575 final LCC and RCC

The Positive Activity Model (Lyubomirsky & Layous, 2013) was developed to explain all of the following EXCEPT:

Why material possessions are unrelated to well-being.

Positive emotions differ from negative emotions in ways beyond simply feeling pleasant vs. unpleasant. Which statement below best conveys one of these ways that is especially consequential for positive psychology?

Positive emotions are more frequent than negative emotions.

The Broaden-and-Build Theory (as presented in Fredrickson, 2001) asserts that positive emotions broaden people's ______?

Thought-action repertoires

Research conducted by Mauss and colleagues suggests that positive emotion dissociation is _____ because expressing one's authentic experiences of positive emotion builds _____

Harmful, social connections

According to the article by Kiken, Lundberg & Fredrickson (2017), dispositional mindfulness differs from savoring ability in that dispositional mindfulness ...

may help people identify pleasant aspects of everyday experiences.

Which theory presented in lecture has been applied and tested as a treatment for the misuse of addictive drugs?

The Mindfulness-to-Meaning Theory

The assigned reading by Garland and colleagues (2015) proposes the Mindfulness-to-Meaning Theory, which suggests that in addition to reducing psychological distress, meditation engenders eudaimonic well-being (e.g., meaning in life) by...

promoting positive reappraisals.

The more frequently people practice meditation, whether formal or informal, the more positive emotions they experience in daily life. Such dose-response relations can be decomposed into several subtypes. Which subtype below provides the best justification for people to invest more time in practicing meditation?

within-person dose-response effects

The Broaden-and-Build Theory (as presented in Fredrickson, 2001) asserts that positive emotions broaden people's ______?

Thought-action repertoires

According to the article by Fredrickson et al (2017) that compared the effects of loving-kindness meditation (LKM) to mindfulness meditation (MM), how did these two forms of meditation practice influence people's daily emotions?

LKM and MM each increased positive emotions over time yet had no impact on negative emotions.

The more frequently people practice meditation, whether formal or informal, the more positive emotions they experience in daily life. Such dose-response relations can be decomposed into several subtypes. Which subtype below provides the best justification for people to invest more time in practicing meditation?

within-person dose-response effects

According to the assigned article by Willroth et al (2023), which of the following showed a unique and reliable positive association with psychological health?

positive judgments of positive emotions

Emotional well-being tends to be higher among older adults than younger adults. What has been shown to account for this?

acceptance

According to Schwartz et al. (2002), maximizers are more likely than satisficers to...

Engage in more social comparison

The Dualistic Model of Passion, as described in the article by Vallerand (2008), proposes that people may have two types of passion for their favorite activities. What are they?

obsessive passion and harmonious passion

For whatever reason, a random thought about your favorite activity pops to mind and makes you smile. According to lecture, this is an instance of which concept in the Upward Spiral Theory of Lifestyle Change?

nonconscious motive

Study 2 in the article by Rice & Fredrickson (2017) found that people's degrees of harmonious passion for physical activity predicted their frequency of engaging in physical activity. According to their hypothesis (and data), what accounts for this effect?

Harmonious passion predicts positive spontaneous thoughts, which in turn predict behavior.

The Upward Spiral Theory of Lifestyle Change presented in lecture has two loops: the inner loop and the outer loop. Which loop was described as working through "Broaden-and-Build" processes?

the outer loop

The article by Robertson and colleagues ("Looking in the Mirror...") finds that the Reflected Best Self Exercise (RBSE) raised undergraduate students' confidence that they could successfully market their own skills and abilities during a job interview. Additionally, study results showed that the impact of the RBSE was larger from some students than for others. Which two variables below best describe for whom the impact of the RBSE was largest

students with low general self-efficacy and low career choice confidence

The randomized controlled trial reported by Proyer and colleagues (2015) compared a placebo control (PC) condition to two variations of a positive psychology intervention (PPI) to use character strengths in new ways: One PPI variant focused Signature Strengths (SS PPI) and the other on Lesser Strengths (LS PPI). Which statement below best describes the overall effect on participants' happiness (i.e., disregarding moderation effects):

Relative to the PC condition, both the SS PPI and the LS PPI increased happiness.

As described in lecture, two formal exercises for illuminating people's strengths have been studied in positive psychology: the Reflected Best Self Exercise (RBSE) and the VIA Character Strengths Survey (used for PPI #5). In what ways is the RBSE thought to be more impactful than the VIA Survey?

The RBSE provides memorable appreciative jolts.

According to the reading by Martela & Streger on "The three meanings of meaning in life," what distinguishes the facet of meaning as coherence from the facet of meaning as significance?

Coherence is about what we know, whereas significance is about what we value.

According to research by Laura King presented in lecture, which emotional state is likely to make your life seem especially meaningful?

Pride

According to the reading by Rogers and colleagues (2023) on the Hero's Journey, what can perceiving your own life as a hero's journey do for you?

Increase the meaningfulness of your life.

According to lecture, what is the strongest active ingredient that accounts for the observed link between people's religiousness and their reports of meaning in life?

cosmic mattering

The daily life of Hirayama, the main character in the Wim Wender film Perfect Days, is very routinized. One of his lunchtime habits is to take analog photos of trees. Which concept from PSYC 575 does this habit best represent and why?

Harmonious passion, because the photos bring him steady enjoyment.

Steger (2024)'s paper on reorienting wellbeing science to meet pressing world realities presents three pillars to serve as goalposts for a new regenerative positive psychology. Which of the following is NOT one of these pillars?

Design sustainable wellbeing interventions.

At the end of the Wim Wender film Perfect Days, the main character, Hirayama, plays shadow tag with a man he just met who discloses that he is dying of cancer. Which concept from PSYC 575 does Hirayama's behavioral choice best represent and why?

The undo effect, because playfulness helps both men overcome negative emotions.

According to the reading by Oishi & Westgate (2022), which of the following personality traits is most associated with living a psychologically rich life?

Openness

According to the definition of intellectual humility presented in lecture, which of the following is the CORE COMPONENT of that definition?

Recognizing the limits of one's own knowledge.

Fredrickson (2016) defines love-the-emotion as a micro-moment of positivity resonance, during which three elements emerge between individuals at the same time. Which is NOT one of these elements?

relationship commitment

A longitudinal study of married couples was used to develop an objective, dyad-level measure of positivity resonance. According to evidence presented in lecture, which of the following was NOT predicted by objectively assessed positivity resonance?

lower divorce rates

According to the 2024 article by West and her coauthors on improving social connection with weak ties and strangers, which two variables below are independently associated with young adults' better mental health and social well-being?

positivity resonance with weak ties & positivity resonance with strong ties

Demitri generally enjoys meeting new people but lately has been relying on his friends and has refrained from seeking new connections. He recently lost his job and is experiencing a lot of stress, making it difficult to find and invest in new people. According to TA Zoe Hansen's lecture on weak ties, which concept below offers an explanation of Demitri's situation?

optimal foraging theory

According to Nelson et al. (2016), doing nice things for others (versus for yourself) increases positive emotions relative to the control condition. Which of the following is proposed as an explanation for this pattern of findings?

Prosocial behavior often involves opportunities to improve one's relationships with others, whereas self-focused behavior is often solitary.

Although altruistic responding comes at a cost to the self, it is theorized to have evolved over millennia through natural selection from the neural and behavioral systems for:

retrieving offspring in distress.

The reading by Curry et al. (2018) entitled "Happy to Help?" mentioned several theories about the causes of human kindness. Which of the following is NOT one of the mentioned theories?

Conditional altruism: People will be kind to others when time and resources permit.

According to evidence presented in lecture, which of the following individual characteristics distinguishes extraordinary altruists (e.g., kidney donors) from other people?

greater value placed on distant others' welfare

How is Algoe's (2012) Find-Remind-and-Bind Theory of gratitude distinct from prior theorizing on gratitude?

It describes how gratitude serves relational goals.

A randomized experiment presented in lecture compared five different gratitude activities to an active control condition (Regan, Walsh & Lyubomirsky, 2023). Among activities that used the format of a gratitude list, which type of list produced greater well-being benefits relative to the control condition?

an unconstrained list of people and things

According to the reading entitled Three Good Tools (Adair, Kennedy & Sexton, 2020), the 3 interventions tested led to improvements across a range of metrics. On which metric did participants show the greatest improvement?

negative measures of well-being (e.g., depression)

According to studies presented in lecture, how does gratitude expressed in an East Asian Confucius Culture differ from gratitude expressed in the United States?

More emphasis on self-improvement and less on bodily contact, relative to the U.S.

According to Steger (2024)'s paper on regenerative positive psychology, which pillar of traditional ("as usual") positive psychology, introduced at the field's onset, has received the least empirical attention?

positive institutions

The daily life of Hirayama, the main character in the Wim Wender film Perfect Days, is very routinized. One of his lunchtime habits is to take analog photos of trees. Which concept from PSYC 575 does this habit best represent and why?

Harmonious passion, because the photos bring him steady enjoyment.

A randomized experiment presented in lecture compared five different gratitude activities to an active control condition (Regan, Walsh & Lyubomirsky, 2023). Among activities that used the format of a gratitude list, which type of list produced greater well-being benefits relative to the control condition?

an unconstrained list of people and things

According to the reading entitled Three Good Tools (Adair, Kennedy & Sexton, 2020), the 3 interventions tested led to improvements across a range of metrics. On which metric did participants show the greatest improvement?

negative measures of well-being (e.g., depression)