Positive Psychology

Positive psychology (Seligman, 1998; Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000) is a relatively new discipline in academic research. Green & Palmer (2019) reviewed a large amount of this research and invited seventeen individuals to contribute to their book on applying positive psychology to coaching.

Positive psychology is about what we, as clients, not coaches, choose to do for its intrinsic value, something that makes you, the client, feel good. It may be as simple as stepping away from your home or work ‘office’ and going for a walk or listening to your child’s wild imagination. You don’t wish to stifle their creativity, and you value that interaction with them.

The connection between positive psychology and self-determination can therefore be posited as the means of achieving one through the other, being able to assess situations or contexts and approach them from the perspective of turning the extrinsic motivation (what I’m told to do) into intrinsic motivation (how I choose to do it). It doesn’t mean extrinsic motivation disappears; rather, it’s supplemented or augmented by applying intrinsic motivation.