how to say “positive psychology” in Hebrew

טָל בֶּן שַׁחַר Tal Ben Shahar

Israeli scholar Tal Ben Shachar and others, including Shawn Achor in this excellent Ted.com video, are proponents of a relatively new movement in psychology that focuses, rather than on repairing damage, on building strength and resiliency. 


Positive Psychology gets translated into Hebrew as פְּסִיכוֹלוֹגִיָה חִיּוּבִית (peh-see-khoh-LOH-ghee-YAH khee-yoo-VEET).


פסיכולוגיה, a feminine noun in Hebrew, is a term borrowed from English, which is in turn borrowed from Ancient Greek.


חיובית is the feminine form of the adjective meaning positive, where חִיּוּבִי (khee-yoo-VEE) is the masculine form.

The word comes from the root ח.ו.ב (kh.w.b) meaning debt or obligation. As for the relationship between ח.ו.ב and חיובי, this requires further research. If anyone reading this knows the relationship, feel free to post it as a comment.


Check out this introduction to פסיכולוגיה חיובית by one of its founders. Although this video is in English, you can use it to improve your Hebrew by selecting Hebrew as the subtitled language towards the bottom-right of the player.

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