CH.2 Flashcards
Divine Command Theory
of happiness that states that the path to happiness is to follow the commands of a supreme being. – Hebrews and greeks 2500 yrs ago
Virtue Theory/ Eudaimonia
Aristotle’s concept of happiness possessed of true well- being that is a by- product of living the virtuous life.
Subjective Well-Being
represents the concept that happiness is determined by one’s appraisal of life satisfaction and positive feelings.
Hedonic definition of happiness
The idea of positive feelings, good moods, and pleasurable experiences leading to happiness embodies the
Positive affect
pleasant emotions such as joy, love, and amusement. nonspecific action tendencies
Negative Affect
unpleasant emotions such as sadness, anger, fear, and anxiety. - specific action tendencies (fight or flight)
Fredrickson’s broaden-and-build
Fredrickson’s model that explains the adaptive and evolutionary value of our positive emotions.
Undoing hypothesis
positive emotions help us recover quickly from neg emotions
life satisfaction
a global judgment about how good one’s life is.
Subjective view
This subjectivist view suggests that each person knows best his or her level of happiness.
Prescriptive view
that certain factors must be present for a person to feel happiness and well-being.
Happiness Set Point
the idea that happiness levels are fixed, stable across time, and some- what impervious to control.
3 lines of support for Happiness set point
- Heritability
- Personality factors
- Hedonic adaptation
Hedonic Adaptation
the concept that happiness due to circumstances tends to be temporary because we generally adjust fairly soon to our new circumstances.
Habituation
where the novelty of a new stimulus eventually wears off after repeated exposure
Bottom-up idea
predicated on life’s circumstances influencing our happiness (i.e., the sum of our positive experiences)—all the things around us bubble up to affect our happiness levels.
Top-Down Concept
suggests that our happiness levels begin in ourselves, and as we look at our circumstances, we view them through our rosy or dark glasses.
Learned Helplessness
a passive state analogous to depressed states in which one’s efforts are perceived as not affecting outcomes.
Learned Optimism
acquiring an ability to generally expect positive outcomes.
realistic optimism
form of optimism that does not “involve self-deception, or convincing oneself of desired beliefs without appropriate reality checks,” is the preferred form.
Flow
an experience of merging one’s consciousness with an event in the present moment.
Agency
refers to the motivational trait like perception that a wide range of goals will be pursued.
Hope
seen as a combination of cognitive pathways and agency. Pathways refer to the ability to envision one or more routes toward reaching a desired goal. And agency refers to the motivational trait-like perception that a wide range of
Mindfulness
can be defined as “the state of being attentive and aware of what is taking place in the present” or awareness of the present with acceptance
Savoring
applying conscious awareness to enjoyment experiences.
Compassion
a feeling that we have when we witness suffering.
Empathy
involves both identification and understanding and is believed to be the driving force for acts of altruism,( the act of helping unselfishly.)
3 conditions for compassion
(1) serious
(2) not self-inflicted
(3) we must be able to identify with the sufferer. -> empathy
Forgiveness
act of giving up resentments toward those we perceive to have harmed us or another and letting go of claims for retribution or restitution.
Gratitude
involves a feeling of appreciation for something good that an- other is responsible for bringing about.
spirituality
a search for self-transcendence or to form connections with a higher power, divine
