ABSTRACT

Positive psychology has been critiqued as Western-centric, influenced by the mostly Western contexts in which it has developed. English is its dominant mode of discourse, for example, which has shaped its understanding of its subject matter. To generate a more comprehensive cross-cultural ‘map’ of wellbeing, I have been creating a lexicography of relevant ‘untranslatable’ words (i.e., terms without exact translation in English). An initial analysis of 216 words, published in the Journal of Positive Psychology in 2016, identified six main categories: positive feelings, ambivalent feelings, love, prosociality, character, and spirituality. Subsequently, over 1,400 additional words have been added to the lexicography to date. Correspondingly, analyses have been published of each category separately, revealing their internal structure. Moreover, six further categories have also been identified: cognition, embodiment, aesthetics, eco-connection, competence, and understanding. This paper summarises these analyses, and outlines their significance in terms of augmenting the conceptual map in positive psychology.

摘要

积极心理学被批评为以西方为中心，受到它发展的大部分西方环境的影响。例如，英语是它的主要话语模式，这塑造了它对其主题的理解。为了生成更全面的跨文化幸福“地图”，我一直在创建相关的“不可翻译”词（即没有准确英文翻译的术语）的词典编纂。2016 年发表在《积极心理学杂志》上的 216 个词的初步分析确定了六个主要类别：积极情绪、矛盾情绪、爱、亲社会性、性格和灵性. 随后，迄今为止，词典又增加了 1,400 多个单词。相应地，已经分别发表了对每个类别的分析，揭示了它们的内部结构。此外，还确定了六个进一步的类别：认知、体现、美学、生态联系、能力和理解。本文总结了这些分析，并概述了它们在增强积极心理学概念图方面的意义。