What is Positive Psychology?

Positive psychology shifts the focus of psychology from merely treating and correcting human difficulties to strengthening our positive capacities and inner resources. It is the scientific study and practical application of the positive aspects of human life —happiness, life satisfaction, meaning, gratitude, optimism, hope, perseverance, resilience, and psychological well-being.

Its goal is to enhance the quality of life for individuals, communities, and society as a whole.

For most of the 20th century, traditional psychology focused primarily on psychological difficulties, distress, and mental disorders. This work led to remarkable progress in understanding and alleviating human suffering, greatly improving countless lives. Yet reducing suffering is only part of psychology’s potential. Positive psychology emerged from the realization that the positive dimensions of human experience — well-being, fulfillment, strengths, and growth — also deserve systematic study and intentional cultivation.

Traditional psychology focused mainly on reducing distress, asking, “How can we help people suffer less?”
Positive psychology focuses on enhancing well-being, asking, “How can we help people thrive and feel happier?”

Positive psychology studies what helps people thrive—wellbeing, meaning, optimism, resilience—and turns it into practical tools. It complements traditional psychology by building strengths, not just reducing distress.

What is Positive Psychology?

Traditional psychology reduces distress; positive psychology enhances well-being. Positive psychology isn’t a substitute for traditional psychology. It simply adds another dimension — focusing not only on reducing suffering, but also on building strengths and flourishing. Drawing on rigorous research, it explores wellbeing, life satisfaction, meaning and purpose, optimism and hope, persistence and resilience, and the development of inner strengths.

Kristijan Musek Lešnik

Nov 19, 20251 min read

Why Did Positive Psychology Emerge?

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.

Kristijan Musek Lešnik

Nov 17, 20253 min read

Positive psychology may be a relatively young branch of psychology, but it stands on a long tradition and firm, well-established roots.

When Did Positive Psychology Emerge?

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.

Kristijan Musek Lešnik

Nov 15, 20254 min read

Positive psychology doesn’t sell shortcuts; it shows that durable happiness emerges from relationships, purpose, positive emotions, and deep engagement.

The Myth of Constant Happiness

The pressure to “be happy” often backfires. Positive psychology doesn’t sell shortcuts; it shows that durable happiness emerges from relationships, purpose, positive emotions, and deep engagement. Happiness isn’t a 24/7 target—it’s a by-product of living with meaning, connection, and engagement: it doesn't happen by chasing joy—but by cultivating the conditions where it shows up.

Kristijan Musek Lešnik

Nov 14, 20252 min read

At its core, positive psychology holds that wellbeing can be cultivated.

The Foundations of Positive Psychology

At its core, positive psychology holds that wellbeing is cultivable. Perseverance, optimism, resilience, meaning, and connection can be learned—ideally early—and practiced for life.

Kristijan Musek Lešnik

Nov 13, 20252 min read

Subjective well-being (SWB) is the personal sense that life is going well.

What Is Subjective Well-Being?

Subjective well-being is our inner response — our personal evaluation and emotional experience of our own life. It refers instead to our sense of well-being — a personal feeling best described as: “I’m doing well. I feel well.”

Kristijan Musek Lešnik

Nov 11, 20252 min read

Positive education brings wellbeing science into classrooms.

Positive Psychology and Positive Education

When positive psychology steps into the classroom and brings the science of well-being, strengths, and resilience into teaching and learning, it becomes positive education. Positive education help schools nurture not only knowledge and skills, expanding education beyond academic achievement to include well-being, resilience, and character.

Kristijan Musek Lešnik

Nov 9, 20252 min read