University of Connecticut

An introduction to the special issue addressing positive psychology and its “place” in and implications

for schools is provided. The articles contained within the issue are described within the

context of our perspective regarding positive psychology in schools. As the study of positive

psychology continues to evolve, it is likely that its application within other fields (including

school psychology) will be more clearly expressed. We contend that the “success” of introducing,

implementing, and sustaining positive psychology within schools may be dependent on its

early yet also sustained integration across multiple contexts. And, a “positive” school psychology

will require attention to the convergence of multiple, diverse areas of literature. The articles

within this special issue begin this movement toward finding either a place for positive psychology

within school psychology or a place for school psychology within positive psychology.

© 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Terms such as subjective well-being, happiness, quality of life, and positive emotion have

been appearing in ever-growing numbers within both scientific and popular literature. In fact, a

recent issue of Newsweek dedicated the lead health article to a review of a “new” science of

happiness (Cowley, 2002). The interest in these terms comes from positive psychology, a term

coined by Martin Seligman to refer to the study of positive features, in an effort to shift psychology

away from the study of pathology. According to Seligman, positive psychology can best be

studied through three pillars: the study of positive emotion, the study of positive individual traits,

and the study of positive institutions. Seligman readily admits that little attention has been directed

toward these three “pillars” of positive psychology, although he called for greater interest in a

special issue of American Psychologist (2000).Anumber of excellent articles from diverse writers

appeared in that special issue; however very limited reference was made to youth or the implications

of positive psychology for schools. Thus, this special issue addresses positive psychology

and its “place” in and implications for schools, using Seligman’s framework of positive psychology

as a structure.

In his new book, Authentic Happiness, Seligman (2002) discusses how experiencing negative

emotion inhibits growth as it creates a tendency to fall back on what is safe. In contrast, positive

emotion leads to exploration, and exploration leads to mastery. This then leads to even greater

positive emotion, discovery, and mastery. Implications regarding this cycle for school psychology

are vast. That is, mastery, whether the “content” is academic, social, or behavioral skills, is the

ultimate goal of education. Student mastery is a definition of success. If positive emotion is a

central factor in attaining mastery (and vice versa), then attention to both in our models of learning

is important. That is, skill instruction (and assessment) should be focused on strategies that build

mastery. Martens and Witt (2004) explore this issue in greater depth. These authors suggest that

preventing early school failure and promoting positive characteristics such as motivation, creative

problem solving, and persistence is possible—given attention to behavioral skill instruction focused

on mastery.

The guest editors would like to thank the Editor for her support in the preparation of this special issue.

Correspondence to: Sandra M. Chafouleas, Department of Educational Psychology, 249 Glenbrook Road, U-2064,

University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269–2064.

Psychology in the Schools, Vol. 41(1), 2004 © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/pits.10133

1

In the section of his book regarding raising children, Seligman (2002) asserts that it is imperative

that children learn that their actions matter, that outcomes are contingent on behavior. During

his early research with animals, Seligman found that providing early experience with understanding

that actions have effects could prevent helplessness (Seligman et al., 1996). Since helplessness

is antithetical to mastery, determining how to teach people not to give up without even trying, or

provide what Seligman calls “psychological immunization,” is an important goal for psychology.

Seligman suggests that parents do two things to foster positive emotion (i.e., psychological immunization)

in children: (1) reward a child’s display of talents and strengths and (2) allow the display

of strengths throughout the course of the typical day. For school psychologists, fostering student

talents and strengths (and thus, positive emotion and mastery) is consistent with the desire to

engage in more preventive practice. A number of articles within this special issue begin to tackle

this perspective. Jenson, Olympia, Farley, and Clark (2004) present their perspective on how to

eliminate the “sea of negativity” often surrounding students who exhibit externalizing disorders.

Their article outlines several student, teacher, and classroom programs focused on promoting

positive successful experiences and high rates of praise. Clonan, Chafouleas, McDougal, and

Riley-Tillman (2004) provide discussion regarding how positive institutions (schools) can be developed,

with the premise that the positive institution is better positioned to promote student success.

In the article by Sheridan, Warnes, Cowan, Schemm, and Clarke (2004), it is suggested that

attention should be drawn to building partnerships with families focused on promoting strengths

and capacity building. Those authors offer a framework called family centered positive psychology

(FCPP) as a way to do this, presenting a case study to illustrate its use. As illustrated within

the next section, such positive preventative practices are not new to school psychology.

Significant literature in school psychology has been dedicated to discussion of “positive”

change. For example, in a recent special issue of School Psychology Review (“School Psychology

in the 21st Century,” 2000), many leaders in the field recommended that current service delivery

give way to positive, ecological, and proactive practice. For example, dramatic, systemic changes

in areas such as the organizational location and funding of school psychological services, administration

and supervision of school psychological services, and policy and resource allocation

reform have been suggested (see Reschly & Ysseldyke, 2002; Sheridan & Gutkin, 2000). In addition

to these discussions, alternative practices have been implemented in some systems with success.

For example, in reviewing the success of an alternative assessment system (CBA/CBM),

Shapiro (2000) presented a paradigm for building academic competence with the potential to

prevent students from developing academic skills deficits. Thus, it seems clear that considerable

support exists within the field for moving away from deficit-focused service delivery toward more

positive, ecological models that capitalize on building the strengths of students and their families.

Despite this, the field of school psychology as a whole has been slow to adopt a positive

orientation. Among the cited inhibitors of this change are assessment mandates and bureaucratic

constraints of the public school system (Dawson, 1994), inflexible funding schemes (Bardon,

1994), and even a fear that loss of traditional assessment duties may place school psychology jobs

in jeopardy (Bardon, 1994; Hyman & Kaplinski, 1994). Thus, despite well-meaning intentions to

incorporate a more positive psychology in the field, a number of obstacles have remained in the

path. In addition to these barriers, we propose that finding a place for positive psychology within

schools may involve additional obstacles.

First, it can be difficult to operationalize the traits indicative of positive psychology, which, in

turn, inhibits the development, implementation, and evaluation of school-wide efforts to incorporate

it. As so aptly stated by Meyers and Nastasi (1999) in their discussion of primary prevention,

2 Chafouleas and Bray

“It is hard to demonstrate the efficacy of preventive techniques when prevention is not clearly

defined in the literature, and it is difficult to demonstrate the efficacy of an approach when the goal

is to prevent something from happening (p. 765).” Positive psychology, with its close parallels to

primary prevention, falls prey to these same issues. Second, much of what is written about positive

psychology emphasizes positive individual traits (e.g., courage, perseverance, originality, wisdom),

with less reference to how these might be promoted by the environment. Although the social

setting is acknowledged, the impact of it on the individual has yet to be given significant consideration

within the literature. Rather, individual positive traits may be viewed as internal to the

individual, statelike or traitlike. In addition, without consideration of the third pillar, the positive

institutions, the potential for positive psychology within the individual would not be fully realized.

That is, the positive institution promotes, recognizes and provides reinforcement for the display of

positive individual traits, without which the traits are isolated and less likely to flourish.

Given the points raised above, many questions remain with regard to using this “new” positive

psychology in schools. How do we operationally define a concept such as positive psychology?

How do we measure characteristics such as positive emotion and positive individual traits?

How do we use an institution or environment to systematically build individual competency, and

how do we develop climates that foster these positive individual characteristics? Last, how do we

maintain and generalize the positive effects across settings and time? The articles included within

this special issue begin to address such questions. The collection of articles covers a vast array of

topics—with the intent to introduce various authors’ perspectives regarding positive psychology

rather than provide a comprehensive guide. It is hoped that this special issue will serve to stimulate

further thinking about the meaning of positive psychology to the field of school psychology.

The articles contained within this special issue each focus on a particular aspect of positive

psychology. Some of the articles address specific pillars (positive emotion, positive individual

traits, positive institutions) of positive psychology. As noted earlier, systems perspectives regarding

fostering the positive institution are explored with the articles by Clonan et al. and Sheridan

et al. In addition, the use of teacher consultation as a way to indirectly implement positive psychology

within the school environment is considered by Akin-Little, Little, and Delligatti. In their

article, attention is drawn to using both mental health and behavioral consultation models to

develop teachers’ personal positive psychology, which, in turn, may create a more positive (reinforcing)

classroom environment. And the article by Mcloughlin and Kubick offers similar viewpoints,

suggesting that adult role models who have addressed life-long wellness as a personal goal are

better positioned to engage students in positive activities. Using positive psychology focused on

adults as a way to directly affect students also is examined within the article by Truscott and

Truscott, who discuss using teacher professional development as a way to integrate positive psychology

in consultation. Finally, Terjesen, Jacofsky, Froh, and DiGiuseppe offer their perspective

on how school psychologists may move from deficit-oriented to positive practice.

In contrast to a systems emphasis, Huebner, Suldo, Smith, and McKnight focus on an individual’s

positive emotion. In their article, a literature review of children’s perceived quality of life

(PQL), one facet of subjective well-being, is presented along with implications for practice. Relatedly,

Kehle and Bray offer a conceptual model (i.e., RICH) for evaluating an individual’s subjective

well-being. The essence of RICH theory is similar to Bertrand Russell’s conceptualization of

happiness in that it does not derive from a single source but rather from a balance among four

highly interrelated factors (resources, intimacy, competence, health). Gilman, Meyers, and Perez

present a review of participation in structured extracurricular activities as an avenue for the development

and expression of positive characteristics in adolescents. Finally, Reis and Renzulli

Introducing Positive Psychology 3

examine the pillar of positive individual characteristics through their discussion of gifted and

talented students and strategies to enhance school experiences.

The authors of three additional articles chose to develop implications of positive psychology

with regard to a specific population or problem. Steck, Abrams, and Phelps reconceptualize thinking

about eating disordered behavior from a framework of positive psychology in their review of

protective factors related to these behaviors. Bray, Kehle, Peck, Theodore, and Zhou examine

literature on asthma—making connections between successful treatments and the principles of

positive psychology. Clark, Olympia, Jensen, Heathfield, and Jenson focus on the promotion of

positive individual characteristics such as autonomy and self-determination in persons with autism

and other developmental disabilities.

As the study of positive psychology continues to evolve, it is likely that its application within

other fields (including school psychology) will be more clearly expressed. It is also probable that

the overlap among the goals of positive psychology and related research agendas in those fields

will become more apparent. For example, in a review of longitudinal evidence of early childhood

intervention programs, hypotheses have been proposed regarding positive effects. One such reason

termed the snowball hypothesis is that early successful experiences generate further successes

across multiple contexts (Zigler, Taussig, & Black, 1992). That is, children who are socially better

prepared for school are able to interact positively with teachers. In turn, the teachers interact

positively with those children. However, Zigler et al. (1992) assert that the key to maintaining the

advantages of early childhood programs may lie within continuity of intervention. Thus, the provision

of initial successful experiences should not be viewed as sufficient to produce lifelong

success. These lessons from early childhood intervention are well-suited for consideration when

incorporating positive psychology within school psychology. That is, the “success” of introducing,

implementing, and sustaining positive psychology within schools may be dependent on its

early yet also sustained integration across multiple contexts. And, a “positive” school psychology

will require attention to the convergence of multiple, diverse areas of literature. The articles within

this special issue begin this movement toward finding either a place for positive psychology within

school psychology or a place for school psychology within positive psychology.

4 Chafouleas and Bray