Are positive psychology exercises sufficient to create meaningful change in people’s lives? Does a coaching relationship add value beyond gratitude exercises, strengths identification, and optimism practices? And what truly helps people make progress toward their personal goals?
Research Purpose:
The purpose of this study was to directly compare two popular approaches for enhancing well-being and personal functioning: Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology. The researchers sought to examine whether differences exist between these approaches in their effects on goal attainment, subjective well-being, psychological well-being, self-insight, solution-focused thinking, and psychological distress. The study addressed an important gap in the literature because, although both approaches have been extensively studied separately, very few studies have directly compared them among adults.
Methodology:
This study was a randomized controlled trial with three groups. The study included 393 MBA students in Israel who were randomly assigned to one of three 13-week courses: Positive Psychology, Coaching Psychology, or Organizational Behavior serving as a control group. All courses were taught by the same lecturer at the same academic institution. In the Positive Psychology course, participants completed a variety of positive interventions such as gratitude exercises, strengths identification, acts of kindness, and meaning-based activities. In the Coaching Psychology course, participants worked in coaching dyads, defined personal goals, developed action plans, monitored their progress, and received support and feedback throughout the semester. Measures included goal attainment, subjective well-being, psychological well-being, self-insight, solution-focused thinking, and psychological distress.
Key Findings:
The findings showed that both Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology improved subjective well-being and reduced psychological distress compared with the control group. However, Coaching Psychology produced additional and more substantial benefits. Participants in the Coaching Psychology group demonstrated a particularly large improvement in goal attainment (d=1.38), an effect size considered very large in psychological research. Additional improvements were found in psychological well-being (d=0.34), self-insight (d=0.29), and solution-focused thinking (d=0.47). In contrast, participants in the Positive Psychology group did not show significant improvements in goal attainment, psychological well-being, or self-insight. A direct comparison between the groups showed that improvement in goal attainment was significantly greater in Coaching Psychology than in Positive Psychology (d=1.91), a finding indicating a substantial advantage of the coaching process in translating intentions into action and tangible progress toward goals.
Conclusions and Recommendations:
The researchers conclude that Positive Psychology interventions are effective primarily in increasing positive feelings and reducing distress, but do not necessarily lead to meaningful progress toward personal goals. In contrast, Coaching Psychology creates broader improvements because it strengthens personal agency, accountability, and self-regulation through a structured process of goal setting, planning, feedback, and monitoring. The researchers propose viewing the coaching relationship as a “meta-intervention” that helps individuals implement positive interventions in a personalized manner. For coaches, the implication is that the true power of coaching lies not only in exercises or techniques, but in the supportive relationship that helps individuals transform intentions into consistent action and tangible progress.
Importance for Coaches:
This study provides strong experimental evidence that the coaching relationship itself constitutes a significant component of the change process. While Positive Psychology interventions contributed to increased well-being and reduced psychological distress, only the structured coaching process produced significant improvements in goal attainment, self-insight, solution-focused thinking, and psychological well-being. These findings strengthen the argument that the added value of coaching lies not only in the content or techniques used, but also in the relationship, the accountability process, and the strengthening of the client’s personal agency.
Grant, Anthony M., and Ofer I. Atad. 2022. “Coaching Psychology Interventions vs. Positive Psychology Interventions: The Measurable Benefits of a Coaching Relationship.” The Journal of Positive Psychology 17(4): 532–544.