In Positive Psychology

Positive psychology

Positive psychology is a recent branch of psychology whose purpose was summed up in 1998 by Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: "We believe that a psychology of positive human functioning will arise, which achieves a scientific understanding and effective interventions to build thriving in...

, zest is one of the 24 strengths possessed by humanity. As a component of the virtue of Courage, zest is defined as living life with a sense of excitement, anticipation, and energy. Approaching life as an adventure; such that one has “motivation in challenging situations or tasks”. Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman developed terminology to describe human strengths. They developed a descriptive list of six human virtues (Wisdom and Knowledge, Courage, Humanity, Justice, Temperance, and Transcendence) comprising 24 strengths. Zest is one of the four strengths that combine to make up the virtue of courage, as defined by this system..

Measurement

Positive psychologists have constructed a relatively simple online test to allow individuals to define their strengths. The Values in Action (VIA) Classification of Strengths is intended “to reclaim the study of character as a legitimate topic of psychological inquiry and informed societal discourse”. The goal of this test is the belief that once a person is aware of their most prominent strengths, they can cultivate them and use them to better themselves. By bettering oneself, Positive Psychologists hope, one will affect a general betterment of the world around them: a ripple of betterment from self to others.

Zest should be acknowledged more as a trait that should be encouraged in the workplace. It may be one of the more important character strengths to possess in order experience a sense of well-being. A study of 881 Croatian students found that zest was one of three strengths relevant to well-being, and also found zest to be associated with higher levels of life satisfaction, subjective vitality, and a pleasurable, engaging, and meaningful existence. A similar study in Hong Kong on 228 teachers found zest to be associated with elevated levels of life satisfaction. Teachers with high levels of zest also reported experiencing more positive emotions and less negative ones. One study done on zest asked parents to rate their children for specific character strengths. Then the children were rated on their current happiness. Consistent with previous research with youth and adults zest was strongly associated with happiness in their children.

Zest is currently being studied on how it affects the social dynamic of groups. Since we do many things in groups, this research may be very impactful. Currently it is held that zest is primarily responsible for the presence of enthusiasm in a group setting. Evidence suggests that zest seems has relevance in the workplace. One study surveyed 9803 employed adult respondents on measures of dispositional zest, orientation to work as a calling, and satisfaction with life and work in general. Across all occupations studied, it was found that zest predicted the idea of work as a calling, work satisfaction, and general life satisfaction.

Since burnout has become a major problem in many industrialized countries, it is of interest to find what made people in similar, stressful environments remain healthy while their counterparts “burned out”. 20 interviews of health care personnel revealed that the meanings of staying healthy are rooted mainly in a particular outlook on life whereby one is receptive toward life’s many-sided circumstances. Good health is thought to be associated with the idea that one is acting to bring about what is believed to be the “right direction”. This can be related to the idea of zest in that viewing life as an adventure and approaching it with excitement is a similar outlook.

Criticism

As with many of the other constructs in the relatively new field of Positive Psychology, it is difficult to quantify zest. Other traits like socioeconomic status, which can easily be measured by gross income per household, or constructs like fear, which can be quantified by changes in heart rate, skin conductance, and pupil dilation, have much more defined and widely-accepted methods of measure. However, measurements of Zest are still in the beginning stages of development. How do we measure how energetic one person is compared to another? How do we determine exactly how excited a person is about life? What precisely does it mean to approach life adventurously? These are just a few of the questions that must be answered to most effectively research zest.

Relating to the problem of operationalizing zest, much of the research currently done on this and many of the 24 character strengths are done via self-report. A Self report study

Self report study

A self-report study is a type of survey, questionnaire, or poll in which respondents read the question and select a response by themselves without researcher interference....

is one in which participants are simply asked to report their own feelings or thoughts. There are many problems in research associated with self-report. The most pertinent one being the validity and reliability of measures as they are completely subjective rather than objective. People can misrepresent themselves or misinterpret the questions posed to them.

Since such data is not the most scientifically convincing body of evidence upon which to rest scientific conclusions, Positive Psychological research is very focused on developing more objective measures for topics such as zest in order to help build a stronger science of organizational behavior.

Zest and Work

Zest can be promoted in the workplace so that workers can have a more positive approach in their life which indirectly can affect their anticipation, excitement, and energy in the workplace. Evidence from a present study, that had 9803 employed adults respond to a survey on a internet site, measured zest, orientation to work as a calling, and satisfaction to work and life in general. The survey predicted, to many of the employees, that work was a calling and a satisfaction. Employers can use such information to really up the productivity of their employees by taking zest into consideration.

Zest and Positive Youth Development

Zest along with gratitude, hope, curiosity, and love are important aspects of positive psychology and key to positive character development. The adequate promotion of these characteristics not only in domestic life but also in schools and other educational environments is extremely important to positive youth development. Furthermore through promotion of character strengths such as zest children tend to experience fewer psychological problems such as depression and anxiety disorders. They also tend to excel academically and lead happier brighter lives. More emphasis needs to be placed on positive developing characteristics such as zest, gratitude, hope, curiosity, and love in schooling environments and live in general so that youth successfully and positively develop.

Further developments

Zest is an important human strength that has been suggested by research to have powerful implications in the workplace, in groups, and even in the general overall satisfaction of people’s lives. Though the present limitations of such Positive Psychological research are many, there are advances in operationalization and method of study being made every day in this exciting new field of exploration.