Topic 11.3: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

Subfield of psychology that has sought to emphasize human strengths.

Attempts to help people incorporate “character strengths and virtues” in life.

Curiosity, love, gratitude.

May not benefit everyone, particularly people with defensive pessimism.

strategy of anticipating failure and compensating for this expectation by mentally overpreparing for negative outcomes.

What happiness is good for

May produce enduring physical and psychological benefits

Broaden and build theory says happiness predisposes us to think more openly, allowing us to see the “big picture”

–Notably contrasts with defensive pessimism.

Optimists vs pessimists

Subtle differences in longevity, health and memory for certain details (e.g. relating to illness).

Correlation versus causation.

Misconceptions about happiness

The prime determinant is major life events: People tend to overestimate the lasting impact of major life events. While these events do influence short-term happiness, long-term well-being is shaped far more by ongoing circumstances and daily experiences than by single dramatic moments.

Money makes us happy: Money contributes to happiness mainly up to the point where basic needs and reasonable comforts are secured. Beyond that threshold, additional income yields diminishing returns, meaning more money adds less and less to overall well-being.

–Limited evidence for a threshold effect; diminishing returns past a certain income where needs are meet.

Correlates of Happiness

•Being married

•Having many friends

•Graduating college

•Being deeply religious

•Political affiliation

•Level of gratitude

•Giving to others

•Being in the midst of flow

Forecasting happiness

We often try to predict our future emotional states (affective forecasting) but are not great at it.

We display a consistent durability bias.

–we believe that our good and our bad moods will last longer than they do.

Hedonic Treadmill

Our moods tend to adapt to external circumstances 

Baseline

We bounce around our happiness “set point” (baseline) but most movement is temporary

Positive events don’t increase happiness as much as we expect in the long term.

People overestimate how happy money, possessions, or milestones will make them.

Chasing external rewards can become endless if we expect them to permanently increase happiness.

Negative events also lose emotional force over time, showing human resilience.