Positive psychology Lecture 4: Virtues and Strengths. The Future of Positive Psychology Flashcards
What is the short for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
and what is it used for?
- DSM
- gives a common terminology and classification criteria for mental disorders to be used by researchers, psychiatrists/psychologists, governmental and international agencies, insurance companies, health organizations etc
Describe the Character Strengths and Virtues A Handbook and Classification?
(Christopher Peterson and Martin E. P. Seligman (2004))
- Study from a wide group of researchers (psychologists, philosophers, anthropologists, theologians…).
- Contains a systematic classification and measurement of widely valued positive traits (virtues and strengths) that consistently emerge across history and culture.
- Six broad moral virtues (wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence).
- And, under them, twenty-four specific character strengths.
What are some key points in Peterson and Seligman (2004) (Character Strengths and Virtues A Handbook and Classification)?
- Strengths and virtues are useful against life’s difficulties but positive psychology focuses on how they contribute to individual and social wellbeing.
- Using virtues/strengths contribute to the good life, for oneself and for others.
- They follow Aristotle ́s eudaimonic idea that well-being is not a consequence of having virtues but rather an inherent aspect of acting virtuously.
- I.e., happiness is not only linked to future positive subjective states and situations but is intrinsically linked to performing the virtuous action.
- E.g. being generous has good future consequences for the agent (feeling satisfied) and other people (being benefited) but is is also intrinsically good – is part of the eudaimonic happiness of the agent. The generous person, in the very instant she is generous, flourishes as a person
- P&S distinguish between virtues/strengths and abilities/talents. Strengths and virtues are necessarily morally valued (honesty, courage…). Talents/abilities are not necessarily morally valued (intelligence, musicality…).
- Strengths are related to evolution (they have a neurobiological ground, e.g. humanity/empathy) and are beneficial for survival - otherwise they would not have appeared in all cultures and persisted during millennia.
What are signature strengths?
- They are linked to personality traits.
* Signature strengths are the “strengths of character that a person owns, celebrates and frequently exercises”.
What are some criteria for being a signature strength?
- Sense of ownership and authenticity (“the real me”).
- Feeling of excitement when displaying it.
- Rapid learning curve.
- Continuous learning of new ways to enact it.
- Feeling of inevitability in using it.
- Discovery of the strength is a “Wow!-feeling”.
- Not exhaustion when using it.
- Intrinsic motivation to use it…
Describe the pros of using your strengths:
Exercising strengths reduce the likelihood of distress and dysfunction and produce (among other effects):…?
- Subjective wellbeing & flow
- Acceptance of oneself
- Reverence for life
- Feeling of competence, efficacy and mastery
- Mental and physical health
- Rich and supportive social networks
- Respect by and for others
- Satisfying work
- Healthy communities and families
What is meant by Functional negative emotions ?
Non-intense, non-frequent, non-persistentanger, sadness, irritation, grief, anxiety, stress… are normal and healthy negative emotions that are necessary element of life. To repress or deny their existence can be seriously detrimental to future wellbeing.
What is meant by virtues and vices: problems?
- Aristotle: the essence of Greek tragedies is that the character’s disgraces are not caused by their vices and weaknesses but, in part, by their virtues and strengths.
- The tragic hero (e.g. Oedipus’ honesty and courage). One must be aware that acting on one’s virtues and strengths can seriously decrease one ́s subjective wellbeing.
What are the 2nd wave of PP and what does it say about other aspects to include into the PP?
•2nd Wave of PP = Exploration of the “dark side” of life and the role it has in promoting the positive aspects of human functioning and transformations.
Side notes:
•According to a superficial understanding of PP: “Theory and research on the positive aspects of life”.
•Hence: “Whatever is negative has to be rejected, it has nothing to do with PP”. Is this plausible?
(Proposals from Second Wave Positive Psychology: Embracing the Dark Side of Life (2015). Ivtzan, I. , Lomas, T. Hefferon, K. and Worth, P.)
What is meant by “Dark side” ?
- “Dark side”: [C]hallenging experiences, thoughts, emotions and behaviors which trigger discomfort in us. Such discomfort is frequently avoided as it carries an engagement with fear, pain, distress or confusion.” (Ivtzan et al., 2015)
According to “the dark side of life” What is said about having contact with fear, pain and distress?
It can have great potential of positive growth and transformation (resilience, post traumatic growth…)
How can seemingly positive states and situations be very negative for wellbeing? (FORGIVENESS AND EMPATHY, SWB & HAPPINESS, SELF-ESTEEM)
SELF-ESTEEM:
High self-esteem can have negative aspects: Invulnerability (health-risky behavior, making commitments that exceed capacities leading to failure), inflated egos, narcissism, aggression.
FORGIVENESS AND EMPATHY:
•Pro-social behaviors are often a win-win, but…
- They sometimes imply that one tolerates harmful situations, abusive relations…
- Forgiving people are at higher risk of being abused.
- Superficial empathy can generate in some situations unjust judgments and behaviors…
SWB & HAPPINESS:
•Excessive focus in the search for subjective wellbeing can be detrimental to having a good life. Subjective wellbeing is often just a “side-effect” of having other aims (e.g. playing music, running a marathon…)
- Obsession with happiness can stigmatize the unhappy and even see unhappiness as morally negative.
- Feeling happy and content can make us insensitive to injustice, oppression… and blind to other’s suffering while life ́s dark side can trigger action that leads to a better life for us and others.
The positive aspects of life’s dark sides - What are the positive aspects of pessimism, humility, restrictiveness, anger, sadness…? ?
- Certain forms of pessimism can generate pro-active coping. E.g. the Stoic’s pre-meditatio malorum.
- Humility: genuine modesty is linked to admitting of errors and imperfections.
- ‘Forgetting of the self’: linked to transcendence and other spiritual insights.
- Restriction (less freedom): e.g. monastic life, not being dominated by passing moods (benefits for education, physical health…).
- Anger (not hate): Anger can be very positive to avoid abuse, it can be a positive moral emotion, “be angry with the right person, at the right time, for the right motive” (Aristotle).
- Sadness: Sadness can be the only right and functional reaction to a difficult situation. E.g. deep sadness after losing a loved person is a healthy reaction.
- Hence, it is crucial not to pathologize negative states: Justifiednegative emotions have nothing to do with mental disorders.
- Some negative emotional reactions are a necessary condition for positive transformation and growth.
Going through the dark side of life can be a source of … and can lead to … ?
- Going through the dark side of life (unemployment, heartbreak, divorce, personal loss, serious illness, abuse, bullying, poverty…) can be a source of deep understanding of unavoidable aspects of human existenceand can lead to increased meaning and wellbeing, a source of learning, becoming psychological stronger, and grow as humans.
