Insight or data: Using non-scientific sources to teach positive psychology

摘要

Teaching positive psychology is a fascinating experience, in part because many of the issues it addresses are fundamental questions about living. One advantage of taking an interdisciplinary approach is that instructors can help students balance the valuable insights gained from the non-empirical literature on well-being with those gained from science. Positive psychology is distinctive, however, because its findings result from empirical investigation. Any inclusion of non-scientific sources should thus be accompanied with the caveat that claims about happiness need to be backed up with evidence. We discuss how positive psychology instructors can incorporate non-empirical material (from philosophy, the self-help literature, and religious) in their classes, while encouraging their students to think critically about them.