USE THIS HUMAN STRENGTHS FINAL EXAM

OKAY ACTUALLY LOCK IN FOR REAL THIS TIME!

Dimensions of Positive Relationships

• Positive resonance and closeness

Positive Resonance

• Sometimes of often, we all experience feelings of connectedness.

• Unique moments of shared emotions that generate beautiful interpersonal connection

Shared Emotions

• Means being on the same emotional wavelength… very important for positive relationships

Mutual Care and Concern

• Experienced when we and others show that we are invested in each others well being… important for positive relationships

Bio - Behavioral Synchrony

• Our alignment with another person(s) on a behavioral, emotional, and neuronal level… important for positive relationships

Self - Disclosure

• The verbal communication of personally relevant information, though, and feelings to another

Factual Self - Disclosure

• Those that reveal personal facts and information

Emotional Self - Disclosure

• Those that reveal one’s private feelings, opinions, and judgements

Conflict styles

• Avoider and seeker

Four Options for Addressing Conflict

• Do nothing

• Address indirectly

• Address directly

• Exit

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

• A metaphor depicting the end of times in the new testament.

• They describe conquest, war, hunger, and death respectively

• The four things are:

  • Criticism

  • Contempt

  • Defensiveness

  • Stonewalling

Solomon’s Paradox

• There’s a widespread social cognitive bias that means we are much better at dealing with other peoples lives and problems than our own

Four Potential Sources of Self - Esteem

• Controlling one’s life

• Doing one’s duty

• Benefiting others

• Achieving social status

Openness to Change Values

• Self regard based especially on controlling one’s life

Conservation Values

• Self - regard based especially on doing one’s duty

Victor Frankl

• Survived a concentration camp and wrote a mans search for meaning which emphasized each person uniqueness and finite nature of life

• People should actively ask questions such as why they exist and what they want from life, etc.

Open - Mindedness

• Thinking things through and examining them from all sides

Learnings

• One portal of gratitude

• Often coming in the form of challenges (physical, existential, intellectual, emotional) from which we grow and change

Amnesia

• An obstacle for gratitude

• Allowing grateful memories to fade invites emptiness and self pity, while reducing the likelihood that we will continue to practice gratitude

Entitlement

• An obstacles for gratitude

• Self - absorption / Belief we are “owed” what we want in life

• Narcissism

Presence of Meaning (POM)

• Refers to “the degree to which people experience their lives as comprehensible and significant, and feel a sense of purpose or mission in their lives that transcends the mundane concern of daily life”

Search for Meaning (SFM)

• Refers to “the dynamic, active effort people expend trying to establish and augment their comprehension of the meaning, significance, and purpose of their lives”

Four Patterns of Relations Between POM and SFM

• Stage of meaning diffusion

• Meaning foreclosure

• Meaning moratorium

• Meaning achievement

Stage of Meaning Diffusion

• One of the four patters between POM and SFM

• Low presence/low search

• No/little exploration and commitment

Meaning Foreclosure

• One of four patterns between POM and SFM

• High presence/low search

• No/little explanation and high commitment

Meaning Moratorium

• One of four patterns between POM and SFM

• Low presence/high search

• No/little commitment and high exploration

Meaning Achievement

• One of fourth patterns between POM and SFM

• High presence/high search

• High exploration and commitment

Transitory State

• A pattern of responding involving a deviation from a steady state that ends in a return to the same steady state

Three Dimensions of Meaning

• Comprehension/coherence

• Purpose

• Significance

Comprehension/coherence

• A dimension of meaning

• The perception that one is able to make sense of the past, present, and imagined future aspects of their life and integrate their life story into a coherent whole

Purpose

• A dimension of meaning

• Sense of purpose is the feeling of having a life aim and working towards fulfilling it

Significance

• A dimension of meaning

• Existential significance or mattering, feeling that we are worthwhile human beings

Self - Transcendence Values

• Self - regard based especially on benefiting others

Self - Enhancement Values

• Self - regard based on especially achieving social status

Generativity

• The perceptions that one’s life matters is often contingent upon the belief that one’s actions have helped to make the world a better place for others

• “The dynamics of generativity are heavily implicated in many of the meaning making paths adults traverse”

Mortality Awareness

• Conscious acknowledgement of one’s own finiteness

The most common types of growth seen among trauma survivors - largely as a result of contemplating the reality of their own deaths - occur in three overarching life categories

• Perceptions of the self

• Interpersonal relationships

• Philosophy of life

Character Strengths

• Positive traits/capacities that are personally fulfilling, do not diminish others, ubiquitous, valued across cultures, and aligned with numerous positive outcomes for oneself and others

Creativity

• Thinking of novel and productive way to do things

Curiosity

• Taking an interest in all of ongoing experience

Love of Learning

• Mastering new skills

• Topics

• Bodies of knowledge

Perspective

• Being able to provide wise counsel to others

Character Strengths and Main Virtues

• Wisdom and knowledge

• Courage

• Humanity

• Justice,

• Temperance,

• Transcendence

Overuse/Underuse of Golden Mean

• Any of the 24 character stregnths can be overused or underused

• Each of the 24 character strengths can be viewed along a continuum, in terms of its expression in a given situation, where the center is balance

• Optimal use in terms of the right amount for the situation

Dimensionality

• Means that character is viewed in degrees

Colliding of Strengths

• Two or more character strengths can collide with one another leading to a whole that is far less than the sum of the strengths

Synergy of Strengths

• Two or more character strengths can come together and create a synergy in which the new whole is greater than the sum of the strengths.

• SYNERGY: the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.

The Three Graces as a Prototype for Gratitude

• Representation of the social phenomena of giving, receiving, and retuning gifts

• Each experince was considered to be a seprate belessing, hence

Effects on Gratitude on Psychological Well Being

• Gratitude may form a “positive triad” comprising positive views about the self, world, and (due to its shared variance with optimism) future.

Vs.

• “negative triad” of Depression comprising negative views about the self, world, and future

Portals to Gratitude

• Blessings

• Learnings

• Mercies

• Protections

Blessings

• One portal to gratitude

• Those situations, people or experiences which are considered good in our lives, for which we can give thanks

Mercies

• One portal to gratitude

• Receiving acts of kindness and compassion when none may seem to be warranted.

Protections

• One portal to gratitude

• Feelings of being safe, either bestowed by other persons or by deities/other religious entities, can invoke gratitude.

Obstacles to Gratitude

• Taking Things for Granted

• Manipulation

• Suffering

• Amnesia

• Entitlement

• Victimhood

• Rugged Individualism

• Materialism

• Lack of Reflection

• Negative Moods

Taking Things for Granted

• An obstacle for gratitude

• Living on the assumption that situations will always be as they are.

• (Nothing can make one appreciate one's health like a serious illness.)

Manipulation

• an obstacle for gratitude

• Someone whose relationships are built on manipulation cannot relate to free exchange of gifts

• Everything is a negotiation, they cannot feel grateful.

Suffering

• An obstacle for gratitude

• Extreme suffering can block the possibility of gratitude (at the time it is present).

• When suffering dissipates, gratitude can arise upon reflection.

Victimhood

• An obstacle for gratitude

• Life view of having been wronged - and living accordingly, rather than taking responsibility for personal change.

Rugged Individualism

• An obstacle for gratitude

• Lacking an understanding of one's place in community

• Refusal to accept one's interdependence with others.

• Self-made man myth.

• Expressions of gratitude are acknowledgments that one is dependent on other people for one's well-being, and therefore not self-sufficient

Materialism

• An obstacle for gratitude

• When one's focus in life is primarily on obtaining things, the capacity for gratitude is diminished.

• The void cannot be filled.

Lack of Reflection

• An obstacle for gratitude

• Overly busy and stressed, we can easily move gratitude meditation from our priority list.

• (We forget to remember.)

Negative Moods

• An obstacle for gratitude

• Negative moods can become our focus and we can forget to shift attention to what is right in our experience.

Gratitude is More Than a Feeling, it is…

• It is a Choice (attitude).

• It is an Action (response).

• It becomes a Habit (when practiced regularly).

Maladaptive Schema or Ways of Seeing the World

• Might be linked to harmful gratitude attitudes because of…

  • maladaptive self-sacrifice

  • subjugation or oppression schemas

  • dependency schemas

Maladaptive Self - Sacrifice Schemas

• People with this believe that they have to put others needs before their own or they will suffer terrible consequences

Subjugation or Oppression Schemas

• Those with this believe that it is unsafe to have even expressed their preferences and needs in the first place

Dependency Schemas

• People with this believe that they cannot function autonomously in the world without deferring to more powerful others.

Stages of Forgiveness

• wrongdoing

• impact stage

• meaning stage

• moving on stage

Stage of Wrongdoing

Impact Stage of Forgiveness

• disorientation and confusion

• filled with anger, accusations and withdrawal, desire of vengeance

Meaning Stage of Forgiveness

• the victim tried to understand what happened

• to find a motive

• to regain control

• to undertake significant emotional work to overcome resentment

• to find a common ground with the offender

  • ex: pain and suffering

Moving on Stage of Forgiveness

• the offended person might recognize that the other cannot be reduced to the wrongdoing committed

• further hostility directed toward the partner may not be productive and may not hinder his or her own judgement

Types of Forgiveness

• ambivalent

• complete

• detached

Ambivalent Type of Forgiveness

• negative feelings and thoughts towards the aggressor are still present together with more positive attitudes

Complete Type of Forgiveness

• prevalence and benevolence and low levels of grudges

• ruminations…

Detached Type of Forgiveness

• formal forgiveness

• without emotional involvement

A Framework to Study Forgiveness in Close Relationships

• personality detriments

• relational detriments

• offense - related detriments

• social cognitive detriments lead to forgiveness without rational consequences