The fully updated Third Edition of this best seller covers the science and application of positive psychology and presents new frameworks for understanding positive emotions and strengths through a culturally competent lens. The authors bring positive psychology to life by addressing important issues such as how positive psychology can improve schooling and the workplace, as well as how it can promote flourishing in day-to-day life. Throughout the book, well-crafted exercises allow readers to apply major principles to their own lives. The book also explores various positive conditions within multiple cultural contexts, such as happiness and well-being, and processes related to mindfulness, wisdom, courage, and spirituality.
Key features:
- The latest research in positive psychology is integrated throughout and covers topics such as hope, courage, and altruism while giving attention to multiple cultural contexts.
- A new streamlined 16-chapter organization makes the book easier to cover in a typical semester.
- New coverage of Islam is featured among the philosophical influences on positive psychology.
- Additional coverage includes new material on adult stages in the lifespan, courage and culture, and cultural influences on various aspects of positive psychology.
- New research has been added on wisdom and the neurobiology of wisdom and mindfulness, as well as neurological findings related to mindfulness.
- Personal Mini-Experiments chapter inserts allow you to apply the practice of positive psychology to your daily life.
- Life Enhancement Strategies features offer change strategies you can implement quickly and easily to help you attain greater connections with others, pursue meaning in your life, and experience increased life satisfaction.
- More than 50 case histories and comments from leaders in the field vividly illustrate key concepts as they apply to real life.
- In-depth discussion of science and applications of positive psychology explores various positive conditions, such as empathy, altruism, gratitude, attachment and love.
- A broad exploration of culture includes special consideration of facets such as race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, generation, nation of origin, gender, and socioeconomic status.
Shane J. Lopez, Ph.D. is a Gallup Senior Scientist and Research Director of the Clifton Strengths Institute. Dr. Lopez has published more than 100 articles and chapters and 10 books in addition to Positive Psychology: The Scientific and Practical Explorations of Human Strengths. These include Making Hope Happen, his first trade book; The Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology (with C.R. Snyder); Positive Psychological Assessment: A Handbook of Models and Measures (with C.R. Snyder); Positive Psychology: Exploring the Best in People; The Encyclopedia of Positive Psychology; and The Psychology of Courage: Modern Research on an Ancient Virtue (with Cynthia Pury). Dr. Lopez is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and of the International Positive Psychology Association. A professor of education for a decade, he is now professor of business at the University of Kansas.
Dr. Jennifer Teramoto Pedrotti received her doctoral and master’s degrees in Counseling Psychology from the University of Kansas and bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and English from the University of California at Davis. She is currently Associate Dean for Diversity and Curriculum in the College of Liberal Arts and Professor in the Department of Psychology and Child Development at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Dr. Teramoto Pedrotti taught multicultural psychology, intergroup dialogues, and other areas of psychology for over fifteen years. Her research areas of specialty include the effectiveness of intergroup dialogues and other types of multicultural education, and the study of strengths within a cultural context. She is the lead editor on a volume entitled Perspectives on the Intersection of Multiculturalism and Positive Psychology (Springer Science, with Lisa M. Edwards) and authored another undergraduate textbook, Positive Psychology: The Scientific and Practical Explorations of Human Strengths (SAGE, with Shane J. Lopez, and C. R. Snyder). In addition, Dr. Teramoto Pedrotti’s work has appeared in multiple books and journals including the Handbook of Multicultural Counseling, the Journal of Counseling Psychology, the Journal of Positive Psychology, Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, and Professional School Counseling. In her current role, she encourages students, staff, and faculty daily to use their strengths to make change toward a more inclusive and culturally competent campus.
C. R. Snyder, Ph.D. (deceased) was the Wright Distinguished Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Kansas, Lawrence. Internationally known for his work at the interface of clinical, social, personality, and health psychology, his theories have pertained to how people react to personal feedback, the human need for uniqueness, the ubiquitous drive to excuse transgressions and, most recently, the hope motive. He received 31 research awards and 27 teaching awards at the university, state, and national levels. In 2005, he received an honorary doctorate from Indiana Wesleyan University. Snyder has appeared many times on national American television shows, and he has been a regular contributor to National Public Radio. His scholarly work on the human need for uniqueness received the rare recognition of being the subject matter of an entire Sunday cartoon sequence by Gary Trudeau. All of these accomplishments were packaged in a graying and self-effacing absent-minded professor who says of himself, “If you don’t laugh at yourself, you have missed the biggest joke of all!”
