Positive approach Flashcards
Christopher Peterson (2006)
“The most basic assumption that positive psychology urges is that human goodness and excellence are as authentic as disease, disorder and distress.”
Seligman (2002)
The belief that traits such as virtue and happiness are less authentic than negative traits and states that have been an obstacle in psychological research.
This is an unbalanced view, as in reality, the positive aspect of a person’s personality commonly exceeds that of the negative.
Therefore, it is just as important to research and support individuals who are “ok” and wish to develop their own personal sense of well-being.
By focusing on positive traits and self-improvement, we can view human behaviour in a much more positive way.
Seligman (2002)
Theory of signature strengths.
This theory suggests that there are 24 characters strengths.
(Including curiosity, fairness, and honesty)
Each individual has all of these strengths in different degrees, and according to the approach, should be encouraged to nurture and develop them to improve their well-being.
Peterson and Seligman (2004)
The 24-character strengths have been collated into the VIA Classification of Character strengths and virtues and further developed into an online self-report questionnaire which gives individuals a unique character profile indicating their character strengths.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1996)
The concept of “flow”.
This means reaching the state of being fully engaged in an activity; it is the moment when:
“Time flies. Every action, movement and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz.
Your whole being is involved and you’re using your skills to the utmost.”
Kashdan et al (2017)
When individuals showed a greater appreciation of their partner’s character strengths, this was associated with positive outcomes and the relationship, such as greater commitment and support for each other’s goals.
Christopher Peterson (2008)
Positive psychology can be summarised in the phrase “other people matter”.
One element of “the good life” is having a positive connection to others.
Forming positive relationships with others can improve our SWB and helps us to achieve “the good life”.
Diener and Seligman (2002)
Surveyed 222 undergraduate students.
Those categorised as “very happy” had stronger romantic and other social relationships and were more sociable than the less happy groups.
Olsson et al (2012)
Carried out a longitudinal study, looking at social relationships, academic success, and well-being from childhood to adulthood.
The children who had wider social networks and engaged in more social activities were happier as adults.
These social connections were a better predictor of well-being than other factors such as academic attainment.
Sonja Lyubomirsky (2007)
40% of the variance in happiness is due to intentional activity.
Intentional activity can include a range of activities that people choose to engage in as part of their everyday lives, thus exercising their free will.
Ruedy and Schweitzer (2010)
Demonstrated how individuals who were high in mindfulness were less likely to cheat on a task and were more likely to uphold ethical standards.
Teasdale et al (2000)
Evaluated the effectiveness of MBCT among 145 recurrently depressed patients.
Patients were randomly allocated to receive treatment as usual.
(TAU or TAU + 8 classes of MBCT)
Relapse / recurrence to major depression was assessed over a 60-week period.
They reported that MBCT provided the greatest help to those who had suffered the greatest number of previous episodes.
It did not have an effect on those who had only two episodes of depression in the past, but substantially reduced the risk of relapse in those who had three or more previous episodes of depression.
Kabat-Zinn (1990)
MBSR has been developed for use in general hospitals with patients suffering from conditions which may be painful, chronic, disabling or terminal.
Reibel et al (2001)
Reported that MBSR decreased levels of anxiety and depression in 136 patients who participated in an 8-week mindfulness programme, involving 20 minutes of meditation per day.
These results were also seen after a one-year follow up.
Mantzios and Giannou (2014)
Investigated Group VS Individual mindfulness among participants who were trying to lose weight.
There were 170 participants who were randomly assigned to practise meditation for six weeks within a group or individually.
The researchers found that participants in the group setting lost more weight and lowered their levels of cognitive-behavioural avoidance.
Jean-Paul Sartre (1973)
For some people relationships create more stress and unhappiness than happiness.
“Hell is other people.”
Costa et al (1987)
Found the people who reported being happy in 1973 tended to be the happy ones a decade later.
Burt (1986)
For most people the benefits of relationships outweigh the strains.
Research shows that people who can name several close friends are healthier and happier than people who can’t name such friends.
Lee et al (1991)
Married people are happier than non-married people.
In one study the rates were 39% compared to 24%.
Gallup (1984)
People with a high “spiritual commitment” were twice as likely to say they were very happy.
Poloma and Pendleton (1990)
In North America and Europe people who are religious report higher levels of happiness.
Wood et al (1989)
In a meta-analysis of 93 studies, women and men reported similar levels of happiness for marriage and non-marriage.
Witter et al (1985)
Happiness is also associated with strength of religious affiliation and frequency of worship attendance.
Herzog et al (1982)
Social relations and health become more important factors with age.
Inglehart (1990)
A survey of almost 170,000 people of all ages in 16 different countries found no relationship between age and happiness.
People of all ages were equally happy.
The mean score was 80% satisfaction with life.
However, at different ages, different factors contribute to happiness.
