긍정 심리학의 연구 동향

Abstract

Objectives Researchers have described 24 years of the development of positive psychology in three waves, from its introduction in 1998 to the present. This study investigates how major research topics in positive psychology have changed over time by referring to journals that represent positive psychology. Further, it explores its development process to provide implications for future research. Methods A total of 788 journal articles published between 2006 and 2021, since the publication of the Journal of Positive Psychology, were collected. Network analysis was conducted on 1,508 keywords extracted from these journal articles using NetMiner 4.3. Results During the first wave of positive psychology between 2006 and 2010, studies on well-being, happiness, and life satisfaction were actively conducted. Many researchers focused on revealing individuals’ positive traits and experiences that could explain the abovementioned areas. Throughout the second wave between 2011 and 2015, studies on character strengths flourished, and the appearance frequency of keywords related to personal strengths and virtues drastically increased. During the third wave between 2016 and 2021, keywords referring to study participants and methodologies were diversified, the connectivity between different research topics became apparent, and in-depth studies of existing research topics were continuously pursued. Additionally, the frequency of keywords related to interventions highly increased. Conclusions This study discusses the most debated topics over the past 16 years in the field of positive psychology by systematically organizing and presenting the research trends in positive psychology using keyword network analysis.