Carrina Chan Wong Existential Positive Psychology Scholarship 2024

This contest is now closed.

The purpose of this scholarship contest is to encourage graduate and undergraduate students to explore the integration between existential psychology and positive psychology. There is already considerable research and publications in this emerging field – Existential Positive Psychology (or EPP) – which can broaden and deepen our understanding of healing and wellbeing (Batthyany & Russo-Netzer, 2014; Chang et al., 2022; Compton & Hoffman, 2020; Ivtzan et al., 2015; Russo-Netzer et al., 2016; Wong, 2023; Worth, 2021).

The humanistic-existential foundations of positive psychology include themes such as:

  • Personal and social responsibility for one’s own future and social justice (Arslan & Wong, 2022).
  • The existential courage to embrace negative emotions and suffering (Maddi, 2004; Van Tongeren & Showalter Van Tongeren, 2020).
  • Becoming our true self or what we are meant to be (Proctor et al., 2016; Rogers, 1961/1995).
  • The spiritual-existential dimension of personhood (Niemiec et al., 2020).
  • The existential need for connection and belonging (Cohen, 2022; Pinel, 2021).
  • The existential need for something greater than oneself (Kaufman, 2020; Wong et al., 2021).

The contest opens on April 15, 2024.

EPP as Envisioned by INPM

EPP integrates the dark and the bright sides of life to provide a more integrative and comprehensive model of wellbeing. We explore the dialectical interaction between these poles of human experience, with a particular emphasis on the importance of embracing and transforming suffering for cultivating sustainable wellbeing (Wong & Cowden, 2022).

Additional Important EPP References

  • Wong, P. T. P. (2011). Positive psychology 2.0: Towards a balanced interactive model of the good life. Canadian Psychology, 52(2), 69-81.
  • Wong, P. T. P. (2022). The wisdom of the soul: The missing key to happiness and positive mental health? [Review of the book A Time for Wisdom: Knowledge, Detachment, Tranquility, Transcendence, by P. T. McLaughlin & M. R. McMinn]. International Journal of Existential Positive Psychology, 11(2). https://www.meaning.ca/ijepp-article/vol11-no2/the-wisdom-of-the-soul-the-missing-key-to-happiness-and-positive-mental-health/
  • Wong, P. T. P. (2023). Pioneer in research in existential positive psychology of suffering and global flourishing: Paul T. P. Wong. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 18, 2153-2157. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-023-10207-7
  • Wong, P. T. P. (2023). Spiritual-existential wellbeing (SEW): The faith-hope-love model of mental health and total wellbeing. International Journal of Existential Positive Psychology, 12(1). https://www.meaning.ca/ijepp-article/vol12-no1/spiritual-existential-wellbeing/
  • Wong, P. T. P., & Laird, D. (2023). Varieties of suffering in clinical setting: Re-envisioning mental health beyond the medical model. Frontiers in Psychology, 14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1155845
  • Wong, P. T. P., & Mayer, C.-H. (2023). The meaning of love and its bittersweet nature. International Review of Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540261.2023.2173001
  • Wong, P. T. P., & Yu, T. T. F. (2021). Existential suffering in palliative care: An existential positive psychology perspective. Medicina, 57(9), 924. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina57090924

 

PRIZES

As judged by a panel of adjudicators consisting of Dr. Roger Tweed, Dr. Paul T. P. Wong, and Dr. Piers Worth, the three selected winners will receive the winners will receive the following scholarships:

  • First Prize: CAD $1,000 + 3-Year INPM Membership
  • Second Prize: CAD $800 + 2-Year INPM Membership
  • Third Prize: CAD $500 + 1-Year INPM Membership

An INPM Membership comes with the following benefits:

  1. Free subscription to the Quarterly Positive Living Newsletter.
  2. Access to the Meaningful Living Group and its materials.
  3. 20% discounts on INPM workshop, conference, and Summer Institute registration.
  4. 20% discount on INPM Publications.
  5. Free subscription and submission to our peer-reviewed online Journal.
  6. Expert consultation on meaning-focused research and clinical applications.
  7. Access to the INPM’s online learning library archive of previous workshop and conference recordings.

After the first round of selection, all three winners will have their expanded papers published in the International Journal of Existential Positive Psychology after a courtesy review. This publication can include the student’s supervisor as a second author.

Winners will be notified by August 7th, 2024.

 

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

All undergraduate and graduate students are invited to submit their articles to tim.inpm@gmail.com no later than 11:59 PM on July 7th, 2024

  1. The email subject line should be “EPP Scholarship | Author Name(s)”.
  2. The attached file(s) should be .docx or .doc (or .rtf for those without Microsoft Word).
  3. Text should be single-spaced, Times New Roman, 12-pt font.
  4. Your submission should be an article that is less than 2000 words (main text) based on empirical research, literature review or conceptual analysis that explores some aspect(s) of integrating existential psychology and positive psychology.
  5. APA 7th formatting and referencing.
  6. Submissions should be authored by only one undergraduate or graduate student (winners may be asked for their student identification). Each student may only submit one submission for this award.

References

Arslan, G. & Wong, P. T. P.  (2022). Measuring personal and social responsibility: An existential positive psychology approach. Journal of Happiness and Health, 2(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.47602/johah.v2i1.5

Batthyany, A., & Russo-Netzer, P. (Eds.). (2014). Meaning in positive and existential psychology. Springer Science + Business Media. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0308-5

Chang, E. C., Downey, C. A., Yang, H., Zettler, I., & Muyan, M. (2022). The international handbook of positive psychology: A global perspective on the science of positive human existence. Springer.

Cohen, G. L. (2022). Belonging: The science of creating connection and bridging divides. W. W. Norton.

Compton, W. C., & Hoffman, E. L. (2020). Positive psychology: The science of happiness and flourishing (3rd ed.). Sage.

Ivtzan, I., Lomas, T., Hefferon, K., & Worth, P. (2015). Second wave positive psychology: Embracing the dark side of life. Routledge.

Kaufman, S. B. (2020). Transcend: The new science of self-actualization. Tarcher Perigee.

Maddi, S. R. (2004). Hardiness: An operationalization of existential courage. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 44(3), 279-298. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022167804266101

Niemiec, R. M., Russo-Netzer, P., & Pargament, K. I. (2020). The decoding of the human spirit: A synergy of spirituality and character strengths toward wholeness. Frontiers in psychology, 11, 2040. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02040

Pinel, E. C. (2021, August 3). Alone in a crowd? Existential isolation and connection. International Society for the Science of Existential Psychology. https://www.issep.org/article/alone-in-a-crowd

Proctor, C., Tweed, R., & Morris, D. (2016). The Rogerian fully functioning person: A positive psychology perspective. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 56(5), 503-529. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022167815605936

Rogers, C. R. (1995). On becoming a person: A therapist’s view of psychotherapy (2nd ed.). HarperOne. (Originally published in 1961)

Russo-Netzer, P., Schulenberg, S. E., & Batthyany, A. (Eds.) (2016). Clinical perspectives on meaning: Positive and existential psychotherapy. Springer International Publishing.

Van Tongeren, D. R., & Showalter Van Tongeren, S. A. (2020). The courage to suffer: A new clinical framework for life’s greatest crises. Templeton Press

Wong, P. T. P. (Ed.) (2023). A second-wave positive psychology in counselling psychology: A paradigm shift. Routledge.

Wong, P. T. P., & Cowden, R. G. (2022). Accelerating the science and practice of psychology beyond WEIRD biases: Enriching the landscape through Asian psychology. Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1054519

Wong, P. T. P., Arslan, G., Bowers, V. L., Peacock, E. J., Kjell, O. N. E., Ivtzan, I., Lomas, T. (2021). Self-transcendence as a buffer against COVID-19 suffering: The development and validation of the Self-Transcendence measure-B. Frontiers, 12, 4229. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.648549

Worth, P. (Ed.). (2021). Positive psychology across the life span: An existential perspective. Routledge.