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Selected Positive Psychology Books

Adaptation to Life by George Vaillant

By George Vaillant

Adaptation to Life, poses fundamental questions about the individual differences in confronting life's stresses. Why do some of us cope so well with the portion life offers us, while others, who have had similar advantages (or disadvantages), cope badly or not at all? Are there ways we can effectively alter those patterns of behavior that make us unhappy, unhealthy, and unwise? George Vaillant discusses these and other questions in terms of a clearly defined scheme of "adaptive mechanisms" that are rated mature, neurotic, immature, or psychotic, and illustrates, with case histories, each method of coping.

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The Pursuit of Perfect: How to Stop Chasing Perfection and Start Living a Richer, Happier Life by Tal Ben-Shahar

By Tal Ben-Shahar

Applying cutting-edge research in the field of positive psychology, Ben-Shahar takes us off the impossible pursuit of perfection and directs us to the way to happiness, richness, and true fulfillment. He shows us the freedom derived from not trying to do it all right all the time and the real lessons that failure and painful emotions can teach us.

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Choose the Life You Want: The Mindful Way to Happiness by Tal Ben-Shahar

By Tal Ben-Shahar

Drawing on the latest psychological research, Ben-Shahar shows how making the right choices—not the big, once-in-a-lifetime choices, but the countless small choices we make every day almost without noticing—has a direct, long-lasting impact on our happiness. Every single moment is an opportunity to make a conscious choice for a happy and fulfilled life. Choose the Life You Want covers 101 such choices, complete with real-life stories, to help you identify and act on opportunities large and small.

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Positive Leadership: Strategies for Extraordinary Performance by Kim Cameron

By Kim Cameron

Positive Leadership shows how to reach beyond ordinary success to achieve extraordinary effectiveness, spectacular results, and what Kim Cameron calls “positively deviant performance”—performance far above the norm. Citing a wide range of research in organizational behavior, medical science, and psychology as well as real-world examples, Cameron shows that to achieve exceptional success, leaders must emphasize strengths rather than simply focus on weaknesses; foster virtuous actions such as compassion, gratitude, and forgiveness; encourage contribution goals in addition to achievement goals; and enable meaningfulness in work. In this concise, inspiring, and practical guide, Cameron describes four positive leadership strategies, lays out a proven process for implementing them, and includes a self-assessment instrument.

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Well-Being: The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology

Editted by Daniel Kahneman, Ed Diener and  Norbert Schwarz

This book is a collection of the research on defining and measuring hedonic psychology and subjective well-being.

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How to be a Positive Leader by Jane Dutton, Gretchen Spreitzer, and Shawn Achor

By Jane Dutton, Gretchen SSpreitzer, and Shawn Achor

Positive leaders are able to dramatically expand their people’s—and their own—capacity for excellence. And they accomplish this without enormous expenditures or huge heroic gestures. Here leading scholars—including Adam Grant, author of the bestselling Give and Take; positive organizational scholarship movement cofounders Kim Cameron and Robert Quinn; and thirteen more—describe how this is being done at companies such as Wells Fargo, Ford, Kelly Services, Burt’s Bees, Connecticut’s Griffin Hospital, the Michigan-based Zingerman’s Community of Businesses, and many others. They show that, like the butterfly in Brazil whose flapping wings create a typhoon in Texas, you can create profound positive change in your organization through simple actions and attitude shifts

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Gratitude Works!: A 21-Day Program for Creating Emotional Prosperity by Robert A. Emmons

By Robert A. Emmons

This book explores evidence-based practices in a compelling and accessible way and provides a step-by-step guide to cultivating gratitude in people’s lives. Gratitude Works! is filled with practical tips for fostering gratitude as a way of life and includes scientific research as well as religious and philosophical insights to show how gratitude can work in our lives.

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Understanding Emotions by Dacher Keltner, Keith Oatley, Jennifer M. Jenkins

By Dacher Keltner, Keith Oatley and Jennifer M. Jenkins

The 3rd edition of Understanding Emotions emphasizes the value of emotions and explores the latest research with practical concerns for clinical problems, education and everyday understanding. The text extends across abroad range of disciplines and covers the entire lifespan from infancy to adulthood. It includes sections on the study of emotion, the different elements of emotion, evidence of how emotions govern and organize social life, and emotion and individual functioning, including psychological disorders and well-being.

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The Psychology of Courage: Modern Research on an Ancient Virtue by Cynthia Pury and Shane Lopez

By Cynthia Pury and Shane Lopez

From the mundane to the most heroic feats, this book synthesizes recent advances in our understanding of the psychology of courageous actions and related prosocial behaviors.

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Positively Happy: Routes to Sustainable Happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky and Jaime Kurtz

By Sonja Lyubomirsky and Jaime Kurtz

In this book, experts Jaime Kurtz and best-selling author Sonja Lyubomirsky provide a crash course in increasing personal happiness. They offer a variety of happiness self-tests, specific tools for boosting happiness, and a research based argument that pursuing happiness is beneficial. These workbooks introduce readers to a variety of solid science and useful tools for improving life, relationships, and overall mental health.

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