Unit 1: Happiness, Positive Emotions, SWB, and Flow Flashcards
What are 3 criteria that we can use to assess something as ‘positive’?
- Choice - people prefer to choose tings that are more positive
- Subjective Experience - aka pleasure
- Values - Based on religion, law, logic, morals, etc.
What are 4 ways we can apply the label ‘positive’ in positive psychology?
- Positive as good intentions
- Positive as an ideological perspective
- Positive as an appreciative stance
- Positive as a set of topics
How is positive psychology similar/different from self-help advice?
Positive psychology is based in empirical evidence. However, they both focus on what makes an individual happy
How is positive psychology similar/different from humanistic psychology?
Both sub-disciplines are focused on helping people thrive and go beyond alleviating suffering.
However, humanism is more focused on individual experience rather than generalizable truths. The research is typically qualitiative (cf. quantitative)
Why is it that correlations do not imply causation?
When two things are correlated, the causal direction could go in either direction. Even if one direction can be ruled out, there is the possibility that a third variable is the cause of the association
What is the key difference between correlational studies and experimental studies?
Correlational studies merely observes the association’s between things, whereas experimental studies manipulates something and compares groups that have been treated differently
Name an advantage and disadvantage for each of the correlational approach and the experimental approach
Correlational - Convenient, good starting point, and measured in a natural environment but cannot infer causality
Experimental - Control of variables allows for conclusions on causality but is often artificial and can still have the third variable problem
What makes positive psychology a science?
Rigorous testing and it follows the scientific method
Describe the independent and dependent variable
An independent variable is the part of the study that is manipulated
A dependent variable is the behaviour that is measured
What is the difference between an exact replication and a conceptual replication?
An exact replication is when the study repeats the same design/method and keeps the study as similar as possible
A conceptual replication is when the study assess the same topic/concept but changes the methods
What are at least 3 reasons studies fail to replicate?
- P-hacking: Having multiple unrecorded variables and cherry picking the variables that confirm the hypothesis
- The original studies findings were due to chance or were fraudulent
- Mistake or bias in replication study
- Adding statistical controls after analysis to modify the p-value
- Change in participants (cohort effects, differing social values, morals, etc.)
What are some ways we can/are improving replicability in psychology?
- Test potential moderators in new studies
- More open science practices –> Make materials, procedures, and data more available
- Reward replication efforts –> increased funding, offering replication issues, and/or rewards
What is the Reproducibility Project and what were the results?
The Reproducibility Project selected 100 studies published in 2008 and conducted an exact/direct replication.
They found that only ~1/3-1/2 found the same results and effect sizes were ~50% of original reports
Compare the ideas of growth mindsets and fixed mindsets. Which mindset is better for goal setting?
Individuals with growth mindsets (aka incremental theories) believe human characteristics are malleable
Individuals with fixed mindsets (aka entity theories) believe human characteristics are inborn and do not change
Growth mindsets encourage persistence and effort and therefore are better for goal setting.
According to goal setting theory, what kinds of goals are most effective?
A good goal is concrete with clear guidelines and timeframes. It also has to be appropriately challenging
What is the credibility revolution?
It describes dramatic changes in how psychologists conduct, report, and evaluate research. It is aimed at increasing confidence of findings.
Describe publication bias and why it is a concern
Publication bias is when journals refuse to publish replication studies or studies have null results, This causes replication failures to go unnoticed, leaving a distorted record of findings
Sometimes questionable practices are justified.
True or False
True - Studies with large samples use questionable practices. However, it only becomes a concern when researchers justify the practices only when they lead to a supportive p value
According to the goal setting theory what are 4 reasons goals are useful?
- They direct attention towards goal activities
- They energize behaviour
- They induce persistence while unmet
- They prompt people to engage in strategies and their knowledge to meet goals
Describe implementation intentions and how they are beneficial.
Implementation intentions are if-then rules created to elicit a specific behaviour under specific circumstances.
They remove the need for thought and assist with removing distractions or other obstacles.
What is the main difference between implementation intentions and habits?
Implementation intentions have clear intentions, whereas habits lack intention
Provide 2 examples of commitment devices
- Turning off the internet before reading to avoid distraction
- Deleting instagram off your phone during exam week
Describe temptation bundling and provide an example
Pairing an undesirable task (i.e. going to the gym) with a desirable task (i.e. listening to a trashy audiobook).
It works best when these activities are done simultaneously and the desirable task should only be available when completing the undesirable task.
What is a ‘basic emotion’ ?
A basic emotion is a momentary triggered response to a stimulus
How does the dimensional approach differ from the basic emotions approach?
The basic emotion approach views emotion as distinct categories that are momentary and have various appraisals (triggers) (think of inside out movie)
The dimensional approach organizes many different states and emotions by their similarities and differences (Circumplex - unpleasant -> pleasant; Activation/arousal –> deactivation)
What are the components of emotions?
Appraisal - cognitive assessment that determines when and which emotion occurs
Physiological change - Changes that prepare the body to meet the needs of the situaiton
Expressions - Behavioural component that helps communicate internal states (face, posture, sounds, and touch)
Subjective experience
Action tendency - the motivational aspect of emotion that prepares the body - fight or flight (negative) vs broaden and build (positive)
According to the broaden and build theory, what is build and what is broaden?
Broaden - Positive emotions allow you to broaden your focus/attention in the moment
Build - You build on your broadened focus by gaining new skill sets over time
What positive emotion seems to contradict the B&B theory?
Desire
High approach motivations narrow attention
Under what conditions is flow likely to occur?
Occurs when the challenge is matched to a persons ability/skill
Contrast the term emotion with sensations, moods, dispositions, and affect
Sensations - Lack appraisal because it is based on physical stimuli
Moods - moods are states that last for long period
Dispositions - These are long term characteristics people are born with
Affect - A general umbrella term for emotions, moods, etc.
Emotions have distinct physiological signatures.
True or False
False
Loving kindness mediation has been found to increase positive emotions.
True or False
True
What is a positivity offset?
People feel good even without pleasant events. We are not ‘neutral’ in the absence of positive stimuli
Negative emotions are stronger than positive emotions.
True or False
True.
Negative emotions are stronger/more potent but positive emotions are more prevalent
Emotion appraisals are the same for everyone.
True or False
False.
Appraisals are personal, which explains why two people may respond differently to the same situation
How are appraisals measured?
- Asking a participant to recall an experience and make ratings on appraisal dimensions/have coders make the ratings based on the descriptions
- Manipulate a situation to see if it matches self-reported appraisals
Compare the left and right sides of the brain during emotions.
Left side is more associated with activation states whereas right side is more associated with withdrawal
People can recognize facial expressions/vocalizations for people of different cultures.
True or False.
True.
However, people from the same culture can recognize the expressions better.
What is a Duechenee smile?
A genuine smile characterized by the contraction of a muscle around the eye (crows’ eyes) in addition to the zygomatic muscle int he cheek
Compare the experiencing self to the remembering self. Which is better for making future decisions?
The experiencing self if the feeling in the moment
The remembering self is a self-report on past experiences
The remembering self is used to make future decisions. However, both negative and positive affect have been found to be higher.
What is duration neglect?
The idea that the remembering self is susceptible to distortion even for recent memories because it pays little attention to time.
What is the difference between wanting and liking? Which is more pleasurable?
Liking is more pleasurable (i.e. opioids)