Limitations of Positive Psychology in the Workplace

by Chris Deziel Google

The work environment is more pleasant and production increases when everyone keeps a positive attitude. A management strategy focusing on a Positive Psychology model can help foster such an attitude, but it can backfire if taken too far. It's always important to remember that real life is a balance of positive and negative attitudes and influences, and suppressing the negative in favor of the positive can have undesirable and counterproductive consequences.


Positive Psychology studies the qualities that enable individuals and communities to thrive, rather than focusing on the weaknesses and failings that lead to failure. In his 2002 book "Authentic Happiness," Martin Seligman, Ph.D., describes the approach and many of the findings of this study. Positive Psychology differs from positive thinking in that it does not recommend a positive approach to all situations, recognizing the appropriateness of negative or realistic attitudes in certain circumstances. Many of the findings of Positive Psychology are common-sense ones, and many have relevance to the workplace. For example, when income is above the poverty level, wealth and happiness are only loosely related.

Positive Psychology and the Workplace

One important finding that relates to the workplace is that working in a "flow" can be so rewarding that people are willing to do it for its own sake. People experience this sense of flow when they are able to fully utilize their abilities for the task at hand. Researchers have also documented that people who feel and express gratitude are more optimistic and will make more progress toward achieving their goals. Moreover, people have a natural resilience that allows them to develop under conditions of heightened adversity, and can experience positive emotions simply by witnessing the success of a co-worker.

The Danger of Supressing Negativity

While Dr. Seligman and others found that positive emotion can counteract the effects of negative emotion and even combat physical illness, Positive Psychology also recognizes that happiness for its own sake is an elusive goal, and seeking it can lead to unhappiness. That pursuit, says psychoanalyst Mauri-Lynne Heller, can cause a person to suppress certain emotional content that may be informative and important, but that a person interprets as negative or nonproductive. Rather than going away, that emotional material retreats into the subconscious and may surface at inappropriate moments. It may, for example, cause an overreaction to constructive criticism, or an inability to integrate it.

Risk Assessment

Balanced thinking that includes negative and positive considerations is often more accurate than an overly optimistic approach that can lead to inaccurate risk assessment. A person who errs on the side of optimism may be in a commendably positive state of mind, but may also be simply naive or gullible. Envisioning the downside of a business transaction or relationship is a prudent strategy, not only because it allows for assessment of all the variables in a realistic manner, but because it allows those involved to be prepared should things fail to work out in the best way possible.

About the Author


Photo Credits

  • Polka Dot RF/Polka Dot/Getty Images
Suggest an Article Correction