Module 1 : Introduction to Positive Psychology Flashcards
the scientific study of positive side of one’s behaviour mental process and experiences
Positive Psychology
scientific study of what makes life most worth living (Peterson, 2008).
Positive
Psychology
3 Aims of Positive
Psychology
- Positive experiences
- Positive states and traits
- Positive institutions
Father of Positive Psychology
Martin
Seligman
Seligman’s laid the foundation for the well-known psychological theory of
“learned helplessness.”
Year Seligman elected as the President of the
American Psychological Association
1998
“founding
father” of flow
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
When did foundational paper of this new field,
positive psychology, was published
2000
PERMA Model
- Positive emotions, or experiencing optimism as well as gratitude about your past, contentment in the present, and hope for the future
- Engagement, or achieving “flow” with enjoyable activities and hobbies
- Relationship, or forming social connections with family and friends
- Meaning, or finding a purpose in life larger than you
- Accomplishments, or goals and successes
Common Topic in Positive Psychology
- Character strengths
and virtues - Flow
- Gratifications
- Gratitude
- Happiness/pleasures
- Helplessness
- Hope
- Mindfulness
- Optimism
- Positive thinking
- Resilience
- Emotional
intelligence - Forgiveness
- Accomplishment
- Motivation
Positive Psychology Vs
Clinical Psychology
Clinical - Fixing Problems, Psychological Healing, Disorder, Illness.
Positive Psychology - Psychological Fitness, Optimizing Performance, Flourishing, wellbeing, strengths, meaning.
3 Levels of Positive
Psychology
- Subjective level
- Individual level
- Group level
It focuses on feelings of
○ happiness,
○ well-being, and
○ optimism,
- It also focuses on how these feelings transform in our daily experience
Subjective level
It is a combination of the feelings in the subjective level and virtues such as
○ forgiveness,
○ love, and
○ courage
Individual level
It is a positive interaction with community, including virtues like
○ altruism and
○ social responsibility that strengthen social bonds
Group level
“Before World War II, psychology had
three distinct missions:
○ curing mental illness,
○ making the lives of all people more productive and fulfilling, and
○ identifying and nurturing high talent,
After WWII, the primary focus of psychology shifted to the
first priority:
treating abnormal behavior and mental illness.
In the 1950s, humanist thinkers like ______, _______, and ________ helped renew interest in the other two areas by developing theories that focused on happiness and the positive aspects of human nature.
Carl Rogers, Erich
Fromm, and Abraham Maslow
YEAR: Seligman was elected President of the American Psychological Association and positive psychology became the theme of his term.
1998
______ is widely viewed as the father of contemporary positive psychology.
Seligman
YEAR: The first International Conference on Positive Psychology was held.
2002
YEAR: Harvard’s course on positive psychology became the university’s most popular class
2006
YEAR: The first World Congress on Positive Psychology took place in Philadelphia and featured talks by Seligman and Philip Zimbardo.
2009
Spending money on experiences provides a bigger boost to happiness than spending money on material possessions (Howell & Hill, 2009)
Study - 2
Speaker in The first World Congress on Positive Psychology
Seligman and Philip Zimbardo.
People overestimate the impact of money on their happiness by quite a lot. It does have some influence, but not nearly as much as we might think, so focusing less on attaining wealth will likely make us happier (Aknin, Norton, & Dunn, 2009)
Study - 1
Gratitude is a big contributor to happiness in life, suggesting that the more we cultivate gratitude, the happier we will be (Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005)
Study -3
Volunteering time to a cause you believe in improves your wellbeing and life satisfaction and may even reduce symptoms of depression (Jenkinson et al., 2013);
Study - 8
Oxytocin may provoke greater trust, empathy, and morality in humans, meaning that giving hugs or other shows of physical affection may give you a big boost to our overall wellbeing (and the wellbeing of others; Barraza & Zak, 2009);
Study - 4
Happiness is contagious; those with happy friends and significant others are more likely to be happy in the future (Fowler & Christakis, 2008)
Study - 6
Those who intentionally cultivate a positive mood to match the outward emotion they need to display (i.e., in emotional labor) benefit by more genuinely experiencing the positive mood. In other words, “putting on a happy face” won’t necessarily make us feel happier, but putting in a little bit of effort likely will (Scott & Barnes, 2011);
Study - 5
People who perform acts of kindness towards others not only get a boost in wellbeing, they are also more accepted by their peers (Layous, Nelson, Oberle, Schonert-Reichl, & Lyubomirsky, 2012);
Study - 7
Positive emotions in the workplace are contagious, which means one positive person or team can have a ripple effect that extends through the entire organization;
Study - 11
a life of meaning
eudaimonia
Toxic Positivity
Pollyanna
Positive emotions boost our job performance;
Study - 10
a life of pleasure
hedonism
Spending money on other people results in greater happiness for the giver (Dunn, Aknin, & Norton, 2008).
Study - 9
Criticism and Pitfalls in PP
- Research findings are often invalid, overstated, and misleading
- There is too much emphasis on self-report and cross-sectional survey data
- Positive psychology has a cultural and ethnocentric bias
- The field is too individualistic
- Positive psychology is just a promotion of a “Pollyanna” personality type, not an authentic exploration of the good life
experiencing optimism as well as gratitude about your past, contentment in the present, and hope for the future
Positive emotions
achieving “flow” with enjoyable activities and hobbies
Engagement,
forming social connections with family and friends
Relationship,
finding a purpose in life larger than you
Meaning,
goals and successes
Accomplishments
give 5 Important
figures in PP
- Martin Seligman
- Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi - Albert Bandura
- C.R. Snyder
- Carol Dweck
- Christopher Peterson
- Daniel Gilbert
- Kennon Sheldon
- Carl Rogers
- Erich Fromm
- Daniel Goleman
- Don Clifton
- Ed Diener
- Shelley Taylor
- Barbara Fredrickson
- Michael Argyle
Goals of PP Give 5 out of 10
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