Week 2 - Strengths Flashcards
Psychometrics
Psychometric Properties: the measurement characteristics of the tools
Reliability: the extent to which a scale is consistent or stable Cronbach’s a is commonly used
–Is the questionnaire stable?
Validity: the extent to which a scale measures what it is supposed to measure
Is the test valid?
Tests shouldn’t be “valid” but a test’s relative validity must be assessed?
Sometimes need to disguise it a little bit
MMPI - Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory - do all kids look like moneys - yes= low empathy - low face validity - does appear to be measuring this
Is the test measuring te construct it is intended to measure?
Is the test being used with the population for which it is intended?
Is the test being used for the application for which it is intended?
Standardization
Administration - test is given the same way every time
–Who administers the instrument
–Specific instructions, order of items, timing etc
–Varies greatly
Scoring - test is scored the same way every time
Who scores the instrument
–Correct, partial and incorrect answers, points awarded etc
–Varies greatly
Classifications and Measures of Strengths
Karl Menniger
Karl Menniger suggested development of a new diagnostic system
—Attempted to change how health care viewed diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental illness.
—Called for development of diagnostic system that described the life process rather than states or conditions
—Power of hope faith love
—“What about the productive and healthy aspects of personal functioning?”
Currently, we have a better understanding of weaknesses than strengths
Ex. ICD, DSM
—–WHO - International Classifications of Diseases (ICD)
————-All diseases
——APA’s DSM-5
No classifications of strengths have achieved worldwide acceptance
Currently, we have a better understanding of weaknesses than strengths
Ex. ICD, DSM
—–WHO - International Classifications of Diseases (ICD)
————-All diseases
——APA’s DSM-5
No classifications of strengths have achieved worldwide acceptance
Existing classifications of strengths
The Gallup Themes of Talent
The Values in Action Classifications of Strengths
The Search Institute’s 40 Developmental Assets
Two Prevalent Models of Strengths
- Elements of character that produce virtue
Example: VIA strengths - Personal competencies that generate optimal performance
Example: Clifton StrengthsFinder
Gallup’s Clifton Strengths Finder (Clifton, 1999; Gallup Organization)
Analysis of success: “What would happen if we studied what is right with people?”
Clifton emphasized talents - what allows us to do well in a business environment
1. Talents: “naturally recurring patterns of thought, feeling, or behavior that can be productively applied”
2. trait-like “raw materials” to be the products of normal, healthy development and successful childhood and adolescence experiences
Talents can be operationalized, studied, and accentuated in work/school
Success is related to talents and strengths
StrengthsFinder 2.0 currently has 34 themes
Gallup’s Clifton Strengths Finder - Empirically Driven Creation
Semistructured interviews to identify talents - different job sites and started interviewing people
———–interviews also were useful in predicting positive outcomes
Examined roles, visited job sites, identified superstars, and determined what was associated with success
To create StrengthsFinder tool, Clifton wrote 5000 items using empirically supported techniques.
Selection of items was based on traditional construct, content, and criterion validity evidence, suggesting that the tool tapped underlying attributes, the full depth and breadth of content, and the shared relationships and predictive powers, respectively
Sends the items out to experts in the field and gets feedback - factor and reliability analysis
Caveats- Gallup’s Clifton Strengths Finder
not designed or validated for use in employee selection or mental health screening
Using it for comparisons of individuals’ profiles is discouraged.
What is it used for? - Gallup’s Clifton Strengths Finder
Used to identify personal talents and build on talents to develop strengths
Used in college/uni and business populations for personal development
Gallup’s Clifton Strengths Finder EIRS
Executing
—Know how to make things happen
Achiever, arranger, responsibility
Manager, entrepreneur, event planner
Influencing
—-Take charge, speak up, and make sure the team is heard
—–Communication, competition, self assurance
Relationship Building
——Build strong relationships that can hold a team together and make the team greater than the sum of its parts
——Adaptability, connectedness, empathy
HR, therapy, customer relations
Strategic Thinking
—-Help teams consider what could be - absorb and analyze info that can inform better decision
VIA classification of Strengths
Some consider this the antithesis of the DSM
designed to describe the individual differences of character strengths on continua and not as distinct categories
Provides a common language of strengths
Six overarching virtues, 24 strengths
VIA classification of Strengths- Created in response to 2 questions:
How can one define the concepts of “strengths” and “highest potential”?
How can one tell that a positive youth development program has succeeded in meeting its goals?
Components of character:
Virtues (core characteristics valued by some moral philosophers, religious thinkers, and everyday folk)
Character Strengths (psychological processes and mechanisms that define virtues)
Situational Themes (specific habits that lead people to manifest strengths in particular situations)
Via Reliability and Validity
Reliability:
—all scales have satisfactory consistency and stability across a 4‐month period
—Correlations among scales are higher than expected
—Women score higher on humanity; African ——-Americans score higher on spirituality
Validity
—Other (friends/family) ratings correlate at .50 with self‐reports
—The majority of scales correlate positively with life satisfaction
—Factor analysis support six virtues
The Search Institute’s 40 Developmental Assets
Conceptualized in 1980s to answer, “What protects children from today’s problems?”
Internal and external variables that contribute to a child’s thriving
Commonplace positive experiences and qualities
20 internal and 20 external assets
Not much data for psychometric properties for the 156‐item Search Institute
Profiles of Student Life: Attitudes and Behaviours
–Results of research indicate that correlations exist between developmental assets and health behaviours in grades 7‐12
Paid questionnaire
The Search Institute’s 40 Developmental Assets - EXTERNAL sebc
Support - Family support; positive family communication; other adult relationships; caring neighbourhood; caring school climate; parent involvement in schooling
Empowerment Community - values youth; youth as resources; service to others; safety
Boundaries and Expectations - Family boundaries - consequences; school boundaries; neighbourhood boundaries; adult role models; positive peer influence; high expectations
Constructive Use of Time - Creative activities; youth programs; religious community; time at home
The Search Institute’s 40 Developmental Assets - INTERNAL lpsp
Commitment to Learning - Achievement motivation; school engagement; homework; bonding to school; reading for pleasure
Positive Values - Caring; equality and social justice; integrity; honesty; responsibility; restraint
Social Competencies - Planning and decision‐making; interpersonal competence; cultural competence; resistance skills; peaceful conflict resolution
Positive Identity - Personal power; self‐esteem; sense of purpose; positive view of personal future
Issues of Equivalence in Using Measures of Psychological Strength clm
Each of these scales was developed within a western framework
issues of conceptual equivalence ‐ Different cultures may conceptualize constructs differently
Issues of linguistic equivalence – if translated, scale may contain culturally‐based expression, idioms (“it’s raining cats and dogs”, vocabulary etc. - have to take out cultural based expression and word use
Issues of metric equivalence – Likert scales may be problematic as some cultures may not want to score on the extreme ends -
—-Different factor structures found in the VIA‐IS! - depending on where we administer it - different factor solutions
Which Country is Happiest?
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
Better Life Index
Measures well‐being of societies on different indices of well‐being
United States 6.9 on Life Satisfaction; rank 17/40 Canada 7.4 on Life Satisfaction; rank 7/40 Denmark 7.6 on Life Satisfaction; rank 3/40 Norway 7.6 on Life Satisfaction; rank 2/40 Finland 7.6 on Life Satisfaction; rank 1/40
Finland and Denmark are the happiest
Happiness vs. Contentment
Nordic Countries and Happiness
Distinction between high Positive Emotion and Life Satisfaction
Lykke (luu‐kah) (n): Danish, Happiness
(state of exceptional happiness experienced once in a while)
Glad (glo) (n): Danish, Happiness
(mindset of being happy, usually. Not special)
Ways of Understanding “Positive”
Positive as good intentions
Many psychologists want to help other people and this is a worthy goal
“Good intentions” does not seem like the best way to define positive psychology though
Psychologists who study the links between traumatic brain injury and mental illness do not wish either of these on people; rather, they hope to generate knowledge that will help alleviate suffering
Good intentions are found throughout science but they do not distinguish positive psychology uniquely
Ways of Understanding “Positive” - Positive as an ideological perspective
Like the humanistic psychological tradition, we might assume that people are naturally good
This is problematic from a scientific perspective
It’s not a good idea to define an entire branch of psychology with an assumption about human nature
—Our theories can make these assumptions but we must put them to the test
Ways of Understanding “Positive” - Positive as an appreciative stance
Rather than assuming that people are good, a researcher with an appreciative stance is able to collect information objectively, yet look at this information from a positive perspective
This can be useful, but we should remain cautious of a slide towards problematic positive biases
Ways of Understanding “Positive” - Positive as a set of topics
We can look at positivity via its topics ; Positive psychology is about positive things
Are we merely focusing on new terms to study the old issues?
No. “I want to eliminate James is depression” versus “I want to make James happier
Dimensions of Well‐Being
Pursuit of Happiness – often described as positive psychology’s central outcome
HOWEVER, the pursuit of happiness is only one aspect
Realizing potentials
Pursuing interests
Nurturing Others
Leading authentic lives
Pursuit of happiness
Happiness and life satisfaction are elements of emotional well‐being
Happiness: spontaneous reflections of pleasant and unpleasant feelings in one’s immediate experience
Life Satisfaction: a sense of contentment and peace stemming from small gaps between wants and needs
Subjective Well-Being
to suggest that individuals’ appraisals of their own lives capture the
essence of well-being
Positive feelings = positive emotions
Negative feelings
Gap between who i am and who i want to be
Being optimistic
The Six‐factor Model of Psychological Well‐being - Keyes
Not just feeling good - also living a life of virtue
- Self‐acceptance
- Accept who you are
- Accept that you have faults - Personal growth
- Purpose in life
- Environmental mastery
- Autonomy - stay aligned with goals and values independently of other people
- Positive relations with others
—–Psychological well‐being is attained by achieving a state of balance affected by both challenging and rewarding life events.
Objective Well‐Being - Indicators of Social Well‐Being
- Social acceptance – holding favorable views of others
- Social actualization – belief in the evolution of society (hopefulness)
- Social coherence – perception of quality, organization, and operation of the social world
- Social contribution – evaluation of one’s social value
- Social integration – evaluation of one’s relationship to community
Dimensions of Well‐Being
Subjective and objective
Subjective well‐being theories emphasize appraisals - how do i see myself in the world - am I developing a meaningful life
Objective approaches include psychological and social wellbeing
Both constitute a more complete portrayal of mental health
Flourishing
High levels of emotional well‐being
High levels of psychological well‐being
High levels of social well‐being
Languishing
Those who have no mental illness, but who have low levels of well‐being
Agape - spiritual love (selflessness and altruism)
May be most beneficial, even if not celebrated
Use our strengths! Be more giving and build relationships based on selflessness
Romantic love - eros - includes passionate romantic love
Resilient love, sustained romantic love - how do we maintain a relationship for many years
Both types of love - agape, romantic - in this context need more research
Positive Outcomes Associated with School, Work and Civic Contributions
Can we measure how positive schooling contributes to psychological growth?
Can we measure how gainful employment contributes to psychological growth?
Civic contributions and development ie. volunteering
Multicultural competence ie. learning and experiencing other cultures
Positive Outcomes associated with play
Social emotional and physical skils
Play in adulthood is undervalued
More research is needed
Why don’t we encourage play for adults?
Childish and nor mature
Not a good way to spend your time - important stuff
Looks irresponsible
What are some ways we can play in adulthood
Game nights
Build a fort
Play with children
Play in Adulthood
Rough and tumble play - diving, tug of war, kickball
Ritual Play - board games, games with rules
Imaginative play - colouring, storytelling, painting, crafting
Body play - yoga, hiking, rollercoasters
Object play - lego, jenge, snowball fights
Tripartitie model of subjective well-being
Life Satisfaction - cognitive
Positive feelings - affective
Negative feelings - affective
