Abstract
Seligman (2002) suggested three paths to well-being, the pursuit of pleasure, the pursuit of meaning, and the pursuit of engagement, later adding two more, positive relationships and accomplishment, in his 2011 version. The contribution of these new components to well-being has yet to be addressed. In an online positive psychology intervention study, we randomly assigned 1624 adults aged 18–78 (M = 46.13; 79.2% women) to seven conditions. Participants wrote down three things they related to either one of the five components of Seligman's Well-Being theory (Conditions 1–5), all of the five components (Condition 6) or early childhood memories (placebo control condition). We assessed happiness (AHI) and depression (CES-D) before and after the intervention, and 1-, 3-, and 6 months afterwards. Additionally, we considered moderation effects of well-being levels at baseline. Results confirmed that all interventions were effective in increasing happiness and most ameliorated depressive symptoms. The interventions worked best for those in the middle-range of the well-being continuum. We conclude that interventions based on pleasure, engagement, meaning, positive relationships, and accomplishment are effective strategies for increasing well-being and ameliorating depressive symptoms and that positive psychology interventions are most effective for those people in the middle range of the well-being continuum.
Highlights
Current psychology mainly focuses on pathologies and attempts to relieve or cure mental illnesses or other malfunctions, it has historically had at least two other objectives: Studying and nurturing talent, and examining ways to make “relatively untroubled” people happier (Seligman et al, 2004; p. 1379)
Positive psychology interventions (PPIs), are interventions that have been developed within Positive Psychology that aim at creating positive outcomes
We examined the influence of specific characteristics of the participants on the outcomes
Summary
Current psychology mainly focuses on pathologies and attempts to relieve or cure mental illnesses or other malfunctions (see e.g., Myers, 2000; Ruch and Proyer, 2011), it has historically had at least two other objectives: Studying and nurturing talent, and examining ways to make “relatively untroubled” people happier (Seligman et al, 2004; p. 1379). Positive psychology interventions (PPIs), are interventions that have been developed within Positive Psychology that aim at creating positive outcomes They have been defined as “[...] treatment methods or intentional activities that aim to cultivate positive feelings, behaviors, or cognitions” Two independent meta-analyses (Sin and Lyubomirsky, 2009; Bolier et al, 2013b) covering a total of 69 randomized controlled studies provide support for the effectiveness of PPIs (increases in subjective and psychological well-being, and amelioration of depression)
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