Aristotle And His Influence On Positive Psychology

Many books, today, revolve or speak of a concept that “has become fashionable”: positive psychology. However, in many cases this type of literature is considered to “sell smoke”, since some authors, in their defense, do not hesitate to overstate their power, projecting the idea that after embracing the axioms of this type of psychology it will open a world of roses whose thorns have been cut off.

The aim of this literature is to instill positivism and make readers feel happier. However, these books do not replace in any way the great help that psychologists offer in their consultations.

Although positive psychology has found a niche on the shelves, the truth is that the idea on which it revolves  has very little “modern”. For example, centuries ago Aristotle already spoke in his works of positivism. Throughout this article, today we will discover how this important philosopher influenced positive psychology, how he understood it and how this concept has evolved up to the present time.

Nicomachean Ethics

Ética a Nicómaco was a work that Aristotle wrote in the fourth century BC. C. in which we can already observe some vestiges of what we know today as positive psychology. In this work, Aristotle speaks of happiness ( eudaimonia ), virtue, practical reason and emotions as the pillars of what he called the “good life”, something that he thought that all people pursue. To achieve this good life indicates that it is necessary to develop virtues (good habits) and have certain strengths.

Strengths, for Aristotle, would be those character traits that each person has innately and that allow them to achieve well-being and happiness. But, not everyone is born with those essential strengths to achieve the “good life.”

For example, someone insecure has a much more difficult time than someone who, by nature, tends to take risks and go out of their comfort zone. However, Aristotle says that through self-control and self-regulation these strengths can be acquired, although in return an exercise of will is necessary.

Practical wisdom

It is important to consider the Aristotelian concept of “practical wisdom”, better known as phronesis, in relation to what we now know  as positive psychology. For Aristotle this concept was the main virtue of the human being: it would allow us to make better decisions.

The American psychologist and writer Seligman and his collaborators in the article Positive Psychology Progress Empirical Validation of Interventions made some proposals for actions that would allow people to achieve well-being through “practical wisdom”. These are exposed by Carnicer and Gómez in their article Contributions of Positive Psychology applied to teacher training as follows:

• Write three things for which we are grateful once a day for a week.
• Write a thank you letter to someone who is important to us. We can send it or give it to our recipient, but we can also not do it.
• Write in a notebook all those important memories  that have been very positive and exciting for us. This exercise can last more than a day since new memories may come to us after a few days that we did not remember.
• Take the strengths questionnaire, such as the one available on the website www.viacharacter.org. You just need to register and choose the language in which you want to answer the 120 questions. It is important to be sincere so that the result “is also”.

This type of action brings us closer to that wisdom that Aristotle spoke of: he considered that virtue should always be learned through experience. A thought also shared by psychologists Schwartz or Sharpe.

The active exercise of happiness

There is an idea that is present in positive psychology and also in Aristotle: only with new habits and changing certain attitudes can the “good life” be achieved. In addition, in practice and perseverance, true success would be found: to achieve that well-being so longed for.

Now that we know something more about this concept, it is important to know some interesting books with which we can begin to soak up this idea. Also, at this point, a wake-up call. Positive psychology should not be used to cover up discomfort or camouflage problems by pretending that everything is fantastic and wonderful. We can use it to our advantage as long as we flee from the lies that, many times, haunt this branch.