Positive psychology studies the strengths, habits, and conditions that help people build meaningful and satisfying lives. This cheat sheet helps students organize key ideas about happiness, resilience, and well-being in a clear way. It is useful for comparing short-term pleasure with deeper life satisfaction and for connecting psychology research to daily choices.
Students can use it to review major models, vocabulary, and common misunderstandings.
Key Facts
- Positive psychology focuses on human strengths, meaning, positive emotions, healthy relationships, accomplishment, and growth rather than only mental illness.
- The PERMA model describes well-being as Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment.
- Subjective well-being is often measured as life satisfaction + frequent positive emotions - frequent negative emotions.
- Gratitude practices can increase well-being when they are specific, sincere, and repeated over time.
- Flow is a state of deep focus that is most likely when skill level and challenge level are both high and balanced.
- Resilience is the ability to adapt and recover after stress, setbacks, or adversity.
- Character strengths are positive traits such as kindness, curiosity, perseverance, fairness, and hope that can be practiced in daily life.
- Hedonic well-being emphasizes pleasure and comfort, while eudaimonic well-being emphasizes meaning, purpose, and personal growth.
Vocabulary
- Positive Psychology
- The scientific study of strengths, positive emotions, meaning, relationships, and factors that help people thrive.
- PERMA
- A model of well-being based on Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment.
- Subjective Well-Being
- A person's own evaluation of life satisfaction and emotional experience.
- Flow
- A focused mental state in which a person is fully absorbed in a challenging and rewarding activity.
- Resilience
- The ability to cope with stress, adapt to challenges, and recover after difficult experiences.
- Gratitude
- The recognition and appreciation of positive things, benefits, or support received from others or from life.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Confusing positive psychology with forced happiness is wrong because the field studies real well-being, including coping with negative emotions and adversity.
- Assuming well-being means never feeling sad is wrong because healthy people experience a full range of emotions and can still have high life satisfaction.
- Treating PERMA as a strict formula is wrong because the five elements interact and may matter differently for different people and cultures.
- Equating pleasure with lasting happiness is wrong because short-term positive emotion does not always create meaning, strong relationships, or long-term growth.
- Ignoring evidence and relying only on motivational sayings is wrong because positive psychology is based on research methods, measurement, and testable interventions.
Practice Questions
- 1 A student rates life satisfaction as 8 out of 10, positive emotions as 7 out of 10, and negative emotions as 3 out of 10. Using life satisfaction + positive emotions - negative emotions, what is the subjective well-being score?
- 2 In a one-week gratitude activity, a student writes 3 specific things they are grateful for each day. How many gratitude entries will the student write in 7 days?
- 3 A student spends 5 hours studying, 2 hours exercising, 3 hours with friends, and 1 hour volunteering in one day. What percentage of these 11 total hours was spent on social relationships?
- 4 Explain why a challenging team project might increase well-being even if it feels stressful at times.