Happiness Comm. Exam #1

Positive Psychology

If we study what is merely average we will remain merely average

How is the positive psychology different from previous approaches

Finding its not necessarily the reality that shapes us but the lens through which your brain views the world that shapes your reality, and if we can change the lens not only can we change your happiness we can change every single educational and business outcome at the same time

How does Happiness relate to performance and achievement according to Shawn Achor?

• Harvard – brains were not focused on the privilege of being there but the competition, the workload, stresses

• Only 25% of job successes are predicted by IQ, 75% of job successes are predicted by your optimism levels, your social support, and your ability to see stress as a challenge instead of as a threat

• Every time your brain has a success you just changed the goalpost of what success looked like – if happiness is on the other side of success then your brain never gets there – pushed happiness over the cognitive horizon

  • Our brains work oppositely – if you can raise somebody’s level of positivity in the present, then their brain experience a happiness advantage – brain at positive performs significantly better than negative, neutral or stresses

Happiness

The experience of joy, contentment or positive well being combined with a sense that one’s life is good, meaningful, and worthwhile

Definition is person centered, we all get to define what happiness is for us

Myths of happiness and why not supported

1.     Happiness must be found – exists in something out there; once you get there you’ll have happiness – job, partner, graduating, moving, etc ----- why not? We create pur own happiness

2.     Happiness is in changing our circumstances – if the circumstances of our life would change then we would be happy ---- again we create our happiness so we must change our circumstances

3.     You have it or you don’t – genetically hardwired for our happiness, we can’t change it, ---- creating our own happiness

happiness myths problematic

We create our own happiness and these are myths that promote societal expectations, shift the blame onto genetics, and make excuses for why we cannot be happy when we create it ourselves

50-40-10 Happiness Pie

Genetics 50%,Intentional Activity 40%, Circumstances 10%,

Hedonic Adaptation

Tendency for humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness, despite major positive or negative events or life changes

Hedonic Adaptation contributors

social comparison and rising expectations

hedonic adaptation combat

Intentionality – change up activities to keep it fresh and with Len

be mindful of and try to notice things that make you happy

Burnout in Americans

Average employed americans work 46.2 hours more per week than most developed countries and over 1/3 average americans do not take the holiday time they are allowed. General trend of burnout between 23% report always feeling burnt-out and 44% sometimes, 45-66% of American physicians experience burnout.

Juliet Schor argument for consumption and materialism

Technological advance? If we use it to produce more we are going to continue to put really heavy and unsustainable pressure on the environment. Countries who have longer hours of work have a much higher carbon footprint and that the countries that have succeeded in using some of that technological improvement to reduce their hours of work have actually been able to reduce their carbon footprints along with it

Schor;s principles for controlling consumerism

Workers choose their hours, employers set the hours. Prefer higher rates of production and economic growth. Will they get more free time or be asked to produce more?

Three ways activities FIT with a person

Source of Happiness - Worried or traumatized → coping, therapeutic writing, optimism

One’s Strengths - Introverted → mindfulness or gratitude

One’s Lifestyle - Little time to do things → simple activities you can fit in ie count your blessings

what is meant by the phrase, “If you always do what you always did…you’ll always get what you’ve always got”?

Nothing will change if nothing changes, so you need to put in the work to make that change to allow yourself betterment

Intrinsic vs extrinsic - HapGoal

For you, is authentic, fits your personality and who you want to be…. VS… not for society, family or others

Approach vs Avoidance- HapGoal

Good approach is I want to be stronger VS bad approach I want to be smaller ---- frame goals as approachable goals

Harmonious vs Competing - HapGoal

Don’t let goals compete with other aspects in your lifestyle negatively

Feasible yet stretching - HapGoal

Will be an effort but flexible enough

Activity (process) vs Circumstances (end result) - HapGoal

going through the motions and making progress towards your goals vs only seeing the end result

Flexible vs Rigid - HapGoal

being flexible with your goals and not having such a sturdy direction will make it more approachable and feasible

Why hapgoals are important to happiness

happiness comes from pursuing goals rather than just achieving them

Gratitude

Gratitude is a felt sense of wonder, thankfulness, and appreciation for life

Research on gratitude

Less likely to be depressed, anxious, lonely, envious, neurotic

Why gratitude boosts happiness

Promotes savoring experiences, bolsters self-esteem and worth, helps cope with stress/trauma, encourages moral behavior, cultivates social bonds, inhibits envy, comparison, diminishes anger and bitterness, can counteract hedonic adaptation

Activities to be more grateful

Gratitude journal/lists, directly expressing gratitude

Optimism

Looking on the positive side; celebrating the present and past and anticipating a bright future

how optimists view and see events

tend to believe good things are due to their skills/abilities and will last long term

how pessimists view and see events

tend to believe that good things are due to luck and short terms

how optimists are guided in their behaviors

Bad things are temporary or due to bad luck

how pessimists are guided in their behavior

bad things are due to something they did and are likely long term

Modern neuroscience for how we actually see and perceive

We can only notice and process roughly .0005% of information in any given moment – only can process about 5% of meaningful information each day

How does optimism boost happiness

making out the positive side of the situation

how to cultivate optimism

Track and check off goals, vision/goal boards, goal list, encouragement and support groups, identifying barrier thoughts – replace pessimistic thoughts, be generous with perceptions

Rumination

thinking too much, needlessly, passively, endlessly and excessively pondering the meanings, causes, and consequences of your character, your feelings, and your problems

co-rumination

when overthinking becomes communicative, endlessly process with others either about ourselves or about situations/other people, related to complaining

social comparison

comparison of oneself to others, usually related to some general quality

Impact of rumination and social comparison

Rumination is linked to sustained negative mood, negatively based thinking, impaired judgement and problem solving, lower motivation, and lower concertation and initiative

Social comparison: upwards comparisons lead to feelings of inferiority, distress, and loss of self-esteem;

how does rumination and social comparison impact happiness

R: lead to feelings of powerlessness, being self critical, pessimistic, and negatively biased; very powerful negative impact

  S: leaves you feeling vulnerable, threatened, and insecure

how does rumination and social comparison disort reality

R: typically far extends a distorted view of reality

S: has a very limited and skewed view on others’ reality

strategies to battle rumination and social comparison

Gratitude and positive thinking can combat these by refocusing us on the good and shaping our view of reality

1.     Distract yourself with things you love

2.     Ruminate mindfully – specific time each day, worry timer, close friend, journaling, STOP method (stop, take a breath, observe, proceed)

3.     Take action – what can you fo

4.     Dodge triggers and situations – where do you usually tend to ruminate or exchange in social comparison    

5.     Reflect on the big picture

Prosocial behavior

Voluntary behavior to benefit others, actions that benefit others or society as a whole

Helping, sharing, donating, cooperating, volunteering, etc. – motivated by empathy, concern for others

kindness link with emotional contagion

Through mimicry and feedback people can “catch” each others emotions

how do acts of kindness create happiness

Provides a sense of interdependence, awareness of one’s good fortune, distracts from rumination, improves self-perception, cascade of positive social aspects

considerations for maximal impact on happiness from kindness

impact on self-perception, sense of confidence, optimism, usefulness, positive social consequences

Whole hearted people have

Courage to be imperfect, compassion to ourselves then to others, connection, as a result of authenticity, vulnerability

Can’t “selectively numb emotions” and how it affects relationships

when we numb pain and vulnerability, we numb joy and happiness

happier people mean better relationships

happiness and quality relationships

They benefit socially with social support, advice, information, opportunity, and increased affection

Affection

good to get and to give

highly affectionate people are

Happier, more self-assured, less fearful of intimacy, less likely to be stressed, depressed, better overall mental health, socially outgoing, more satisfied with relationships

how to cultivate and nurture relationships

1.     Time/Rituals

2. Gratitude, appreciation, affection,

3. Take delight in other’s good fortune,

4. support others dreams and goals,

5. Constructively deal with conflict,

6. Ask for help  --- do small things, be present, turn towards each other, listen well

Coping

alleviates the hurt of stress, hurt and suffering

Problem focused coping

actively doing something, creating a plan of action

Emotion focused coping

recognizing, validating, and processing emotions

post traumatic growth

one’s ability to not only recover from hardship, but emerge even stronger

strategies for coping

   Importance of Social Support

  Finding Meaning

Pennebaker’s Expressive Writing Paradigm

Pennebaker Expressive Writing paradigm

ABCDE method:

Adversity – what happened;

Belief – what story do you tell;

Consequence – consequence for you;

Disputation – challenge the negative belief;

Energize – consider optimistic interpretations and explanations for this problem

How does the writing paradigm help deal with stress

each step is designed to move you through catharsis and cognitive processing

Forgiveness

Is the decision to transcend resentment and let go of the desire to do harm towards the transgressor

Forgiveness misconceptions

Is weakness, is about approving their wrongdoings, means we cannot participate in restitution, requires that you must forget the harm, the same as reconciliation

forgiveness and reconciliation differences

Reconciliation is the process of rebuilding a relationship after a breakup or fallout --- you may forgive someone but not be reconciled or vise versa

why is forgiveness important within the context of our happiness

it is something we do for ourselves

why might communicating forgiveness be important related to happiness

Provide closure and has positive consequence for the relationship, can lead to behavior change and improve the relationship,