L15 TED Talk

Question 1

What is the “disease model” that psychology operated within in the past (and still does in some capacity)?

Answer 1

The disease model posits that the goal of psychology is to identify what is wrong with the person, psychology has since become more comprehensive

Question 2

What are the 3 costs of the disease model?

Answer 2

1) Psychologists tended to neglect individual responsibility in their analyses of a problem
2) Psychology lost its focus on helping normal and highly talented people, not just troubled people
3) Psychology became too fixated on problem-solving, not enough focus on simple positive interventions

Question 3

What are the 3 aims of positive psychology?

Answer 3

1) As concerned with strength as it is with weakness
2) As concerned with building strength as it is with repairing damage
3) As concerned with improving normal lives and nurturing genius as it is with healing troubling pathology

Question 4

What is the most significant difference between extremely happy people and regular people?

Answer 4

Extreme happiness is correlated with being extremely social

Question 5

What are the 3 “happy” lives?

Answer 5

1) The pleasant life
2) The good life (engagement)
3) The meaningful life

Question 6

How does one achieve the pleasant life?

Answer 6

Seek pleasure and develop the skills to amplify pleasure

Question 7

What are two significant drawbacks to the pleasant life?

Answer 7

1) This disposition is heritable
2) Positive emotion habituates quickly

Question 8

What state is characteristic of the good life?

Answer 8

Flow (i.e being highly engaged in whatever you are doing to the point of not percieving time)

Question 9

How does one achieve the good life?

Answer 9

Identifying your strongest talents and recrafting your life to focus on those talents

Question 10

How does one achieve the meaningful life?

Answer 10

Identifying your strongest talents and devoting those talents to something greater than yourself (ex. a positive institution)

Question 11

Of the 3 different “happy” lives, which one has the smallest contribution towards life satisfaction?

Answer 11

The pleasant life

Question 12

What is the key difference between the positive psychology approach and more traditional psychological perspectives?

Answer 12

A focus on increasing positive emotion, rather than simply decreasing negative emotion

Question 13

What are the 2 victories of the disease model?

Answer 13

1) We are now able to diagnose and treat a number of mental illnesses
2) We developed methods for understanding mental illness as a science