Relationship formation Flashcards
Authenticity of goodness and excellence
Positive psychology places an emphasis on character strengths as being an important way to improve our well - being.
Many of these character strengths are focused on developing and maintaining social relationships.
One group of the VIA Character Strengths is humanity.
This includes kindness, love and social intelligence - all strengths linked to our relationships.
We can improve our relationships with others by focusing more on what is going right in the relationships than what is going wrong.
This means being aware of your partner’s character strengths and celebrating these, rather than taking them for granted.
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.
There is evidence from research that happiness and wellbeing are associated with having meaningful positive relationships.
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 such as playing sports were happier as adults.
These social connections were a better predictor of well - being than other factors such as academic attainment.
Focus on ‘the good life’
One assumption from the positive approach which can be applied to the formation of relationships is a ‘focus on the good life’.
Humans are social creatures, programmed to find, build and maintain relationships.
One element of ‘the good life’ is having a positive connection to others. Forming positive relationships with others can improve our subjective well-being and help us to achieve the ‘good life’.
Another element of the good life is engaging in activities that absorb and engage us, helping us to reach a state of flow.
It is often by being with others that we get the most out of positive experiences in our lives.
Acknowledgement of free will
The positive approach recognises that free will plays a part in our behaviour.
One of the things suggested as an intentional activity to improve happiness is nurturing social relationships.
Therefore, we can exercise our free will to improve and maintain our relationships, which in turn increases our well-being.
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.
