Positive Psychology: Prescriptive or Descriptive?

The book addresses the evolution of psychology in the 20 th century when it shifted from dealing solely with the people could survive under adverse conditions. Before then, it was a stigmatized topic whose attention was mainly about curing mental illnesses. On the onset of positive psychology, the study was broadened to admit other human aspects such as how to make the human lives both productive and fulfilling. It is this advancement that the elements of valued subjective experiences such as contentment, well-being, satisfaction, hope and optimism as well as flow and happiness, particularly in the present. The positive psychology further broke into two groups of descriptive and prescriptive positive psychology. 

Based on the findings of this book that also incorporates the ideas and believes of other scholars, positive psychology is both prescriptive and descriptive. From a prescriptive point of view, individuals seek to find means by which they can improve their well-being and happiness. By developing theories on how to improve happiness and well-being, individuals can invest in their happiness; they know what to do so that they can feel happy and contented whether it is sharing with others or not. On its descriptive perspective, positive psychology again addresses what make happy people happy or why happy people are happy. Positive psychology is both of these because one has to know why something happens and how it happens before applying it. In this cases, as the book states that psychologists are more concerned with describing happiness, it is this description that they will be able to prescribe to people who are not yet happy. For instance, if you describe happiness and the feeling achieved through making other happy, you realize there is happiness in sharing. As a result, you prescribe sharing to people who are willing to achieve similar happiness. While it is obvious that positive psychology is jumping the bandwagon of mindfulness, it is both descriptive and prescriptive.