Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

psychology > positive > Flashcards

positive Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
Psychology 101 flashcards AP® Psychology flashcards
1
Q

what are the 3 assumptions?

A

acknowledgement of free will
authenticity of goodness and excellence
focus on the good life

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

who first introduced positive psychology?

A

Martin Seligman

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

what is the aim of positive psychology?

A

to enhance people’s lives by increasing their levels of happiness to achieve a greater fulfilment

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

what is self - efficacy?

A

the belief in our own ability to achieve a desired outcome

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

how do you achieve authentic happiness?

A

by understanding your own strengths as an individual and developing them

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

what did Seligman suggest that the good life is a combination of? (3)

A

positive connection to others
positive individual traits
life regulation qualities

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

what does Seligman say that too many people are leading?

A

the pleasant life

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

what is the pleasant life?

A

having as much positive emotion and pleasures as possible and learning the skills to amplify them

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

what is flow?

A

a state where you’re perfectly challenged and there’s a sense of time stopping

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

what is the problem with the disease (biological) model?

A

victimises people who have mental health problems

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

apply DRAINS to this approach

A

free will
holistic
has practical applications
idiographic + nomothetic
interactionist
scientific

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

how is this approach free will?
strength/weakness and why?

A

we have personal freedom to grow and develop natural signature strengths and virtues. it refuses to see individuals as victims
strength - recognises that humans have control over behaviour so this theory isn’t oversimplified

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

how is this approach holistic?
strength/weakness and why?

A

doesn’t aim to replace but compliment traditional approaches to human behaviour. adopting a positive outlook in addition to these approaches can help even more people lead an enriched life
strength - is aware that humans are more complex than having one common explanation of behaviour

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

how does this approach have practical applications?
strength/weakness and why?

A

the assumptions have been applied in fields like education, stress management and more.
the US army developed specialised training programmes grounded in positive psychology principles to improve resilience and try to reduce the incidence of stress in soldiers.
strength - improves the quality of life of real individuals

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

how is this approach idiographic + nomothetic?
strength/weakness and why?

A

idiographic - each of us have a unique set of signature strengths and virtues and our best opportunity for happiness is to identify these and re-craft our lives around them
nomothetic - ‘one size fits all’ philosophy e.g. best way to achieve flow is through connection to others but this may not suit everyone
weakness - we need to take into account each person as an individual

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

how is this approach interactionist?
strength/weakness and why?

A

mostly nurture based as well being is directly impacted by our environment and our happiness and signature strengths are all open to development and change
nature - to a certain extent our core strengths and attributes are likely to be biologically created and present from birth
strength - makes the approach more valid at attempting to explain behaviour

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

how is this approach scientific?
strength/weakness and why?

A

adopts rigorous experimental methods to establish what differs between those who are happy and those who aren’t. advances in neuroscience have allowed researchers to objectively measure emotional experiences of happiness.
strength - harder to argue against and isn’t open to individual interpretation or speculation

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

what is the therapy for this approach?

A

mindfulness

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

what is mindfulness a way of teaching people?

A

to control their own mind by paying attention to and increasing their awareness of present thoughts

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

what are the 4 main components of mindfulness?

A
  • gaining control of thoughts
  • meditation and mindful breathing
  • informal practices of mindfulness
  • MBCT
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

why are we encouraged to gain control of thoughts?

A

normally our minds are too focused on the past or too busy contemplating the future.
trains us to focus on present thoughts, emotions and feelings.
goal is to gain greater awareness of unhelpful negative thoughts that dominate us in order to spend less time dealing with them.
negative automatic thinking can lead to depression and anxiety.
mindful practice helps an individual to practice noticing these thoughts and changing their reaction to them

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

what is the purpose of meditating and doing mindful breathing?

A

-removes them from their daily interactions with life
-easier to focus the mind

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

what is meditation usually learnt through a mix of?

A

guided instruction and personal practice

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

what does guided meditation involve?

A

sitting in a comfortable position, keeping the spine straight, directing attention to breathing while focusing on body sensations, thoughts and emotions

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

give 3 examples of informal practices of mindfulness

A

driving
cleaning
having a shower

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
26
Q

what is the purpose of informal mindfulness practice?

A

making a conscious decision to focus on one single task
it involves paying attention to your surroundings

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
27
Q

what is the advantage of informal practices?

A

it can be incorporated into daily life

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
28
Q

what is MBCT and what does it help break?

A

designed to help people prone to recurring depression.
helps break negative thought patterns that are characteristic of recurring depression

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
29
Q

who recommended MBCT and for who?

A

national institute for health and care excellence (NICE) as an effective treatment for people who suffer recurrent episodes of depression

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
30
Q

what fraction of GPs think mindfulness meditation would be helpful for people with mental health problems?

A

3/4

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
31
Q

how do positive assumptions apply to mindfulness? (5)

A
  • authenticity of goodness and excellence - individuals strive to achieve greater life fulfilment by developing their natural strengths
  • mindfulness aims to enhance a person’s positive characteristics through acceptance-based methods
  • acknowledgement of freewill - becoming consciously aware of one’s present thoughts and feelings
  • self-regulation of attention
  • develop a more productive attitude towards our thoughts and emotions
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
32
Q

what was the research study for the effectiveness of mindfulness?

not Teasdale et al.

A

Napoli, Krech and Holley (2005)

33
Q

what did Napoli, Krech and Holley do? (4)

A
  • integrated mindfulness and relaxation work with 225 children with high anxiety, aged between 5 and 8
  • taking part in a school context
  • 12 sessions, 45 minutes each
  • children showed significant decrease in both anxiety and ADHD behaviours and an increase in ability to pay attention
34
Q

how did Napoli, Krech and Holley’s research support/repute mindfulness as a therapy?

A

suggest that mindfulness can be highly effective in reducing anxiety and ADHD thus improving the children’s functioning

35
Q

what are the limitations of Napoli, Krech and Holley’s research? (3)

A
  1. can’t generalise findings to other ages
  2. only anxiety and ADHD
  3. short-term
36
Q

what is another piece of research for the effectiveness of mindfulness?

A

Teasdale et al. (2000)

37
Q

what did Teasdale et al. do? (4)

A
  • 145 recurrently depressed patients randomly allocated to receive treatment as usual (TAU) or TAU plus 8 classes of MBCT
  • MBCT provided the greatest help to those who had suffered the most number of previous episodes of depression
  • did not have an effect on those who had only had two episodes of depression in the past
  • reduced the risk of relapse in those who had 3 or more episodes
38
Q

how did Teasdale et al’s research support/refute mindfulness as a therapy?

A

suggests that MBCT can be highly effective in the treatment of severe recurrent depression

39
Q

what are the limitations of Teasdale et al’s research? (4)

A
  1. short-term
  2. small sample
  3. only depression
  4. may not be appropriate for those with less persistent depression
40
Q

name 3 other comments on the effectiveness of mindfulness?

A
  • integration with other therapies
  • possibilities are endless
  • group vs individual mindfulness
41
Q

what is an ethical strength of mindfulness based therapies?
what does this suggest?

A

it takes a ‘positive’ approach to therapy.
mindfulness doesn’t involve dragging up the past as a means of offering explanation for present behaviour - avoids client anxiety. mindfulness therapy doesn’t focus on changing the process of thinking, rather it encourages acceptance of it.
this suggests that mindfulness is less psychologically harmful than other therapies.

42
Q

what is an ethical strength of mindfulness?
use an example
what does this suggest?

A

essential in maintaining moral and ethical standards.
being taught in organisations to enhance leadership skills because at the heart of this practice lies decision making. Ruedy and Schweitzer (2010) demonstrated that individuals who were high in mindfulness were less likely to cheat on a task and uphold ethical standards.
suggests that by improving our state of mind through mindfulness it can result in us becoming more moral in many facets of life

43
Q

how does the positive approach apply to relationships?

A
  • Seligman suggests one of the contributory elements to the ‘good life’ is made thru a positive connection to others
  • In order to live the good life and attain a more authentic sense of happiness it is important that an individual achieves a state of flow
  • Social and romantic relationships as well as relationships with one’s family help us to achieve this. e.g many people become obsessed and totally absorbed in their partner at the start of a new relationship
  • may be a core road to moving beyond a pleasant life and achieving a good life
  • supported by research - shows people in relationships are happier than people who are not. Some psychologists suggest marriage is the single most reliable indicator of happiness. The Pew Research Centre reported that 43% of married respondents were ‘very happy’ compared with 24% of unmarried respondents
44
Q

what is the classic evidence for this approach?

A

Myers and Diener

45
Q

what was the aim of their research?
what is this called?

A

to pool together a lot of previous research into happiness to look for overall conclusions
meta analysis

46
Q

how were observations used to collect information about happiness?

A

they used beepers to remind a pps to send a message saying what they are doing and/or thinking at a particular moment

47
Q

how can we use correlations to understand happiness?

A

researchers able to study what variables co exits with happiness

47
Q

what type of data is produced from questionnaires to represent happiness?

A

quantitative

48
Q

what did Myers and Diener use to conduct this research?
what is it?

A

literature review - summarisation of prior work into the area of study. researchers collect and report on previous sources

49
Q

what is a strength of using self report methods (interviews + questionnaires)?

A

tests the validity by asking friends or family to rate happiness

50
Q

what are 3 weaknesses to using self report methods?

A
  • data collected about SWB is inevitably bias
  • people provide socially desirable answers in questionnaires - not truthful
  • people repress their true feelings and only think they’re happy
51
Q

what are 2 weaknesses of correlations?

A
  • direction of the relationships is unknown
  • may be intervening variables so can’t conclude cause and effect
52
Q

what are the 7 factors that have an effect on happiness?

A

age
gender
race/culture
money
relationships
work
faith

53
Q

give a piece of evidence, the finding and the conclusion for age

not herzog

A

Inglehart (1990)
survey of 170,000 people of all ages - mean score of 80% satisfaction with life
all ages are equally happy

54
Q

give a piece of evidence, the finding and the conclusion for age

not inglehart

A

Herzog (1982)
social relations and healthbecome more important with age
at different ages there are different contributing factors

55
Q

give 2 pieces of evidence, the findings and the overall conclusion for gender

A

Inglehart
80% of men and women are fairly satisfied with life
Robins and Reiger (1991)
women are twice as vulnerable to depression as men
there is conflicting evidence

56
Q

give 2 pieces of evidence, the finding and the overall conclusion for race/culture

A

Diener et al (1993)
African Americans are nearly twice as happier as European Americans
Inglehart (1990)
portugal - 10% of people are happy
netherlands - 40% of people are happy
different countries have different levels of happiness

57
Q

give 2 pieces of evidence, the finding and the overall conclusion for money

A

survey in 1993
75% of american college students chose being ‘well off financially’ as a life goal
Deiner et al (1985)
a survey of people on the forbes rich list found that 37% were less happy than the average american
not everyone agrees that money buys happiness but most agree that having more money will make them happier

58
Q

give 2 pieces of evidence, the finding and the overall conclusion for relationships

A

Lee et al (1991)
39% of married people are happy and 24% of unmarried people are happy
Wood et al (1989)
similar levels of happiness in marriage and non marriage
there is conflicting evidence

59
Q

give a piece of evidence, the finding and the conclusion for work

A

Csikszentmihalyi
found flow and happiness in work was more
those in a stable job are happier than those who aren’t

60
Q

give a piece of evidence, the finding and the conclusion for faith

not Witler

A

Polama and Pendleton (1990)
north america and europe who are more religious report higher levels of happiness
the countries who have more religions and faiths are happier

61
Q

give a piece of evidence, the finding and the conclusion for faith

not polama

A

Witler et al
happiness is also associated with strength of religious affiliation and frequency of worship attendance
those who follow their beliefs and strongly believe in them are happier than those who don’t

62
Q

what are the 4 key traits of happy people?

A

high self esteem
sense of personal control
optimism
extraversion

63
Q

explain high self esteem

A

such individuals like themselves and typically agree with the statement ‘i’m a lot of fun to be with’

64
Q

explain sense of personal control

A

people who feel empowered rather than helpless do better at school and cope better with stress - typically happier

65
Q

explain optimism

A

such people agree with a statement such as ‘when i undertake something new, i expect to succeed’

66
Q

explain extraversion

A

when with other people and also alone, people who are more outgoing are happier in these situations

67
Q

according to Csikszenmihaly, why might a satisfying job be associated with happiness? (4)

A
  • being in work provides a personal identity and a sense of community and that one’s life matters
  • however, work can also be unsatisfying and stressful and so is associated with unhappiness
  • Csikszenmihaly used beepers to question people throughout the day about what they’re doing and whether they’re happy
  • he found that people were happiest when engaged in a mindful challenge and experiencing flow
68
Q

what are the 2 ethical issues for this research?

A

psychological harm
intrusion/socially sensitive

69
Q

explain psychological harm (3)

A
  • very little risk of harm to pps - not being manipulated
  • may feel more depressed after being asked about their happiness - must debrief them appropriately
  • ethical guidelines - advise psychologists to practice within the boundaries of their competence
70
Q

explain intrusion (2)

A
  • may make people more likely to think +/- about a certain group of people
  • assume that some populations are unhappy (portugese people) and that some are more likely to be happy (dutch people). this may not be the case
71
Q

explain social implications (2)

A
  • can develop treatments to make people happier - happiness can rub off on others making society happier as a whole
  • increasing happiness in the workplace could benefit the economy as people will be more productive. staff absences are less due to less stress and depression (happy workers 12% more productive (Oswald et al. 2009))
72
Q

what are Myers and Diener’s 3 elements of a theory of happiness?

A

importance of adaptation
cultural world view
values and goals

73
Q

explain importance of adaptation

A

the effects of positive and negative events fade over time. e.g. people who win the lottery experience short term increase in their happiness whereas people who go through psychological trauma recover their hope and happiness. this is all due to the human capacity to adapt to life circumstances

74
Q

explain cultural world view

A

people interpret life events differently due to cultural attitudes. some cultures view the world as benevolent whereas other cultures view it as a more dangerous place

75
Q

explain values and goals

A

people with a high sense of SWB have goals. all other factors like money or intelligence only matter if they’re relevant to your goals

76
Q

what are the weaknesses of the sample? (2)

A
  • the roots of happiness maybe different in other cultures - a lot of the data is based on Western samples
  • individualist (more happy) and collectivist (less happy) cultures
77
Q

what is the alternate evidence for this research?

A

Lyubomirsky (2013) argues that happiness is 50% due to genetics and 10% due to circumstances whereas Myers and Diener think it’s more due to circumstances

psychology (8 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2024 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions