PositivePsychology is rated Least biased with High factual reporting by Media Bias Fact Check.
LEAST BIASED
These sources have minimal bias and use very few loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using an appeal to emotion or stereotypes). The reporting is factual and usually sourced. These are the most credible media sources. See all Least Biased Sources.
- Overall, we rate PositivePsychology.com Least Biased because it focuses on nonpolitical, evidence-oriented psychology content. We rate it High for factual reporting due to strong sourcing, qualified contributors, and rejection of common pseudoscientific claims, with minor caution regarding occasionally overstated emerging psychological theories.
Detailed Report
Bias Rating: LEAST BIASED (0.0)
Factual Reporting: HIGH (1.4)
Country: Netherlands
MBFC’s Country Freedom Rating: EXCELLENT
Media Type: Website
Traffic/Popularity: Medium Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY
History
PositivePsychology.com is an educational psychology and mental-wellness website founded in 2013 by Dutch entrepreneur Seph Fontane Pennock. Pennock later developed the site with psychologist Hugo Alberts, PhD, expanding it into a large collection of articles, professional training programs, worksheets, assessments, and other resources focused on positive psychology, coaching, therapy, resilience, mindfulness, and well-being.
According to its About page, the website publishes more than 1,000 articles written by psychologists and other well-being professionals and describes its material as evidence-based and science-backed. The site also sells continuing-education courses, professional memberships, therapy and coaching tools, and practitioner resources.\
Read our profile on the Netherlands government and media.
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Funded by / Ownership
PositivePsychology.com was sold by founders Seph Fontane Pennock and Hugo Alberts in 2023. Phlebotomy Training Specialists, a portfolio company of New York-based private equity firm Eden Capital, acquired it and incorporated it into the healthcare education company Intelvio. Pennock subsequently departed the company.
The website continues to operate through Positive Psychology Program B.V. in the Netherlands. Revenue comes primarily from paid memberships, online courses, professional training, digital resources, and other educational products. The company publishes registration and VAT information and provides a physical address and contact details.
Analysis / Bias
PositivePsychology.com does not demonstrate a consistent political or ideological bias. Its content focuses primarily on psychology, mental well-being, coaching, workplace behavior, relationships, mindfulness, resilience, and therapeutic techniques rather than political or social advocacy. Articles typically cite peer-reviewed psychological research and are frequently written or reviewed by contributors holding PhDs or other relevant professional qualifications.
We specifically reviewed the site for pseudoscientific wellness claims. In The Scientific Validity of Manifesting: How to Support Clients, the author directly rejects claims that thoughts can cosmically attract outcomes and states that attempts to connect manifestation with quantum physics are unsupported. The article distinguishes evidence-supported practices such as optimism and visualization from the unsupported supernatural claims associated with the law of attraction.
Some content requires greater caution. For example, 18 Polyvagal Theory & How to Use the Exercises in Therapy discusses therapeutic applications of polyvagal theory, which remains scientifically debated. The article acknowledges the theory’s controversy but sometimes presents its proposed mechanisms and potential benefits more confidently than the evidence supports. This reflects an evidence-framing concern rather than outright pseudoscience.
Overall, the site’s health and psychology content generally distinguishes established evidence from speculative or unsupported claims. It also advises practitioners to use its tools only within their professional scope and does not present its educational resources as replacements for qualified clinical care.
Failed Fact Checks
- None found from major fact-checking organizations.
Overall, we rate PositivePsychology.com Least Biased because it focuses on nonpolitical, evidence-oriented psychology content. We rate it High for factual reporting due to strong sourcing, qualified contributors, and rejection of common pseudoscientific claims, with minor caution regarding occasionally overstated emerging psychological theories. (D. Van Zandt 10/27/2026)
Source: https://positivepsychology.com/
Last Updated on October 27, 2026 by Media Bias Fact Check
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