Chapter 1 - textbook

Question 1

What is positive psychology?

Answer 1

The study of ordinary human strength and virtue

Question 2

At the subjective level, what does positive psychology look at?

Answer 2

Positive subjective states and emotions (joy, happiness, etc)

Question 3

At the individual level, what does positive psychology look at?

Answer 3

Positive individual traits and patterns (courage, persistence, wisdom, etc)

Question 4

At the societal level, what does positive psychology look at?

Answer 4

Positive institutions

Question 5

Positive psychology is concerned essentially with the elements and predictors of ______

Answer 5

The Good Life (a happy, well-fulfilled life)

Question 6

Complete mental health is a combination of what 4 things?

Answer 6

High emotional well-being, high psychological well-being, and high social well-being, along with low
mental illness.

Question 7

Aspects of our behavior that contribute to creating

positive connections to others can include what?

Answer 7

The ability to love, the presence of altruistic concerns, the ability to forgive, and the presence of spiritual connections to help create a sense of deeper meaning and purpose in life

Question 8

Give examples of positive individual traits

Answer 8

A sense of integrity, the ability to play and be creative, and the presence of virtues such as courage and humility.

Question 9

Define life regulation qualities

Answer 9

Qualities that allow us to regulate our day-to-day behavior so that we can accomplish our goals while
helping to benefit the people and institutions that we encounter along the way.

Question 10

Give examples of life regulation qualities

Answer 10

A sense of individuality or autonomy, a high

degree of healthy self-control, and the presence of wisdom as a guide to behavior.

Question 11

Low positive well-being in the present can set the stage for the development of depression up to __ years later

Answer 11

10

Question 12

Newer forms of psychotherapy focus on what?

Answer 12

The development of positive emotions and adaptive coping strategies rather than focusing on negative emotions, internal conflicts, and anxieties formed in childhood

Question 13

Most people adjust __poorly or well__ to life’s vicissitudes.

Answer 13

Most people adjust well to life’s vicissitudes.

Question 14

According to positive psychology, are we more driven by the future or the past?

Answer 14

The future

Question 15

Define flourishing

Answer 15

A term used to describe high levels of well-being

Question 16

Define struggling

Answer 16

Someone who exhibits both high well-being and high mental illness

Question 17

How would psychology describe someone who is generally doing well in life but is currently experiencing significant distress about some issue?
A) Struggling
B) Floundering
C) Flourishing 
D) Languishing

Answer 17

Struggling

Question 18

Define floundering

Answer 18

People who are low on well-being and high on mental illness symptoms

Question 19

Define languishing

Answer 19

People who are low on well-being but also low on mental illness

Question 20

How would psychology describe someone who has no significant mental health issues but is also dissatisfied or unfulfilled in life?
A) Struggling
B) Floundering
C) Flourishing 
D) Languishing

Answer 20

Languishing

Question 21

A 2016 study by the Wisconsin HOPE Lab found that about __% of college students are experiencing
a mental health condition?

Answer 21

50%

Question 22

Keyes and Lopez argued what?

Answer 22

That other definitions of mental health are incomplete because they focus on only a portion of what it means to be mentally healthy

Question 23

What term did Keyes and Lopez propose? How is it defined?

Answer 23

Complete mental health: a combination of high emotional well-being, high psychological well-being, and high social well-being, along with low
mental illness.

Question 24

Define high emotional well-being or emotional vitality

Answer 24

When people are happy and satisfied with their lives.

Question 25

Define high psychological well-being

Answer 25

When people feel competent, autonomous, and self-accepting; have a purpose in life; exhibit personal growth; and enjoy positive relationships with others.

Question 26

Define high social well-being

Answer 26

When people have positive attitudes toward others, believe that social change is possible, try to make a
contribution to society, believe the social world is understandable, and feel a part of a larger social community.

Question 27

What are the 5 dimensions of social well-being?

Answer 27

Social acceptance, social actualization, social contribution, social coherence, and social integration.

Question 28

Define hedonism

Answer 28

The oldest approach to well-being and happiness, hedonism in its basic form is the belief that the pursuit of well-being is fundamentally the pursuit of individual sensual pleasures and the avoidance of harm, pain, and suffering.

Question 29

Why is hedonism not always good?

Answer 29

When focused on too exclusively, the hedonistic drive produces no lasting benefits to personality and no personal growth.

Question 30

Define the divine command theory of happiness

Answer 30

That happiness is found by living in accord with the commands or rules set down by a Supreme Being

Question 31

How did the Greeks answer the question of happiness?

Answer 31

The general answer to the happiness question was that human beings could decide for themselves
which paths most reliably lead to well-being.

Question 32

What did Socrates say about happiness?

Answer 32

Socrates taught that true happiness could be achieved only through self-knowledge and that only this examination of one’s universal soul was true wisdom. He believed that once the true nature of the good is known, it will automatically be desired and so will rationally motivate virtuous behavior.

Question 33

How did Plato influence modern ideas of the good life?

Answer 33

Plato’s influence can be seen in any search for
happiness or the good life that involves looking beyond sensory experiences toward a deeper meaning to life. These can take such forms as a spiritual quest for one’s true self and an examination of the unconscious motivations that block one from experiencing well-being.

Question 34

What was Aristotle’s main goal?

Answer 34

To find the golden mean that existed between the extremes of life.

Question 35

How did Aristotle define the golden mean?

Answer 35

A state of balance, harmony, and equilibrium,

which leads to a life lived in accordance with the principle of eudaimonia.

Question 36

How did Aristotle define eudaimonia?

Answer 36

The condition of flourishing and completeness that constitutes true and enduring joy

Question 37

What are Aristotle’s 12 virtues that add up to the golden mean?

Answer 37

Courage, liberality, pride (as self-respect), friendliness, wittiness, justice, temperance, magnificence, good temper, truthfulness, shame (or appropriate guilt for our transgressions), and honor

Question 38

What category would Aristotle’s happiness theory fall under?

Answer 38

Naturalistic theory

Question 39

How did Aristotle define the virtue theory of happiness?

Answer 39

That the cultivation and development of certain virtues lead a person toward the greatest well-being and, therefore, toward the good life.

Question 40

Define epicureanism

Answer 40

Happiness is best achieved by withdrawing from the world of politics to cultivate a quiet existence of simple pleasures.

Question 41

Explain stoicism

Answer 41

The theory that material wealth, happiness, love, and
admiration all were subject to change, and therefore, a person must not base his or her well-being on these ephemera. Rather, the only choice is to perform one’s duties without complaining and to accept calmly
one’s place in the divine plan

Question 42

What are the 4 major Greek theories of the good life?

Answer 42

The contemplative life, the active life, the fatalistic

life, and hedonism.

Question 43

Define the contemplative life

Answer 43

One person pursues knowledge, understanding, self-reflection, and wisdom.

Question 44

What is the contemplative life influenced by?

Answer 44

Socrates’s contention that “the unexamined life is not worth living”

Question 45

Define the active life

Answer 45

It’s based on a sense of duty, social responsibility, and engagement with the world. The active life centers on
involvement in civic, political, or business activity in an effort to influence society

Question 46

Define the fatalistic life

Answer 46

It recognizes that life brings difficulties and that consequently some measure of well-being must come from an acceptance without unnecessary complaint or struggle of these unwelcome inevitabilities.

Question 47

Define utilitarianism

Answer 47

Happiness for all people is the ultimate aim of all human actions and should be used as the standard by which actions should be evaluated as right or wrong.

Question 48

Define hedonic calculus

Answer 48

That it is possible to quantify happiness by

examining the ratio of positive to negative experiences in one’s life