Content area
Full Text
The trend of neurobiology and physiology predicting and causing behavior is not a new fact. Many physical and mental illnesses and diseases have been attributed to biological mechanisms. However, with the advent of positive psychology, empirical research has now been shifted from mental ill health to positive mental health. Of critical importance in this view is mapping the biological substrates of dimensions of positive health and human flourishing. This article documents some of the recent developments in the field of biopsychology and positive mental health states. It examines the causes and consequences of positive behaviors from biological and neuroscience perspectives. A brief summary of conceptual understanding on the topics of biopsychology and positive psychology with recent research endeavors in the two domains are presented. Amidst diverse formulations of what constitutes positive mental health, the key components of positive mental health states are reported. Various categories of illustrative studies linking neuropsychological processes with positive states are described along with future directions for understanding the biology of positive health. The article hopes to stimulate additional work and lead to new insights concerning interplay between positive psychology and neuroscience and, in so doing, enrich both areas of inquiry.
Keywords: biological psychology; positive mental health states
Positive psychology is an emerging field of interest for academicians and researchers as it has the potential of making humans flourish in the contemporary world of stress and ill health. The recent years have seen growing interest of studying positive psychology from the lens of biological basis of human behavior (e.g., Diener et al., 1999; Panksepp, 1999; Urryet al., 2004; Ashby et al., 1999). Several scholars have suggested that biopsychology can contribute to a comprehensive understanding of questions that are at the heart of positive psychology (Singer & Ryff, 1999,2000a, 2000b; Kahneman et al., 1999; Ryff et al., 2004; George et al., 1995). The results of studies related to the interface of positive psychology and biopsychology are promising and have led to exciting and significant developments.
To date, the articles emerging from synthesis of these two disciplines of psychology have only been infrequent. I consider this quite unfortunate. Also, publications addressing the interface of psychobiology and positive mental health are cropping up in a wide range of places, but scattered nature of...