collaboration among researchers and 

practitioners around the world who are interested in this new field. 

This is a brand new organization, and we would like to extend a cordial 

invitation to you to be among the very first to join.  We have been hard at 

work developing the infrastructure for what will without question be a major 

international organization.  Here are some highlights we wanted to share 

with you: 

-We have set up a website where you can find out more about IPPA and where 

you can join today.  Please visit www.ippanetwork.org 

<http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=7031470&msgid=88104&act=&c=174806 

&admin=0&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ippanetwork.org>  to sign up as a 

Charter Member, Charter Associate, or Charter Affiliate. 

-IPPA is run by a Board of Directors comprised of leading positive 

psychologists from around the world.  Visit the website for a full list of 

the members of the Board, which includes such founding figures as Martin E. 

P. Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. 

-On the website, you will see the categories of membership developed by the 

IPPA Board of Directors.  We're excited that there is a category available 

for everyone, whether you are a researcher, a practitioner, a student, or 

someone who just wants to keep abreast of the latest developments in 

positive psychology. 

-You will also see the various membership benefits, including journals, an 

IPPA Newsletter, and quarterly conference calls with leading figures in 

positive psychology. 

-The First World Congress of Positive Psychology has been scheduled for June 

18-21, 2009 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.  IPPA members will receive a 

discount on their Congress registration. 

-In the coming days, we will be adding more content to the website, so be 

sure to check back often. 

If you have any questions about IPPA or your membership, please send them to 

info at ippanetwork.org. 

Please help us spread the word about IPPA by forwarding this email to any 

groups or individuals you think might have an interest in joining this 

exciting new association. 

We look forward to having you join IPPA and to welcoming you into this 

global positive psychology community. 

Very best wishes, 

Ed Diener, President 

International Positive Psychology Association 

James Pawelski, Executive Director 

International Positive Psychology Association 

This message was sent from Authentic Happiness to k.russell at ecu.edu.au. It 

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