Edited by Louis Tay and James Pawelski of the Humanities and Human Flourishing Project, this volume of some 70 contributors examines the new and rapidly growing field of the positive humanities--an area of academic research at the intersection of positive psychology and the arts and humanities. Written by leading experts across a wide range of academic disciplines, the Oxford Handbook of the Positive Humanities begins with an overview of the science and culture of human flourishing, covering historical and current trends in this literature. Next, contributors consider the well-being benefits of engagement with the arts and humanities, marking out neurological, cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and social pathways to human flourishing. These pathways lead to detailed investigations of individual fields within the arts and humanities, including music, the visual arts, philosophy, history, literature, religion, theater, and film. Along the way, the book thoroughly synthesizes theory, research, and exemplary practice, concluding with thought-provoking discussions of avenues for public engagement and policy.

With its expansive coverage of both the field as a whole and specialized disciplinary and interdisciplinary drivers, The Oxford Handbook of the Positive Humanities advances the literature on the theory and science of well-being and extends the scope of the arts and humanities.

Part I: An Overview of the Positive Humanities

Chapter 1: Introduction: The Role of the Arts and Humanities in Human Flourishing
Louis Tay and James O. Pawelski

Chapter 2: The Positive Humanities: Culture and Human Flourishing
James O. Pawelski

Part II: Historical and Current Trends

Chapter 3: The Humanities and Human Flourishing
Darrin McMahon

Chapter 4: Towards a Contextual Model of Arts and Humanities Engagement and Human Flourishing
Yerin Shim

Chapter 5: Flourishing Effects of Integrating the Arts and Humanities in STEM Education: A Review of Past Studies and an Agenda for Future Research
Hoda Vaziri and Norman M. Bradburn

Part III: Flourishing Outcomes of the Arts and Humanities

Chapter 6: Art, Music, and Literature: Do the Humanities Make our Lives Richer, Happier, and More Meaningful?
Erin Westgate and Shigehiro Oishi

Chapter 7: Lessons for Positive Arts and Humanities from the Science of Meaning in Life
Alexis N. Wilkinson and Laura A. King

Chapter 8: Cultivating Psychological Well-Being through Arts-Based Interventions
Olena Helen Darewych

Chapter 9: The Neuroscience of Well-Being: A General Framework and Its Relation to Humanistic Flourishing
Yoed N. Kenett and Anjan Chatterjee

Chapter 10: How to Encourage People to Engage with the Arts and Humanities: Suggestions from Self-Efficacy Theory and Research
James E. Maddux and Evan M. Kleiman

Chapter 11: Understanding and Improving Emotion Regulation: Lessons from Psychological Science and the Humanities
Joseph Ciarrochi, Louise Hayes, and Baljinder Sahdra

Chapter 12: Character and Virtues in the Arts and Humanities
Willibald Ruch and Fabian Gander

Chapter 13: Holocaust and Humanity: Depicting Realities While Creating Pathways for Future Upstanders, Strengths Use, and Flourishing
Edward Jacobs, Michael Berenbaum and Ryan Niemiec

Part IV: Pathways from the Arts and Humanities to Flourishing

Chapter 14: The Role of Passion in the Arts and Humanities: How Quality of Engagement Matters
Robert J. Vallerand, Anna Sverdlik, and Arielle Bonneville-Roussy

Chapter 15: Flow in the Arts and Humanities: On Cultivating Human Complexity
Katherine Vrooman, Kelsey Procter Finley, Jeanne Nakamura, and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Chapter 16: Stories for Good: Transportation into Narrative Worlds
Kaitlin Fitzgerald and Melanie Green

Chapter 17: Awe, Approached
Piercarlo Valdesolo

Chapter 18: The Role of Reflection in Transformative Learning: Staff and Student Experiences
Camille Kandiko Howson and Saranne Weller

Chapter 19: Creativity and Human Flourishing
Mark Runco

Chapter 20: The Flourishing Congregations Project: Character Strengths Pathways to Enhance Well-Being Beyond the Individual
Rachel Hershberg, Ryan Niemiec, and Irwin Kula

Chapter 21: No Man is an Island: How Community Arts and Social Support Underpin Well-being
Katie Wright-Bevans and Alexandra Lamont

Chapter 22: A Walk in the Sun: The Awakening of Human Flourishing in Creative Youth Development
Ivonne Chand O'Neal

Chapter 23: Love and Other Positive Emotions in Social Practice and Contemporary Visual Art
Claire Schneider and Barbara L. Fredrickson

Part V: Disciplinary Considerations

Chapter 24: Music and Flourishing
Alexandra Lamont

Chapter 25: Visual Arts and Community Well-being
Lois Hetland and Cathy Kelley

Chapter 26: Film and Meaning
Keith Oatley

Chapter 27: Embodiment and Containment: Flexible Pathways to Flourishing in Theatre
Thalia R. Goldstein and Kristen Hayes

Chapter 28: Philosophy and Well-being
Justin Ivory and Valerie Tiberius

Chapter 29: History and Human Flourishing: Using the Past to Address the Present
Peter Stearns

Chapter 30: Practical Wisdom: What Philosophy and Literature Can Add to Psychology
Barry Schwartz

Chapter 31: Contributions of Reading Fiction to Well-being: Positive, Negative, and Ambiguous Consequences of Engaging with Fiction
David Kidd

Chapter 32: The Holiness of Wholeness: Religious Contributions to Human Flourishing
Kenneth I. Pargament, Serena Wong, and Julie J. Exline

Chapter 33: Insight and Sight: The Interplay between the Humanities and Business and the Impact on Student Well-being
Anne M. Greenhalgh, Douglas E. Allen, and Jeffrey Nesteruk

Chapter 34: The Medical Humanities: Embracing the Interdisciplinary Art of Medicine and Healthcare
Faye Reiff-Pasarew

Part VI: Public Engagement and Public Policy

Chapter 35: Investigating the Contributions of the Public Humanities to Human Development
David Kidd

Chapter 36: A New Concept for Museum “Museotherapy”: Promoting Health, Well-Being and Therapy through Art
Nathalie Bondil and Stephen Legari

Chapter 37: Humanities and Public Policy: Forging Citizens and the Nation
Daniel Fisher, Beatrice Gurwitz, Cecily Erin Hill, Stephen Kidd, and Scott Muir

Chapter 38: The Contribution of the Arts to Flourishing and Health
Rebecca Gordon-Nesbitt and Alan Howarth

For more on the Oxford Handbook of the Positive Humanities, please visit Oxford University Press’s website. Purchase information is available there or through your preferred book seller.