Positive Psychology and Master Resiliency Training Sheldon and King (2001) state that positive psychology is “nothing more than the scientific study of ordinary human strengths and virtues” (p. 216). In other words, it is the science how people can live well and be strong. For that reason, positive psychology serves as the core of Master Resiliency Training (MRT) in the U.S. Army. Just as positive psychology focuses on identifying the elements that enable individuals to flourish (Fredrickson, 2001), MRT enables leaders in the Army to demonstrate and teach the skills that soldiers need to overcome obstacles and face challenges with determination, commitment and the ability to succeed. As Gen. Casey (2011) puts it, “the Army is leveraging the science of psychology in order to improve our force’s resilience” (p. 1). This paper will show that Sergeants Major can use positive psychology in general and MRT in particular to teach mental and emotional toughness to the soldiers in their units so that they in turn can face a variety of difficulties that may affect them (from substance abuse to dealing with sexual assault) with grace, determination and focus, surmounting them to maintain a good life.

What is Positive Psychology?

Positive psychology focuses on what motivates people to succeed. It looks at the sources of inspiration that make individuals want to reach up toward the light and hold onto the good. Positive psychology is the essence of the concept of “chicken soup for the soul”—it is the idea that people need to surround themselves with positive inputs to resist the negative distractions and oppressive feedback that can stymie their potential. It is the approach of basic psychology, in so far as psychology focuses on how to help human beings be happy and at peace (Sheldon & King, 2001).

The way to achieve this happiness and peace is through the cultivation of positive emotions (Fredrickson, 2001). And the way to cultivate positive emotions is through the development and cultivation of resources that people can use to ward off anxiety, stress, depression, anger—anything that can come along to hold one back. The resources most commonly utilized to assist in this process are mental toughness, which comes by way of conditioning; commitment to an ideal, which can be fostered through habit and virtue; and mindfulness, which can come by way of meditation (Fredrickson, Cohn, Coffey, Pek & Finkel, 2008). Sergeants Master can help soldiers develop their mental toughness, commit to an ideal, and strengthen their mindfulness by implementing MRT.

MRT

Through MRT Sergeants Master learn the skills and methods needed to train their soldiers how to be resilient. The...

The soldier is not only responsible for tending to himself and making sure his life is in order; he is also responsible for tending to his unit and making sure he is supporting his brothers in arms at all times. The soldier in the Army is the member of a family that is tasked with defending the homeland at great risk to one’s own personal safety. The soldier is expected to live up to the demands of this task and serve honorably in the capacity that is allotted to him.
Unfortunately, leaders in the Army are often confronted with the baggage that many soldiers bring with them into the military or that they collect along the way of their service. Leaders have to know how to help soldiers deal effectively with this baggage so that it does not weigh them down mentally and lead them into collapse. Too many soldiers suffer from PTSD because they lacked resilience. The Sergeant Major who has gone through MRT is better equipped to help his soldiers obtain that resilience so that they can in turn deal with whatever issues are impacting them, whether it is depression, anxiety or fear. MRT provides the framework for developing a successful and positive approach to life.

Overcoming Leadership Challenges

One of the biggest challenges that a leader in the Army will face is a unit of soldiers who lack mental and emotional toughness. Grit and determination are some of the fundamental qualities that every soldier must possess. If soldiers do not already possess them coming into the unit, how can they acquire them? The leader has to know the answer to this question—otherwise his soldiers will be like sitting ducks waiting to be picked off by the least disruption to the moods, minds and emotions. The leader has to know how to inspire toughness.

To do that, the leader has to know what does not inspire resilience—and that is the first key lesson taught in MRT: misconceptions about resilience are identified and true concepts of resilience are discussed by focusing on six key areas:

1. Self-awareness

2. Self-regulation

3. Optimism

4. Mental agility

5. Character strengths

6. Connections

The first key area is crucial: unless one is aware of one’s own “thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, and patterns in each that are counterproductive,” one is going to be blocked at the gate (Reivich, Seligman & McBride, 2011, p. 27). Awareness is necessary for the second key—self-regulation, which involves both monitoring and regulation emotions and thoughts but also being willing to express oneself in a healthy way. Third, one has to be able to…