ABSTRACT
Research into human flourishing has the potential to shift population well-being and influence the lives of many. Unfortunately, to date, positive psychology researchers have had limited success in getting large numbers (i.e., at a population level) of people to understand and implement the kinds of practices that could improve their well-being and help them flourish. Although positive psychology researchers have successfully amassed an evidence base, the field could be critiqued for not showing much success in translating research into public policy. We describe how researchers can improve the impact of their research by influencing policy – the vehicle that governments use to influence population well-being. We argue that positive psychology researchers require a better understanding of the policymaking processes in order to create and share an evidence base for population-level interventions.
