POSITIVE PSYCH EXAM 3

Meaning in life: what makes our life meaningful

• The degree to which an individual experiences life as making sense, being driven by worthy goals, and mattering in the world 

• What is really important to me….  enables people to organize their experience and effectively direct their energy

Componenets of meaning

• Comprehension: Being able to make sense of your experiences 

• Purpose: Having goals for your life that are valuable 

• Mattering/significance: Perceiving your life to be worthwhile

PURE MODEL

• Purpose

• Understanding

• Responsible

• Enjoy

Frankl’s work…..

• Imprisoned in concentration camps in ww2

• “Those who have a why to live can bear almost any how”

• Found that those who had something to live for could endure extreme hardship

• Developed logotherapy, which focuses on meaning as the primary driver of mental health

Frankl’s core principles

• Life has meaning in all circumstances

• Our primary motivation is to find meaning, not pleasure or power

• We always have the freedom to choose our attitude

The importance of meaning

• Meaning is a key component of well-being

• Meaning contributes to post traumatic growth, sometimes find meaning after suffering or as they are going through those experiences: post traumatic growth

• Meaning can be found in everyday life

Sources of meaning…

• Materialism: tangible objects and experiences 

• Self Growth: creative self expression, goal accomplishment 

• Social: family, friends, community

• Transcedent: purpose in life, spirituality

• Being here: uniqueness, simply being alive

Sources of meaning….

• Overall people cite family-> having a job, financial sources 

• Followed by occupation and material well being 

• Family: relations with parents, children, siblings, etc

• Occupation: specific aspects of job, collegues, intellectual challenge 

• Material well being: meets basic needs, luxury

• religion/spirituality: ranked higher in the U.S. than any other country

• Ages 18-29

• Family still #1 but lower percentage

• Friends and community higher

• Hobbies and education higher

• Ages 30-49

• Career and family higher than at other ages

• 50-64

• Family and career still ranked highly

• Material well-being and health higher compared to younger adults

• 65+

• Less emphasis on family

• More emphasis on material well being, health, retirement, society

Family as a source of meaning

• People are motivated to make social connections

• Relationships guide values, give purpose, and create expectations for the future

• Family is most salient source of meaning, even among unmarried young adults without children-> ubiquitous (most of us have some family) and non transitory (it doesnt really change our family is more stable than other relationships)

Emotional support and belonging

• Attachment theory: family as a secure base (early family relationships)

• Psychological benefits: lower depression, anxiety, stress and increased longevity

• Present across life stages

Guidance and moral development

• Career and life choices

• Cultural and ethical values

• Financial wisdom

• Relationships and emotional intelligence

• Legacy and Purpose beyond the self

• Raising children

• Caring for an aging parent

• Mentoring younger siblings 

Family as a source of meaning

• Cultural differences

• Collectivist: meaning found in fulfilling obligations to family

• Individualist: meaning found in maintaining close but independent relationships

• Family challenges can contribute to personal growth

Work as a source of meaning

• Work provides

• An opportunity to use skills a sense of identity and social networks

• Most people enjoy their work

• Workers who enjoy their jobs rate their lives higher

3 ways of viewing work:

•  “job”- a way to make a living 

• “career” - a way to achieve or enhance prestige 

• “Calling”- a source of fulfillment and meaning

Work as a source of meaning

• Job factors like income, status, prestige not important 

• “Calling” associated with greater meaning, job satisfaction, life satisfaction

• Job crafting-> changes to make work more personally meaningful 

• work/life balance and practical considerations are important 

• Not the only source of meaning in life 

• Religion/Spirituality as a Source of Meaning 

  • Components of religion/spirituality

• Attendance of religious services

• Affiliation 

• Private religious practices 

• Use of religion to cope

• Provides answers to fundamental life questions 

• Provides deep self-understanding 

• Other psychological benefits

  • Coping, optimism, positive emotions

• Social support

• Associated with better mental and physical health outcomes

• Meaning in life is associated with increased happiness and fewer mental health conditions

Benefits of meaning

• Overall psychological adjustment 

  • Increased happiness and well-being 

  • Lower depression and anxiety 

• Resilience 

  • Bouncing back from adversity 

  • Meaning more important than positive emotions during challenges 

• Income

  • Increases motivation, goal commitment, and job engagement, which can lead to higher income 

• Health and longevity 

  • Meaning linked to healthier behaviors, lower stress, and better immune function 

• Strategies for increasing meaning 

• Identify core values 

• Set and pursue meaningful goals 

• Deepen relationships 

• Engage in service and contribution 

• Practice gratitude and mindfulness 

• One of the strongest predictors is being reminded of valued sources of meaning 

• Must be personal and based on individual experience 

  • Self-reflection can be highly beneficial 

• If lacking meaning, consider which component may be missing 

  • comprehension, purpose, mattering/significance

• Achieving greater meaning in life

  • Too much search can hinder happiness

Character strengths 

• Personal qualities that are “good” morally or ethically 

• Values in action (VIA) is most well established

• Goal was to create a DSM for positive qualities 

Character strengths are….

• Are ubiquitous 

• Are fulfilling

• Are morally valued

• Do not diminish others

• Have undesirebale opposites

• Are trait like

• Are measurable

• Are distinct

• Have paragons-> ultimate example of something (the strength is strikingly shown)

• Have prodigies

• Can be selectively absent

• Have enabling institutions

VIA character strengths 

• WISDOM

• Creativity, curiosity, love of learning, open-mindedness, perspective

• COURAGE

• Authenticity, bravery, persistence, Zest

• HUMANITY

• Kindness, love, social intelligence

• JUSTICE

• Fairness, leadership, teamwork

• TEMPERANCE

• Forgiveness, modesty, prudence, self-regulation

• TRANSCENDENCE

• Appreciation of beauty, gratitude, hope, humor, spirituality

Signature strengths

• Traits that a person owns, celebrates, and uses frequently

Lower strengths

• Traits that are used less frequently

Empirical Findings….

• Similar endorsement of strengths across countries and states 

• Different strengths endorsed in different U.S. Cities

“Head Strengths”

• More common in large, more crowded, more expensive, more high tech, liberal cities 

“Heart Strengths”

• More common in smaller, less crowded warmer conservative cities

• MORE STRONGLY ASSOCIATED W LIFE SATISFACTION (ZEST, GRATITUDE, HOPE, LOVE)

• Agter 9/11 there were increases in spirituality, hope, and love in the U.S.

• People most value tghins consistent w their own strenfths

Developmental differences

• Most common strengths in children: love, kindness, creativity, humor, curiosity

• Love, zest, and hope related to happiness starting at young ages

ADOLESCENTS

• More hope, teamwork, zest

ADULTS

• More appreciation of beauty, authenticity, leadership, openmindedness

Compatibility of strengths

• We must often make trade-off

• Two underlying factors for the VIA strengths

• Self vs others 

• Intellectual vs emotional

Forgiveness

• Essential for long-term relationships

• Offers healing 

• Allows for relationships to recover from wrongdoing

• Forgivenss does not mean excusing, tolerating, forgetting 

• Forgiveness is letting go of negative thoughts, behaviors, and feelings

Inerventions have resulted in…

• Increased willingness to forgive

• More hope

• Decreased anxiety and depression

• More social support

• Better health

• Increased coping

• Feeling closer to others

Gratitude

• Appreciation or thankfulness for positive outcomes

• Associated with benefits from childhood to late adulthood

• Linked to empathy, forgiveness, willingness to help others, love, joy enthusiasm

• Reasons for the benefits

• Promotes savoring of positive experiences

• Counteracts hedonic adaptation: process where our happiness levels return to the set range (appreciating those blessings, more of a long lasting effect)n 

• Improves mood

Humility/Modesty

• Accurate sense of abilities and achievements

• Ability to acknowledge mistakes and limitations

• Openness to advice and contradictory information

• Low self-focus

• Appreciation of all things and people

• Hard to measure our own humility

Benefits of humility..

• More flourishing in more domains

• Increased effort 

• More admiration from others

• Better job performance and likeability

• Academic success

Wisdom

• Different from intelligence or IQ

• A philosophic understanding of what matters in life and practical knowledge of how to conduct a life that matters

• “knowledge hard fought for, and then used for good”

• Wisdom is more associated with eudaimonic well-being

• Qualities of wisdom 

• Reasoning ability 

• Human understanding 

• Learning from experience 

• Superior judgement 

• Efficient use of information

• Accurate perspective 

• Concern for others 

• Desire to serve a common good

Only ______ people score highly on wisdom measures

5%

Findings on Wisdom 

• Wisdom increases during adolescence and young adulthood, then stays fairly stable

• Age and life experience contribute to wisdom

• Openness to experience is a strong predictor 

• The opportunity to talk with another person about life dilemmas increases wisdom 

Benefits of wisdom

• Strong sense of identity 

• Less social judgement 

• Less negative affect

• Less pleasant affect

• More emotion regulation 

• More interest, engagement, and motivation 

• Communication 

• Adapting to emotional state of others

• Offering empathy

• Ensuring all voices are heard

• Understanding others’ views 

Relationships

• Expressing appreciation

• Letting go of grudges

• Building trust 

Leadership

• Taking difficult stands

• Encouraging others

• Finding innovative solutions

• making thoughtful decisions

Workplace performance

• Overcoming setbacks 

• Bringing energy 

• Aligning strengths with career paths

• A career with strengths can promote success and fulfillment 

• Job crafting can help to align a job with strengths

  • Task crafting - adjusting daily responsibilities 

  • Relational crafting - building workplace relationships 

  • Cognitive crafting - shifting mindset

Using and nurturing character strengths 

• Signature strengths - strengths that someone enjoys using and are part of their identity 

  • People want to act in ways that are consistent with their signature strengths

Character strengths interventions typically include:

• Measure of strengths

• Feedback

• Use of strengths in daily lives

Oxytocin

• hormone released in response to social contact: reduces physiological arousal associated with fear and stress

• relaxation, calmness

• important for infant- parent attachment

• Also associated with creating a loving bond in adult relationships 

• women more
  

Vassopressin

• Hormone that contributes to love and attachment

• men more

Oxytocin & Vassopressin

• Increase during intense stages of romantic love

• interact with dopamine reward systems

Brain Imaging

• Different areas of the brain active when looking at picture of romantic partner vs friend 

Equity theory

• Close relationships are maintained when both people are happy with what they are getting out of it 

• Economic theory of our relationships: emphasizes the cost/benefit of interacting with others 

• Examples: goods, information, love, money, status, social support

Types of equity relationships

• flourishing → high benefit, low cost 

• Boring → low benefit, low cost

• Precarious→ high benefit, high cost 

• Distressed→ low benefit, high cost

Empirical support for Equity theory…

• Romantic partners typically have comparable physical attractiveness

• When people are mismatched on one dimension, there is often a compensating mismatch on another 

• But doesnt explain selfless love or altruism 

• And doesnt account for feelings in relationships 

attachment theory

• Strong affectionate tie with important people in our lives 

• Psychoanalytic and behaviorist approaches emphasize feeding 

• Harlows monkey study

• evolutionary perspective: infants emotional tie is an evolved response that promotes survival

internal working model

• Set of expectations for attachment figures that guides future relationships

• From our early experiences: become a guide for all of our future relationships 

Attachment styles

• Secure: use parent as a secure base and interact with parent but feel comfortable exploring, tend to be distressed when separated healthiest form

• Avoidant: more distance, less connection, not gonna interact with the parent when there, not upset when parent leaves, usually responds to stranger, dont care when parent comes in

• Ambivalent: rather than distance, intensity and clingy ness while parent is still there, angry when parent leaves, not comforted when parent returns

Updated Attachment Theory Model

• Ambivalent-> Preoccupied 

• Avoidant-> fearful & dismissing 

Secure people are more likely to have…

secure partners

Peoples attachment…

can shape partners attachment

Secure attachment in adult hood is going to be associated with…

•  more likely to compromise, more likely have high self esteem, etc 

Affiliation

Relationship formed from desire to associate with someone else

• We just want to be connected to someone in some way

• social comparison

Liking

• Relationship in which people have a positive attitude toward each other

• False: opposites do not attract: being similar is much more important 

• Important Factors: proximity, similarity, mere exposure effect, complementary needs, competence, attractiveness, reciprocity 

Weak ties & Online Connections

social media and professional networks are sources of weak ties

• Casual connections or acquantances

• Can be valuable sources of new information

Benefits to online connections

easy to maintain

broader reach

anonymous

self disclosure

ability to plan communication

Challenges of online connections

• Negative social comparison

• Misinformation

• Miscommunication

• Superficiality of connections 

Characteristics of close relationships

• Knowledge 

• Trust

• Caring

•  interdependence 

• Mutuality

• Commitment

Friendship

liking combined with expectations of reciprocity and equality

Friendship: Children

• Have reciprocated friendships at age 3-4

• Superficial quality for young kids 

Adolescents

• Have psychological intimacy

• Shared activities, emotional support, self disclosure 

Adults

• Often coworkers or neighbors

Older Adults

Centered around support and companionship

Research suggests tha the ideal number of close friends is probably around…

3

number of close friends that people have is

small

Benefits of friendship

• life satisfaction & well being

• time spent with friends is especially satisfying

• Social support

What makes a good friend?

• tend to be close in age

• being dependable, honest, loyal

• being kind, loving, fun

Unimportant qualities for friendships

• Status, attractivenes, skills, accomplishments 

Loving scale

Scores on the “love” scale are associated with:

• Being in love

• Eye contact

• Continuation of the relationship

• Intensifying of the relationship 

Love

• Relationship marked by reciprocated exclusiveness, absorption, and interdependence 

• passionate and companionate

Passionate love

intense emotional, arousal, and desire

companionate love

affection and deep caring

Triangular theory

passion, intimacy, commitment

Marriage

marriage rates have been decreasing and age at marriage increasing

marriage is strongly related to well-being

U-shaped curve for marital satisfaction over time

Marriage is a ____ idea

modern

why get married?

being in love is becoming a universal basis for marriage

but scholars argue that romantic love as a primary basis for marriage leads to unrealistic expectations

Couples most likely to divorce begin marriage with highest levels of romance and have biggest declines in satisfaction 

Validating style (stable)

• Good communication

• Calm and comfortable interactions

• Partners listen and try to understand each others POV 

• Consider each other’s opinions 

• still letting partners know that the other persons opinion is valid

Volatile style (stable)

• Frequent arguing

• Little interest in hearing each others POV

• Try to persuade and win 

• Warm and loving relationship

• More laughter and affection

Conflict avoidant (stable)

• Avoid disagreements instead of resolving them

• Agree to disagree

• Focus on the positive and accept the rest

• Feel good about one another 

Hostile engaged (unstable)

• Argue intensely and often

• Defensiveness, insults, sarcasm common, significant criticism, little understanding or respect 

Hostile detached (unstable)

• Emotionally uninvolved

• Often in deadlock

• Episodes of attack and defensiveness 

characteristics of happy couples

• More positive interactions than negative interactions (5:1 ratio)

• Examples: active-constructive responding-responding authentically, enthusiastically, and supportively

• gratitude

• forgiveness

• spending time together in meaningful ways

Conflict Resolution for happy couples

• Disagreement is not necessarily harmful, but a productive way of responding is important 

Key communication strategies for conflict resolution

• Using “I” statements (I feel like your’e not hearing me rn)

• Active listening and validation

• The soft-start up (harsh start out vs soft start up)

• Nonverbal communication awareness 

• repair attempts

Emotional regulation techniques

• Recognizing emotional flooding

• Taking a time-out

• Deep breathing and grounding techniques 

• Perspective taking 

• Self soothing techniques

Humor in relationships

• High on the list of desirable qualities 

• Long-married couples say laughing together is important 

• Does not decline over time 

• Because genuine laughter cannot be faked, it honestly expressed how we feel 

• Partners who share a sense of humor have an enduring basis for shared positive emotions