Psychology applied to modern life adjustment in the 21st century, 11e chapter 16

The Scope of Positive Psychology, continued Introducing positive psychology’s three lines of inquiry • Positive psychology pursues three main “legs” on which the field stands: 1.. Resear

Chapter 16

Positive Psychology

The Scope of Positive Psychology, continued

Defining positive psychology and its brief history

discipline of psychology that focuses on human strengths and how people can flourish and be successful”

The Scope of Positive Psychology, continued

History, continued

• Identified in 1998 by Martin Seligman, positive psychology serves as a

counterweight to the field’s negatively-oriented history

– Since WWII, psychology has adhered to the “disease model” to treat stress and disorders associated with the modern world

– Seligman argues people should learn to see their lives as fulfilling, rather than stress-ridden and dysfunctional

The Scope of Positive Psychology, continued

Reconsidering older research in light of the new positive psychology

• Positive psychology does represent a turning point for the field

• However, many of the main ideas are similar those of humanistic psychology,

which has been present since the 1950s

The Scope of Positive Psychology, continued

Introducing positive psychology’s three lines of inquiry

• Positive psychology pursues three main “legs” on which the field stands:

1. Positive subjective experiences (good moods, happiness, and love)

2. Positive individual traits (character strengths and virtues)

3. Positive institutions (families, schools, & supportive work environments)

Figure 16.1 The three legs of positive psychology Research in positive psychology stands on “three legs” or lines of empirical, scientific inquiry: positive subjective experiences,

positive individual traits, and positive institutions.

Positive Subjective Experiences, continued

Positive moods

• Being in a good mood has several beneficial effects, including

• Making people more agreeable

• Making people more helpful

• Making people better decision-makers

Positive Subjective Experiences, continued

Positive moods, continued

• Positive moods can promote creative solutions

• Isen et al (1987) found that participants who watched a funny film were better able to solve the “candle task” (see Figure 16.2)

Positive Subjective Experiences, continued

Positive moods are linked with quick thoughts

• Faster thinking is associated with more positive mood, whereas slower thinking is associated with more negative mood (Pronin, Jacobs, and Wegner,2008)

• See Figure 16.4 for study details

• Variability of thought also affects mood

• Varied thoughts are associated with positive mood; repetitive thoughts are associated with negative mood

Figure 16.4 Results of the self-generated ideas, speed of thought, and mood experiment Participants in the fast-thinking condition of the experiment generated more ideas in the

allotted time than did their peers (see the graph on the far left) And as expected, the fast-thinkers also reported thinking faster than those in the slow-thinking group The crucial results are shown in the two graphs on the right As you can see, those in the fast-thinking group also reported having a more positive mood and high levels of energy than those in the slow- thinking group.

Adapted from Pronin, E., & Jacobs, E (2008) Thought speed, mood, and the experience of mental motion Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3, 461-485, Figure 3.

Positive Subjective Experiences, continued

Positive emotions

physiological changes”

connections with others, including subjective states like happiness, joy, euphoria, gratitude, or contentment”

Positive Subjective Experiences, continued

Positive emotions, continued.

dangers, including subjective states like sadness, disgust, anger, guilt, and fear”

• Historically, negative emotions have been studied more than positive ones

because

• They are of evolutionary significance

• They are part of the “fight-or-flight” response

• There are so many of them

Positive Subjective Experiences, continued

Positive emotions, continued

• Barbara Fredrickson developed the broaden-and-build model of positive

emotions to explain how they benefit us

• Positive emotions

• Elicit nonspecific action tendencies that lead to adaptive responses (e.g.,

helping people in need when we are happy)

• Broaden cognitive processes by promoting thought-action tendencies (e.g

children become imaginative when feeling joy)

Positive Subjective Experiences, continued

Positive emotions, continued.

• Fredrickson an Branigan (2005) showed that joy increased participants’ action tendencies (see Figure 16.5)

thought-• Thus, “the broaden-and-build model proposes than positive emotions broaden people’s outlooks and then builds on subsequent learning in order to develop future emotional and intellectual resources”

Figure 16.5 The broadening effects of positive emotions compared to neutral or negative emotions Experiencing an emotional state of joy or contentment led research

participants to list a greater number of activities they might like to engage in at that moment in time compared to individuals experiencing a neutral or negative emotional state

Adapted from Fredrickson, B L (2002) Positive emotions In C R Snyder & S J Lopez (Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology (pp 120-134) New York: Oxford University

Press, Figure 9.2, p 125.

Positive Subjective Experiences, continued

Positive emotions, continued

• Fredrickson has developed the undoing hypothesis, which posits that “positive

emotions aid the mind and the body by recovering a sense of balance and

flexibility following an episode experiencing negative emotion”

• When stressed, positive emotions undo the aftereffects of the stressor more quickly, for example

Positive Subjective Experiences, continued

Flow

the present time by some interesting, challenging, and intrinsically rewarding

activity”

• When in this state, people become

• Less self-aware and lose all track of time

• Focus all their energies and attention on an activity where skill and challenge are in balance

Positive Subjective Experiences, continued

Figure 16.8 The revised model of flow state According to the revised model, flow is experienced when a person’s perceived challenges and skills are above the person’s average

levels; when they fall below, the individual experiences apathy The intensity of the experience increases as the distance from the person’s average levels of challenge and skills grows greater (illustrated here by the concentric rings).

Adapted from Csikszentmihalyi, M (1997) Finding flow New York: Basic Books.

Positive Subjective Experiences, continued

Flow, continued

• Does everyone find flow?

• Csikszentmihalyi finds that about 20% of respondents in American and European samples say they experience flow several times a day

• Around 15% have never reported this experience

Positive Subjective Experiences, continued

Mindfulness

context and focused on the present”

• When mindful, we

• Resist the impulse to control uncertainty

• Are less prone to evaluate ourselves

• Are in a more flexible state of mind

Positive Subjective Experiences, continued

Mindfulness, continued

• We can become more mindful by

• Meditating (especially if attention is directed in a nonanalytical and

Figure 16.9 Some qualities associated with mindfulness meditation People who learn mindfulness meditation can expect to derive some benefits from the activity As you can

see, the qualities listed here that are associated with mindfulness meditation fit well with established themes in positive psychology

Adapted from Shapiro, S J., Schwartz, G E R., & Santerre, C (2002) Meditation and positive psychology In C R Snyder & S J Lopez (Eds.), The handbook of positive

psychology (pp 632-645) New York: Oxford University Press Table 46.1, p 640.

Positive Individual Traits, continued

Positive individual traits “refer to dispositional qualities that account for why some

people are happier and psychologically healthier than other people”

• Four traits have been the focus of much study:

1. Hope

2. Resilience

3. Gratitude

4. Spirituality

Positive Individual Traits, continued

Hope: achieving future goals

• Synder argues it has two components:

1. Agency – “a person’s judgment that his or her goals can be achieved”.

2. Pathways – “realistic roadmaps to achieving the goal”.

• The Trait Hope Scale assesses each and indicates a person’s degree of hope

(see Figure 16.10)

Figure 16.10 Synder’s Trait Hope Scale According to C R Snyder, as a trait, hope has

two characteristics: agency and pathways To determine your Agency subscale score, sum items 2, 9, 10, and 12: the Pathways subscale score is derived by adding items 1, 4, 6, and 8 The total Hope Scale Score is derived by summing the four Agency and the four Pathway items A higher total score (Agency items added to Pathways items) reflects a greater degree

of hope for the future Scores can range from 8 to 64 In six samples of college students studied by Snyder et al (1991), the average score was 25

From Snyder, C R., Harris, C., Anderson, J R., Holeran, S A., Irving, L M., Sigmon,

S T., Yoshinobu, L., Gibb, J., Langelle, C., & Harney, P (1991) The will and the ways: Development and validation of an individual-differences measure of hope

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 570-585.

Positive Individual Traits, continued

Hope, continued

• Hopeful people reap many benefits:

• Experience more positive emotions

• Expect to be better off in the future

• Believe that they will be able to handle stress better

• Are more likely to be flexible thinkers

• Are more likely to have social support

Positive Individual Traits, continued

Resilience: reacting well to life’s challenges

consequential life event”

• Some people even display posttraumatic growth, or “enhanced personal

strength” following trauma

• While resilience helps people rebound to pre-trauma levels, posttraumatic growth actually causes enhanced functioning, post-trauma

Positive Individual Traits, continued

Gratitude: the power of being thankful

and being thankful for them”

• Psychological consequences of gratitude are

• Enhanced social connections with others

• Extended positive affect

• Feelings of joy and contentment

Positive Individual Traits, continued

Spirituality: seeking a deeper meaning

• Spiritual individuals possess a strong desire to search for the sacred and usually describe themselves as religious

• However, religion (or religiosity) and spirituality are distinct concepts

temples)

Positive Individual Traits, continued

Spirituality: seeking a deeper meaning

• Participating in a religious community appears to enhance well-being (Myers, 2000)

• Religious people

• Have higher levels of optimism, which is linked to well-being

• Enjoy the benefits of social support from their religious community

Positive Institutions, continued

encouraging people to behave like good citizens while promoting the collective good”

• Positive workplaces

– There is a new movement known as “positive organizational behavior” (POB), dedicated to improving worker performance

Positive Institutions, continued

• Wrzensniewski (1997) found that workers view their occupations in one of three ways:

1. Just a “job”

2. Career

3. Work as a “calling”

– This group view their work as a means for personal fulfillment

and social purpose

Positive Institutions, continued

Positive Institutions, continued

• Positive families

– A new approach, called family-centered positive psychology (FCPP),

maintains that

• The family is the constant in a child’s life

• Practitioners should promote healthy family functioning

• Families themselves are better at determining their needs than are professionals

Problems and Prospects, continued

Problems

• Positive psychology has been criticized on the following grounds:– Some question whether its ideas are really new

• Is it truly a paradigm shift?

– Some question whether it is merely a passing fad

Problems and Prospects, continued

Problems and Prospects, continued

• Linley and colleagues (2006) suggest its future will be brightest if positive

psychology can

– Borrow knowledge from humanistic psychology

– Examine positive phenomena by integrating knowledge from cultural, social, and neuroscience fields

– Admit that its findings prescribe a certain lifestyle

Application: Your Own Happiness, continued

Counting your blessings for a week

• Look on the bright side by – literally – counting the good things that happen to you

• Peterson (2006) suggests these guidelines:

– Limit to three a day

– Write your list at the end of the day

– Write down the reasons why your choices constitute good things for your life

• People who do this have fewer depressive symptoms

Application: Your Own Happiness, continued

Writing and delivering a gratitude letter

• Expressing gratitude to people who have helped us in life can be a very meaningful experience

• To get the most out of it, you should

– Write an actual letter (no texts or emails!)

– Deliver it in person, if possible

– Follow up with a phone call or talk to the individual in person

Application: Your Own Happiness, continued

Sharing a story illustrating the best in you

• Have you ever “done the right thing” but didn’t want to brag?

• Let this be one of the rare times that you disclose your private good deed

• You could

– Write an essay that is shared with the rest of the class

– Post your story online

Application: Your Own Happiness, continued

Sharing good news and capitalizing with others

happening in our own lives

• Others’ reaction to our good news boosts positive emotions in us, which capitalizes

on the good feelings we already have