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Positive Psychology: The Science of Happiness and Flourishing (3rd ed.)

By William C. Compton and Edward Hoffman

Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2019. 528 pp.

ISBN 978-1544322926 $95.00

Reviewed by Paul T. P. Wong

Compton and Hoffman’s third edition of Positive Psychology: The Science of Happiness and Flourishing is commended for advocating an inclusive positive psychology that not only honours the rich humanistic heritage and the major contributions from mainstream psychology, but also recognizes the two emerging trends in PP 2.0. The first is the reality that suffering and vulnerability are the foundation for building a solid existential positive psychology of optimism and flourishing that can endure the inevitable vicissitudes of life. The second trend is the importance of indigenous positive psychology, especially Eastern psychological systems that offer viable insights and a variety of hypotheses about the nature of the self and ultimate happiness.

Any book review reflects the reviewer’s own scholarship and perspective. I want to state right at the outset that my view on positive psychology has been shaped by my experience of suffering (see Wong, 2019a), which demands a different kind of positive psychology, generally known as Second Wave Positive Psychology (PP 2.0). Therefore, it is inevitable that in this book review, my focus is on how this textbook is related to the important new developments in PP 2.0, which may represent a more effective way to help the suffering people survive and thrive My hope that this review will help expand the horizon for future PP research and intervention.

The two authors of this textbook have a combined history of 80 years in doing research and teaching in positive mental health and wellbeing. This rich history is clearly reflected in the breadth and depth of their coverage, especially the older humanistic literature and the latest developments in indigenous psychology as well as Second Wave Positive Psychology (PP 2.0).

This new edition has 503 pages. in contrast to its earlier edition which had only 381 pages. With approximately 400 new references and many new topics, this textbook represents the most balanced and comprehensive treatment of the different trends under the umbrella of positive psychology. It covers the traditional topics of Introductory Positive Psychology (Peterson, 2006; Snyder, Lopez & Pedrotti, 2014). What makes Compton & Hoffman (2019) different is that it attempts to integrate research from the humanistic tradition.

“Today, the differences between positive psychology and humanistic psychology are diminishing.” (Compton & Hoffman, 2019, p. 23) I too have emphasized that even the remaining differences in philosophical assumptions will disappear once most positive psychologists accept the necessity of taking a more holistic and integrative approach towards complex human issues (Wong & Roy, 2017).

Another uniqueness is that Compton & Hoffman (2019) devoted many of the pages to integrate the positive psychology of human suffering. More than a decade ago, Snyder and Lopez (2007) wrote in their textbook on positive psychology:

“Although we explore the positive, we emphasize that this half is no more the entire story than is the negative side. Future psychologists must develop an inclusive approach that examine both the weakness and the strengths of people, as well as the stressors and the resources in the environment. That approach would be the most comprehensive and valid.” (p. 9)

To a large degree, Snyder and Lopez’s (2007) wish has been realized in the present textbook by Compton and Hoffman. Ivtzan, Lomas, Hefferon, & Worth’s (2015) produced the first major textbook the explores the ‘dark’ side of life and its important role in our positive functioning and transformation as human beings. Compton & Hoffman (2019) goes one step further by emphasizing the necessity to integrate human suffering as the basis for wellbeing, meaning and resilience.

For example, on page 172, they cited Dunn’s (1961) research that high-level wellness depended on a combination of living a meaningful live and coping with challenging environments. Similarly, after devoting many pages to posttraumatic growth, they cited Kramer’s (2000) research on the wisdom of being open to both positive and negative experiences and grappling with difficult existential life issues, a process that helps transform negative experiences into life-affirming ones (p. 267).

Their coverage of the topic of suffering encompasses Rollo May’s emphasis on existential anxiety and the power of the daimonic, Frankl’s meaning of suffering, Killam’s (2015) review of post-traumatic growth, Cowen and Kilmer’s (2002) article challenging the possibility of obtaining stable wellbeing by neglecting fear and death anxiety, and Kaiser’s (2009) book questioning the desirability of focusing only on strengths. Spongebob employee of the month game free download mac download.

They also introduce Shmotkin’s (2005) comprehensive model which assumes that “we all encounter a potentially threatening world, our sense of subjective wellbeing is designed partially to help protect us from the impact of anxiety, worry, and fear.” (p. 382) It is worth noting that Shmotkin’s theory was influenced by terror management theory’s postulate that we are affected by our unconscious fear of death.

In spite of the above, positive psychology is by and large ambivalent towards suffering. On the one hand, most official positive psychology websites emphasize that they also care about repairing what is wrong or broken with people, but their research agenda and publications rarely test the possibility that human suffering can be a portal for happiness and strength.

“Does suffering trump happiness?” (Seligman, 2003). By raising this rhetorical question, Seligman is fully aware that people are concerned about suffering. Without directly answering this question, he wrote:

“I am often asked two disturbing and profound questions about the place of happiness in a troubled world. In a world of war and hate and famine, how can I advocate that psychology investigate happiness? Suffering has first call on our sympathy, on our dollars, and on our brainpower. Only when these nightmares are stilled should we turn our attention to happiness.”

However, he does not agree with this conclusion. He believes that just as clinical psychology can make people less unhappy, positive psychology can make people happier, and these are separate endeavours (Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005). Following this dichotomous view of psychology, their positive clinical psychology (Peterson & Seligman, 2003) or positive psychotherapy (Rashid & Seligman, 2018) focuses on applying their standard strength-enhancing interventions on clinical populations. Thus, in the same paper Seligman (2003) concludes:

“But most of Positive Psychology is for all of us, troubled or untroubled, privileged or in privation, suffering or carefree. The pleasures of a good conversation, the strength of gratitude, the benefits of kindness or wisdom or spirituality or humility, the search for meaning and the antidote to “fidgeting until we die” are the birthrights of us all.”

Thus, Seligman’s answer to human suffering is the focus on what makes us happy, and such one-sided focus will not only repair what is damaged but bring out what is good and right with all people, “suffering or free”. However, this assumption has not gone unchallenged. Through a number of studies, Nick Brown (2019) concluded that there is no conclusive evidence that positive psychology interventions can improve wellbeing.

Similarly, Yakushko (2019) pointed out the potential dangers of focusing on positivity, and the need to recognize the dark site of human existence as a necessary way to enhance wellbeing:

“Specially, positive psychology has been entirely silent about the fact that one of its leading voices, the author of almost all the handbooks of positive psychology, promoter of ideas that hope is all one needs, committed suicide in 2016. Shane Lopez’ suicide remains basically unacknowledged: With an exception of an obscure obituary by his colleague, all other online and printed documents about Lopez refuse to acknowledge that one of the most published and celebrated positive psychologists took his own life.”

“If even the most celebrated and apparently well-adjusted positi

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