Sketching Positive Psychology in the Pluralistic Society of India

Abstract

To be happy and lead a joyful life is a human desire and purpose for every individual across the globe. Irrespective of the socio-culture reality of an individual, the purpose of one’s life is often narrowed down to be happy and lead a life which is meaningful. However, it is the difference in the meaning which an individual associates with happiness and ultimately strives for. Not only does this difference exits at the individual level but also amongst the cultures. One of the most quintessential examples of the same is the dichotomy that exists between the eastern world view and western world view pertaining to the notion of happiness. This eventually becomes the basis of the behavioral sciences which enables the psychologists to further understand the nature of the human mind, its functioning and the thoughts that gets translated into the behavior.  It is the eastern world view which construes the beliefs and knowledge given space in Vedas, Puranas and Upanishads, which gives supremacy to the role of consciousness in an individual to achieve the goal of self-realization. And it is the human mind according to the western world view which plays an active role in according meaning to the purpose in one’s life. But what is noteworthy is the fact that both of the worldviews have something unique and significant to offer to the field of the psychology. The recent developments in the field of psychology claiming to be more scientific in their outlooks and drawing parallels with different perspectives of the field, seems to be selectively fit to be applied across the cultures. The latter is the field of positive psychology, with its PERMA model of well-being which aims towards the fostering of well-being and leveraging of academic achievement amongst the learners in the school setting. To analyze the implementation of the same in the Indian educational setting, this paper makes an attempt to analyze the ontological and epistemological premise of positive psychology in the light of humanistic and Indian psychology. Secondly it also analyzes the various predictors of well-being in the Indian context to redefine the transactional strategies pertaining to implementation of positive psychology.