Roughly+Draft

This is what I have written so far. It comes from the middle of my paper. Also please exuse the strange parenthetic citations (and the fact that the wiki messes up the my paragraph spacing...)! -> Before delving deeper into the intriguing topic of flow, and how it can help high school students with stress, it is important to understand the context in which flow is most often applied. The context is that of Positive Psychology. 130127223013012722301301272230130127223013012722301301272230 In the mid-1980s, a man named Martin Seligman was weeding the garden of his spacious Philadelphia home, accompanied by his five-year-old daughter Nikki. Martin, being a very practical and goal-oriented man, became quickly annoyed to find his young daughter gleefully throwing weeds up into the air and twirling around. Martin proceeded to yell at her and the girl quickly walked away, only to come back moments later. The subsequent conversation proceeded as followed:

“Daddy, I want to talk to you.” “Yes, Nikki?” “Daddy, do you remember before my fifth birthday? From the time I was three to the time I was five, I was a whiner. I whined every day. When I turned five, I decided not to whine any- more. That was the hardest thing I've ever done. And if I can stop whining, you can stop being such a grouch. (Oxford handbook 2002, 4)" This conversation ignited a spark the mind of Martin Seligman, a spark that recalibrated the path of psychology in the decades to come. 1301272203130127220313012722031301272203130127220313012722031301272203user:JKramer92 From the end of World War II up until the late 1980s, the primary concern of psychology was pathology, disease, mental illness (ox 2002). This was a mammoth up-taking, an admirable task. And in this time, massive strides were made. 14 identified mental disorders became treatable, and two curable (TED, seligman). However, in the first years of Martin Seligman's presidency at the American Psychological Association, the aforementioned exchange with his daughter convinced him that this was not nearly enough. Psychology had lost sight of two of its most fundamental goals: increasing fulfillment and productivity in the average person's life, and fostering genius and high talent (ox 2002). Seligman believed that psychology should be as concerned with human strength as with human weakness, as concerned with human flourishing as with human suffering, and as concerned with positivity and optimism as with negativity and pessimism (Happiness article). In 1988, Martin Seligman put this beliefs into action by founding the discipline which he called positive psychology (find reference). He sought to add a new chapter of positivity, optimism, strength, and flourishing to the study of psychology. In Seligman's own words, "the main purpose of positive psychology is to measure, understand, and then build the human strengths and the civic virtues. (psych packet)" A formal definition of positive psychology is "the scientific study of optimal human functioning; aims to discover and promote strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive. (psych packet)" The fundamental difference between conventional psychology (from the mid 1940s to the 1980s) and positive psychology is often portrayed through the number-scale analogy (TED Seligman). From the mid-1940s to the late 1980s, conventional psychology's major aim was helping people move from the negative numbers (representative mental disease, pathology, trauma, etc and) to zero (representative of freedom from mental disease, pathology, trauma, etc.). However, Seligman himself noted that even once the venerable and arduous task of freeing someone from mental illness is accomplished, the patient clearly leads a contented and fulfilled life afterwards, but is rather fairly empty. In contrast, positive psychology's major aim is helping people progress from zero to the positive (no pun intended) numbers. Its aim is to liberate people from relatively empty lives, by focusing on and fostering their strengths to add increased fulfillment, purpose, and productivity to people's lives.