Positive Psychology Exam 2

Excellence gap

Lower representation of racial/ethnic, language, and economic minority groups in enrichment and gifted programs

Heritability

How much of a trait’s variability observed in a population is due to genetics

Deliberate practice

Person must be motivated to work, wants to improve performance, and there must be objective variability in performance outcomes

Construct validity

Degree to which a measure relates to the theoretical models of the construct you are examining

Internal reliability

Degree to which different items measure the same thing/are in agreement

Interrater reliability

Degree to which different judges of a measure are in agreement

Talent-spotting

Introducing difficult tasks that can make excellence more obvious to observers, helps to reduce the excellence gap

Approach goals

Goals focused on attaining, achieving, or increasing something

Avoidance goals

Goals focused on avoiding, stopping, or reducing something

Independent goals

Goals focused on achieving fun and enjoyment for yourself

Interdependent goals

Goals focused on achieving approval from family and friends

Expectancy conditions

Efficacy expectancy: You expect you can effectively do a behavior

Outcome expectancy: You expect that a behavior leads to a desired outcome

Valence: Desirability of the outcome

Learned helplessness

State in which an organism learns its actions have no effect on outcomes

Learned optimism

Experiences have led to a habitual explanatory style, wherein they view themselves as the cause of positive outcomes, that such outcomes will persist

Unrealistic optimism

Expecting to experience more positive event and fewer negative events than what would be objectively true

John Henryism

Responding to stressors and pursuing goals with the expectation that determination and hard work will lead to success

Snyder’s Hope Theory

Goals, pathways, and agency

Implementation intentions

If-then plans to continue working towards a goal even with obstacles

Optimism best relates to…

General aspects of life

Hope best relates to…

Specific and controllable situations

Aristotle’s virtue

tendency to do the right thing at the right time in the right way

Clifton’s talent

Naturally recurring pattern of thought, feeling, or behavior that can be productively applied

Clifton’s strength

Combination of natural talent, nurtured knowledge, and skill

Peterson & Seligman’s view on character

Values in Action: Character must be understood from a place of moral value

Peterson and Seligman’s virtues

Core characteristics valued by philosophers and religious leadrers across time and world cultures

Peterson and Seligman’s character strengths

Psychological ingredients or pathways that allow people to live out specific virtues

Rokeach’s terminal & instrumental values

Instrumental values are how we pursue terminal values

Schwartz’s circumplex theory of basic human values

values compete and conflict with one another across these categores: opennes to change, conservation, self-enhancement, and self-transcendence

Paradox of well-being

Older adults are often as happy or happier than when they were young adults

Emotional maturity hypothesis

Older adults tend to experience less intense emotions than young adults because their emotional regulation is better

Positivity effect of aging

As we age, we tend to focus more on positive experiences and stimuli for cognitive processing

Rowe & Kahn’s view on successful aging

Classified as in a disease state, normal, and successful agers

Criteria: low disease risk and no disability, high physical and cognitive functioning, and active engagement in life

Ryff’s view on successful aging

Based on self-acceptance, positive relationships, autonomy, control over one’s environment, purpose in life, and personal growth

Alameda 7 predictors of successful aging

More objective, includes only physical well-being aspects

Blue Zones predictors of successful aging

More subjective, includes aspects of physical, mental, spiritual, and social well-being

Selection-optimization-compensation model

Doing the best with what you have:

Selection: focus on important goals in context of life stage

Optimization: using resources to aid success

Compensation: for losses to adapt to changes and obstacles

Socioemotional selectivity theory

Focusing on the right developmentally-appropriate goals at teh right time, and factoring in limited time for older adults

Staudinger & Baltes’s view on wisdom

focuses on skills, knowledge, and considerations of uncertainty, context, goals, and values

Ardelt’s view on wisdom

focuses on wisdom as advanced personality development combining cognitive awareness, compassion, and reflection on multiple perspectives and issues without reactivity

Wisdom

Good judgement and advice in important but uncertain matters of life