Review
"As positive psychology enters its second decade as a formally-christened perspective, it is important to take stock and also to plan ahead. The present volume accordingly deserves a place on the bookshelf (and desk) of everyone concerned with the scientific study of what makes life worth living."
- Christopher Peterson, Professor of Psychology, University of Michigan
"I couldn't put this book down! The chapters demonstrate a rare uniformity of excellence - replete with rigorous review and critique of theory, empirical research, thoughtful commentary, and provocative suggestions. After a decade of being described as an 'emerging' field,' positive psychology is maturing and coming into its own. This important volume offers an unparalleled glimpse into state-of-the-art research, theory, and applications in positive psychology - from past, present, and future. This fantastic book should be required reading for anyone - researchers and laypeople alike - interested in flourishing individuals, institutions, and societies."
- Sonja Lyubomirsky, Professor of Psychology, University of California, Riverside
"One of the most important books to appear in positive psychology,
Designing Positive Psychology offers thoughtful presentations of what we have learned so far, the limits of our knowledge, and where we need to go next in the field. Anyone who wants to be a master of the science of positive psychology must read this authoritative, up-to-date, and thorough volume." --Ed Diener, Joseph R. Smiley Distinguished Professor of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Editor, Perspectives on Psychological Science
Consistent with Kashdan and Steger's introductory aims for the book (Chapter 2), I believe
this book does present a useful overview of "what we know and . . . where positive
psychology needs to go in the future in order to best realize its huge potential" (p. 19). The
book also succeeds in enhancing the "conceptual complexity" of positive psychology and its
"underlying connectivity to the broader research base of psychology" (p. 19). -- Michael Hogan, PsycCRITIQUES
About the Author
Kennon M. Sheldon is Professor of Psychology at the University of Missouri. He hopscotched the country, from Virginia to Seattle to California to Rochester NY, and is now ensconced in the middle, in Missouri. He has been involved in the positive psychology movement since its inception in Akumal, Mexico, in 1999, and is an author of the positive psychology manifesto, which helped guide the contributors to this book. He has three children. His wife is an evolutionary psychologist who keeps him on his toes.
Todd Kashdan is Director of the Laboratory for the Study of Social Anxiety, Character Strengths, and Related Phenomena at George Mason University. Kashdan is devoted to conducting cutting edge science, educating the public about science, maintaining some semblance of a once athletic body, and sharing and expanding his world with the three women in his life, Sarah, Chloe, and Raven. To date, he has published over 100 articles and book chapters and made over 100 presentations at scientific conferences. His most recent book is Curious? Discover the Missing Ingredient to a Fulfilling Life.
Michael Steger is Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Colorado State University. He is fascinated with what makes life worth living, and learning how people overcome the factors that can make life miserable at times. He practices savoring every chance he gets to wander into the Colorado mountains, and reminds himself what really matters by spending a good quantity of good quality time with his family. Most of his research has focused on living a meaningful life, and he tries to enact what this research shows in his own life. Steger's next co-edited book seeks to apply what we know about meaning to people's work lives (Purpose and Meaning in the Workplace).
