Description of the Applied Positive Psychology Undergraduate Certificate Program at University of Utah
Positive Psychology, a new scientific area in psychology, emphasizes the study of human strengths, positive emotions, and well-being. Applied positive psychology is “the application of positive psychology research to the facilitation of optimal functioning” (Linley & Joseph, 2004a, p. 4). In the proposed undergraduate certificate program, a minimum of 12 required credit hours will focus on applying positive psychology to individual behavior and relationships. In addition, students will choose a minimum of 8 credit hours of electives to apply to areas such as education or the workplace.
Educational Objectives
Educational objectives for the undergraduate certificate include the following: 1) Understanding of theories and research methods in positive psychology and
2) Application of evidence-based research in positive psychology to individual behavior, relationships, and institutions.
Specific skills for individuals include practicing realistic optimism, changing addictive thinking, changing behavior, and quality of life self-coaching. Skills for relationships include intimate relationship assessment and development, forgiveness, anger reduction, and reconstruction after divorce. Skills for professionals include assertiveness training, use of flow and visualization to create optimum work performance, use of meditation for stress reduction, and skills to cope with difficult people.
Purpose of the Certificate
This certificate program provides information about cutting-edge research in positive psychology that can be applied to personal, school, or professional work settings. Principles in this field can positively impact social policy, mental health, and organizations. For example, in “controlled experiments” conducted in the UK, Beijing, and Australia with 2,000 children (both wealthy and poor), 200 teachers and graduate students taught “realistic optimism, assertiveness, and decision-making skills.” Students had “half the rate of depression as they went through puberty” within three years of learning those skills (Seligman, results reported in a Utah seminar in February, 2009).
A certificate in applied positive psychology will allow undergraduate students in any major to enhance their effectiveness in the workplace and may be viewed favorably in hiring decisions. Students practice exercises designed to build human strengths in our positive psychology courses.
A certificate will also provide students with a background in the field that may be useful when applying to graduate programs in applied positive psychology. Vanessa Kettering, an advisor at Claremont Graduate University, indicated that an undergraduate certificate in positive psychology would “demonstrate enthusiasm for the content… and would show that the student was committed to the area” (phone interview, November 23, 2009).
Aaron Boczkowski, an advisor at the University of Pennsylvania, mentioned that an undergraduate certificate in positive psychology would be “factored into the equation” but would not “make or break” a candidate for admission to the master’s program in applied positive psychology. He stated that taking undergraduate coursework in positive psychology would help a student respond to essay questions on the application. Mr. Boczkowski also indicated that students should include a list of courses taken in positive psychology in their applications (phone message, Nov. 24, 2009).
Anthony Grant, Director of the Coaching Psychology Unit at the University of Sydney (Australia) responded to the question about the value of an undergraduate certificate: “We would certainly value an undergraduate certificate in positive psychology if it were held by an applicant to our positive psychology or coaching psychology postgraduate degree programs. However, a key component of our admission criteria is work experience and personal maturity and specifically work experience in coaching and applied positive psychology. So, whist such a qualification would be perceived favourably, a student without the requisite work experience would not be admitted even though they held such an award. However, if two applicants both had the same work experience and one also held your award we would chose the applicant with the award” (email dated December 1, 2009).
Patricia Petty, Manager of the Master of Positive Organizational Development program at Case Western Reserve University, responded to the question of the value of an undergraduate certificate: “We would consider anyone with a background in Positive Psych for acceptance in our MPOD program, certificate or bachelors, but our focus would be on their number of years experience. Because we require five to seven years of working experience, our cohorts usually consist of students whose average age is 38-40 years old. The youngest in the cohort is usually around 27 years old, unless there are extenuating circumstances… if an applicant worked in a managerial role throughout their undergraduate years and showed evidence of what we feel would give them the benefit of a full experience in our program” (email dated January 11, 2010).
Number of Credits The number of proposed credits is 20 credit hours, which is the minimum requirement in the University Policy 6-116 (Undergraduate Certificates).
Careers in Positive Psychology
A growing number of professionals from varying backgrounds have decided to pursue training in applied positive psychology and a certificate in coaching. Lawyers, business managers, mental health professionals, HR trainers, and sports psychologists are among the types of professionals interested in adding training in applied positive psychology and coaching to their expertise. A new career specialty is a positive psychology coach. Harvard Medical School hosts an Institute of Coaching, an Annual Coaching Conference, and a new professional journal called COACHING: An International Journal of Theory, Research & Practice. At Harvard’s Institute of Coaching, $100,000 is awarded in yearly grants to researchers and graduate students.
Please see http://www.cgu.edu/include/Org_Careers.pdf
for new careers in Positive Organizational Psychology.
Advantage of Undergraduate Preparation in Applied Positive Psychology
In the Global Well-Being Summit Conference in October, 2007, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a “founding father” of Positive Psychology and professor at Claremont Graduate University shared a concern about the pool of doctoral candidates hoping to be the first students in CGU’s new doctoral programs in positive psychology (http://www.cgu.edu/
). He mentioned that the first group of applicants seemed more interested in applying happiness principles to their own lives than in contributing to new research in the field. If undergraduate students have a chance to apply positive psychology to their personal lives, relationships, education, and professions before graduate school, they may be better prepared for the academic focus and rigor of research-oriented programs.
Standards for Completion
Students will have a minimum GPA of 2.0 for 20 credit hours and must pass a comprehensive essay exam (a proctored written exam) with a C grade at the end of their program.
Graduate Programs in Positive Psychology at Other Universities
Master’s Programs Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP), University of Pennsylvania MSc Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP), University of East London M.A. in Positive Developmental Psychology and Evaluation, Claremont Graduate Univ. CA M.A. in Positive Organizational Psychology and Evaluation, Claremont Graduate Univ. CA Master of Science in Positive Organizational Development, Case Western Reserve University, OH
Ph.D. Programs Ph.D. in Positive Developmental Psychology, Claremont Graduate University, CA Ph.D. in Posit
There is freedom in awareness. Recovery is a gradual process.
Positive Psychology, a new scientific area in psychology, emphasizes the study of human strengths, positive emotions, and well-being. Applied positive psychology is “the application of positive psychology research to the facilitation of optimal functioning” (Linley & Joseph, 2004a, p. 4). In the proposed undergraduate certificate program, a minimum of 12 required credit hours will focus on applying positive psychology to individual behavior and relationships. In addition, students will choose a minimum of 8 credit hours of electives to apply to areas such as education or the workplace.
Educational Objectives
Educational objectives for the undergraduate certificate include the following: 1) Understanding of theories and research methods in positive psychology and
2) Application of evidence-based research in positive psychology to individual behavior, relationships, and institutions.
Specific skills for individuals include practicing realistic optimism, changing addictive thinking, changing behavior, and quality of life self-coaching. Skills for relationships include intimate relationship assessment and development, forgiveness, anger reduction, and reconstruction after divorce. Skills for professionals include assertiveness training, use of flow and visualization to create optimum work performance, use of meditation for stress reduction, and skills to cope with difficult people.
Purpose of the Certificate
This certificate program provides information about cutting-edge research in positive psychology that can be applied to personal, school, or professional work settings. Principles in this field can positively impact social policy, mental health, and organizations. For example, in “controlled experiments” conducted in the UK, Beijing, and Australia with 2,000 children (both wealthy and poor), 200 teachers and graduate students taught “realistic optimism, assertiveness, and decision-making skills.” Students had “half the rate of depression as they went through puberty” within three years of learning those skills (Seligman, results reported in a Utah seminar in February, 2009).
A certificate in applied positive psychology will allow undergraduate students in any major to enhance their effectiveness in the workplace and may be viewed favorably in hiring decisions. Students practice exercises designed to build human strengths in our positive psychology courses.
A certificate will also provide students with a background in the field that may be useful when applying to graduate programs in applied positive psychology. Vanessa Kettering, an advisor at Claremont Graduate University, indicated that an undergraduate certificate in positive psychology would “demonstrate enthusiasm for the content… and would show that the student was committed to the area” (phone interview, November 23, 2009).
Aaron Boczkowski, an advisor at the University of Pennsylvania, mentioned that an undergraduate certificate in positive psychology would be “factored into the equation” but would not “make or break” a candidate for admission to the master’s program in applied positive psychology. He stated that taking undergraduate coursework in positive psychology would help a student respond to essay questions on the application. Mr. Boczkowski also indicated that students should include a list of courses taken in positive psychology in their applications (phone message, Nov. 24, 2009).
Anthony Grant, Director of the Coaching Psychology Unit at the University of Sydney (Australia) responded to the question about the value of an undergraduate certificate: “We would certainly value an undergraduate certificate in positive psychology if it were held by an applicant to our positive psychology or coaching psychology postgraduate degree programs. However, a key component of our admission criteria is work experience and personal maturity and specifically work experience in coaching and applied positive psychology. So, whist such a qualification would be perceived favourably, a student without the requisite work experience would not be admitted even though they held such an award. However, if two applicants both had the same work experience and one also held your award we would chose the applicant with the award” (email dated December 1, 2009).
Patricia Petty, Manager of the Master of Positive Organizational Development program at Case Western Reserve University, responded to the question of the value of an undergraduate certificate: “We would consider anyone with a background in Positive Psych for acceptance in our MPOD program, certificate or bachelors, but our focus would be on their number of years experience. Because we require five to seven years of working experience, our cohorts usually consist of students whose average age is 38-40 years old. The youngest in the cohort is usually around 27 years old, unless there are extenuating circumstances… if an applicant worked in a managerial role throughout their undergraduate years and showed evidence of what we feel would give them the benefit of a full experience in our program” (email dated January 11, 2010).
Number of Credits The number of proposed credits is 20 credit hours, which is the minimum requirement in the University Policy 6-116 (Undergraduate Certificates).
Careers in Positive Psychology
A growing number of professionals from varying backgrounds have decided to pursue training in applied positive psychology and a certificate in coaching. Lawyers, business managers, mental health professionals, HR trainers, and sports psychologists are among the types of professionals interested in adding training in applied positive psychology and coaching to their expertise. A new career specialty is a positive psychology coach. Harvard Medical School hosts an Institute of Coaching, an Annual Coaching Conference, and a new professional journal called COACHING: An International Journal of Theory, Research & Practice. At Harvard’s Institute of Coaching, $100,000 is awarded in yearly grants to researchers and graduate students.
Please see http://www.cgu.edu/include/Org_Careers.pdf
for new careers in Positive Organizational Psychology.
Advantage of Undergraduate Preparation in Applied Positive Psychology
In the Global Well-Being Summit Conference in October, 2007, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a “founding father” of Positive Psychology and professor at Claremont Graduate University shared a concern about the pool of doctoral candidates hoping to be the first students in CGU’s new doctoral programs in positive psychology (http://www.cgu.edu/
). He mentioned that the first group of applicants seemed more interested in applying happiness principles to their own lives than in contributing to new research in the field. If undergraduate students have a chance to apply positive psychology to their personal lives, relationships, education, and professions before graduate school, they may be better prepared for the academic focus and rigor of research-oriented programs.
Standards for Completion
Students will have a minimum GPA of 2.0 for 20 credit hours and must pass a comprehensive essay exam (a proctored written exam) with a C grade at the end of their program.
Graduate Programs in Positive Psychology at Other Universities
Master’s Programs Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP), University of Pennsylvania MSc Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP), University of East London M.A. in Positive Developmental Psychology and Evaluation, Claremont Graduate Univ. CA M.A. in Positive Organizational Psychology and Evaluation, Claremont Graduate Univ. CA Master of Science in Positive Organizational Development, Case Western Reserve University, OH
Ph.D. Programs Ph.D. in Positive Developmental Psychology, Claremont Graduate University, CA Ph.D. in Posit
There is freedom in awareness. Recovery is a gradual process.
Great article!
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