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PERMA model

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PERMA model

Introduction

PERMA is a psychology model developed by renowned psychologist, Martin Seligman. Seligman published his work in 2011 in a book called Flourish.  The acronym “PERMA” stands to represent five key components to enable people to experience long-lasting wellness. According to Seligman, five building blocks enable people to flourish. These components include Positive emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning and finally, Accomplishment. Seligman recognized that people should present their best of versions so that they can live a meaningful life. They have to grow their strengths and capacities so that they can experience total love and compassion, creativity in what they do, resilience, wisdom, and curiosity in their work. As a result, he came up with the PERMA model(Yerbury & Boyd, 2019). He noted that people would develop their Wellbeing differently from each of the five components of PERMA to varying degrees. Seligman (2011) noted that the PERMA model provides what people seek to derive an adequate sense of Wellbeing, satisfaction as well as fulfilment that can assist people in finding the true meaning of life.  This paper will critically evaluate the various components of PERMA and come up with a SMART goals plan of Wellbeing based on at least three components of PERMA.

Main Components of the PERMA model

Positive emotions

Positive emotions is one of the components of the PERMA model By Martin Seligman. Positive emotions are mainly concerned on feeling good. It is a path to Wellbeing and happiness. For one to experience total Wellbeing one has to encourage the power of positive emotions in their lives. Positive emotions such as a feeling of peace, satisfaction, inspiration, curiosity, and pleasure can be described as positive emotions. The major goal of this component in PERMA model is that it encourages one to have positive emotions about their past, positive emotions about the present and positive emotions about the future (Yerbury & Boyd, 2019). This component of PERMA should be applied in conjunction with other components of the model to experience total Wellbeing.

Engagement

This is a severe component and tenet of PERMA. It is mainly about the experience where someone can fully use their skills, strengths and focus on any challenging task.  Mihaly (2013) notes that people engaging themselves in these activities will get an experience known as “flow”. This experience happens when one’s skills become sufficient for any challenging task they embark on.  Tasks and experiences that satisfy one’s need for engagement tend to fill the human body with positive neurotransmitters and hormones. These elements fulfil one’s sense of Wellbeing. Seligman (2011) encourages people to undertake engaging tasks since they are crucial in helping us synthesize these activities; hence one can find calm, focus and a sense of Wellbeing.  It is important to note that different people find a sense of Wellbeing in various things, whether it is playing a musical instrument, engaging in a sport, or working on a challenging but exciting project (Yerbury & Boyd, 2019).t. In creating this model, Seligman noted the need to have an activity in our lives that will engage us in the current moments, thus creating the “flow” effect into our system. These flow effects because of engagement stretch our intelligence, skills as well as emotional capabilities.  The flow event can be created in various activities such as playing musical instruments, writing, gardening, sports, work tasks etc.

Relationships

Relationships are key to a person’s Wellbeing. The positive experiences that lead to one’s Wellbeing are usually amplified by engaging in positive relationships.  Psychological health and Happiness are closely associated with having meaningful, positive relationships (Yerbury & Boyd, 2019).  Building positive social relationships with new people as well as maintaining long-standing relationships with peers, parents, extended family and siblings can create a sense of positive emotions and social support. Past studies have shown that one crucial importance of social networks is that they create a sense of happiness, laughter and cheer in one’s life thus improving one’s overall sense of Wellbeing (Yerbury & Boyd, 2019).  It is therefore important to note that human beings thrive on an environment with social connections that encourage love, intimacy as well as strong emotional interactions with other human beings.

Empirical Research on components of PERMA

Measuring Wellbeing in students

Recent studies have given several reasons for the need to apply PERMA in education. A positive education approach is crucial to the youth in order to get the desired education approach. This would greatly serve as a pathway to promotion of learning and creativity, life satisfaction, promotion of civic citizenship and enhancing social cohesion. (Seligman, 2009). PERMA has been tested and proven that it is crucial for positive education since it introduces students to self-enquiry and management of one’s mental health from an early age. This enables them to have long-term benefits as the students’ progress into adulthood with better self-awareness, as well as emotional intelligence (Walters, 2015). In addition, the positive psychological characteristics derived from embracing positive education contributes to excellent academic achievement, less risky behaviors and better overall health in adult years. (Caprara et al, 2011).  Because of these benefits of positive education, institutions centers have been urged to consider supporting students’ Wellbeing through initiating various Wellbeing based programs.  Research in the field have suggested that a person’s Wellbeing is best suited by profiling several factors in a person rather than a single factor.

There are several theoretical and practical benefits for approaching Wellbeing as multidimensional need across various life domains including students’ education. On a theoretical perspective, Wellbeing is an abstract construct that encompass a sense of Wellbeing and functioning well. The research emphasis that Wellbeing cannot be a single measure, but it should comprise several aspects that are measurable (Seligman, 2011). It is important to note that multidimensional measures of a person’s Wellbeing are directly correlated with life satisfaction.  For instance, in a comparative research across several European countries, France and Spain had an equal score in their overall Wellbeing, but France had a higher score in engagement, self-esteem but low competence levels.

The study also noted that positive constructs might differ in terms of influence and outcomes of interest. For instance, in a positive psychological review wellbeing and cardiovascular results discovered that optimism accurately predicted a low risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality.  Empirically, wellbeing metrics can accurately identify person’s strengths and weaknesses, in the education sector for instance, the overall GPA show the overall achievement of a student but it ignores the individual academic subjects where the students may be struggling (Tansey et al, 2017). On the other hand, assessing Wellbeing should go beyond global assessment to provide the teachers with information on domains in which students thrive and struggle. It is an established fact that some students would need to dial up in their sense of meaning while others would need to up their sense of positive emotions or improve their relationships score.

Workplace happiness

Workplace happiness and Wellbeing are two intertwined areas. It has been a popular area of research for the last two decades in both academic and business arenas (Goodman et al, 2018). Organizations have been striving to find out how positive psychology can make workplaces more engaging and motivating. This study has investigated the correlation between teachers’ psychological Wellbeing and their success at work through a concept called psychological capital. The study applied both qualitative and quantitated methods so as to understand better the relationship between the various wellbeing factors (Kern, 2015). The quantitative results showed that workplaces wellbeing and happiness were closely related with positive psychology: mainly hope and optimism. This study concluded that employee’s Wellbeing must embrace the concept of positive contributing ingredients and use a positive approach to promotion of Wellbeing.

Wellbeing application in economic policy

This study focused on the role of Wellbeing of citizens in designing and designing of a country’s economic and public policies. The study noted that the science of psychological Wellbeing is theoretically, and empirically sufficient to use wellbeing indicators in the place of economic indicators in measuring the advancement of a country (Kun, Balogh & Krasz, 2017). Since 2000s, several countries have had efforts to use overall wellbeing models to measure national Wellbeing.  It is noted that since Wellbeing is the overall goal of any country, then multidimensional measures should be applied in supplementing economic indicators to accurately measure how well a nation is performing (Khaw & Kern, 2014). The study indicated that public policy measures quantitative matters of the economy but fail to use wellbeing models in order to direct national resources in terms of the overall Wellbeing of those areas.

SMART goals Wellbeing Plan

Goals are important in everyone’s life and they are important in all aspects of business and life because they provide a one’s with a directional bias, focus and motivation (Oxford, 2016). SMART goals plan is a guide used for setting and planning on how one can achieve their goals in an organized manner. A SMART goal tool represent these elements, which include Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and TimelyLes (MacLeod, 2012)

Specific

MY specific goal is to become an established Entrepreneur in the next few years. Therefore, in this case I seek to be very ambitious in my endeavor to achieve this goal. Specifically using the PERMA wellbeing model of happiness. Through positive emotions aspect, I will only gear my mind and energies to have positive emotions regarding this specific goal. In addition, in achieving this specific goal, I will start engaging my goal in entrepreneurial activities that are challenging and that will create a flow effect in my system. Another important aspect is that I will seek to have specific positive relationships with people in the tech entrepreneurial space. These positive relationships will provide me with the necessary networking, skills and connections to enable be achieve my goal of becoming a tech entrepreneur in the future.

Measurable

This goal will have to measurable to show progress. Since my goal is to succeed as a tech entrepreneur in Asia, some of the measurable goals in this journey is to acquire a tech or business related degree to the industry. This will enable me gauge my progress towards fulfilling my goal. Positive education and positive relationships will be very crucial in enabling me measure my progress. For instance, the number of positive relationships, engagements will be very crucial in enabling me quantify my progress in this journey.

Achievable

In order to create a sense of Wellbeing for myself, these smart goals must be achievable. This is important since it will help me figure realize and work towards that goal. The main question here is whether I have the necessary resources to achieve this goal. Since it is a huge undertaking to become a successful entrepreneur in the tech industry, I will mainly focus on the goal at achievable stages. This means that I will start with smaller engagements at the beginning by creating a viable business plan that will enable me plan ahead. The next is to apply the wellbeing PERMA model in my plan. That is to ensure I create positive relationships with experts in the tech space who will mentor me appropriately on the best course of action in my tech entrepreneur journey.

Realistic

This is very crucial to ensure that the goal is realistic and it can be achieved. My goal of entrepreneurship is realistic since other people have also achieved it as well. My focus if to ensure I employ the best possible positive emotions in this journey. Also, intend to start small by engaging in creation of skill time products that will enable me grow them into something bigger. The goal will require enormous resources but through the steps and relationships I intend to create in the short term, I will be able to grow them into something bigger.

Time

This whole project will take years to materialize. I have set a time plan of 10 years. The first three years are to engage myself in getting a good tech degree specifically computer science so that I can be able to undertake challenging tech products on my own. Then next 7 years will be to marshal resources, create positive relationships, social networking and engaging in toughening and challenging tasks.

Conclusion

PERMA model has become very successful in encouraging people to come up with wellbeing plan. Through having positive relationships, positive emotions and engagements, one can have the ultimate Wellbeing and happiness. PERMA has been applied successfully in various sectors such as designing public policy, motivation of workers at the workplace, encouraging positive education in schools among others.

References

Khaw, D., & Kern, M. (2014). A cross-cultural comparison of the PERMA model of Wellbeing. Undergraduate Journal of Psychology at Berkeley, University of California8(1), 10-23.

Kun, Á., Balogh, P., & Krasz, K. G. (2017). Development of the work-related wellbeing questionnaire based on Seligman’s PERMA model. Periodica Polytechnica Social and Management Sciences25(1), 56-63.

Kern, M. L., Waters, L. E., Adler, A., & White, M. A. (2015). A multidimensional approach to measuring Wellbeing in students: Application of the PERMA framework. The journal of positive psychology10(3), 262-271.

Goodman, F. R., Disabato, D. J., Kashdan, T. B., & Kauffman, S. B. (2018). Measuring Wellbeing: A comparison of subjective Wellbeing and PERMA. The Journal of Positive Psychology13(4), 321-332.

Tansey, T. N., Smedema, S., Umucu, E., Iwanaga, K., Wu, J. R., Cardoso, E. D. S., & Strauser, D. (2018). Assessing college life adjustment of students with disabilities: Application of the PERMA framework. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin61(3), 131-142.

Yerbury, R. M., & Boyd, W. E. (2019). Dolphins and Human Flourishing: A Novel Application of the PERMA Model. Ecopsychology11(4), 201-212.

Ascenso, S., Perkins, R., & Williamon, A. (2018). Resounding meaning: a PERMA wellbeing profile of classical musicians. Frontiers in Psychology9, 1895.

Oxford, R. L. (2016). Powerfully positive: Searching for a model of language learner wellbeing. In Positive psychology perspectives on foreign language learning and teaching (pp. 21-37). Springer, Cham.

Les MacLeod EdD, M. P. H. (2012). Making SMART goals smarter. Physician executive38(2), 68.

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