Week 6 - How to be ''happy'' in yourself Flashcards
What is positive psychology?
Introduction to Positive Psychology and the science of Happiness: Martin Seligman (1998)
The scientific investigation of those factors,
traits, and environmental contexts which permit people to flourish.
Martin Seligman (1998) new domain
What are the five features of positive psychology?
- A reaction against ‘psychology as usual’
- A rejection of the ‘deficit model’
- A historical development from humanistic psychology
(self-actualisation / best version – reluctant submit empirical investigation | notion deficit vs strength) - A set of tools and techniques
- A model of how people gain happiness and meaning in life
four things it isnt
- Positive thinking (“just put a positive spin on things!”)
- Being smiley
- The absence or elimination of negative emotion
- A quick fix (understanding self + application)
Three pilars
- Positive experience
- Positive Traits
- Positive Institutiond
Two mantras/assumptions/principles
Develop what’s strong rather than what’s wrong
There is more to be gained from working on what you are already good at, than at what you are mediocre or poor at
One size doesn’t fit all
Even demonstratively effective interventions will not work for everyone
H = S + C + V
Early Theories, Models and Contributions to the Field
H = Happiness
S = Set point (what and who you are)
C = Circumstances (What happens to you)
V = Volitional Activity (What you decide to do)
Five forms of happiness (PERMA)
- Pleasure/Positive Emotion
- Engagement
- Relationships
- Meaning
- Achievement/Accomplishment
Preferences for these vary in the population
Empirical investigation of happiness
Seligman, Steen, Park & Peterson 2005
Randomised Control Trial (RCT) internet study of
577 adults
Participants allocated to:
* Three good things
* Gratitude letter
* Identifying strengths
* Using strengths in new ways
* You at your best
* Placebo control (recalling early memories)
Psychology of personal strengths
strengths are ‘routes to virtue’; what are virtues?
‘core characteristics valued by moral philosophers and religious thinkers’
(Peterson & Seligman, 2004, p13).
Six universal
human virtues?
- Humanity
- Courage
- Temperance quality of moderation or self-
restraint (to self-control thought, feeling or action) - Transcendence
- Wisdom
- Justice
Strengths and
Virtues
- Strengths are specific routes to virtue
- Each virtue has associated strengths
- Strengths can be measured
- Strengths can be developed
- When we use our strengths it feels authentic
Measuring strengths
Values in Action Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS)
Peterson & Seligman (2001)
240 items, self-report questionnaire
Good internal reliability
24 associated strengths
Why
optimism?
Optimists tend to be more successful, long
lived, and happy, so optimism is a good thing
(usually).
Optimism should be conceived as a skill,
attentive optimism.
Optimism is…
- Internal, stable, controllable explanations for personal success
- External, unstable, uncontrollable explanations for
personal failure - An expectation that good things will continue (permanence) and will affect life generally (pervasive)
- An expectation that bad things will not last
(temporary) and their effects will be limited
(specific)
Comparing ourselves with others
Comparison of self with others in all domains of life
e.g. social status, wealth, achievements.
- Adaptive in ancestral times but maladaptive in
modern society.
- Unrealistic and unattainable images of beauty and
success in the media.
- Normally thought to come in two flavours: upwards and downwards.
Study by Morse and Gergen (1970)
Participants complete a series of self assessment
questionnaires in the company of one other person.
allegedly another participant (in fact, a stooge).
Condition 1: Well-dressed stooge
Condition 2: Scruffy stooge
Self esteem (one of the self assessment measures)
was affected by social comparison – upwards
comparisons reduce self esteem, downwards ones
increase it.
Social Comparisons and Health
Recovery from serious illness, and longevity in the context of terminal illness, may both be enhanced by downwards social comparisons.
So making the ‘right’ kind of social comparison (i.e. a downwards one) might help you recover faster, and live longer.
CRITICISM PT 1.
- Elitism: hierarchical, high-profile members group, supported by big money and names
- Scientism: the belief that the positivist paradigm of the scientific method is the only way to examine truth claims and the only good and trustworthy method to achieve happiness, well-being, and flourishing
- Positive-only focus (first wave)
- Component-focused rather than holistic
- Culture-bound and based on small/exceptional group of individuals: WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialised, rich and democratic) – findings cannot be generalised to non-Western cultures
- Interventions (PPI) may not be as effective as claimed (Weis & Speridakos, 2011 / meta analysis 27 studies over 17 year)
- Lack of comprehensive theory
- Politics of individualism: gov shift the blame of responsibility for self-fulfillment and happiness to individuals rather than to institutions or cultures that systematically marginalize and oppress
PP WAVES
second wave pp 2.0
- Wong (2009) effort to advance existential PP (EPP), concern with existential issues, striving for significance
- Incorporation of the negative: based on the dialectic interaction between + & -
- A balanced PP 2.0 believes opposites not just co-exist, complement
- The ‘dark side’ can be transformed to contribute to well-being (Wong, 2016).
- Meet clients/people in their ‘dark valleys’, using tools to help people transform negatives into positives, to overcome and transcend
- Need to confront dark side of human existence to achieve healing and flourishing
THIRD WAVE - NOW
- Beyond the individual embracing greater complexity
- Person - not primary focus of enquiry
- Look at groups and systems where person is embedded
- Also about becoming more interdisciplinary and multicultural
- Embracing wider ranges of methodologies
the longest study on happiness (Robert Waldinger)
Key Findings from the Harvard Study of Adult Development
- The Harvard Study is one of the longest-running studies on human happiness (over 80 years).
- The most significant factor for long-term happiness: relationships
- Strong, quality social connections: These are the most important predictor of health, happiness, and longevity.
- Social connections reduce stress and help individuals live longer, healthier lives.
- Loneliness has been shown to be as harmful as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
- Money and fame do not lead to lasting happiness; instead, meaningful relationships bring fulfillment
Cognitive biases that hinder happiness;
Prof Laurie Santos – Yale
Humans are surprisingly bad at being happy—due to the way our brains are wired.
We are often governed by cognitive biases that distort our perception of happiness and well-being.
- Bad News Bias:
- Impact Bias:
- Hedonic Treadmill:
- Practical Ways to Overcome These Biases:
