They can show what actions lead to well being, to positive individuals, and to flourishing communities. Psychology can help document what kind of families result in the healthiest children, what work environments support the greatest satisfaction among workers, what policies result in the strongest civic commitment. Yet we have scant knowledge of what makes life worth living. Psychology has come to understand quite a bit about how people survive and endure under conditions of adversity. But we know very little about how normal people flourish under more benign conditions.
Psychology has, since World War II, become a science largely about healing.
It concentrates on repairing damage within a disease model of human functioning. This almost exclusive attention to pathology neglects the flourishing individual and the thriving community. Positive Psychology intends to change the focus of psychology from preoccupation only with repairing the worst things in life to also understanding and building positive qualities. At the individual level it is about the character strengths the capacity for love and vocation, courage, interpersonal skill, aesthetic sensibility, perseverance, forgiveness, originality, future-mindedness, and high talent. The purpose of the first Positive Psychology Summit, sponsored by The Gallup Organization, concerns the articulation and measurement of character strengths and the civic virtues.