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Positive Psychology Quiz 1

Terms in this set (137)

What is Positive Psychology?
Positive Psychology is the scientific study of human flourishing, and an applied approach to optimal functioning
What should Positive Psychology be named differently according to Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi?
Optimal Psychology
What is the difference between Positive Psychology and other psychology?
Unlike traditional psychology that focuses more on the causes and symptoms of mental illnesses, positive psychology emphasizes traits, thinking patterns, behaviors, and experiences that can help improve the quality of a person's day-to-day life.
What are the purposes of psychology?
Cure mental illness, improve normal lives, identify & nurture high talent
What is the difference between positive psychology and toxic positivity?
Toxic positivity is the belief that no matter how dire or difficult a situation is, people should maintain a positive mindset. It's a "good vibes only" approach to life. It rejects difficult emotions
What does positive psychology focus on?
Resilience & recovery, moves beyond "what we don't need" to focus on "what we DO need"
What is the foundation of scientific study of optimal human functioning?
Founded on belief that people want to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives and cultivate what is best within themselves, and to enhance their satisfaction in life & well-being.
Who calls for putting human energy "to optimal use"?
William James in 1907
What period of time calls for increase in clinical psychologists?
WWI - VA (1941) since many returning soldiers need psychological treatments
Who coins the term "positive psychology"?
Maslow in 1954
Who established the discipline for positive psychology?
Martin Seligman during 1996-1999
When did the Journal of Positive Psychology and other professional affiliations establish?
2006
What is well-being?
a positive state that includes striving for optimal health and life satisfaction
Reasons to provide a happy workplace?
Outperform competition, take fewer sick days, engage fully in their work, boost employee satisfaction, produce greater result
What are the happiness advantages?
Better secure jobs, keep jobs, superior productivity, more resilient, less burnout, less turnover, greater sales
What is hedonic well-being?
Consisting of pleasure or happiness, positive emotions and feelings of joy, no pain
What is eudemonic well-being?
- The degree to which a person is flourishing in life and fully functioning

- Includes self-actualization, self-acceptance, positive social relationships, personal growth, purpose in life, autonomy, etc.
What are the differences between eudemonic and hedonic well-being?
Eudemonic: engagement, personal growth, purpose, mindfulness, need satisfaction

Hedonic: feeling good, please, happiness, positive affect, absence of negative effect
How to measure hedonic well-being?
Measured by:
- Positive emotions
- Life satisfaction
- Positive emotions, negative emotions, AND life satisfaction (Diener)
What are the three types of happiness according to Diener?
Life satisfaction, positive feelings, low negative feelings
How to measure eudaimonic well-being?
Measured by:
- PERMA (Seligma)
- Ryff (Psychological well-being)
- Harvard Flourishing Scale
What is PERMA?
positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, achievement, (vitality)
What are the aspects of Ryff (psychological well-being)?
Purpose in life, self-acceptance, autonomy, personal growth, environmental mastery, positive relations with others
What are the 6 domains of Harvard Flourishing Scale?
1. Happiness and Life satisfaction
2. Mental and Physical Health
3. Meaning and Purpose
4. Character and Virtue
5. Close Social Relationships
6. Finance and Material Stability
What are some key cultural differences in positive psychology?
Self-transcendence vs. Self-enhancement

Harmoney vs. Mastery

Contentment vs. Satisfaction

Valuing or avoiding suffering
What is self-enhancement?
Individualism - the notion that one's behavior should be largely determined by one's own personal goals, attitudes, and values, independent of others

The "Good life" is achieved by enhancing the self through factors like autonomy, goal-achievement, and self-esteem
What is self-transcendence?
Collectivism - the notion that one's behavior should be largely determined by goals, attitudes, and values that the group or collective share, often placing others' interests above one's own.

The "Good life" is often achieved by transcending the self - that is, giving up our focus on ourselves and realizing that we are connected to other people and the universe as a whole
What is mastery?
Individualism: become masters of the world around you. As human beings, we are thought to stand apart from the cosmos and can thus "analyze, label, categorize, manipulate, control, or consume" it.

Ryff's model: a fully functioning person is one who "has a sense of mastery and competence in managing the environment".
What is harmony?
Collectivism: the human person is seen as being one with the cosmos and with all beings in it, a piece of the whole.

Happiness is achieved through being in harmony with others and the world around us.
What is anecdotal evidence?
Evidence collected in an informal manner, involving stories or personal testimonies
What is anecdotal fallacy?
The use of anecdotal evidence, or isolated examples that rely on personal testimonies, to support or refute a claim
What is confirmation bias?
The tendency of people to seek out, notice, and remember evidence that supports what they already believe, rather than trying to find counterevidence to test their beliefs.
What are the effects of negative emotions?
Ignite our sympathetic nervous system, create "fight or flight" response
What are the effects of positive emotions
Open our minds, think more creatively, positively primed: complete puzzle faster & smarter
What is the Circumplex Model of Emotions?
Interaction of valence (positive to negative) and arousal (activating vs. not activating) produces subjective experience

Discrete affective experiences = emotions

Emotions = characteristic pattern of physiological arousal, thoughts, and behaviors
What are the types of positive affective experience?
Sensation, emotion, mood, trait
What is sensation?
Last in seconds, e.g. pleasure
What is emotion?
Last in minutes to hours, e.g. joy, pride, love
What is mood?
Last in hours to weeks, e.g. cherry, good humour
What is trait?
Last in decades, e.g. positive affectivity, extraversion
What is the Broaden and Build theory?
Positive emotions broaden thinking about possible actions - opening awareness to a larger range of thoughts and actions than is typical

Positive emotions related to survival and reproduction on a larger time scale

Positive emotions -> expansive awareness -> building resources -> better equipped to handle later threats
What is the effect of joy?
Urge to play and be creative
What is the effect of interest?
Urge to explore and learn
What is the effect of serenity?
Urge to savor and integrate
How does positive emotion affect your thinking?
Experience of positive emotion = global configuration choices
What are the resources garnered in the build?
Learning (Cognitive resources)

Relationships (Social resources)

Fighting and foraging skills (Physical resources)

Other positive emotions (Psychological resources)

Neural growth (Neural resources)
What is the undoing hypothesis?
•Negative emotions have particular physiological effects

•Induction of positive emotion after induction of negative emotion associated with faster return to baseline physiological functioning: cardiovascular effects, most delay in sadness induction condition

•Protective physiological effects
What is the result of the nun study - Danner et al.?
Nuns who have more positive-emotion words and sentences live longer than neutral and negative
What is the result of the UK Million Women Study?
Unhappy group had higher rates of mortality

When accouting for self-rated health, demographic and lifestyle factors, relationship went away
What is the synthesis on mortality data?
•Not all positive affect is created equally

•Relation between positive affect and mortality is particularly strong when considering "active" positive affect (Petrie et al. 2018)

•Relation between PANAS and mortality
•Including age, gender, education, relationship status, smoking, exercise, alcohol consumption, BMI, blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, myocardial infarction in model
•"I feel active"
What is the Mills College Yearbook Study?
•Harker & Keltner (2001)
•1958 and 1960 yearbook pictures
•All but three women were smiling
•Average Duchenne level on 10-point scale = 3.8
•Duchenne level predicted marital status and happiness in marriages
•Attractiveness did not predict satisfying relationship
What is the baseball player's smile intensity study?
•Baseball player's smile intensity predicted how long he lived (Abel & Kruger, 2010) N = 196
•Accounting for year of birth, BMI, marital status, college attendance, and length of baseball career
•Not smiling = 72.9 years at death
•Partial smile = 75.0 years at death
•Duchenne = 79.9 years at death
•
• Researchers (N = 440) smiles in photos related to impact, but not quantity, of work (Kaczmarek et al., 2018)
What is the difference between IV and DV?
IV: variables that is changed

DV: variables affected by the changes
What are Positive Psychology Interventions (PPIs)?
•Positive Psychology Interventions (PPIs) are also sometimes called Positive Activity Interventions (PAIs).

•Definition for this class: Empirically tested, volitional activities that foster positive emotions, cognitions, behaviors, or other favorable outcomes
What are the three criteria for a PPI/PAI proposed by Parks and Biswas-Diener (2013)?
1. Its primary goal is to increase particular positive-psychology variables of interest (e.g., optimism, gratitude, forgiveness).

2. Research shows that the intervention actually increases the positive-psychology variables it purports to target.

3. Research shows that improving those particular positive-psychology variables leads to desirable outcomes (e.g., increasing well-being or decreasing problems/symptoms).
What are the three determinants of happiness and their percentage?
Genetic: 50%
Intentional Activity: 40%
Outside Circumstances: 10%
What is the LIFE Model?
•The Layered Integrated Framework Example (LIFE) model offers a way to classify PPIs.

Individual & Collective X Subjective & Objective
What is Individual - Subjective PPI?
Target individual's thoughts or feelings (e.g., gratitude, optimism, and hope interventions, positive psychotherapy)
What is Individual - Objective PPI?
Target physiological outcomes or changes in the brain (e.g., medication, exercise, dietary changes)
What is Collective - Subjective PPI?
Target relationships and shared meanings (e.g., couples and family counseling, community interventions)
What is Collective - Objective PPI?
Target systems, laws, or societal structures (e.g., school-based health clinics, public health campaigns)
What is the ratio of positivity?
3:1
What are the purposes of most PPIs/PAIs?
To increase postive affect and experiences
What are the example PPIs/PAIs that target character strengths?
- Using strength on a daily basis

- Finding new ways to use strengths
What are the example PPIs/PAIs that target gratitude and admiration?
- Counting your blessings

- Writing a gratitude letter
What are the example PPIs/PAIs that target hope?
- Setting and refining goals

-Envisioning pathways/plans for pursuing goals
What are the example PPIs/PAIs that target kindness?
- Performing random acts of kindness

- Noting kind acts you already perform
What are the example PPIs/PAIs that target Optimism
Writing about your best possible self
How are PPIs implemented?
•To Individuals
•Many online and free!
•In schools (by teachers)
•In group settings
•In clinical settings
What are some PPI formats?
•Writing and reflection
•Group activities
•Reading assignments
•Imagination tasks
•Service activities
•And more!
What is the effect of gratitude?
Move us to become a better person, improve healthy eating in teenagers
What is the effect of kindness?
Change immune gene expressions
What is the difference in recalling kind acts between collectivist and individualist?
Big improvements in positive affect for collectivist (but not individualist) cultures
How is gratitude demonstrated in Korean culture compared to the US?
•In one study, for instance, researchers found that a gratitude intervention resulted in smaller increases in psychological well-being for college students in Korea than in the United States (Layous et al., 2013).
What is mental health?
•World Health Organization (WHO, 2005): "a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community."

•Important things to note:
•Not simply the absence of negatives, but also the presence of positives.
Refers to individuals and the community.
What are the benefits of PPIs and its relation to the clinical populations?
•Many PPIs free - can lessen gap between treated and untreated patients

•Patient empowerment

•We need low-cost (free!), effective interventions
•Initial therapy for mild symptoms
•Supplemental therapy for partial responders to medication

Patients attribute improvements in their moods and symptoms to their OWN doing, not to an external agent (antidepressant or therapist)
What are the approaches of PPIs to decrease symptoms of mental disorders?
Two prominent approaches: Well-Being Therapy (WBT) and Positive Psychotherapy (PPT)
What is Well-being therapy?
•Created by Giovanni Fava (1999, 2016).

•Targets the components of Ryff's (1989) model of psychological well-being: environmental mastery, personal growth, purpose in life, autonomy, self-acceptance, and positive relationships.

•8 to 16 weekly or biweekly sessions.

•Has been used in shorter courses as a supplement to Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for depression.

•Randomized controlled trails have shown that combining CBT with WBT results in decreased rates of relapse in people with recurrent depression in comparison to medication management and other forms of treatment as usual (e.g., Kennard et al., 2014; Stangier et al., 2013).
What is Positive Psychotherapy (PPT)?
•Developed by Tayyab Rashid (2015).

•14 weekly sessions

•Three premises:
1.Psychopathology can result when problems in life thwart clients' capacities for growth, fulfillment, and well-being.
2.Enhancing strengths and positive feelings is as essential to psychotherapy as treating symptoms.
3.Not all clients are in need of deep, long-term discussions about their troubles. It can sometimes be more useful to help clients apply their strengths.

•Example randomized clinical trail: Seligman et al (2006)
•Adults with Major Depressive Disorder were assigned to one of three treatments: PPT, treatment as usual (TAU), or TAU plus an antidepressant.
•Participants in PPT reported significantly lower levels of depressive symptoms after treatment than participants in the other two conditions.
What are the steps in Scientific Method?
Choose research question, conduct lit review, develop hypothesis, design study, conduct study, analyze data, report results
What is a variable?
Any event, situation, behavior, characteristic that varies
What are the types of variables in an experiment?
- Independent variable: the cause; the factor that the researcher manipulates

- Dependent variable: the effect; not manipulated

-Confounding variable: any factor besides the independent variable(s) that could influence the dependent variable(s)
What is operationalization?
Defining a variable in terms of how you measure or manipulate it; enables others to know exactly what you did and copy you.
Why do we need operationalization?
1.Forces scientists to discuss abstract concepts in concrete terms

2.Helps researchers communicate ideas with others.
What is a hypothesis?
Specific prediction for the findings of the study
What are the differences between a one-tailed and two-tailed test?
One-tailed: specific predition about direction of relationship (more, less,...)

Two-tailed: no specific prediction about direction, more exploratory ("will affect", "is related")
What is the nonexperimental method?
Relationships are studied by making observations or measuring the variables of interest
What is the experimental method?
Involves direct manipulation and control of variables. One variable is manipulated (IV) and the other is then measured (DV).
What is the survey method?
Surveys are a collection of self-report questions selected by a researcher and put into one survey/questionnaire
What is a scale?
A set of questions related to a specific topic
What is an interview method?
Interviews are a great way to get rich data in a newer area of research or probe more deeply into the "why" of a more known research area

These are typically one on one and can be conducted in person, by zoom, or over the phone

Instead of creating a questionnaire you'll create an interview protocol with interview questions to ask your participants
What is a focus group interview?
Similar to interviews but typically involve one or more moderators (the researcher) and 6-8 participants

Get a range of opinions

Create a focus group protocol
What is a naturalistic observation method?
Participants don't know they are part of an experiment

A great way to learn more about an issue in its natural form

Develop observation protocol
What is qualitative data?
Deals with descriptions

Data can be observed but not measured

Colors, textures, smells, tastes, appearance, beauty, etc

Qualitative -> Quality
What is quantitative data?
Deals with numbers

Data which can be measured

Length, height, area, volume, weight, speed, time, temperature, humidity, sound levels, cost, members, ages, etc

Quantitative -> Quantity
What is a flow according to Nakamura & Csikszentmihalyi (2001)?
•A state of complete absorption in an intrinsically rewarding activity

•Focused concentration on what you are doing in the present moment combined with sense of control over activity

•Experience time as passing without realizing it

•Self-reinforcing state
What is a flow state?
•A Flow state is a psychological state which accompanies highly engaging activities when there is an optimum balance between skill and challenge

•You lose yourself, lose your sense of time and it feels like nothing else matters. You are intensely concentrated on what you are doing and are not concerned with anything else that's going on.
What are the conditions that facilitate flow?
•Proximal goals are clearly established
•Goals are evident for each step of the activity

•Immediate feedback on actions
•From others
•From environment
•Actions are merged with awareness

•Challenge of the activity and skills to meet the challenge are balanced
What is the experience of Chinese students with flow?
•Chinese students' preferred skill level to be HIGHER than challenge level
What is the experience of Japanese with flow?
•Those with autotelic personality and more flow experiences:
•had higher self-esteem, lower anxiety, better coping strategies
What is the relationship between twins and flow?
Heritable component to flow - identical twins have ~.30 correlation
What is the relationship between flow and neuroscience?
Release of dopamine key to flow experience (likely why it feels rewarding)

Brain areas that control impulses and attention also involved
What is savoring?
•The process of up-regulating positive emotions by redirecting attention in the moment to positive emotional experiences

•Associated with positive affect in the present and future and relationship satisfaction

Involves thoughts or actions that are aimed at appreciating and amplifying a positive experience
What is anticipation?
Enjoyment of a forthcoming positive event
What is being in the moment?
Thinking and doing things to intensify and perhaps prolong a positive event as it occurs
What is reminiscing?
Looking back at a positive event to rekindle the favorable feelings or thoughts
What are conditions that enhance savoring?
More likely to savor something considered to be special or out-of-the ordinary (Quoidbach et al., 2015)

More likely to savor positive emotional experiences when a task is already completed (Schall et al., 2017)

More likely to savor experiences if you believe you have faced and overcome challenges in life (Croft et al., 2014)
- Past adversity positively correlated with savoring, current adversity inversely correlated with savoring
What is altruism?
•Refers to acts that are carried out voluntarily by individuals who have no concern for themselves and who have no expectation of any kind of reward (always selfless)
What is prosocial behavior?
•A broader category of helping behavior that does NOT stress personal motives (could be selfless or selfish)
What is the difference between altruism and prosocial behavior?
Selfishness may be involved in prosocial behavior

Altruism is always associated with selflessness
Why does prosocial behavior matter?
•People who report more prosocial behavior:
•More meaning, purpose in life, positive emotions, happiness and life satisfaction
•More popular in grades 3 - 8, More attractive to others
•Less negative affect when stressed
•Strengthen relationships
•Increases well-being in communities, organizations
What are the benefits of altruism?
makes us happy, good for health, good for love lives, fight addiction, promotes social connections, contagious
What evidence show that empathy predicts altruism?
•Healthcare workers more likely to sanitize hands when reminded it keeps patients safe than when reminded it keeps them safe (Grant & Hoffman, 2011)
•Empathy for most vulnerable in population associated with social distancing in US, UK, and Germany at beginning of COVID-19 pandemic (Pfattheicher et al., 2020)
Altruistic kidney donors more activation in bilateral anterior insula than controls when watching others experience pain (Brethel-Haurwitz et al., 2018)
What are the benefits of giving support?
•Toddlers aged 19 to 23 months, coded as happier when giving treats than when receiving them (d = 1.12); Aknin et al., 2012
•Also, happier when giving away own treats compared to giving away experimenter's treats (d = .46)

•Older adults (N = 1,118) who reported giving more help also reported being physically healthier
•To relatives or non-relatives
•Controlling for: age, gender, ethnicity, education, income, marital status, size of social network, functional mobility
•Neither receiving help nor reciprocity related to health (Brown et al., 2005)
What is the result of the children altruism test?
•Sticker distribution nearly EQUAL amongst four groups
•Significant improvements in:
•Social competence
•Report card grades in domains of learning, health, social-emotional development
•Control group - sharing task (became more selfish over time)
What is bystander effect?
•Bystander effect: a phenomenon in which the greater the number of bystanders, the less likely it is that any one individual will feel responsible for seeking help or giving aid to someone who is in need of help

Example: Kitty Genovese
When do people help?
•Costs and rewards: If benefits outweigh the costs, helping occurs.
What does stress do to prosocial behavior?
•stress only increased prosocial beahviors, not negative behaviors
What is singularity effect of identifiable victims?
Tendency to have stronger reactions to and more willingness to help an identified individual as opposed to a group with the same need

People tend to be relatively insensitive to the scale or scope of need/crisis

Participants with collectivistic values less likely to demonstrate this effect
Who helps more, men or women?
•Women may be more likely to help EXCEPT in dangerous or public situations (women ALSO more likely to be high on "agreeableness")

•Why?
•Cost-benefit analysis
•Socialization
Who helps more, old or young people?
•Older people more than younger people
•HOWEVER when studying children, older children more likely to help in NONCOSTLY situations (when they have plenty of toys). In costly, helping increased for Canadian children, remained stable for children from Peru, and decreased for children from India

•Take-away: when resources are high helping is higher, lower when resources are lower

•People who identify as religious more than those who don't
Who helps more in terms of personality type (Big Five)
•Agreeableness
•LOW on narcissism
•Honesty-Humility
Who helps more, collectivist or individualist?
Collectivist societies - arguably more altruistic or prosocial in nature. These societies put the welfare of others above their own
Why do we help in evolutionary model?
Genetic (biological drive), self and relatives' survival
Why do we help in egoistic model?
Distress (anxiety, annoyance, unpleasantness), egoistic motivation (reduces stress and increases reciprocity)
Why do we help in empathy-altruism model?
Empathy (concern and compassion for other person), altruistic motivation (reduces other's distress)
What is the evolutionary reason of fear?
Physiological function: increased visual field and speed of eye movement from widened eyes

Communicative function: warning of potential threats; appeasement of the aggressor
What is the evolutionary reason of pride?
Physiological function: increased lung volume in preparation for encountering challenges

Communicative function: increased social status
What is the evolutionary reason of disgust?
Physiological function: constriction of face openings reduce dangerous inhalations

Communicative function: warning of dangerous foods, behaviors, and ideas
What is the evolutionary reason of shame?
Physiological function: reduces and hides vulnerable body areas from potential attacks

Communicative function: decreased social status; wish for appeasement
What is the evolutionary reason of anger/aggression?
Physiological function: unknown

Communicative function: warning of impending threats, signals dominance
What is evolutionary model of helping?
A theory suggesting that altruism is an instinctual behavior that has evolved because it favors survival of the helper's genes
What is evolutionary reason for altruism?
We want our DNA to survive into future generations

Kin Selection

Reciprocal altruism
What is kin selection?
Favouritism for helping people who are related to us and share some of our DNA
What is reciprocal altruism?
Occurs when we help people who we're close to, even if they don't have our DNA
What is egoistic model of helping?
We are motivated by an anticipated gain

We help because of anticipated gain - later reciprocation, increased self-esteem, or avoidance of stress or guilt

Negative state relief model: When we are sad, helping can make us feel good, avoid negative state

Arousal: cost-reward model: hear a baby cry, have a sympathetic response & unpleasant feeling so we help to eliminate issue to relieve our own aversive arousal
What is empathy-altruism model?
We help due to empathy for someone in need

Helping that has as its ultimate goal another's welfare

Occurs because we have empathy/concern for others

Selfless, altruistic motives (reduce OTHERS distress)
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