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Today there are 2 positive psychologies: 1 that is humanistic and 1 that is not. Both focus on researching, understanding, and fostering well-being, optimal functioning, and healthy social institutions. However, in addition to emerging at different times, the 2 psychologies are characterized by major philosophical and methodological differences that help determine what is seen and not seen from each point of view. One area where these distinctions show up most strikingly is in the psychology of self-esteem. Although humanistic positive psychology understands self-esteem as playing a key role in human behavior, the more positivistic positive psychology seems to have largely missed such an important factor. This article examines how the psychology of self-esteem could be a meeting ground between these 2 approaches.

The phrase positive psychology has been in existence for over a century (Taylor, 2001). However, today it is characterized by two major approaches: one that is central to humanistic psychology and one that reflects more traditional, empirically oriented or positivistic psychology. Even a cursory review of these two psychologies reveals that they address many of the same things. For example, both psychologies are dedicated to researching and fostering positive human phenomena, such as psychological well-being, optimal human functioning, healthy relationships, and social institutions that facilitate these important dimensions of life. Of course, one way to differentiate the two pathways to positive psychology is to look at history.

Abraham Maslow (1954/1970) offered a fairly comprehensive view of a humanistic approach to positive psychology in an appendix titled, “The Problems Generated by a Positive Psychology” as early as 1954. Hence, the positive psychology proposed by Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2000) and others near the turn of 21st century may be identified as “second” or “new.” However, another, and much more important, way to distinguish them is to focus on their philosophical and methodological differences. For instance, where humanistic positive psychology (HPP) is grounded in existential and humanistic thinking, the newer positive psychology is firmly rooted in the logical positivism of traditional scientific psychology. Accordingly, it may be more accurate to describe this approach to...