Being a new branch of psychology, positive psychology complements traditional psychology. Psychology mainly deals with the study of understanding the collective behavior of individuals as a group or behavior of the individual. The branch of experimental psychology is a scientific study that does not deny the value of learning how things go wrong, but emphasized the value of utilizing the scientific method of determining why things go wrong. Experimental psychology therefore, deals with the scientific study of enabling communities, organizations and individuals to thrive and flourish.
Recently, there has been substantial interest globally, in psychology as it touches on its application in the professional environment, work as well as personal environment. Scholars in this field study topics like groups or individual’s values, talents, virtues and further identifying ways in which these can be improved by government, social systems and/or institutions.
Various universities are now offering programs in psychology. University of Pennsylvania, the Psychology Center is famed to have been the world’s 1st university to offer psychology degree program. They have advanced this with offering a masters degree. In a recent lecture given by Dr. James Pawelski of the Center for Applied Psychology at the University, experimental psychology courses consists of monthly classes together with online work. These psychology classes can be taken without interfering with one’s career work. This psychology course looks at the experimental study of strength-base character, positive emotions as well as healthy institutions. It counsels the learner in the use of the experimental psychology in their specific professional environment. The Claremont Graduate University also offers a Masters and PhD program in experimental psychology in its School of Behavioral Organizational Sciences.
Topics in this course include goals and objectives, the meaning and also self-concordance, psychological and subjective welfare, the flourishing versus languishing dichotomy, build and broaden theories, the experimental psychology study in organizations, peak performance and the psychology surrounding this, resilience in humans, flow, mental robustness and the psychology, social cognitive matters in coaching behavioral change and philosophy of human happiness. This program gives importance o both practical application as well as theoretical understanding and learners should contribute in group debates and discussions. They are also expected to the experimental psychology notes to own life experiences. Other universities also offer short courses of the program.
Text books for this program are availed by the University offering the program. These can however, be bought online at Amazon.com. Research books offer great reading resources. They include Learned Optimism and The Optimistic Child both by Seligman, Authentic Happiness: Using the New Experimental Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment also by Seligman, and Character Strengths and Virtues A Handbook and Classification by Christopher Peterson and Seligman. These books are relatively inexpensive and may cost between 9 US dollars to 20 US dollars. Various scientific publications are also helpful in this study. Some of these scientific publications date back to 1999 and constitute a healthy resource for the study of experimental psychology.
Related Resources
Free Experimental Psychology textbooks and relevant material can be found here.