Pozitivní edukace: využití poznatků a metod pozitivní psychologie ve výuce psychologie

• Title in English: Positive education: Application of findings and methods of positive psychology in teaching of psychology
• Authors: SLEZÁČKOVÁ Alena
• Year of publication: 2012
• Type: Article in Proceedings
• Conference: Učíme psychologii / Teaching Psychology 2011
• MU Faculty or unit: Faculty of Arts
• Field: Psychology
• Keywords: positive education; character strengths; teaching positive psychology
• Description: Positive Psychology (PP) has become a noticeable stream in contemporary psychology. However, students of psychology still learn about this subject marginally. Including a course of PP in the syllabi could provide useful complete and balanced view on human personality and experience. Positive Psychology has been taught in the Dept. of Psychology at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic, since the spring of 2008. The results of analysis of student evaluation of the course show not only growing interest in learning about PP topics, but also greater motivation to study psychology in general. Positive psychology course can be realised in several ways. One of them is teaching PP as an optional subject, providing students not only with pieces of information, but also bolstering their self-knowledge and well-being, identifying their character strengths, enhancing their motivation, critical thinking, mindfulness and open-mindedness. Another option is to incorporate findings of positive psychology into the syllabi of other subjects to offer students different points of view on the actual topics, and overcome the prevailing „pathological model“ of psychology. The third option is to use findings, methods and practical interventions of positive education, offering specific tools and applications of positive psychology in education and teaching-learning process. Any suitable method of transmission of PP findings and methods can become a valuable source of enrichment of the current curriculum of psychology.