My first doctorate was in applied mathematics. People are sometimes surprised that a maths person ended up in positive psychology, as though the two live on different planets. They don't. Mathematics taught me to distrust a beautiful idea until it survives contact with the evidence — and that discipline is exactly what the wellbeing field so often lacks.
There is a great deal of popular psychology that sounds wonderful and turns out to be built on sand: the catchy ratios, the over-promised personality types, the studies that never replicated. I have spent years learning to tell the difference, because the people who use these tools deserve practices that are true, not just practices that are pleasant to read.
Rigour isn't the opposite of compassion. It's how you make sure your compassion actually helps.
So every tool in FlourishIQ is built to a standard. If the science behind a claim has been superseded, we say so and we substitute what's current. That care is not cold. It is the most caring thing I know how to do.
— Alten
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