Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology
- ISBN13: 9780195187243
- Condition: USED – GOOD
- Notes:
Product Description
The Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology, Second Edition is the seminal reference in the burgeoning field of positive psychology, which, in recent years, has transcended academia to capture the imagination of the general public. The handbook provides a roadmap for the psychology needed by the majority of the population–those who don’t need treatment, but want to achieve the lives to which they aspire. The 65 chapters summarize all of the relevant literature in th… More >>
Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology
Though it looks like a heavy text, this book’s division into smaller sections of articles makes it an engaging read.
Rating: 5 / 5
I took a positive psychology class, didn’t do too well (obviously by my grading of this book) and solely for the fact that the book was very long! It was long beyond necessity. The points brought up were very simple, nothing too complex, yet worded in such ways to sound academic and lofty.
If you have to buy this book for this agnostic/atheistic-foundation class in college or wherever, I highly recommend you to consider petitioning for another book or just avoiding this class.
Rating: 1 / 5
This Handbook is important to me and other psychology professors because it was the first in print for the new 21st Century wave of the Positive Psychology Movement. I say ‘important’ even though one honestly must say that for a more balanced view in academic psychology, one also should read the books edited by Ed Chang which give fair and balanced coverage of individual differences in both optimism and pessimism, including ‘defensive pessimism.’ Now, just published a few days ago, there is a second positive psychology handbook available, “A Psychology of Human Strengths” edited by Aspinwall and Staudinger. Compared to the first handbook, the new one’s 23 chapters by various leading psychologists (including Seligman) are not only, well, “newer” — they also have a better scholarly balance. For example, the chapter by Cantor on “Constructive Cognition” discusses her work with Norem on constructive pessimism. And a third handbook-type volume entitled “Flourishing” is also forthcoming. Concerning this first 21st Century Handbook of Positive Psychology, it will remain an important book not only for being first, but also perhaps for being too extreme, in an unrealistic way that is already being improved by a more realistic approach to positive psychology.
Rating: 4 / 5