Gallery Presentation International Positive Psychology Association 7th IPPA World Congress 2021

Love Unity Peace Hope: A Case Study of A Global Forum Using Positive Psychology to Enhance International Collaboration in an Era of Pandemic (#135)

Dengting Boyanton 1 , Zhiwen Xu 1 , Zhenting Wu 1
  1. Sino-American Educational Research Association, Stone Mountain, GA, United States

COVID-19 has created a tremendous challenge worldwide. In addition to the damage caused by the virus itself, the pandemic has caused the psychological problems such as stress, anxiety, depression, and other health issues. This paper introduces a program called “The Global Forum Series” initiated by an NGO organization. Guided by the principles of positive psychology, the theme of The Global Forum Series is “Love, Unity, Peace, Hope—For the Betterment of the Global Village”.  This program invited 18 speakers from both the U.S. and China, organized 16 talks on the topics of “love, unity, peace, and hope,” involved over 50 volunteers from 8 countries (China, the U.S., Canada, Korea, Spain, Portugal, England, and Costa Rica). The purpose of this paper is to describe, analyze, and theorize the implementation of this program. This program successfully shifted participants’ attention away from the stress, anxiety, depression, and violence caused by COVID-19, enabled them to utilize their strengths and expertise to promote positive functioning and optimal wellbeing, and united people of diverse backgrounds to collaborate with each other and fight the pandemic together. This program provided an alternative solution to the challenges and difficulties caused by COVID-19. Unlike traditional psychology that focuses on problems and tries to solve them, this program successfully shifted people’s attention away from problems by guiding their attention to positive topics like love, unity, peace, and hope. By engaging participants from multiple countries, cultures, languages, and backgrounds in meaningful on-going conversations on issues relevant to the COVID-19 in a safe, respectful, trusting, and caring environment, this program raised participants’ awareness as well as deepened their understanding of the concepts of love, unity, peace, and hope, helping unify people in this difficult time of pandemic and improving their wellbeing.

  • Keywords: Coping and Emotion Regulation, Diversity and Inclusion, Public Policy and Civic Engagement