Psych 243 Exam 2

The pleasant life

a life that successfully pursues the positive emotions about the present, past, and future

The good/engaging life

using your signature strengths in the pursuit of one’s own work, love, & play

• flow state

  • pursue a hobby

  • work in fulfilling vocation that uses personally enjoyed talents, skills, expertise

  • living an engaged good-life adds significantly to one’s sense of a fulfilling life

Virtue

• defined by “good” based on moral and ethical standards

The meaningful life

using your signature strengths and virtues in the service of others

• adds most significantly to one’s sense of a fulfilling life

Values in Action (VIA): survey of character strengths

• self- evaluation based on 240 statements

• displays a ranking of all 24 stregths based on your responses

• authentic happiness is increased when people employ their top 5 strengths in their work, love, play, and in their service of others

Values in Action Project (VIA)

Comprehensive classification system focusing on human strengths

• life above zero vs. life below zero (VIA vs DSM)

how were basic core virtues identified?

through reviewing ancient works such as

• the koran

• the torah

• the bible

• aristotle

• The Bushido Samurai Code

Six Core Virtues

• wisdom & knowledge

• courage

• humanity

• justice

• temperance

• transcendence

Wisdom & Knowledge

• core virtue

cognitive strengths that entail the acquisition and use of knowledge

Courage

• core virtue

emotional strengths that involve the exercise of will to accomplish goals in the face of opposition, external or internal

humanity

• core virtue

interpersonal strengths that involve tending to and befriending

justice

• core virtue

civic strengths that underlie healthy community life others

Temperance

• core virtue

strengths that protect against excess

Transcendence

• core virtue

strengths that forge connections to the larger universe and provide meaning

Criteria for character strengths

1. regarded as a valued moral quality (whether or not tied to concrete benefits)

2. contributes to personal fulfillment (enhances personal expressiveness, meaningfulness)

3. is distinctive and does not overlap with other strengths

4. has an opposite that is clearly negative

5. each strength is valued in almost every culture and period of time

6. each strength is malleable

• “ I can learn a particular strength and get better at it”

Strengths under knowledge and wisdom

creativity, curiosity, open-mindedness/judgment, love of learning, perspective

strengths under courage

bravery, perseverance, honesty/integrity, zest/vitality

strengths under humanity

love, kindness, social intelligence

Strengths under justice

teamwork/citizenship, fairness, leadership

strengths under temperance

forgiveness and mercy, humility and modesty, prudence, self-regulation

strengths under transcendence

appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, humor, spirituality

life satisfaction

Pleasure + engagement + meaning

• pleasure: positive emotions

• engagement: using personal strengths in the pursuit of one’s own work, love & play

• meaning: using personal strengths in the service of others

limitations of the pleasant life

• positive affect is 50% heritable and quick to habituate (peaks are not sustainable)

• short-term thrills (eating pizza or winning a prize) fade quickly

• alone, living a pleasant life contributes little to a fulfilling life

  • positive psych is not “happy-ology” - Martin Seligman

Seligman’s PERMA model

five core elements that contribute to a human flourishing, well-being, and a fulfilling life

• positive emotion

• engagement

• relationship

• meaning

• achievement

appraisal focused coping

changing how you think about a situation to alter its emotional impact

• ex: when an exam is brought up, reminding yourself “its just an exam” and there are more important things in life

response-focused coping

managing and modifying emotional reactions after they have already occurred

• experience: changing how you feel internally (e.g,. wallowing)

• expression: managing outward displays (e.g., sharing feelings with close friend, or supressing embarrassment after doing poorly on an exam)

• behavior: taking physical action (e.g., exercising, or getting revenge)

• physiology: targeting bodily responses (e.g., meditating, exercising, medicating)

relationship between money and happiness once basic needs are met

money becomes significantly less predictive of overall happiness once enough is earned to satisfy basic physiological and safety needs

When does spending money actually increase happiness?

1. spending on experiences (travel , leisure, shared time)

2. spending on others (prosocial spending: gifts charity)

Price effect on subjective wine perception and brain activity

higher perceived price increases subjective reports of liking and enhances activation in the medial orbitofrontal cortex, even when identical wines are consumed

Medial orbitofrontal cortex

area of the brain that encodes the subjective pleasure or reward value of an experience

predicted cognitive effects of money priming

1. enhanced self-sufficiency and desire to work alone

2. greater individualism

3. decreased sense of communality

Observed behavioral outcomes of money primes

1. Decreased prosocial behavior at work

2. decreased tendency to savor positive moments

3. decreased willingness to help others, volunteer, or donate money

originator of the concept “flow”

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

• introduced in 1975

Flow State

Being completely involved and immersed in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away, time flies, and every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one

autotelic activity

activity intrinsically rewarding and done for its own sake without expectation of reward

• (auto = self, telos = goal)

  • ex: playing music for fun, casual drawing, completing a hobby for fun

exotelic activity

An activity performed solely to achieve an external goal or consequence

• (exo = external)

Components of Flow

1. INTRINSIC ENJOYMENT IN DOING THE TASK;

2. CHALLENGE–SKILL BALANCE;

3. AUTOMATICITY OF ACTIONS;

4. GOAL CLARITY

5. FEEDBACK

6. CONCENTRATION ON TASK

7. SENSE OF CONTROL

8. LOSS OF SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS

9. TIME TRANSFORMATION

INTRINSIC ENJOYMENT IN DOING THE TASK

first component of flow

The activity is autotelic and intrinsically rewarding; doing the task itself is the primary motivation rather than an external reward

CHALLENGE–SKILL BALANCE

second component of flow

The activity exists in the sweet spot where the challenge of the task directly matches the individual's ability level (neither too easy nor too difficult)

Automaticity of Actions

third component of flow

The task feels completely effortless and automatic; all relevant skills are engaged, and the person stops thinking about the execution separately from doing it.

Goal Clarity

fourth component of flow

Expectations, objectives, and rules are clear and attainable; you know exactly what needs to be done next at every moment

Direct & Immediate Feedback

fifth component of flow

Real-time information on success and failure during the activity, allowing instant self-correction and continuous engagement

How do Goal Clarity and Immediate Feedback interact?

They create a closed loop (like in sports or video games): clear rules tell the player what to achieve, and immediate feedback tells them whether they succeeded, keeping attention locked on the task

Concentration on the Task

sixth component of flow

Intense, selective focus on a narrow field of attention; everyday worries, extraneous thoughts, and outside problems fade completely out of consciousness

Sense of Control & The Paradox of Control

seventh component of flow

• Sense of Control: A feeling of personal autonomy and mastery over the situation.

• Paradox of Control: The subjective sense of control only produces flow when a doubtful or uncertain outcome is at stake, and one's actions can directly influence that outcome.

Loss of Self-Consciousnes

eighth component of flow

The ego and social self-monitoring quiet down; because all attention is consumed by the task, there is no cognitive capacity left to worry about image, evaluation, or status

Time Transformation (Distortion of Time)

ninth component of flow

The subjective perception of time changes dramatically: hours can feel like minutes, or brief moments can seem to slow down during rapid, intense actions.

What neurochemicals are associated with the Flow state, and what are their functions?

• Cortisol / Norepinephrine (Adrenaline): Arousal, vigilance, alertness, and paying attention.

• Dopamine: Focus, pattern recognition, engagement, and reward anticipation.

• Endorphins: Pain suppression and physical endurance.

• Anandamide: Lateral thinking, pain relief, and novel idea generation.

• Serotonin: Post-flow satisfaction and positive mood.

Why are games (video games, sports, board games) ideal vehicles for generating Flow?

• They are goal-directed with clear rules.

• They provide instant, unambiguous feedback.

• They demand a balance of mental, physical, or social skills against dynamic, escalating challenges.

Primary Levels of Regulation

• antecedent-focused

• appraisal-focused

• response-focused

Antecedent-focused

Regulating emotions before an emotional response is triggered, by managing situations or thoughts

• situation selection: choosing to enter or avoid certain situations

  • e.g. hanging out with a funny friend, going to a review session

• situation modification: modifying an existing situation to alter its emotional impact

  • e.g. changing the topic of conversation when someone brings up an exam

• attention deployment

  • e.g. counting ceiling tiles to distract yourself when a friend brings up an exam

Glass, Singer, & Pennebaker (1977) — The "Just in Case" Button Study

procedure: Participants completed a proof-reading task with unpredictable loud noises/buzzes. Some had a button to stop the noise if unbearable (though the button was fake and did nothing)

findings: Participants with the button performed significantly better, even though they never pressed it

takeaway: The mere perception of control over a situation is sufficient to reduce stress

• antecedent-focused principle

Tugade & Fredrickson (1998) — The Silver-Lining Effect

finding: those who quickly recover from negative events report finding potential positive effects as the outcome of negative events

• This can backfire if an individual habitually engages in negative reappraisal

Humor as an appraisal-focused coping mechanism

• often targets our most unwanted thoughts

• Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) arousal takes about 2.5 seconds, while cognitive appraisal/processing occurs in ≤300 ms

• a punchline cognitively reframes a negative setup fast enough so the physical arousal is experienced as amusement rather than distress

Pennebaker (1997) & Pennebaker & Graybeal (2001) — Expressing Negative feelings

finding: writing about traumatic events (30 min/day for 3 days) caused short-term distress, but after 3 months led to fewer illnesses, less alchol consumption, and better grades

mechanism: benefits were strongest for those who wrote to make sense of the experience - frequently using cognitive words like because, reason, realize, know, and understand

Burton & King (2004) — Writing about Intensely Positive Experiences (IPE)

study: Participants wrote about intensely positive experiences using Pennebaker's protocol

results: similar long-term boosts in health and mood

significance: because there is no “problem” to solve, expressive writing works in part via positive appraisals/cognitive restructuring, not just problem solving

Types of mimicry

• manual

• vocal

• facial

Manual mimicry

You can see your own movements to match observed actions

• refers to copying physical, hand, or body movements

Vocal mimicry

You can hear your own voice to match heard speech/sounds

Facial Mimicry

You cannot see your own facial expressions to compare them, yet mimicry still occurs automatically

Mirror Neurons

Neurons that automatically fire in response to both viewing (or hearing about) a behavior and engaging in that behavior

• For facial expressions, they also fire during the experience of the emotion

• Enable: Empathy, skill building through mimicry, and vicarious experiences

Facial Feedback Hypothesis

Skeletal muscle feedback from facial expressions directly influences emotional experiences

• i.e., making a facial expression triggers the corresponding emotion in the brain

Experiments demonstrating Facial Feedback Hypothesis

• Strack, Martin, & Stepper (1988): Holding a pen with teeth (forcing a smile) made cartoons seem funnier compared to holding it with lips (pouting/inhibiting smile).

• Larsen, Kasimatis, & Frey (1992): Moving golf tees/markers attached between the eyebrows closer together induced a frown without explicit instructions, producing negative affect.

  • When the "smiling" muscles were engaged, participants rated the exact same cartoons as significantly funnier.

  • When the "frowning" muscles were engaged, participants experienced a shift toward negative affect.

    • This proved that sensory feedback from facial muscles directly feeds back into emotional processing centers in the brain to shape subjective experience

Emotional Contagion

The tendency to automatically and unintentionally mimic and synchronize expressions, vocalizations, postures, and movements with another person, and consequently converge emotionally

• e.g. Your friend smiles; you unintentionally also smile; facial-feedback from your smile makes you feel happy

• key role: builds social rapport, empathy, and group cohesion

How does the Smiling Prosocial Feedback Loop work?

1. initial expression: smiling acts as a social default

2. Facial Mimicry: The other person unintentionally mimics the smile

3. Facial Feedback: Muscle activation signals happiness to the brain

4. Felt Emotion: Genuine positive feeling emerges, prompting further smiling and strengthening prosocial bonding

What are the three components and percentages of the happiness pie chart according to Sonja Lyubomirsky (2008)?

Genetics: 50%

Under own control (intentional activities/interventions): 40%

circumstances: 10%

How did psychologists initially assess happiness as overall well-being?

By using global self-report measures of life satisfaction, asking broad questions such as: "How happy are you with your life in general?”

What is the Satisfaction with Life Scale

a 5-item self report questionnaire measuring global cognitive judgments of life satisfaction

1. In most ways my life is close to my ideal.

2. The conditions of my life are excellent

3. I am satisfied with my life

4. So far I have gotten the important things I want in life

5. If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing.

What did Ed Diener’s cross-cultural analysis of 916 studies worldwide reveal about human happiness?

Most people report being mildly happy. The distribution is skewed positively, with a mean happiness rating around 6.75 out of 10, compared to a neutral midpoint of 5.0

What are the core components of the emotion process model?

• Appraisal: Cognitive evaluation of relevance (Is it relevant? Should I be concerned?).

• Subjective Feeling: The conscious affective experience.

• Physiological Responding: Bodily and autonomic arousal.

• Facial/Bodily Behavior: Motor and expressive displays.

• Action Tendency: Readiness or urge to perform specific adaptive actions.

• Emotion Regulation: Strategies affecting the loop (e.g., reappraisal, suppression, rumination, distraction)

How do negative emotions function from an evolutionary perspective?

They produce specific action tendencies to respond quickly to survival threats (e.g., fear triggers an urge to escape, anger triggers an urge to aggress). They narrow momentary thought-action repertoires to immediate self-preservation tactics

Broaden and Build Theory

Discrete positive emotions (joy, interest, contentment, pride, love) broaden momentary thought-action repertoires, which over time build durable physical, intellectual, social, and psychological resources

key aspects of Broaden-and-Build Theory

1. broadens thought-action repertoires

2. undoes lingering cardiovascular effects of negative emotions (“undoing effect”)

3. builds psychological resilience

4. triggers an upward spiral of emotional well-being

How does positive emotion effect visual attention and problem-solving (Broadening Effect)?

It promotes a global processing bias (seeing the "big picture" rather than focusing narrowly on local details, as demonstrated in the global–local visual processing task) and fosters flexible, creative thinking

What is the "Undoing Effect" of positive emotions

Positive emotions speed up cardiovascular recovery following acute negative emotional arousal. Participants stressed by speech preparation recovered baseline cardiovascular levels faster when watching films eliciting amusement or contentment compared to neutral films or sadness.

How do positive emotions relate to psychological resilience?

Highly resilient people experience and leverage positive emotions more frequently during adversity (e.g., humor and laughter), leading to faster cardiovascular recovery and better coping under stress.

What physical health benefits were found by Ostir et al. (2000) in older adults?

In a study of 2,282 adults aged 65+, the happiest individuals were 50% less likely to die or become disabled over time, showing a protective buffer against age-related decline. High positive affect is also linked to greater pain tolerance

What did Diener & Seligman discover regarding the social resources of the happiest college students?

Students in the top 10% of happiness spent the least amount of time alone, had rich and fulfilling social lives, received the highest peer ratings on relationships, and all had romantic partners

What cognitive benefit did Alice Isen and colleagues discover in medical diagnosticians?

Medical interns placed in a positive mood made faster, more accurate diagnoses of difficult-to-catch liver conditions than interns in a neutral mood, demonstrating enhanced cognitive flexibility and integration.

How have college students' life goals shifted since the late 1960s?

The goal of being very well-off financially increased significantly (now a top priority for over 70–80%), while developing a meaningful philosophy of life dropped from the top spot down to around 40%

Gross National Happiness (GNH)

A framework (introduced by King Jigme Singye Wangchuck of Bhutan) that measures social progress, holistic well-being, and quality of life rather than solely relying on Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

What is the relationship between Gross National Product (GNP) per capita and national life satisfaction?

Curvilinear. Moving from extreme poverty to meeting basic needs yields substantial increases in happiness, but beyond a moderate national income threshold, additional wealth shows diminishing returns

How do individual income gains correlate with personal happiness once basic needs are met?

Once basic security, housing, and nutrition are secured, higher income becomes much less predictive of subjective well-being and daily happiness

What did the Plassmann et al. (2008) wine-tasting fMRI study demonstrate?

When participants believed a wine was more expensive (e.g., $45 vs. $5, or $90 vs. $10), they not only reported enjoying it more, but also showed significantly greater neural activity in the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC)—a primary reward-processing area of the brain

What behavioral effects occur when individuals are subliminally or cognitively primed with money

• Increases feelings of self-sufficiency and desire to work/play alone.

• Reduces prosocial behavior, volunteering, and charity donations.

• Lowers interpersonal communion and willingness to help others.

• Reduces the ability to savor positive everyday moments.

Under what conditions does spending money actually increase happiness

• Experiential Purchases: Spending money on experiences (travel, leisure, shared activities) rather than material possessions.

• Prosocial Spending: Spending money on other people (gifts, helping someone in need, charitable donations) rather than self-focused spending.

Behavioral action tendency:

the urge to engage in some specific behavior when experiencing a specific emotion 

Duchenne smile

A particular type of smile involving the contraction of the orbicularis oculi muscles surrounding the eyes that is believed to signal genuine happiness

Validity

The extent to which a method of measurement actually measures what it claims to measure

Undoing hypothesis

the hypothesis that experiencing a positive emotion can undo the problematic physiological responses associated with negative emotions, thus tending to lead to better physical health in the long run

Easterlin paradox

the observation that happiness has remained the same or even slightly declined since 1972, even though income has more than doubled during that time. Named for researcher Richard Easterlin who first noted the phenomenon 

Witnessing effect (of gratitude).

observers who witness expressers’ statements of gratitude to benefactors tend to be more helpful to the grateful person, disclose more to the grateful person, and want to affiliate more with the grateful person and the person toward whom the gratitude is expressed

Social desirability bias

The tendency to answer questions on a psychological assessment measure in a way that will be viewed favorably by others

Selection bias

A distortion in the results of a study due to selecting participants for inclusion in a way that is not representative of the population of interest