Culture and positive psychology

Cultural differences can interact with positive psychology to create great variation, potentially impacting positive psychology interventions. Culture influences how people seek psychological help, their definitions of social structure, and coping strategies.Key western values (Individualism)Key eastern values (Collectivism) Cultural differences can interact with positive psychology to create great variation, potentially impacting positive psychology interventions. Culture influences how people seek psychological help, their definitions of social structure, and coping strategies. Research shows that cultural factors affect notions of perceived happiness. The current general literature discusses positive psychology into two categories: Western and Eastern. Cultural psychologist Richard Shweder argues that these factors help shape what people deem is good, moral, and virtuous. Westerners seek rewards on more of a physical plane, while Easterners seek to transcend the physical plane to a spiritual one. Western literature generally stresses autonomy, individuality, and personal satisfaction, while Eastern work generally focuses on harmony, collective cooperation, and group satisfaction. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, anthropologists and psychologists used race and culture as factors that influence positive and negative behaviors and attitudes.{Snyder, Lopez, Pedrotti (2011). Positive psychology: The scientific and practical explorations of human strengths (2nd ed.)} This led to a culturally deficient perspective, used for some groups to assert dominance over others through eugenics. American psychologists G. Stanley Hall and Henry Goddard Hall were among some of the notable figures to adopt this view. By the mid 20th century, the dominant viewpoint was that culture did not predetermine life outcomes; instead differences were the consequence of environmental factors. The culturally different perspective holds that unique strengths can be highlighted within every culture. David Satcher was among the first to emphasize the influences of culture on mental health. Cultural differences occur both between and within nations. Social psychologists have supported the notion that humans are 'social animals'. Psychologists Charles R. Snyder, Shane J. Lopez, and Jennifer T. Pedrotti identify two major influential western traditions – Athenian and Judeo-Christian – and four major eastern traditions – Confucianism (China), Taoism (China), Buddhism (Japan), and Hinduism (Southeast Asia) – relevant to positive psychology. Joshanloo (2014) identifies and discusses six broad differences between Western and non-Western conceptions of well-being. His analysis is based on his survey of the accounts of happiness and optimal functioning provided in Western as well as non-Western traditions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and Sufism. These six major domains of difference are as follows: There are different approaches within the field of positive psychology. With the support of numerous sources, Bacon presents the idea that there are two 'cultures' in positive psychology, or two different ways to view the positive psychology construct of personal strengths: focus culture and balance culture. In focus culture, individuals are focused on developing and expressing their personal strengths. Balance culture is instead oriented towards balancing and bringing harmony within oneself and among others. Bacon argues that individuals ascribing to the focus culture will differ in their life experience and life path than those who believe in the balance culture. Bacon believes that the strengths can be categorized into these two cultures and goes into depth explaining why creativity is the prototypical strength in the focus culture and why wisdom represents an ideal strength in the balance culture. Rather than tying culture to a certain ethnic or cultural group, Bacon and others argues that there are two different cultures, or schools of thought, within positive psychology. These two cultures reflect a new way to categorize strengths (Bacon, 2005). There are two main approaches to cross-cultural positive psychology. One perspective, termed 'culturally-free' believes that there are numerous human strengths that are valued universally, and that the pursuit of happiness is common across cultures. Proponents of this side view their approach as descriptive and objective, claiming its results 'transcend particular cultures and politics and approach universality'. The other approach views values as culturally embedded, meaning that cultural values of the researchers influence their work. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 5 (DSM-V) takes this view and includes information throughout the manual to increase cultural sensitivity and further the awareness of a multicultural perspective in clinical practice. Some of the additional information includes insight into cultural differences in key symptoms of disorders, as well as suggestions on how to take cultural context into account during treatment. Also, Western traditions fostered more individualistic societies while eastern traditions fostered more collectivistic societies. Individualistic cultures value the self above the group. Collectivistic cultures value the group above the individual.