Resumo

PRIETO-URSUA, María. Positive Psychology: a controversial fashion. Clínica y Salud [online]. 2006, vol.17, n.3, pp.319-338. ISSN 2174-0550.

Csikszentmihalyi (2003) states that new ideas can die from opposition or from non-critical acceptance and that there is a real danger that positive psychology becomes an ideological movement. The aim of this paper is to bring up the debate spurred by this approach, and to give the reader the opportunity to share the reflections held about the possibilities and shortcomings of positive psychology. A number of issues are dealt with, such as the pretended novelty of the topic, the lack of acknowledgement for prior research on the topic and its still poor scientific standards (i.e., poor definitions, the need to clarify correlations between variables, the lack of a coherent theoretical framework, the need of better research designs, etc.). Also, there is a danger of dichotomizing and oversimplifying human experience, a risk of overemphasizing the positive side and losing sight of other side of the world, and the creation of needs in people. Finally, there is a discussion about the overlap between positive psychology goals and issues and those of health psychology.

Palavras-chave : Positive psychology; Criticism.

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