Positive Psychology - Class

Question 1

Positive psychotherapy

Answer 1

Humans spend a disproportionate aamount of time thinking about what goes wrong and little on what goes right in life.

Question 2

Why would we be ‘genetically endowed’ to focus on negativity?

Answer 2

• To prevent it from happening again

- To prevent danger from occuring

Question 3

Top tv shows

Answer 3

Most seem to focus on stories of evil, death, deceit, conflict, and conspiracy

Question 4

Theories we will talk about?

Answer 4

Cognitive
Person-Centered
Behavioral
ACT
Interpersonal
Existential

Question 5

What do most theories focus on

Answer 5

What is wrong with a person’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors

Question 6

They almost always say they want to feel ________

Answer 6

Happy

Question 7

Psychotherpay is effective

Answer 7

• Psychotherapy outperforms placebos and outperforms or is longer lasting than medication
• We have well-researched threatments for most disorders

Question 8

How many clients don’t see a benefit from therapy

Answer 8

30-32%

Question 9

How many tend to get worse

Answer 9

5-10%

Question 10

What is the most common disroder

Answer 10

Depression

Question 11

Two main treatments for depression

Answer 11

BDT and Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors

65% effective

Question 12

Therapy stops when…

Answer 12

symptoms diminish

Question 13

Psychopathology results when…

Answer 13

Clients’ inherent capacitices for growth, fullfillment, and happiness are thwarted by socioculturual factors

Question 14

Hedonic treadmill

Answer 14

Human tendency to return to a stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events

Question 15

The hedonic treadmill exists because of two things

Answer 15

• Rising aspirations

- Social comparison

Question 16

Percents of happiness

Answer 16

10% - Circumstances
40% - Intentional Activity
50% - Set Point

Question 17

Hedonism (Artistippus; Epicurus)

Answer 17

A happy life ha[[ens when one maximizes pleasure and minimizes pain - immediate sensory gratification

Caveats; The pattern of pleasure and pain across one’s life certainly matters

Peak-End Theory; It doesn’t matter how long the experience lasts but rather peoples summary evaluations of experiences are measured by the peaks (high and low) and how it ends

Question 18

Eudaimonia (Artistotle)

Answer 18

Being true to one’s inner self; true happiness entails identifying one’s virtues, cultivating them, and living in accordance with them.

Eudaimonia can trump pleasure and hedonism

Question 19

Flow

Answer 19

A person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity

Characteristics:
Optimal balance between skill and challenge
Must be voluntary
Must leave us feeling invigorated or satisfied; no faux-flow

Flow leads to the building of psychological capital

Question 20

Happinesss has been reconceptualized into three measurable areas

Answer 20

Postive emotions - the pleasant life
Engangement - the engaged life
Meaning - the meaningful life

Question 21

The pleasant life

Answer 21

• The past
  Contentment, fullfillment,pride, and serenity
• The present
  Savoring, and mindfulness
• The future
  Hope, optimism, faith, trust, and confidence

Question 22

The engaged life

Answer 22

• Pursuit of engangement, innvolvement, and absorption in work, intimate relations, and leisure
• Achieve flow = balance of skills sufficien to meet challenges
• Flow and engagement has to be achieved with acticities that move beyond sensory pleasures

Question 23

The meaningful life

Answer 23

• using signature strengths to belong to and serve something bigger than oneself