PSY336 LEC 1-4

positive psychology

study of conditions and processes that contribute to people, groups, and institutions functioning optimally and flourishing

pre WWII psychology focused on

treating mentall illness, increasing fulfillment, identifying and nurturing talent

post WWII psychology focused on

classifying and treating disorders, behaviorism

who introduced the positive psychology movement

Martin Seligman

3 pillars of positive psychology include positive ___, positive ____, and positive _____

subjective experience, individual characteristics, institutions

Mill’s College study

all women’s college yearbook photos were taken and those who were perceived as smiling genuinely were more happy decades later and had happier marriages

Nun study

nuns who used more positive emotion words in essays written when they were 22 survived up to 10 years longer and had lower incidence of Alzheimer’s

character strength

naturally recurring patterns of thought, feeling, or behavior that can be productively applied

what are the 6 values/virtues

courage, justice, humanity, temperance, wisdom, transcendence

increases in ____ were associated with the biggest increases in satisfaction with life

gratitude

health, employment, and relationships have a ____ relationship with happiness

bidirectional

Values in action scale developed with these criteria

consistent and ubiquitous words that have strong real examples and institutions that enable these traits, use factor analysis to organize

2 dimensions of signature strengths

mind-heart, interpersonal-intrapersonal

strengths of ___ are more related to well-being than strengths of ____

heart, mind

hedonic well-being

pleasure of mind and body

eudaimonic well-being

actualizing human potentials and acting according to virtues

hedonic well-being is also called

subjective well-being

2 components of hedonic well-being

affective and cognitive well-being

cognitive well-being

overall judgment that life is satisfying

2 dimensions of affective well-being

arousal and valence

what are the 3 components of affective well-being

frequency, intensity, and arousal

european americans value ____ positive affect and are more depressed when they lack it, whereas hong kong chinese people value ____ positive affect, and are more depressed when they lack it

high arousal, low arousal

2 types of cognitive wellbeing

life satisfaction and domain satisfaction

is cognitive wellbeing top down or bottom up

bidirectional

how did Rogers and Maslow define eudaimonic wellbeing

as being fully functioning and self-actualized

how did Waterman define eudaimonic wellbeing

living in accordance with the true self and personal expressiveness

2 types of eudaimonic wellbeing theories

component theories and antecedent theories

component theories of eudaimonic wellbeing state that

positive functioning, living well, and actualizing potential are the components of eudaimonic wellbeing

Ryff’s theory of psychological wellbeing components

self acceptance, autonomy, environmental mastery, positive relationships, life purpose, personal growth

self determination theory is a ___ approach to wellbeing

eudaimonic

self determination theory states that all humans have a set of ______ that

basic psychological needs, must be fulfilled for optimal psychological health

basic psychological needs must be met for _____ to flourish

innate growth tendencies

what are the 3 basic psychological needs according to self determination theory

autonomy, competence, relatedness

BPN autonomy

to act volitionally and in accordance with one’s values/goals

BPN competence

sense of efficacy and having opportunities to grow

BPN relatedness

feeling cared for and needed and experiencing a sense of belonging with others

BPN autonomy is not about

independence or separateness

in self determination theory, _____ are outcomes of need fulfillment

hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing

Seligman’s PERMA model stands for wellbeing being comprised of

positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, accomplishment

Keyes defines flourishing as high eudaimonic and hedonic wellbeing, as well as

social well being

Oishi and Westgate argue that a ____ is also required for a good life

psychologically rich life

what are the 4 dimensions of cultural differences in definitions of wellbeing

hedonic experience, self-enhancement, autonomy, context

hedonism is more strongly related to subjective wellbeing in ____

individualistic countries

daily diary study showed that

westerners had higher retrospective satisfaction, but daily satisfaction did not differ

self esteem is more related to wellbeing in

individualistic cultures

____ error occurs more in western cultures

fundamental attribution

the most reported definition of happiness across countries and cultures was

harmony/balance

how correlated are hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing

highly

sustainable happiness model states that ____ is responsible for 50%, ____ is responsible for 10%, and _____ are responsible for 40% of happiness

genetics, life circumstances, actions and thoughts

what did Lyubomirsky use to conclude that 50% of variance in happiness between individuals is due to genetics

twin studies

hedonic adaptation

process where emotional impact of a positive or negative life change fades as new situation becomes familiar

why does the hedonic treadmill occur

due to expectations constantly shifting and set point theory

set point theory of happiness

people start with a set point of happiness (genetically) and will hedonically adapt back to that set point after life changes

problems with lottery winners vs. accident victims study

study is not longitudinal, people are bad at predicting future emotions and are at looking retrospectively on them, does not hold up in replications, removed responses from accident group for future predictions because they were “too upset to answer”

intentional activities

activities that require some effort that people choose to engage in

which is more vulnerable to hedonic adaptation, life circumstance changes or intentional activities?

life circumstance changes

why are intentional activities less vulnerable to hedonic adaptation

they can be varied, they require continuous engagement and effort, and they create new experiences

effects of intentional activities depend on

person activity fit, effort and motivation, timing and frequency, variety

positive activity change leads to both ___ and ____

short and longterm wellbeing

criticisms of sustainable happiness model

doesn’t account for noise, explains population level variance which is different than individual potential to change, doesn’t account for bigger life circumstances (ex. trauma)

more recent meta-analyses suggest that activity change accounts for ____ of variance in happiness

15%

hedonic adaptation prevention model is a ___ model

dual process

hedonic adaptation prevention model says for bottom up prevention, you should ____, and for top up prevention, you should_____

create a variety of positive events out of the change, maintain expectations at same level instead of increasing them after the change

positive activity model

highlights person activity fit that moderates the relationship between activity and wellbeing

eudaimonic activities model

one should pursue eudaimonic activities that satisfy basic psychological needs, which will increase subjective wellbeing

affective forecasting

predicting future feelings

we are good at predicting the ___ of our future feelings, but not the ______ and ___

valence, intensity and duration

impact bias

bias that there will be a greater intensity and duration of emotional reactions to events

why does impact bias occur

hedonic adaptation, sense-making, focalism, immune neglect

sense-making uses AREA process

attend, react, explain, adapt

sense-making of events ____ emotional impact

reduces

uncertainty sense-making study

positive feedback in either certain or uncertain condition, with forecasters and experiencers at 2 different time points, immediately after positive feedback and 15 minutes later

uncertainty sense-making study showed that

forecasters expected they would be happier in the certain condition than the uncertain condition in time 2, but experiencers were happier in uncertain condition in time 2 due to lack of sense-making

synthesizing happiness

people align their attitudes with their situation automatically and unconsciously

when we are more motivated to rationalize a choice (ex. no opportunity for taking the choice back) then we will

like it more

are we more motivated to make sense of major or minor traumas

major

maximizing happiness

seeking best option via exhaustive search

satisficing happiness

seeking satisfactory option stopping search once first acceptable option is found

____ tend to be less satisfied with their choices even when they are objectively better

maximizers

maximizer vs. satisficer study showed that they differed in

fixation on unrealized opportunities, regret with places applied, negative affect, outcome satisfaction

maximization is an ____ error, where they underestimate the _____

affective forecasting, affective costs of the process of maximization

what are some methods used to measure emotions

self-report, behavioral observation, physiological measures, facial affect coding system

methods used to induce emotions

videos, imagine tasks, gifts

functional approach to emotion

emotions have adaptive social and coping functions for survival

negative emotions have very ___action tendencies

specific

positive emotions are not clear in their

specific action tendencies

positive emotions allow for a _____, increasing ____

wider range of action tendencies, creativity

broaden and build theory

positive emotions broaden momentary thought-action repertoires which helps to build short and longterm resources

thought-action repertoires

things you think about doing

global-local task

matches squares in triangle configuration to triangles or squares to get score on how global or local thinking is

broadening effects study showed that participants in positive emotion condition had more ___ compared to ___ thinking

global, local

exception to broadening effects of positive emotions

strong approach motivation emotions such as desire narrow attention in global-local task compared to amusement

broadening own-race bias study

participants look at faces in learning phase and testing phase of people of same and different races, and have neutral, joy, and fear conditions

broadening own-race bias study showed that

joy condition reduced own-race bias significantly, where there was no difference between recognizing own vs. other race faces

what are the types of resources that you can build according to the broaden and build hypothesis

physical (activity and exercise), social, psychological

positive emotions are able to undo

lingering negative emotions

positive emotions speed up

physiological recovery from stress

when people’s positive to negative emotions are at a ratio of ____, the _____ will be reached which will cause a ____

3:1, tipping point, upward spiral of positive emotion

the 3:1 ratio has since been, but the broaden and build hypothesis

disproved, is still held

strategy to maximize positive emotions

savouring