Around the world, there are many different positive psychology associations and organizations – they exist in Europe (including Denmark), China, Australia, New Zealand, and an International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA) based out of the United States. Now Canada is joining the ranks with the Canadian Positive Psychology Association, and in one week, the CPPA will be hosting its first positive psychology conference.
The conference starts on Friday July 20th with a keynote address from Dr. Robert Vallerand, who is the current president of IPPA. Dr. Vallerand will be sharing his insights and research on how passion for a meaningful activity leads to positive outcomes for the activity, and also for the individual. Dr. Gary Latham will also be keynoting at the end of the first day. Latham has come to fame through his work on goal-setting theory (he’s the Latham of Locke and Latham) and he will be speaking on “The Positive Benefits of Subconscious Goals on Organizational Behaviour”. Our final keynote to start Saturday July 21st is Dr. Adam Anderson, who will be educating the audience about neuroscience and positive emotions. All keynotes are proud Canadian researchers.
There are several parallel sessions with themes to interest everyone. Speakers are talking about their research and applications of positive psychology as applied to the worlds of emotions, couples, organizations, sports, nature, students and nursing. Friday evening, we will be screening the HAPPY movie and Robert Biswas-Diener will be calling in to lead a post-movie discussion, sharing insights from his international experience and research. (If you’re interested in buying a copy of the HAPPY movie DVD, we will be selling them at the conference too!)
I have been honoured to be a member of the founding Board of the CPPA and the 2012 Conference Chair. This has meant many logistics and late nights working out details, and I’m confident it’s going to be a phenomenal event – the first of many!
We know that not everyone can attend the event in person, so everyone is invited to become a Member (you don’t even have to be Canadian) and to follow our event tweets on Twitter. We will be using the hashtag #CPPA2012. We also exist on Facebook.
Looking forward to seeing you at #CPPA2012 and connecting with you about positive psychology in Canada!
