In 2013, the Psychological Services Group launched a psychological wellness promotion campaign known as "The Journey to Psychological Wellness", which consisted of five prominent elements in positive psychology: Appreciation, Positivity, Permission to be Human, Love & Care, and Engagement. These five elements are the promotion themes in the five consecutive years from 2014 to 2018. 

 

2015 is the year of Positivity. The three elements of Positivity are "Optimism", "Hope", and "Positive Emotion". We experience more positive emotions by cultivating a positive mindset with optimism and hope. 

 

 

"Optimism", as proposed by Dr Martin Seligman, is an explanatory style for different events in life. Optimistic and pessimistic people see the causes of positive and negative events differently. Optimistic people believe that failure or adversities are caused by something that is external, temporary and specific, such as the prevailing circumstances. On the other hand, pessimistic people explain adverse experiences by attributing their causes to internal, stable and global factors, such as personal failure. So optimists are more likely to say they failed in a promotion exercise because wrong questions came up during the exam. Pessimists, on the contrary, are more likely to attribute failure to not being good at work generally or being incompetent.  

 

 

"Hope" here differs from our usual understanding of expecting the best to happen. "Hope" is defined in psychology as "the sum of the mental willpower and waypower that you have for your goals". So hopeful people have the ability to plan pathways to desired goals despite obstacles, and agency or determination to follow these pathways. Hopeful people develop beliefs that they can adapt to challenges and cope with adversity. They tend to maintain a positive internal dialogue, like "I can do it" and "I will not give up".  People who have high hope thus would experience less intense negative emotions when they face setbacks.

 

 

Optimism and hope are predictive of physical and mental health. Besides, there is growing evidence that optimism and hope are associated with more efficient functioning of the immune system. Optimistic people are found to be healthier and happier. Optimism is a protective factor for depression and serious medical problems, including coronary heart disease. Optimism is also associated with better stress coping, occupational adjustment, family and marital satisfaction and sport performance.

 

 

Positive emotions can be associated with the past (such as satisfaction, pride and fulfillment), present (such as bodily pleasure, bliss, comfort and gratifications) and future (such as optimism, hope and confidence). Positive emotions broaden our attention, which prepares us to remain open to new ideas and practices. Positive emotions are related to personal well-being, better relationships, creativity, greater productivity, more enduring personal resources, better problem-solving and longevity. 

 

 

It is known that a positive mindset can be trained. It means we can choose to be positive. Optimistic explanatory style can be trained by skills, including distraction, distancing and disputation. Distraction involves doing something to stop the internal pessimistic dialogues from preoccupying you. Distancing involves reminding us that pessimistic explanations of adversity are only one possible explanation of situation, not necessarily true facts. Disputation is the process of disputing pessimistic explanations by questioning evidence, alternatives and usefulness of thoughts. To cultivate hope, we set clear and attainable goals and try our best to achieve the goals by every possible means despite obstacles. Then we will build up confidence and determination gradually. Positive emotions can be cultivated by developing a positive mindset and engaging in activities that will bring pleasure, gratification and meaning.

 

In the coming Balances in Law Enforcement series, we will explain how you can remain more optimistic and hopeful, and experience more positive emotions through life experience sharing by Force members.