Positive Psychology

1. 7

2. 7

3. 3-5

4. 7

5. 7

6. 4-4

7. Score = 37

Psychology focuses primarily on problems: What happens when something in the brain or body goes wrong? How do we fix it? How do we predict it?

In the 1990s, psychologists became interested also in using psychological science to learn more about what makes things go right

Positive psychology: Focuses on strengths, talents, and virtues that help people to function successfully, and even to optimize psychological and relational well-being

Empirically based: Research informs our perspectives on what works!

• Researchers looked to make a classification of positive traits and strengths, analogous to how the DSM is used to classify problems, deficits, and disorders

• Values in Action (VIA): A systematic presentation of virtues that have been common across cultures and times, that helps people to identify what they are doing well and to build upon it

• Six core virtues: Courage, justice, humanity, temperance, transcendence, wisdom

• Gratitude: A feeling of thankfulness or appreciation in response to receiving something beneficial, or appreciation of one’s abilities

• Forgiveness: The letting go of one’s own negative thoughts, feelings, and behaviors toward an offender

• Humility: Having an accurate view of the self, acknowledging one’s limitations, being open to learning new things, and realistically assessing one’s strengths and weaknesses, especially about other people

• Three strengths = flourishing—living a good life psychology, relationally, and/or spiritually

Gratitude

• Helps us feel good

• Higher dispositional/trait gratitude is correlated with feeling more loving, forgiving, joyful, and enthusiastic

• Grateful people generally experience positive emotions more frequently and have more positive experiences in their relationships

• Interventions to increase gratitude also substantially increase well-being

• Finding some benefit in a traumatic experience speeds recovery and lessons post-traumatic stress

Forgiveness

• Letting go of negative thoughts and behaviors that may be detrimental to a person’s own well-being

• The goal of forgiveness is to help the victim go back to a healthier way of life, not to let the offender off the hook

• If the offense is relatively small, forgiveness can help restore a positive relationship between two people

• Even if the offense is large, forgiveness can help a person let go of resentment or escalating behaviors that would otherwise serve as a source of stress or distress

• People who are able to forgive may have better interpersonal relationships and thereby

Humility

• Measuring humility can be challenging—difficult to self-report

• Researchers have found success with indirect self-report items like “I generally have a good idea about the things I do well or poorly” and “I have difficulty accepting advice from other people” (reverse-scored)

• Humility is positively correlated with generosity and self-reported motives to be kind to others, including strangers and even enemies

• People who feel humble when praised generally report that the experience made them want to be kind, work harder, and challenge themselves

• Humble teachers are more effective; humble lawyers are more likable

• Humiltiy=GPA

Findings of positive psychology in general

• Most people are happy

• Happiness is a cause of good things in life, not simply a result of success or good outcomes

• Political conservatives are happier than political liberals

• Most people are resilient and can bounce back from adversity

• Happiness, character strengths, and good interpersonal relationships can provide a buffer against disappointments and setbacks