test 2 last minuet cue cards Flashcards
Christchurch Earthquakes main findings
(A) Risk perception of another earthquake in
or near Christchurch increased after for
all cities.
(B) Perceptions of risk before was higher in
Wellington relative to Palmerston North.
(C) likelihood of an earthquake in other
parts of NZ increased in all cities with W
and C being equal. *expectancies are
not overdid by experience- risk
perceptions increased due to
earthquake saliency in affected and non
affected regions!
(D) Having an acquaintance affected by the
Christchurch earthquake increased risk
perception for their own cities.
*experience direct or vicariously
influences risk perceptions.
(E) Preparation increased in all cites but
more so for Christchurch.
(F) Attributions for not preparing:
“I didn’t think about it”
“Thought it would happen somewhere
else”
(G) Attribution for preparing “just in case of
emergency” *preparation was dependent
on peoples perceptions that the risk as
real.
(2) Main conclusions of earthquake study:
- risk perceptions were a mix of experience
and prior expectancies. - Increasing preparation by:
> civic agencies highlighting the rsk for all
regions (high and low risk)
> reduce unrealistic optimism about
hazards by highlighting how others
have prepared.
> reduce fatalism by framing the issue as
damage caused by earthquakes being
due to controllable actions i.e. building
design (self-efficacy).
> present context and base rate
information in campaigns to reduce
fatalism.
Wealth and happiness key findings:
(A) Material prosperity predicts life
satisfaction (SWB).
(B) Social Psychological prosperity predicts
positive emotions (SWB).
Why? because nations which have lower
corruption, higher social support, helping
other is linked to a happier nation.
Psychological Resources and Health:
(A) psychological resources like optimism,
sense of control and — are protective
factors against trauma such as HIV.
(B) Positive expectancies protective
(C) Negative expectancies exacerbate the
onset of symptoms in asymptomatic men
and the course of disease to death,
(D) Bereavement adds a physiological
stressor that exacerbates the
progression of disease.
why doesn’t happiness make us happy for long?
(1) Adaption:
> positive and negative events
> expectancies (expect nothing,
appreciate everything).
> set points and personality:
Twin studies indicate happiness has a genetic component.
Set point refers to our individual baseline of happiness to which we return following positive and negative events.
> Are some people more adaptive than others? Yes. individual differences in coping skills.
(2) Social Comparision:
Our happiness reflects our relative standing towards others i.e. how we compare to others.
Most people engage in upward comparisons. Meaning that most people are happy with their income until they compare it to someone who has more than them.
As our annual income increases our benchmark shits proportionally
- people will always find someone “better” to compare themselves to.
- e.g. A baseball player who earns $7 million dollars was happy until they leant that his teammate earns $10 million.
Income inequality: even those well off still feel poor, if they are experiencing group-based relative deprivation (ethnic group).
People who watch TV dramas compare themselves to the rich and are less satisfied.
*forms of relative deprivation
How to counter downward social comparisons negative effects on happiness: Make downward social comparison “I cried because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet”’
(3) Motivation:
Maslows hierarchy of needs
Why money brings happiness for people in difficult circumstances and not wealthy people.
Example: what activities are the most satisfying?
(A) Participants were asked to identify the most satisfying activity they engaged in the last week.
(B) They were then asked to rate this event against 10 needs.
• The top (4) responses were: o Relatedness o Self-esteem o Autonomy o Competence • The bottom (2) responses were: o Popularity o Money/luxury
***Highlights that money does not satisfy us like other activities that bring us self-esteem,
relatedness, autonomy or competence.
On a similar note: Higher income leads to having more available choices and as stated in another lecture having too many choices can overload us and negatively impact our happiness.
What correlates with Happiness?
- Money
- Good Relationships
(A) Strong ties:
a. People who have strong ties to their family and friends are happier because they have more social support.
(B) Committed:
a. Having quality relationships is also important. People who are more committed to spending time with their friends and family are happier.
b. This is the strongest correlate of happiness.
(C) Less “social capital”:
a. It’s known that western countries have less social capital i.e. less opportunities to join clubs, feel engaged with their community, feel trust and have social support.
b. NZ has the highest levels of social capital in the world and may account for people in NZ are happiest in the world.
(D) Connecting with casual acquaintances:
a. Even having casual relationships with acquaintances i.e. talking to people in the deli line can improve our happiness.
- Activities:
(A) Gratitude:
Writing down all the positive things that happen to you each day, reduces rumination and increases happiness and life satisfaction.
(B) Meditation:
Meditation, learning relaxation techniques improves happiness.
(C) Forgiving:
Mixed findings.
It can reduce happiness if people have a tendency to forgive people who keep hurting them.
It can improve happiness if you let go of negativity.
(D) Religion:
Some say religion is an illusion.
Religious people are happier than non-religious people.
- A, B, C are correlated with religion but can influence happiness independently!
4. Attitudes:
a. Optimism
i. People who are optimistic are happier.
b. Having Goals:
i. Having goals even if you do not meet them makes people happier.
why is religion correlated with happiness?
(A) Practicing healthier behavior’s (10%)
(B) Social Support (10%)
(C) Sense of Coherence (25%)
*This study indicates that adopting religious beliefs provides us with a sense of purpose and
meaning that leads to increases in happiness.
Pit Falls of Religion:
(A) Interpersonal strains; conflict between and our non-religious significant
others.
(B) Poor relationship with god; like attachment styles people can have secure, anxious or avoidant relationship with god.
(C) Doubt; people who are religious often struggle with feeling disconnected from god i.e. “I pray to god, but I get no reply”.
(D) Gap between ideals and behavior: People sometime struggle to match their behavior to the ideals the religion identifies.
*but overall: people who are religious tend to be happier and have lower levels of mental
illness!
If religion makes us happy,
If religon makes people happier why are so many people in western countries dropping out of it?
- Study examined 4 main religion’s Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam and atheist (control group).
- 153 countries were sampled meaning the study included a good range of wealthy and poorer nations.
- SWB (happiness): Life evaluations, positive and negative feelings.
Q: Is religion a part of your daily life?
o Similar findings were found across all 4 religions.
o Countries with more difficult conditions were more likely to be religious and being religious correlated with higher levels of happiness.
o Benign countries had:
Lower percentage of religious people (minority i.e. no fit between belief and culture)
Despite not being religious still had equally high measures of subjective wellbeing (happiness). Indicating that the social psychological benefits of religion are not as important in wealthier countries because they have other means to be happy.
Indicates that people can be happy even without feeling a sense of purpose!
Common aspirations that do not make people happier:
a. Educations
b. Youth (are not the happiest age bracket)
c. Good weather
Who is Anthony Fauci? is he a ___ or a ___.
He is the head of infectious disease in USA): •The president referred to him as being an alarmist. •Instead he characterised by himself as a realist.
The dominant theory on abnormal and normal cognition is?
a. metaphors
Cognitive Theories: Is the dominant approach in psychology towards biased cognition. From this perspective abnormals (depressed or anxious) are the more biased than normals. Mental health models argue that a key feature of normal cognition is having contact with reality. i.e. schizophrenic etc.
Metaphors that reinforce this belief:
a.Lay Scientists- We think in much similar ways to scientists, in our inferences and terminology, in this way we are lay scientists. However, scientists are more accurate than we are.
b.Information Processing: We process things in much the same way as a computer. This, metaphor suggests that processing can be broken down into normal or abnormal cognition.
Opposing theory to cognitive theories on normal and abnormal cognition?
Argues that people have (3) types of positive illusions:
a.Overly Positive Self-
Evaluations
b.Illusions of Self-Control
c.Unrealistic Optimism
*these act as protective resources for our mental health
- Self vs. Other Evaluations
evidence (Lewinsohn)
a.happier couples
a.Asked people to rate themselves on 10 positive and 10 negative traits and they did the same for rating “the average person” b.Normals had the tendency to rate themselves as better than the average person. c.Depressed people had the tendency to be more realistic and rate themselves equal to the average person.
*evidence that normal people
are actually more biased-they showed overly positive self-evaluations.
Happier Couples:
Happier couples have a tendency to overly rate their partner on positive traits than unhappy couples.
- Illusion of Control:
a. judgments of control
b. belief of control over
terminal cancer.
a.Judgements of Control- Found that in situations which are governed by chance. - Normal people are biased and think they have control over the outcome. - Depressed people are more accurate in this context.
e.g. gambling- normal people are more likely to continue gambling even if
they’re losing.
e.g. rolling the dice normal people think that a positive outcome is more
likely than a negative outcome-despite the objective probability being
due to chance.
Or
b. Belief in control over
terminal cancer:
Positive beliefs, even
illusionary ones, made people
with terminal cancer happier
and slowed down the
progression of the disease.
3.Unrealistic Optimism:
a. 10 +/-
b. objective data
(A) Predict 10 positive and
negative events that might
occur to you within the
next 3 months.
Normal people have a tendency to predict more positive events will occur to them in the next three months relative to negative. The depressed were more accurate.
(B) Does Optimism respond to
objective data?
People judged the probability of positive and negative events e.g. cancer 5%, winning the lottery 10% - Then participants were told them the objective probability of each events. - Participants were then given the opportunity to update their estimates - - They found that normal people only updated their positive estimates closer towards the actual estimate and not the negative.
*indicating that positive and
negative data is perceived
differently-even if it is
real data.
Taylor & Brown say that these Positive Illusions are Adaptive:
1.Makes People Happier: Perceptions of control, positive self-evaluations and optimism lead to people feeling less depressed and anxious.
2.Strengthens our Social Networks: Optimism and perceived control leads people to be more resilient in making friends.
3.Enhances Achievement:
Perceived control helps
motivate people i.e. internal
locus of control.
4.Helps People Cope with Stress: If we perceive ourselves to be better than the average person, feel control over events and are more optimistic of our future these act as psychological resources which protect our mental health.
Further Support-Extensions of the Positive Illusion Theory:
1.Do Optimistic People Live
Longer (Levi, 1902)
Yes, optimistic people do live longer. In a longitudinal study they found that optimistic people were more likely to live longer 23 years later than pessimistic people.
2.Test High-Wellbeing, not just
moderate to low wellbeing:
i.e. comparing three groups instead of the usual two.
- Self and other evaluation
measures
- Moderate SWB (normal)
showed more positive
illusions than Low SWB
(depressed) i.e. consistent
finding.
- Not as predicted individuals
with High SWB held the
same positive illusions as
moderate SWB individuals.
*They are more positive of the
Self AND Others.
Do Positive Illusions have a Downside?
- We Downplay Risks:
a. Gambling: people continue
even if their loosing.
b. Climate Change: can lead
to people not engaging in
mitigation behavior.
c. Drunk Driving: increases the
likelihood of you letting a
drunk driver drive if you
discount the risk of an
accident.
- We Persist Longer in Boring
Tasks:
**the benefits of positive illusions out weight the cost!!!
Implications to Cognitive Therapy:
Abnormals and normal people are different BUT not in the way we expected:
o Normal people are more biased than abnormal people.
o Normal people wear “rose tinted glasses”
o In therapy context asking depressed people to be more normal is equivalent to making them more biased- be more optimistic, feel control over their lives and evaluate themselves more positive than the average person.
Responses to Positive Illusion Findings:
1.Becks Cognitive Therapy
(mainly depression)
a.Old Theory: that normal
people were accurate and
depressed people were
more biased in their
cognitions.
b.His Revised Theory:
i.Normal People = have a
positive bias
ii. Mild Depression = are
more accurate
iii.Severe Depression =
negative bias
c.Trying to make depressed
people think “realistically”
may make people more
depressed because they
could perceive the world as
a terrible place where bad
things happen- not the
desired positive bias we
were aiming for.
- Baumeister- there is an
optimal margin of illusion:
moderate level (rose tinted
glasses).
Criticisms to the Positive Illusion Theory:
5
1.People with High Self
Evaluations (Colvin, 1995)
Actually, had poorer mental
health than more accurate
(depressed) people five years
later.
i.e. more narcissistic and defensive.
2.It Depends on How you
Measure Self-Evaluations
(Kwan, 1908)
(A) If you compare your own self
and other evaluations:
Higher self-rating = higher
SWB
(B) If you compare self-
evaluations with others views
of you:
Higher self-evaluations =
negative predictor of SWB i.e.
narcissistic.
**why there are mixed/contradictory findings in the literature- because studies use different measurements of evaluations!
- Cross-Cultural Differences
(Heine, 2007)
a.Less self-enhancement not found in Asia i.e. they’re more self-effacing. - They rate their groups better than the average group. - They rate themselves equal to the average individual.
- What about Business (Bias &
Hilton, 1905)
a.Do overconfident share
traders do better in share
markets?
b.Overconfident people did
worse, even when wrong, they
lost more money than more
cautious share traders.
- Illusions Lead to Worse Risk
Judgements:
a.Optimism leads to people
discounting risk.
*huge concerns in hazard
prevention.
Are Positive Illusions Adaptive?
It depends on the task-
a. Type of task
b. Stage of decision making
(A) Pessimism & Optimism are
Needed for Different Tasks:
a. Optimism is good for- sales,
public relations and
motivation.
b. Pessimism/Realism is good
for- design, safety
engineering.
*Overall optimism is good for
health because they have
more adaptive behaviors.
(B) Optimism & Realism are
good for Different Stages of
Decision Making:
a. Realism is good for making
decisions.
b. Optimism is good for
implementing decisions.
