Positive Psych Unit Two
speeding adaptation to NA
(1) make recurring negative events as routine as possible, (2) make negative past experiences less surprising/variable by trying to understand them/gain insight
Van Boven, Camphele, and Gilovich (2010)
(1) pairs of strangers instructed to have conversations about purchases that increased happiness, (2) two conditions (assigned): material or experiential purchase. (3) participants report impressions of convo partner and enjoyment of convo. experiential -> more favorable partner partner impressions and more enjoyment. (fundamental attribution error- participants know topic was chosen by experimenter, but still made personal attribution to partner)
+/- Stroop
- emotions interfere more with color labeling, more likely to be remembered
Seligman: gratitude visit (2005)
1 week to write/deliver letter of gratitude -> significant increase in happiness and decrease in depressive symptoms, but w/in 6 mo, hedonic adaptation took effect
working only for money leads to an unhappy life, but we do this because
1) material culture conflates value creation and symbols for it (cash, goods), 2) government promotes idea that money -> happiness with lottery ads (and gov spending makes us less happy)
comparison of happiness and volunteerism in 32 countries
10 point increase in % of people who volunteer corresponds to 3 point increase in % saying they're happy
Emmons + McCullough (2003)
10 weekly journals, list 5 events from past week. 3 conditions: 5 things you're grateful for, 5 hassles, control (no instruction, just "5 things"). Asked about life as whole (grateful>hassle>neutral), upcoming week (grateful>hassle>neutral), and physical symptoms (neutral>hassle>grateful). Didn't make them do anything, just directed attention, focusing attention on gratitude is way to happiness
Lucas (2003) marriage and happiness
15 year longitudinal study, examined effects of major life events (good and bad) on SWB, coded event as year zero and compared happiness before and after. marriage and divorce caused initial positive and negative effects (respectively) on SWB, but returned to baseline after a few years (longer for divorce)
White + Rotton (1998)
3 conditions for students to get between N and S Miami campus (bad traffic): (1) drive car, (2) ride bus, (3) no commute (but wait 45 min between both parts of study). Measured baseline HR, blood pressure. After commute/waiting: task performance to trace shapes w/o lifting pencil/retracing (impossible but told it was possible). Blood pressure and HR increased among commuters. Control > commute on puzzles attempted and time spent (willpower less reduced), more task persistence. We adapt more easily to big events than small everyday ones (more variety -> harder to adapt)
Berman, Jenkins, Kaplan (2008)
38 college students, pretest: PANAS and backwards digit span task to see how many #s can be held in ST memory (cog ability). Randomly assigned to a condition: (1) nature walk, (2) urban walk. Walks were equal in total length, used GPS watch to ensure compliance. Post test: PANAS and backwards digit span task. Before walk: digit task results are the same at 7.9, but after, nature = 9.4 (stat.sig), city = 8.4 (not stat.sig.), similar for mood, found across all seasons/weather conditions
bad-good ratio of happy people
3:1 (bad 3x good)
DIY report card study
40% of kids praised for intelligence lie when given the option to customize report card, while few praised for effort lied
countries with economic growth where happiness has remained the same
Japan, USA
Six pillars of SE
Love (ability to feel worthy of love, otherwise you think people who do love you are inferior, choose being right over being happy), the workplace (imposter syndrome leads to self sabotage but also a feeling of control, make self invisible and suffer for it, need someone else to be more inferior than us, generous attitude towards achievement of others is sign of high SE), self fulfilling prophecies (low SE -> implicit expectations -> actions that bring them to reality), SE as basic need (required for effective functioning, has survival value, lack can lead to death indirectly of overdose, recklessness, etc., high SE is immune system of consciousness, helps with resilience more than imperviousness to suffering), no such thing as too much SE (insecure men are more insecure in presence of confident women), low SE leads to feeling like nothing is enough (fear is motor as opposed to joy, trying harder to avoid anxiety than experience happiness; goal of increasing SE is to live our possibilities, not to prove worth), SE is not an all purpose panacea
Mexican vs. French happiness
Mex purchasing power is less, but they're happier (happiness caused by factors other than money)
Train study
People think they'll regret missing a train by 1 min more than missing it by 5 min, but actually reported little regret for either. People imagine they will blame missing it on themselves, but actually blame others/enviro.
countries with economic growth where happiness decreased
Post-Soviet Russia (vast wealth of few raises expectations for all -> unfairness)
SE and challenges of the modern world
SE is an important psych and economic need, new demands on our psych resources from modern world where education and information are more important, we have more freedom of choice and need personal autonomy to adapt to this environment. The more choices we need to make, the more urgent our need for self esteem
negative experiences: 19 year investigation of German subject
accident, divorce, job loss -> reduced levels of well being in LT, never recovered
pursuing important and intrinsic personal goals
achieving goals can lead to adaptation and increased aspirations, but enjoying struggle along the way can -> pleasure, satisfaction from working on it. People striving for goals are happier, especially if goal is realistic, intrinsic, culturally valued, self determined, and harmonious (satisfy need for autonomy/competence/relatedness, self control)
HAPNE model
adaptation occurs w/ 2 different paths: (1) stream of + or - emotions resulting from the life change will lessen over time (adapt), (2) stream of + or - emotions resulting from life change may shift people's expectations about positivity/negativity of their lives (take for granted circumstances that used to lead to happiness/sadness). Want to reduce aspirations regarding + change, increase aspirations regarding - change
making predictions about hedonic consequences
affective forecasts = often wrong, context has strong influence and context in which forecast is made and the context of the situation are often different
life experiences and happiness: Deleire and Kalil (2010)
analyzed data from health and retirement study, nationally representative portrait of adults over 50, longitudinal, collects every other year, has data on spending in different categories and psych outcomes (optimism, loneliness, depression). Only one type of spending was significantly related to psych outcomes: leisure increased optimism, decreased depression and loneliness
pay now, consume later
anticipation can provide more pleasure than consumption because unsullied by reality (with credit cards: no anticipation). Thinking about future events triggers stronger emotion than same events in past (true of - emotion too). Present is most powerful. We realize future is better- would rather get celeb kiss in 3 days vs 3 hours. People believe emotional responses will be less intense in future than present (feel more pleasure if gift received now vs 3 min). Delayed consumption = more likely to promote virtues as temped in present by vice. delayed consumption may create uncertainty, people in uncertain gift condition are happier than those in certain condition even though they predicted the opposite.
senior citizens in Detroit area
asked about happiness and presented with volunteering opportunities to choose from. 6 months later, asked if they volunteered and measured happiness again, tremendous increase in happiness attributed to volunteering (greater than helping family/neighbors)
Dunn, Aknin, + Norton (2008): giving
assessed participants' happiness in the morning, all given envelope with $ inside (5 or 20). Two conditions: (1) personal spending or (2) prosocial spending. Happiness assessed in the evening: in a.m., both were equal, but in the evening, prosocial was almost 2x greater than personal condition for happiness. Shows causation, and effects held regardless of monetary amount or SES background
speed of adaptation is affected by
attention (once we stop paying attention to major life change, we have adapted to it) and variety (more variety = harder to adapt)
capitalism and happiness
best system to allow people to succeed on their merits in an economy
follow herd instead of your head
best way to predict how much we will enjoy an experience is to see how much someone else enjoyed it. ex: seeing pic/autobiography of actor alone or with rating: seeing rating reduced inaccuracy by 50% when predicting how much they would enjoy a speed date. Other people tell us what made them happy and what they think will make us happy. ex: people ate chocolate chip cookie or celery while observers watched, rated facial expressions when food was revealed (which significantly predicted enjoyment of food) - others can see nonverbal expressions that may escape our notice
Harvard study
can earn A) 50k while others earn 25k or B) 100k while others earn 200k, 56% choose A
writing about trauma
emotional inhibition = LT low level stressor, a form of psychological work. Important to translate experience into language- articulate in L hemi, which sends inhibiting impulses to amygdala -> insight, alters way event is represented in memory (but this is NOT ruminating for hours) (also, just let positive events happen b/c insight speeds up adaptation)
experiences make us feel connected
ex: tough mudder, increase relatedness and connections
Does money buy happiness? It can if you buy experiences that:
fosters sense of connection with others (Howell and Hill), makes memorable story (Van Buren), provides unique opportunity that defies comparison with other available options (Rosenzweig and Gilovich)
think about what you're not thinking about
further away an experience falls: the more abstractly we think about it. Ex: football fans thought they'd be happier in days following big game than they actually were, but when imagining what they'd be doing hour by hour after game on monday, made more moderate affective forecasts
emphasizing effort over intelligence
gives kids variable they can control; challenges self esteem movement's tenant that praise, SE, and performance all rise and fall together. In a meta-analysis, praised students became risk averse, lacked perceived autonomy, more interested in image maintenance and tearing others down
psych reasons charity brings happiness
gives sense of control, empowers, way to "mentally reboot" and crowd unhappiness out of focus
help others instead of yourself
giving money away (MRI) activates areas assoc with receiving rewards
gratitude, savoring, positive thinking
gratitude and appreciative attention impede adaptation to + (b/c extract max enjoyment), over 1-12 weeks can increase well being, defy + adaptation, buffer to stress, optimism can be effective coping adaptation (no longer novel)
Belgian study: individuals with strong capacity to savor mundane joys of daily life are
happier than those who don't (capacity to savor decreases among wealthy individuals- access to more pleasures undermines ability to savor)
high SE is one of the best predictors of _________
happiness
buy many small pleasures instead of a few big ones
happiness assoc with frequency more than intensity of + affective experiences, small ones are less susceptible to decreasing marginal utility, segregation between experiences leads to temporal discontinuity and decreased adaptation (ex: 2 brief massages = more pleasurable than one long one, willing to pay 2x more. Forecasting error, as many predicted they would enjoy longer one more)
social comparison of experiences
hard because more unique than material objects, protects against buyer's remorse
biological effects of volunteering
helper's high associated with endorphins, charity decreases stress hormones, elderly massaging babies decreases stress hormones (cortisol nor/epinephrine), students watching mother theresa documentary produced more protective antibody immunoglobin A than film with no charity, part of brain activated when people designated money to charities = same as part that lights up when people receive gifts themselves (fMRI)
Pennebaker (1989)
hypothesis: giving participants opportunity to disclose and understand emotions would increase health. participants wrote about assigned topic for 15 min/day for 4 days, (1) experimental condition (emotional topic) or (2) control (mundane topic). immediate effects: experimental subjects showed distress, but at end of semester (long term) had more positive outlook on life, stronger relationships, stronger immune functioning (cheek swab), fewer physician visits in following years
american freshman survey
importance of being well off financially has increased, importance of developing a meaningful philosophy of life has decreased
Aknin (2013)
in canada and uganda: "think about a time you spent money on (yourself or someone else)", equated this at $20 for canada and 10,000 shillings in uganda. Canada: roses for friend, Uganda ulcer meds. results: prosocial > personal in both canada and uganda, specific purchase didn't matter as much as just giving in general
1000 teens over 5 years: giving leads to
increased SE + optimism, decreased teen pregnancy, stress, negative feelings, street violence
giving makes people like us more
individuals were asked to choose how much to designate to a group fund, and in part 2, more than 80% of groups those who gave the most were selected as group leaders
gratitude
inhibits impact of rising aspirations, social comparison, recognizing value of what we have
Brickman (1978)
initial increase in happiness for lottery winners, but decrease in happiness (return to baseline) one year after (because we adapt, hedonic adaptation)
correlation between happiness and money
initially positive, but then reaches plateau ($ isn't the most efficient way to increase happiness)
40% of individual differences in happiness are determined by
intentional acts
people more oriented to image (extrinsically motivated) feel worse than those who are
intrinsically motivated
Meyer on praise
kids need genuine praise: only kids younger than 7 take praise at face value. age 12 kids saw teacher praise as sign you lack ability and need extra encouragement, teens believe criticism conveys positive belief in student's aptitude
People in countries below the subsistence level are _____ happy than people in wealthy countries
less
beware of comparison shopping
may distract consumer from attributes of a product that are important to their happiness, similarities fade into background and differences stand out, focuses attention to hedonically irrelevant attributes (look for better deal than more enjoyable experience- like large cockroach shaped chocolate versus small heart). Comparisons made when shopping are not equal to those made when consuming.
richer americans are happier because?
money doesn't bring happiness in itself, but having more than other people does (ex: choose A or B, A = earn $35k while coworkers earn $38k, B = earn $33k while coworkers earn $30k ; all choose A, but say they would be happier with B)
greenspace, Ulrich 1984
nature is highly variable, we don't adapt quickly (good), examined hospital records of patients all recovering from same procedure, rooms differ only in what's seen through window (trees or brick wall). Wall > trees for days hospitalized, nurse notes, needed more analgesics (painkillers), more postoperative minor complications. View of nature -> less fear, more variety, hold interest, reduce stressful thoughts, increase restoration from anxiety
buy experiences instead of things
nature of activity matters less than if you're engaged in it, people are maximally happy when they're thinking about what they're doing, we adapt to things faster than experiences and anticipate/remember experiences more, more likely to share with others
hedonic treadmill
our tendency to adapt psychologically to positive changes, want more
comparison shopping: food
participants exposed to inferior foods (sardines) predicted they would enjoy chips more than those exposed to superior foods (chocolate), but they all liked them equally (not actually comparing them to the other foods when eating)
Howell + Hill (2009)
participants wrote about experiential or material purchase, reported how much it contributed to (1) relatedness, (2) autonomy, (3) competence, (4) social comparison, (5) envy. Experiential purchases led to more happiness and relatedness and less social comparison (all others not stat.sig.)
Fundamental attribution error (Ross 1977)
people asked to write in favor/not in favor of Fidel Castro, asked others what they thought writer's stance was and even told them it was assigned, but people still thought that the in favor writers were pro-Castro.
Poster study
people could choose one of two posters, some offered return policy and some were stuck with it. those stuck with it increased their appreciation of it, when people predicted they'd be equally happy with or without the policy
AREA
people engage in sequential process of attending, reacting, explaining, and adapting to events
buy less insurance
people overestimate vulnerability to negative affect- we adapt. Insurance companies take advantage of this b/c of loss aversion and unnecessary emotional protection. We spin events in + direction after they occur to prevent self-blame, regret (ex: win 5 dollars and immediately lose 3: frame as winning $2).
Leyden approach
people say required income (halfway between insufficient/sufficient) for happiness is 40% higher than what they make at the time
meaning matters in link between charity and happiness (2007 fMRI study)
people watch a computer win money for themselves or for a charity; for charity, meaning center is activated (most by people who already gave/volunteered)
2003 study of 115 poor American senior citizens
people who gave/volunteered -> more likely to report positive affect
earning money = different from winning lottery because
people who succeed at what they do tend to keep doing it, and the more you succeed, the more you need individual success to be happy
slowing adaptation to PA: variety (sheldon, Boehm, and Lyubomirsky 2013)
perform random acts of kindness over 10 weeks, record in diary. conditions: (1) low variety = repeat same kinds of acts each week, (2) high variety = vary acts, don't repeat. High variety reported significantly higher happiness than low (which was near zero, but w/o anything would likely be negative). Attending to variety enhances happiness.
investing in relationships and practicing kindness
philanthropy stimulates 2 areas in brain associated with pleasure, trust, euphoria, cooperation. Practicing acts of kindness increases WB if committed with frequency and variety. Desire for happy kids/marriages doesn't decrease as we obtain them (unlike hedonic adaptation to objects), we adapt to people more slowly than objects
cross cultural barriers to happiness
political unrest, competitiveness (American individualism -> unhappiness, Japan = least happy developed country from stress)
factors drawing attention to negative affect
positive negative asymmetry (in news media in particular), social comparison
researchers gave puzzles to 5th graders (study)
praised either for effort or intelligence; given choice of test for second round (an easy one or a harder one they'd get more out of). 90% praised for effort chose hard puzzle, majority of those praised for intelligence chose the easy one (since they're "smart" at it, they need to avoid looking dumb). In another round, had a really hard test and everyone failed, but effort group assumed they hadn't focused enough and enjoyed it, while the intelligence group saw it as evidence that they weren't smart. In a final round that was as easy as the first round, the hard work group improved scores by 30%, while intelligence group decreased by 20%
affect labeling, Liberman (2007)
putting feeling into words. Participants viewed series of emotional target faces in fMRI machine. Conditions: (1) observe, (2) affect label (describing emotion with words) by pushing button, (3) gender label (using lang but not emotion), (4) affect match (processing emotion w/o lang). Want to see which condition has least amygdala activity: affect label < gender match < affect match < observe. Use your words to keep calm!
Evans + Wener (2006)
rail commuters went from NJ to manhattan, measured (1) cortisol levels at end of commute and following weekend, (2) performance on proofreading task (motivation), and (3) self reported stress levels. cortisol and stress: 100 min > 80 > 60, proofreading is reverse. Similar results for driving: longer commute -> worse outcomes (loss of control/autonomy); reducing # transfers may help (less chance of losing control) (confounds: people who commute may be different, could just be wasting time)
Boyce Brown and Moore (2010): social comparison and relative (not absolute) wealth
rank of income, not income itself, affects life satisfaction; 12000 adults in Britain, measured life satisfaction, income, and geographic location, income compared to neighbors and others in similar fields; external standards of ranking determine happiness
Rosenzweig and Gilovich (2012)
regrets of action = purchasing something you later wish you hadn't. Regrets of inaction = not purchasing something you later wish you did. experiential: most regrets are of inaction (83%), while for material most are of action (63%)
impact of SE
seek challenges, worthwhile goals, ambitious, able to cope, express self, nourish relationships, treat others with respect/goodwill/fairness (see as less of a threat)
material purchases are more interchangeable (less singular) than experiential- Rosenzweig and Gilovich (2012)
singular purchases feel unique (i.e. wedding dress vs sundress). 4 spending conditions: (1) material-interchangeable (dresser from mall), (2) material- singular (antique dresser from estate sale), (3) experience- interchangeable (annual family reunion), (4) experience- singular (one-time family reunion of people from across country). Rate which form of regret will be stronger (1= not making purchase, 7= making purchase). Results: more regret over inaction for singular purchase than interchangeable. Experiences = more likely to be singular, though some goods can be too
combating hedonic adaptation
slow adaptation to + events, speed adaptation to - events
Praising kids: junior high
some struggle with enviro change, would consider cheating; need ability to respond to failure by exerting more effort, not giving up
Money and SWB
spend prosocially, buy experiences (increased relatedness, decreased social comparison, provides story, more singular, more + reinterpretation (inflated)), make it a treat (disrupts adaptation)
blackwell
split underachieving minority students into two groups, control got study skills while experimental got study skills and module on how intelligence is not innate. the experimental group increased grades and study habits
Mental subtraction (George Bailey effect) Koo et all (2008)
students asked to describe even for which they feel grateful, assigned to (1) presence condition (describe ways this has been part of your life) or (2) absence condition (describe what it'd be like if this wasn't part of your life), rated affective states on 7 pt scale. Result: absence > presence, comparing self to hypothetical self who is worse off can make us feel better
comparison shopping: Harvard housing study
students predicted social aspects of housing would be more important than physical aspects (true), but when predicting how happy they'd be in each of the 12 houses, predictions were driven by physical aspects (impact bias)
Praised student and competitiveness study
students take 2 tests, and in between 1 and 2, have the option to learn a new puzzle strategy or to find out how they did compared to others on first test. Students praised for intelligence chose to see how they did
good life deficit
subj. presented with list of 24 big ticket items, all felt that good life required more than they currently possessed (30-44 yrs old: had 2.5, ideal of 4.3 -> 16 years later: had 3.2, ideal of 5.4)- deficit stayed the same, the more you have -> the more you want
rich people are happier because relative prosperity makes them feel
successful (show they're prosperous because they can create value)
Gallup surveys 2006-2008
surveyed 200,000+ people in 136 countries, (1) did you donate to charity in last year? (2) how happy are you? Everywhere in world except two countries in Africa: people who give to charity are happier than those who don't
hedonic adaptation (class definition)
tendency to return to relatively stable level of happiness despite major negative or positive life events
self esteem
the experience that we are appropriate to life and to the requirements of life: (1) confidence in our ability to think, cope with basic challenges of life and (2) in our right to be successful and happy, worthy. Allows us to feel and live better
Claninger on persistence
trained mice and rats in mazes to have persistence by NOT rewarding them when they got to the finish (intermittent reinforcement, brain needs to learn frustrating spells can be worked through), people with frequent rewards have no persistence and quit when rewards disappear
cross cultural contributors to happiness
trust (baby buggies in Denmark, would you trust a stranger to return your wallet?), strong social connections (latin american cultures, others care about you and support you)
persistence
unconscious response governed by circuit in brain called orbital and medial prefrontal cortex (monitors reward center, intervenes when there's lack of immediate reward, switches on and tells brain to keep trying as reward is on horizon
greenspace, Benfield (2015)
undergrads took same course in same building, randomly assigned to a side of the room (one with nature, one with building view) during spring semester, but face instructor. Instructors randomly assigned to each section and specific classroom. Looked at attendance (no diff), grades (midterm and final- no difference at midterm, but students with professor having nature view did better on final), and student perception of subject importance (nature view found course more important); nature can impact performance in class (decrease stress)
effects of lottery winning
wear off after a few months, exciting experience dulls ordinary life (TV, shopping, talking with friends)
happiness equation
what we have/what we want
self concept
who/what we sub/consciously think we are
