CHAPTER 31 Positive Psychology JAIME

In its relatively brief history, positive psychology has used a variety of research method­ ologies to better understand the nature of happiness and the "good life." In the face of scant empirical knowledge of positive emotions (cf. Diener, Suh, Lucas, & Smith, 1999), tightly controlled randomized laboratory studies have begun to establish the causes, cor­ relates, consequences, and basic mechanisms underlying positive emotions and global happiness. Such experiments represent a significant advance over the correlational survey studies that informed researchers' understanding of well-being for decades. In the pur­ suit of triangulation, an important next step is to examine the real-world circumstances under which people feel good and thrive. According to Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000), "Psychology should be able to help document what kinds of families result in children who flourish, what work settings support the greatest satisfaction among work­ ers, what policies result in the strongest civic engagement, and how people's lives can be most worth living" (p. 5). Realizing these goals requires the study of positive experi­ ences and positive emotions in everyday life and in real time. Not coincidentally, perhaps, experience sampling methods, which are used to assess aspects of daily life as they occur in the moment, have their origins in positive psychology (Csikszentmihalyi, Larson, & Prescott, 1977). Although a variety of positive experiences, traits, and states-joy, anticipation, opti­ mism, compassion, curiosity, inspiration, gratitude, awe-have been the focus of research in positive psychology, the majority of studies have examined happiness, or subjective well-being. Consequently, this chapter focuses on methodological advancements in the area of well-being. However, as we argue later, such methods are ripe to be extended and applied to other positive psychological constructs as well.