Positive Psychology Exam 2

What did Isen find in her study using a public pay phone to examine the relationship between positive emotion and altruism?

Individuals were more likely to help someone who had dropped their papers after they had found money in a payphone compared to individuals who did not find money in the payphone. Therefore, positive emotions broaden behavior.

Explain Fredrickson’s Broaden-and-Build theory of positive emotional experiences.

Positive emotions expand us, and negative emotions restrict us. Positive emotions lead to an upward spiral of well-being, increase resources, undo negative emotions, and assist memory. Momentary thought-action repertoires. 

Explain Carstensen’s Socioemotional Selectivity Theory.

As people age and perceive time as increasingly limited, they tend to prioritize emotionally meaningful goals and positive experiences, focusing on cultivating close relationships and savoring positive moments rather than seeking new knowledge or experiences as younger individuals do, who view time as more expansive. 

What does Csikszentmihalyi mean by flow?

A state when someone is so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter.

 How does Diener define subjective well-being?

A person’s cognitive and affective evaluation of their life, encompassing both their satisfaction with life (cognitive component) and their positive and negative emotions experienced (affective component). 

Contrast the hedonic view of happiness with the eudaimonic view.

Hedonic focuses on subjective well-being, emphasizes life satisfaction, positive emotions, and personal enjoyment. Eudaimonic psychological well-being, personal growth, purpose, and self-actualization.

Explain the Complete Mental Health Model of Keyes and Lopez.

It provides a comprehensive framework for understanding mental well-being. It challenges the traditional view that mental health is merely the absence of mental illness and instead emphasizes flourishing as a distinct and measurable state of well-being. Based on two intersecting dimensions (mental health and mental illness) and categorizes people into 4 categories. These categories are flourishing (high mental health, no mental illness), languishing (low mental health, no mental illness), struggling with mental illness but flourishing (high mental health, presence of mental illness), and languishing with mental illness (low mental health, presence of mental illness)

What are the suggestions for a happier life detailed by Myers?

Act happy, nurture close relationships, engage in meaningful work and activities, take care of your body, cultivate gratitude, focus beyond yourself, and seek flow experiences.

 Explain the two processes involved in Stanton’s model of emotion-focused coping.

Identifies the two processes of emotional processing and emotional expression that individuals use to regulate their emotions in response to stress. Emotional processing involves acknowledging, understanding, and exploring one’s feelings rather than avoiding them. Emotional expression can include talking about feelings, crying, artistic expression, or physical activities that help release emotions.

 Describe Salovey and Mayer’s four branches of emotional intelligence.

Perceiving emotions, using emotions to facilitate thought, understanding emotions, and managing emotions.

Using his emotional storytelling approach, what did Pennebaker find when he asked research participants to write about their deepest thoughts and feelings in relation to their most traumatic life experiences?

They had emotional distress at first but displayed psychological advantages over time.

According to Bandura, what is self-efficacy? What are the developmental antecedents of self-efficacy?

Albert Bandura defined self-efficacy as a person’s belief in their ability to successfully execute behaviors necessary to achieve specific goals. The antecedents are mastery experiences (personal successes and failures), modeling (observational learning), social persuasion (encouragement and feedback), and physiological and emotional states (arousal and mood).

 What are the positive outcomes of high self-efficacy?

Greater motivation and persistence, better problem-solving and decision-making, improved emotional well-being, enhanced learning, greater resiliency, and overall better health and well-being.

 According to Seligman, how do optimists and pessimists differ in how they explain bad events?

Optimists make external, variable, and specific attributions for failure. Pessimists make internal, stable, and global attributions for failure.

According to Snyder, what is hope? What are the childhood antecedents of hope?

Emphasizes cognitions built on goal-directed thought. Pathway thinking (goal-oriented) and agency thinking (motivational-oriented). Childhood antecedents are supportive environments, secure attachments, parental beliefs in their child’s abilities, and social competence/problem-solving skills.

What does the Serenity Prayer have to do with wisdom and courage? State the prayer and explain how it could be applied.

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference."

The prayer asks for both wisdom and courage.

 What are the three types of courage identified by O’Byrne?

Physical, moral, and vital.

What kind of courage is demonstrated in the life of Malala Yousafzai?

Moral

What did Langer and Rodin find in their study of the effects of perceived control on older adults in a residential care facility in the 1970s?

Langer and Rodin's study demonstrated that a sense of control over one’s environment is crucial for mental and physical well-being in older adults.

What is mindfulness?

Being aware of all stimuli in the internal and external environment nonjudgmentally.

What does it mean to seek novelty in a situation (has to do with mindfulness)?

Looking at similar situations in life from a new perspective.

What is spirituality?

The feelings, thoughts, and behaviors that arise from searching for the sacred.

Autotelic Personality (Flow)

More inclined to experience flow in their lives, intrinsically motivated, enjoy doing something just to do it and not gain a reward, exists in teenagers