Positive Psychology

Personally, I think the relationship of empathy‐induced altruism to positive psychology is not as an exemplar but as a challenge: The empathy‐altruism research poses two questions for positive psychology. First, despite extending our view of human nature beyond deficiencies, has positive psychology extended it far enough? Not only for Maslow but also for the field of positive psychology when established 40 years later in the 1990s by Martin Seligman and others, the positives at issue are almost always positives for the individual – the individual’s happiness, creativity, subjective well‐being, social skills, self‐efficacy, flourishing, and so on. But if I actively seek one or more of these positives as an ultimate goal, my motivation is directed toward self‐benefit. And no matter how noble the sought self‐benefit, my motivation is egoistic. Even if, for example, I dedicate my life to caring for others as the way to live a full, meaningful life, this is still a form of egoism because my care for others is an instrumental goal on the way to the ultimate goal of living a full, meaningful life.

In contrast, the ultimate goal of empathy‐induced altruistic motivation isn’t self‐benefit, not even the noble self‐benefits extolled by positive psychology. Its ultimate goal is to benefit the person for whom empathy is felt. Thus, to find that the empathy‐altruism hypothesis is true extends our view of human nature beyond self‐interest – even in its most positive forms. If we can care for others for their sakes, our potential exceeds what positive psychology has envisioned.

Second, should not the “positive” and the “psychology” in positive psychology be kept distinct? Positive psychology focuses on what’s good about people. In contrast, the research reported in this chapter suggests that empathy‐induced altruistic motivation isn’t inherently good. Sometimes it leads us to act in ways that we or others judge good, and sometimes, in ways judged bad. Like any other natural phenomenon, empathy‐induced altruism isn’t inherently positive or negative; it just is. What we do with it is what is positive or negative.

Science, including psychology, can help us understand what is, but to decide whether and when some personal attribute is positive, negative, and neutral is a value judgment that takes us beyond science, including psychology. Should not the distinction between what is and whether and when what is good be applied not only to empathy‐induced altruism but also to the personal attributes that are the focus of positive psychology? Doing so would encourage exploration of possible negatives associated with these attributes, not only positives.

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