Positive Psychology: The Scientific and Practical Explorations of Human Strengths
Positive Psychology: The Scientific and Practical Explorations of Human Strengths
Bringing both the science, and the real-life applications, of positive psychology to life for students
This revision of the cutting edge, most comprehensive text for this exciting field presents new frameworks for understanding positive emotions and human strengths. The authors-all leading figures in the field-show how to apply the science to improve schooling, the workplace, and cooperative lifestyles among people. Well-crafted exercises engage students in applying major principles in their own lives, and more than 50 case histories and comments from leaders in the field vividly illustrate key concepts as they apply to real life.
The password-protected Instructor Teaching Site and the open-access Student Study Site
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Great Text for Introductory Course in Positive Psychology,
I recently used this textbook in teaching an undergraduate course in positive psychology. The authors are able to cover a range of topics in a manner that is both accessible and understandable. Use of the personal mini-experiments added a reflective component that is often missing in many undergraduate level courses. Feedback from the class on the choice of text was very positive with many students commenting on how enjoyable it was to read. I will be teaching this course again next year and will definitely use this book again.
Overall, the book is well organized and written in a language that is accessible to students at a range of levels.
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|A First Class Text that Shines with Personality and Pizzazz,
This is a marvelous textbook, much needed both by teachers and by anyone who wants a comprehensive resource to this major new direction in contemporary psychology. As a member of both clubs I recommend this book enthusiastically.
Positive Psychology has been growing so rapidly, this is one of the very first textbooks to be published. Rick Snyder and Shane Lopez clearly know their stuff – they’ve edited two major recent volumes, one from Oxford Press, the other from the American Psychological Assoc. Nevertheless, these serious academics have avoided the classic pitfalls of textbook writing. Their book shines with personality and pizzazz. It’s rare to encounter a text that combines practicality (covering all the bases, answering most, if not all, the questions) with real imagination. The authors write from their personal experience; they avoid the dull and the safe. It feels often as if they’re talking directly to you, taking you into their confidence, sharing their insights, their doubts, and most importantly what’s mattered most to them as people. This is a rare feat: great teaching delivered on the printed page.
Other aspects of their book that add enormous value are that it’s chock-a-block with personal mini-experiments. In each, the authors take the intellectual content and re-shape it into an experience for the student. Their exercises are carefully designed to ensure that an idea doesn’t remain just a cognitive pipedream but is transmuted into lived wisdom. The publisher provides you with a CD that’s crammed with discussion guides, study guides, and tests. The graphics are fun; there are lots of pictures and good, punchy charts. On top of that, the text is inter-woven with sidebar articles by experts in the field and by others with first hand experience. These are brief and always relevant. The authors’ experience as editors of large compilation volumes really shows. One feels as if one’s gotten a far richer spectrum than just one book.
All in all, this is must-have for anyone who’s interested in the human need for happiness, engagement and meaning.
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|Not For The Layman,
The authors cannot explain any concept without using endless sentences infused with poly-syllabic words drawn from unfamiliar academic terminology. This book uses a great many words to convey simple ideas.
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