We usually think of psychology when something goes wrong—like calling a plumber only when pipes burst. Traditional psychology made life-changing progress treating distress, yet there remained a gap: when negative emotions lifted, many felt empty, not flourishing. Positive psychology answered with a preventive, strengths-based lens: cultivating hope, meaning, engagement, good relationships, and accomplishment can lead to better resilience and fewer people suffering.

While the term “positive psychology” rose in the late 1990s, its roots reach back to earlier calls for psychology that improves life, through humanistic and developmental thinkers who studied growth, meaning, and optimal experience.