Lecture 1 Flashcards
3 Criteria for Positivity
- Choice
- Pleasure
- Values
Choice criteria for positivity
Making a consistent choice in the same direction would show preference and thus it must be positive
Pleasure criteria for positivity
Our objective experience of a situation. This varies from person to person and can fluctuate over time
Values criteria for positivity
It appeals to some sort of system or logic for figuring out what is positive
Appreciation as PP def validity
Has some useful information as a guiding framework but it is a slippery slope
drawbacks of positive topics being PP def
Not a clear definition of what positive is, and there are positive aspects to almost anything
Family resemblance def of PP
PP is not one thing, but rather a collection of things that generally seem to point towards making lives better and have a positive aspect to them
Which 2 disciplines if psychology are most similar to PP?`
Humanistic and health psych
How is PP different from humanism
PP is more scientific and interested in what makes people in general more happy rather than an individual
How are PP and health psych similar and different
Similar: both look at health about being healthy, not just absence of illness
Different: PP is less concerned with physical health
What are 2 limitations and one benefit to correlational studies
Limit:- Directionality (which is the cause)
- Third variable problem
Benefits: More naturalistic
What is one way to get around the directionality problem?
Study something with a before and an after. The thing that occurred before would have to cause the thing that came after
2 limits and 1 benefit to experimental studies
limits: - “Confounds” like the third variable problem
- Often artificial setting
Benefit:
- Confident causal direction
What makes p values most unreliable
Small sample sizes
4 questionable research practices
- Multiple unreported dependent variables
- Adding statistical controls after the data collection depending on p
- Adding participants depending on p
- Dropping experimental conditions
Simulations say doing questionable research practices can create false positives ___% of the time
60%
What is one way to make p-values more consistent across repeated studies (like replications)
Use larger sample sizes
Rough definition of questionable research practices
Things that are not clear fraud, but they are questionable because they are intentionally distorting data to benefit them
Why might people engage in questionable research practices
Because there is a lot of pressure to publish and almost no null results are published, so people need to find positive results because jobs, funding and status ride on publications
Why are study replications important
Can have more confidence in the results because hopefully the replications found the same data
Exact (direct) replications
Make the study as similar to the original as possible (method, sample, analysis)
Why can it be hard to do exact replication studies
Because there are word limits in publications so minute details might be left out of the methods section
Conceptual replications
Not a re-do of the study, but a different design testing the legitimacy of the research question.
> > looking to see if it holds up in different contexts
What was the general design of the Reproducibility Project
Get new researchers to do old studies (while in contact with original researchers to get proper methods) and replicate the old study to see if they get the same result
What were the results of the Reproducibility Project (3)
- only ~1/3-1/2 found the same results at original
- effect sizes were ~50% of original
- Cog psych appeared more replicable than social psychology
Why is it not good to assume that original studies are true and reproductions are faluse
Because that undermines the basic tenants of the scientific method that hypotheses have to be falsifiable
Ways to ameliorate the replication crisis
- More critical eye when reading findings
- More open science practices (pre-register study)
- Better methods
- Rewards for replication
What is the correlation between positive emotions and resources
People who experience a lot of positive emotions also are the people who tend to have a larger social network and better coping skills
What is thought to be the causal direction between positive emotions and broad coping
Positive emotions cause broaden coping, which causes more positive emotions
Self over overlap (test)
A visual representation of two circles and how much the circles over lap represents how connected the people feel by self report
How does high approach motivation affect the broaden and build theory
Pleasant emotions like desire, will narrow attention/focus when we are seeking out that thing
Sensation or bodily pleasure
More automatic, does not require much thinking
Moods
More long lasting and are not usually about anything in particular. Can be thought of as a long term mental average
Disposition
More to do with personality, a long term style
Affect
More of a general term about feelings
Basic views on emotions
A universal list of emotions that have distinct facial and physiological states (should be able to visually ID it)
Dimensional view of emotion
Organized based on similarity looking more at general “causes” (approach &avoidance, pleasantness & activation)
slide 1-7 and 17-28 of Positive emotions 1 slide deck
:)
Is surprise a positive emotion
It can be, but it is neither positive nor negative
What is surprise on an emotional level
- A fast, short lasting state that interrupts your attention for a simple appraisal of unexpectedness.
- Motivates you to learn the source of the surprise
Interest neg or pos
Typically experienced as pleasant
Appraisal of interest
Follows appraisals of novelty and comprehensible events.
Why is interest important for learning
It promotes exploration and is essential to intrinsic motivation
Interest is related to what 2 traits
Trait curiosity and openness
Confusion pos or neg
usually unpleasant
Appraisal of confusion
Novelty, complexity and incomprehensible
Learning and confusion
Still promotes learning because it causes you to pay attention to resolve it
Do all people experience the same event at interesting or confusing?
No, it is a subjective appraisal, usually based on prior knowledge
Awe pos or neg
Usually experienced as very pleasant
Appraisal of awe
Follows a vast inconsistency of expectations and attempt at accommodation that are so crazy that its amazing
Awe and learning
Promotes learning because it inspires a desire to learn more
Awe is related to what 2 traits
Openness and curiosity
4 knowledge emotions
- Confusion
- Awe
- Interest
- Surprise
The common appraisal of all knowledge emotions
Novelty and complexity
What distinguishes interest and confusion appraisals
The dimension of your ability to understand
Where is surprise in the understandability dimension
In the middle because it happens so fast that you can’t determine whether you understand it
Benign violation approach
Seeing something that violates your expectations but in a non-threatening way
What is an example of an emotion that comes with benign violations
Humour
What is flow similar to, in what why?
Intrinsic motivation
Flow occurs when you are doing something that is intrinsically motivating
When does flow occur?
When challenge and ability are matched
What happens to you when flow occurs?
You lose track of time
Does flow happen when you are very good at a task
No, you get boredom
Do you get flow when a task is too hard?
No, its just stressful
What are 2 things need to happen after the experience for it to be considered flow?
You need to be satisfied and find value from the experience
In terms of vacation memories, do we have realistic predictions of the emotions we will feel on the trip?
The predicted emotions are more intense than the actual in the moment ones (positive and negative)
What emotions most predictive of wanting to go on a trip again?
Remembered emotions
Is there a relationship between predicted and actual emotions for vacations
Your expectations of how you will feel on the trip is related to the emotions you actually experiences
Do predicted emotions affect remembered emotions of trips?
What people predicted is related to what we remember.
Is there a difference between predicted, experiences and remembered emotions?
Yes
Which emotions are more predictive of future choices
Remembered emotions (after the fact)
2 types of happiness
State vs trait
Which type of happiness do we focus on this class?
Trait - like the more long term feeling
Subjective well being 3 components
- Positive affect
- Negative affect
- Life satisfaction (overall vs domains)
“Subjective” vs “objective” well being
Subjective = More what people think, how they feel about their life
Objective = things that are quantifiable
How is subjective well being measured
Has to be self report
The emotional balance of subjective well being
looking for more positive affect than negative affect
Life satisfaction and subjective well being
Does my life have the things in it that I want it to?
Which type of life satisfaction is generally most useful to measure for subjective well being
overall
2 dimensions of the affect circumflex
Pleasant vs Unpleasant
High Activation vs Low Activation
What does hedonic mean at the core
Just that there is a dimension of positive vs negative
SWB is often described as the _____ approach
hedonic
Aspects of eudaimonia
- meaning in life
- sense of authenticity
- Fulfilment
What did Aristotle’s view on eudaimonia
Living up to true potential and living an objective good life
> based on virtue and efforts
Is eudaimonia based on pleasure?
No, it is more based on being virtuous (monk vs rock star)
Positive relationships with other people
Trust others, feel connected
Sense of autonomy
Doing things that you personally endorse, not controlled
Sense of environmental mastery
Feeling competent
Sense of purpose of life
Feel like you have goals that you are striving for
Sense of personal growth
Feeling of continual development
Sense of self acceptance
Having a positive attitude toward the self
Huta’s motives for hedonia (4)
Seeking:
- relaxation
- pleasure
- enjoyment
- fun
Huta’s motives for eudaimonia (4)
Seeking to:
- develop a skill, learn, or gain insight
- do what you believe in
- pursue excellence or a personal ideal
- use the best in yourself
Are behaviours inherently hedonic or eudaimonic
Not really, it more depends on the motivation that drives the behaviours
What is flourishing
Well being and positive metal health that go beyond pleasure
Are meaning/purpose and happiness mutually exclusive?
No, they tend to some together
Will people prefer happiness over satisfaction if they can only have one?
Not usually, people value things beyond feeling good
Is hedonia hedonistic? (is it just drug sex and rock and roll?)
No, often people find some great pleasure in eudaimonic pursuits
There is a ____ correlation between hedonia and eudaimonia
hight positive correlation
What is the result of manipulating a positive mood and meaning
If people are induced into a positive mood, they tend to feel more meaning
There is a ______ relationship between hedonia and eudaimonia
bi-directional
> they influence and cause each other
Is “flourishing” more closely linked with hedonia or eudaimonia?
Eudaimonia
Ryff’s 6 dimensions of well being
- Self acceptance
- Purpose on life
- Environmental mastery
- Positive relationships with others
- Autonomy
- Personal growth
What is the difference between SWB and eudaimonia
SWB is more just for our happiness, it is closer to hedonia
Eudaimonia is more living your best life and feeling fulfilled
On average, are most people happy?
Yes, in general people are higher than the middle on the happiness scale
How does Canada rank in the national average of happiness
Canada is consistently in the top 10 happiness countries
Are people who are locked in patients happy?
On average, yes. The longer they are locked in the happier they seem to be
Percentage heritability of SWB
40-50%
Does the high heritability percentage mean that our happiness is pre-determines
No, we are not blank slates, but we do not have a set happiness level at birth
Is there a “happiness gene”
No, it seems like individual genes have very little effect
The heritability of happiness can only be applied to ______
groups
> Cannot look at a single person and say that half of their happiness is heritable
When the environment is more similar for people, what happens to the percentage of heritability?
The percentage goes up because the variability needs to be accounted for by either environment or genes, but if the environments are very similar, then the differences in the genes will account for more of the differences
Stability of SWB over time
It is relatively stable over time
SWB and personality
They are moderately associated
Are there overall gender differences in happiness
Not really, there can be fluctuations over time, but over time they are the same
Intelligence and SWB
Has not been shown to have an effect on happiness.
Education and SWB
No associated with higher education and happiness
Physical health and SWB
There is a small increase in happiness in people who are healthier, but not very much
Marriage and SWB
On average, married people are happier than un-married people.
Never married are about as happy as married people
What type of affect leads to more likelihood of marriage
happier people are more likely to get married
Parenting and SWB
Inconsistent links, seems to depend more on what you mean by happiness
More meaning in life
“Well doing” vs “well being:
Doing the things that make us happier like pursuing on goals and efforts that matter and are intrinsically valued
Very happy people study results
- Personality: high extraversion, low neuroticism, and high agreeableness
- Low mental illness
- Did experience the full range of emotions
- Better social relationships and spent more time with others
In the very happy people study, what was found to be the most important factor for happiness
Very good social relationships
- rated feeling closer to people
- spend more time with friends and family
- spent little time alone
What seems necessary for happiness in the very happy people study
Strong social relationships and spending time with people
Is strong social relationships sufficient for happiness
No, it on its own does not automatically make you happy
Adaptation or “hedonic treadmill”
Things that make us happy or unhappy over time we adjust to them and they stop having so much of an effect
In the study that looked at lotto winners (L), accident victims (V) and controls (C), what was found when past, present and future happiness, and pleasure of everyday activities were looked at
Past: accident victims thought that were much happier
Present: the accident victims were significantly less happy, but the lotto winners are not much happier than controls
Future: No difference in the groups
Mundane Pleasures: all groups are pretty equal
What are the 5 main points in the modern view of adaptation
- Set people are not neutral
- There are substantial individual differences in set points
- There are probably multiple set points (pos/neg affect, life satisfaction) –> they change at different rates and in different directions
- Happiness can change
- Individual differences in adaptation
What 3 major negative life events have a big decrease in life satisfaction
- divorce
- widowhood
- job loss
Years after the 3 major negative life events happen (divorce, widow, job loss), what are peoples life satisfaction in relation to their life satisfaction after the event
People’s life satisfaction does increase, but it it still lower than before the event
Of divorce, widowhood and job loss, what causes the greatest decrease in life satisfaction
widowhood
Marriage tends to make people happier, does this effect last long term?
No, peoples life satisfaction tends to return back to the level it was before marriage
6 exercises that boost happiness
- List 3 good things of the day & why (over time)
- List 3 funny things & why
- Signature strengths in a new way
- Counting the kindnesses you did
- Gift of time (with close others)
- One door closes, another opens reflection
Person-activity fit key to positive emotion inductions
What you get the right thing, person or circumstances, you get the best results
Across activity features (4)
- Dosage (how much and how frequently)
- Variety
- Social support
- Trigger (something that feeds forward, makes you do other positive things)
Is variety a good thing in the positive exercises
Yes, it tends to be beneficial to do different types of positive exercises
What does triggers mean in the across activity features
That doing one positive thing might cause you to do other positive things (maybe due to positive emotions)
3 Between positive exercise activity features
- Present vs Future vs Past
- Other vs Self-Oriented
- Social vs Reflective
6 person features of positive exercise activity features
- Motivation and effort
- Self efficacy
- Baseline affective state
- Personality
- Social Support
- Demographics
Motivation and effort in the effectiveness of positive exercises
The more motivated you feel and the more effort you put in, the more effective the mood boost is
Should you give exercises that mirror that personality or that push them to do things they normally wouldn’t?
Sometimes it is good to challenge people, but you don’t want to give people things that are unpleasant for them
What other personality feature is relate to self efficacy beliefs
Social support - people telling you you can do it
4 mediators of positive emotion exercises
- Positive emotions
- Positive thoughts
- Positive behaviours
- Need satisfactions
What model do the moderators of the positive emotion exercises relate to?
Broaden and build model –> positive emotions can lead to positive emotions, thoughts and behaviour
Do happiness exercises work?
Generally, they tend to work, but there is a lot of variation
What is necessary for lasting change in the happiness exercises
Effort and persistence (need to keep doing it to get the effects)
Can you overdo trying to be happier?
Yes, there is some evidence that if you over do it, happiness is less than people who are not trying so hard
> > might be worried so much about happiness that it is detracting from happiness
What is something that you need to keep in mind when considering how money effect happiness in the world
Is it looking within a country or between countries
The spending of money and happiness
How we ourselves spend our money and how the government spends money and re-distributes the wealth
What does it mean to say that money has diminishing returns
After a certain amount of money, the same amount of money increase does not produce as much of a happiness increase
Gallop World Poll samples
Got representative samples of >95% in almost all countries in the world
What type of research approach was used in the Gallop World Poll
Survey approach
What was measured in the Gallop World Poll study
SWB - pos affect - neg affect - what rung on the satisfaction ladder are you Social Resources - respect - using skills - opportunity to learn
Which types of counties have the highest life satisfaction?
The richer countries
More money predicts more what rather than positive emotions
Life satisfaction
Happiness in the country is more related to what factor in the country
Social resources
What is the happiness level of poor people in a rich nation
They are happier than poor people in less rich nations
> Because there is better social resources and security
What is the world standard of happiness
People are now comparing themselves to the wealth of people all over the world rather than just in their community, so their satisfaction is going down
Does raising incomes over time increase SWB?
Yes,
In general, money has its benefits, but:
what we do with it is important
Is it only the wealth in the rich countries that contribute to the higher levels of happiness?
Not alone, it also seems to be the things that are done with the wealth (social programs, good infrastructure, safety) and the social system
Materialism and SWB
High materialism (valuing money over other things in life) seems to relate to lower SWB
As materialistic values go up, pro social and environmentally conscious values go ______
down
Spending money on ______ seems to facilitate happiness
Others
Is there a bigger boost to mood if people receive $5 vs $20 on themselves
Not really, there seems to be the same increase in mood
Is the phenomenon of prosocial spending increasing mood replicable world wide
Yes, for the majority of countries, proposal spending increases happiness
What theory seems to explain why prosocial spending is related to increased happiness
Self determination Theory
3 aspects of self determination theory
- Relatedness - close vs distant others
- Competence - see the direct impact
- Autonomy - choice
When you do prosocial spending, what part of the brain is more active
reward pathways
Money and savouring
The more money people have, the less savouring they tend to do
Religion and happiness
Religion seems to make people happier
Does the particular religion have an effect on the amount of happiness felt?
Not really, they all seem to give the same mood boost
What are 3 possible mediators (reasons) that religion increases happiness
- respect
- support
- meaning
What were the results of the religion poll in the USA
- Religious importance ranged from 44%-88% (between states)
- Difficult circumstances associated with religion
- Difficult circumstances associated with lower SWB, but religion seemed to help
- Associations stronger at state (vs individual) level (suggests that it has something to do with the community)
Religion does more for you if you are in a _______ place
religious
Gallop world poll and religion results
- About 68% of the world finds religion importance in daily life
- Much variation across world (99% to 16%)
Canada vs US in religiosity
Canada 45%
USA 66%
More Gallop World Poll religion results
- Difficult circumstances associated with more religion
- stronger at nation (vs individual) level
- National circumstances seems to produce religiosity more than individual circumstances
Religiosity and satisfaction correlation
More religious countries have lower SWB
> > > But this is eliminated or reversed when controlling for circumstances
Religion and circumstances
Religion is helpful in bad circumstances and religion seems less important in good circumstances
In countried like Sweden, religion does not seem to increased happiness, but what does it increase?
Meaning in life
What does it mean to say that the benefits of religion is dependent on the person-environment fit?
If your beliefs are congruent to the beliefs of the society you live in then you experience the boost from religion. But if your beliefs are incongruent then you will not experience the boost
Does religion cause happiness?
We don’t know, all the beautiful data from the Gallop World Poll is only correlational
Main strength of Gallop World Poll
- representative
Limitations of Gallop World Poll
- Survey
- Very limited questions asked that might be missing things
How do we resolve the religion paradox
Maybe it is not a paradox, it is easier to be happier without religion in wealthier countries so its just not really needed
What eliminates own race facial recognition bias
joy
