Implications of Debunking the "Critical Positivity Ratio" for Humanistic Psychology: Introduction to Special Issue.

ABSTRACT: An extraordinary claim was made by one of the leading researchers within positive psychology, namely, there is a universal-invariant ratio between positive to negative emotions that serves as a unique tipping point between flourishing and languishing in individuals, marriages, organizations, and other human systems across all cultures and times. Known as the "critical positivity ratio," this finding was supposedly derived from the famous Lorenz equation in physics by using the mathematics of nonlinear dynamic systems, and was defined precisely as "2.9013." This exact number was widely touted as a great discovery by many leaders of positive psychology, had tremendous impact in various applied areas of psychology, and, more broadly, and was extensively cited in both the scientific literature

SUBMITTER: Friedman HL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5898419 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature