For this post I wanted to reflect on a recent article by Carol Ryff ‘Positive Psychology: Looking Back and Looking Forward’ (2022) which is a timely and needed article about the state of research and the need to expand its focus into the inequalities, greed, and stupidity which drives the inequalities in society. It is so important to have challenges in research and practice to prevent naval gazing and myopic self-serving behaviours that occur when we are too inwardly focused.
The article by Ryff made me think of all the areas of society which impact us every day yet we are not included as variables in research studies or discussed with clients in organisations or in the practitioners’ offices. My curiosity and quite frankly excitement at the fun of being a deviant (!!) led me to think about how we can become more deviant and take positive psychology into the next phase, and in doing so address these unspoken areas. I look at the practical ways we can be positively and productively deviant and suggest how Appreciative Inquiry might be one way to bring deviance into practice.
This is not a fluffy post, but I hope it gives you food for thought and permission to use your courage to challenge the status quo and be positively deviant!
Ryff’s article
Carol Ryff is known for developing the Psychological Wellbeing model and measure (https://sparqtools.org/mobility-measure/psychological-wellbeing-scale/), and for her involvement in the longitudinal study of health and wellbeing called the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) Study (https://www.midus.wisc.edu/). Ryff is a well-known name in positive psychology despite not considering herself a positive psychologist.
As a positive psychology practitioner and researcher myself who completed the MAPP at BNU in 2018, I have had my own concerns with the heavily commercialised approach to positive psychology (PP). On the one hand, the sharing of PP research means it is accessible to all, but on the other hand, commercialisation means it can be easily used without the necessary scientific understanding that a practitioner needs to keep clients safe. Ryff uses the metaphor of “the for-profit cart has gotten seriously ahead of the scientific horse” (p.7, 2022).
These are concerns that all of us who are ethical practitioners and researchers should pay attention to. But for now my interest is in the second point that Ryff makes, which is that we have spent too much time being WEIRD. What I mean by this is we are using research participants which look like us, speak like us, and behave like us. We use Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, and Democratic societies to test out theories. I was particularly interested in her view that we should not only be studying the inequalities more often but that we should also understand the greed and stupidity which is keeping the inequalities in place. In other words, those of us who fit into the WEIRD category are also contributing to the inequalities and greed which is driving it.
Positive Deviance
The term positive deviance is a behaviour which is different to the norm and is usually considered unacceptable (Baxter & Lawton, 2022). As a society, we like to set ‘rules’ and ‘expectations’ of those around us and when someone goes against that we will tut! Where the ‘positive’ comes in is the fact that many of these so-called deviant behaviours successfully make a positive difference to the environment. These behaviours are later recognised as the catalyst of positive change, of finding new innovative solutions. It starts off being somewhat out of order from what is accepted but is soon recognised as a solution to a complex problem.
Positive Psychology Deviance
Some might say that Ryff’s article is positively deviant: it challenges the comfortable space of positive psychology and has the potential to encourage brave voices to come out and do something different. Without the rebellious voices we are doomed to keep repeating the same things with little impact. But this deviance is needed across all research. The reductionist approach assumes that research topics can be reduced to simple variables, but the complexity of the social system is often then ignored. Lomas et al. (2020) raised this need for positive psychology to include systemic and complex problems in its research, and Ryff (2022) too raises the need for understanding these complex and often messy problems.
How to be Deviant
Baxter and Lawton (2022) offer a practical model to find and understand deviant behaviour in healthcare settings.
- Define the problem and desired outcome
- Determine the presence of positive deviance
- Discover uncommon but replicable behaviours
- Design interventions around the positive deviance
- Discern the effectiveness of the deviance
- Disseminate the behaviour out to others
You may notice, however, that this still uses a problem perspective.
The Appreciative Inquiry (AI) process, developed by David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva, includes a 5-D cycle of change (https://appreciativeinquiry.champlain.edu/learn/appreciative-inquiry-introduction/5-d-cycle-appreciative-inquiry/) which embraces the positives and possibilities.
- Definition of the focus of inquiry
- Discover what works now
- Dream of what could be
- Design how to bring it to life
- Destiny is creating what will be
AI starts with acknowledging the good already in place and dreams big for what is possible. Here the positive deviance can run free and wild, with no shame or discomfort of being ‘reigned in’. Rather than focus on the ‘good’ that is part of the traditional WEIRD system, it should be used to celebrate the ‘good’ in the under-represented groups, and used to celebrate those who refuse to be quiet in the face of inequality.
Back to Ryff’s Article
So how can we step up to Ryff’s challenge and make sure positive psychology deals with the inequalities and addresses the greed and stupidity of the WEIRD dominance? Positive psychology needs to pay attention to the diversity in society. Using tools such as AI it could explore the possibilities of what a society that is free of inequality looks like. Ryff (2022) encourages inclusion of the arts and nature as part of this process. I would also encourage researchers and practitioners to push the boundaries towards new ideas and creative approaches which will highlight the inequalities and offer new possibilities.
References
Baxter, R. & Lawton, R. (2022). The Positive Deviance Approach. Cambridge University Press. doi.org/10.1017/9781009237130
Lomas, T., Waters, L., Williams, P., Oades, L.G. & Kern, M.L. (2020). Third wave positive psychology: broadening towards complexity. The Journal of Positive Psychology. doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2020.1805501
Ryff, C. (2022). Positive Psychology: Looking Back and Looking Forward. Frontiers In Psychology, Volume 13. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.840062
Read more about Lisa Jones and her other articles HERE