On Baking a Cake: The Phenomenological Method in Positive Psychology

Abstract

The field of positive psychology has burgeoned since its formal inception with Martin Seligman’s 1998 APA presidential address. Aimed at better baking the positive half of the psychology “cake”, the gains in research and practice over the past decade and a half have been substantial. Among the chief reasons for the rapid growth and development in this field is the express emphasis on a positivistic scientific methodology. While this methodology has undoubtedly contributed much to the evolution and growth of the field, the empirical emphasis has arguably resulted in the concomitant neglect of the more qualitative complexities of optimal human functioning. The present paper contributes to the discussion regarding the role of method in the field of positive psychology and, using as case studies two papers from the field of phenomenology, argues specifically for the utility of phenomenological psychological methods in the baking of the metaphorical psychology cake. The case studies effectively serve to illustrate the manner in which phenomenological methods, through their focus on rich description and resistance to an interpretative framework, are condusive to contributing to methodological pluralism within positive psychology and thereby providing additional means whereby not only to continue the baking of the positive psychology cake, but, more particularly, to ensure that it is baked thoroughly by adjusting the oven’s heat to the optimal level.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Graham A. du Plessis

Graham du Plessis is a practising Clinical Psychologist and Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Psychology at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

In addition to his practical and theoretical interest in psychotherapy, he has extensive experience in psychometric design and research methodologies within the social sciences. His other areas of theoretical interest include organisational psychology, positive psychology, clinical assessment, and phenomenological inquiry.

Carolina du Plessis

Dr Carolina du Plessis is a practising Clinical Psychologist and, until January 2017, had for a few years been a lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Johannesburg, where her focus areas included social psychology and qualitative research methods.

Her research interests include psychobiography, narrative therapy and phenomenology, and she is a co-editor of a forthcoming Special Edition of the Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology focusing on psychobiography and phenomenology.