PSYC 335 - Midterm 1

What are its core emphases?

1- dependence: tendency to draw one's meaning and existence from being part of an important group of people, goes along with expectations of group, highly concerned about welfare of group, dependent on others 2- conformity: social approach in which the movement is towards in-group and away from out-groups 3- perception of the group as the fundamental unit of analysis - concern is for the group as a whole instead of its constituents

What are cultural value systems?

1- determine strengths and weaknesses 2- comparison of cultural values via commonly told stories, fairy tales and folklore 3- most Western cultures have individualistic perspectives vs. most Eastern cultures have collectivist perspectives

What did he believe and study?

1- science as the backbone 2- to further "knowledge about what makes life worth living" 3- studied the stress cycle, looked at resilience 4- started mainstream push to positive psychology

What is the Values in Action (VIA) Classification of Strengths?

1- developed by Peterson and Seligman 2- antithesis of the DSM 3- provides a common language for strengths 4- 24 strengths that meet 10 criteria 5- based upon 6 virtues 6- encourages a more strength based approach to diagnosis and treatment 7- components of character include: virtues, character strengths and situational themes 8- designed to describe individual differences of character strengths on a continua and not as distinct categories

Was is PANAS?

1- developed by Watson and Clark - positive and negative affect schedule 2- measures both positive and negative affect 3- positive and negative affect viewed as independent (not polar opposites) 4- 20-item scale - quantifies two dimensions of affect: valence and content NEGATIVE affect = general distress POSITIVE affect = joviality, self-assurance and attentiveness

What are the results of research on poignancy in younger and older adults?

1- age was not sig factor in experience of poignancy 2- higher incidence of these feelings in older adults found in other studies may be more related to feeling that time is limited (in life) as opposed to something organic to the aging process

Compare similarities and differences of these 3 diff measures.

1- all identify a person's primary strengths 2- all were created within a Western framework 3- only one not offered for adults in Search Institute 4- only one not psychometrically sound is Search Institute **Table 3.4 in textbook

What has developmental psychology focused on?

1- always studied adaptability and positive functioning 2- confidence and resiliency are pieces of developmental psychology that we want to see in our children 3- research focused on what is working 4- focus on people's self correcting tendencies (most children will grow out of their childhood problems)

What is positive youth development?

1- an ongoing, inevitable process in which all youth are engaged and all youth are invested 2- generates physical and psychological competencies that facilitate adulthood transition 3- positive qualities of youth, resources of the environment, positive agents (caring youth and adults), context of a program = promotion of healthy development 4- healthy development = attainment of positive outcomes targeted by positive programs

Explain research demonstrating this building phenomenon.

1- assessed people's positive and negative emotions and broad-minded coping on 2 occasions 5 weeks apart 2- initial levels of positive emotions predicted overall increases in creative problem solving 3- changes in coping also predicted further increases in positive emotions **results held true ONLY for positive, not negative emotions

What were the results of her research?

1- at birth, 1/3 at HIGH risk for academic and social problems 2- of the at-risk students, 1/3 were invulnerable to the risk factors (aka resilient) 3- TWO primary characteristics for resiliency: **born with outgoing dispositions - anxious and an internalizer, likely to have difficult time in life **able to engage several sources of support 4- 2/3 of those at high risk developed sig problems in childhood and adolescence 5- however - MOST (80%) bounced back by age 35 6- most attributed their resiliency to the support of ONE caring adult

What are different aspects of how emotion-laden material is handled differently by old vs. young people?

1- attention to novel stimuli 2- recall of emotional events 3- handling of daily life events 4- time orientation 5- poignancy

Explain how we should be balancing, not replacing.

1- avoid pathology vs. positive debate - it is a continuum 2- avoid "us vs. them" thinking 3- focus instead on the common goal of both camps: to understand and help people

How does culture affect the conceptualization of resilience?

1- bounced back to what - must be answered in the context of the values of the culture and expectations of the community 2- sometimes researchers may not be asking accurate questions - sometimes unintentionally biased in the topics they examine

What other factors in life can emotional storytelling help with?

1- breast cancer patients: expressive writing regarding cancer experience improved quality of life 2- racism and prejudice: increases development of resilience towards this 3- may be more beneficial for those who prefer to use a emotion-focused coping style to deal with stress in life

Integrity.

1- brings peace to one's life 2- increased spirituality often accompanies a greater sense of contentment with life

What is the broaden and build model?

1- by Barbara Fredrickson 2- based on Isen's work 3- positive emotions: **she proposes to discard the specific action tendency (suggest a restricted range of possible behavioural options) and adopt momentary thought-action repertoires (suggest a broad range of behavioural options) **broaden momentary experiences through action repertoires **build enduring personal resources including: - social, intellectual, physical and psychological

Research on effectiveness of approach-oriented emotion-focused coping and....

1- cancer 2- parental illness 3- chronic racism 4- infertility 5- chronic pain

What are the roots of resilience research?

1- case studies 2- research on building blocks of resilience 3- some researchers approach their work by focusing on identifying these building blocks and then identifying how they stack up in a large group of people who are at-risk due to a stressor 4- research on similarities and differences among those who bounce back vs. those who don't

What are some examples of research on positive emotions?

1- coins in pay phones - participants did or did not find a coin in the slot of a pay phone - those who did were more likely to help another person carry a load of books or who dropped papers - the finding of a coin and the associated positive emotion made people behave more altruistically 2- candies and physicians -physicians either given or not given bag of candies - those who had been given bag showed superior reasoning and decision making relative to those who didn't receive a bag

Describe the Changing Lives Program.

1- community based and supported and has aims to be inclusive of both gender and ethnicity 2- facilitators work with a two-pronged approach - attempt to decrease problem behaviours while also promoting positive development

What is the complete state model of mental health?

1- complete mental health = high levels of symptoms of emotional, psychological and social well-being and the absence of recent mental illness 2- dimensional and categorical 3- simple model 4- suggests that combined mental health and mental illness symptoms may always be changing, resulting in fluctuations in states of overall well-being ranging from complete mental illness to complete mental health

What is affect?

1- component of emotion 2- a person's immediate, physiological response to a stimulus 3- typically based on an underlying sense of arousal 4- involves the appraisal of an event as painful or pleasurable (its valence) and the experience of autonomic arousal

What is the MacArthur Foundation Study of Successful Aging?

1- conducted by John Rowe and colleagues 2- investigated social, physical and psychological factors related to abilities, health and well being 3- about 1200 adult participants aged 70-79 4- participated in 90 minute personal interview, followed for 7 years after and engaged in periodical interviews during this time 5- revealed 3 components of successful aging

How does she define emotion-focused coping?

1- coping through emotional approach might be said to carry adaptive potential (i.e. joy, happiness, panic, fear, anger) 2- discovered flaws in previous research 3- studied emotion-focused coping 4- managing emotions and understanding what pushes your emotions

What are the results of the study investigating differences between how depressed and non-depressed individuals watch sad and happy movies?

Non-depressed people: cry during sad movies and laugh during funny movies Depressed people: do not experience either emotion during both happy or sad movies - almost as if closing off access to some emotions results in not being able to access positive emotions either

What are the results of a study explaining the effects of emotion-focused coping on those who experience racism, discrimination, etc.?

1- greater self esteem and life satisfaction more closely linked with strong identification with their racial group - when they had ways of coping emotionally 2- African-American sample - emotion-focused coping was negatively correlated with experience of chronic stress brought on by racism

Explain genetic/personality predisposition theories.

1- happiness is stable 2- personality as the source of happiness 3- genetics influence: - up to 40% of positive emotionality - up to 55% of negative emotionality - about 50% not explained via biology?

Explain the need/goal satisfaction theories.

1- happiness vs. satisfaction 2- put forward by leaders of various schools of psychotherapy 3- Freud = reduction of tension leads to happiness 4- Maslow = satisfaction of needs leads to happiness (shelter, food, money, ability to survive in the world) BUT happiness is not captured completely by the rich 5- theorized that we are happy b/c we have reached our goals 6- "happiness as satisfaction" makes happiness a target for our psychological pursuits

What are the 6 tasks of adult development?

1- identity 2- intimacy 3- career consolidation 4- generativity 5- keeper of meaning 6- integrity

Explain how individualists code for similarity information?

1- identity dimension: a set of person attributes which have common core meaning 2- people evaluate the acceptability of their having varying degrees of similarity to other people 3- moderate-high levels of similarity rated as more comfortable - associated with positive emotional reactions 4- people not comfortable with either extremes 5- people are motivated by need for uniqueness when they feel too similar and will strive for similarity when they feel too different

Explain how emotion-focused coping works.

1- if we turned our attentions away from unpleasant feelings each time we experienced them, we learn little on how feelings influence us/friends 2- approach coping fosters understanding experiences directing attention to central concerns 3- works via: - better understanding - directed attention to central concerns - ability to face stressors - learn that emotional pain subsides

What are some benefits to focusing on the positive?

1- in daily life: it feels good 2- in psychological research: balances already developed pathology model and informs us about what is good and strong in people - enriches lives

Keeper of meaning.

1- in the context of a larger social circle, some people take on task of becoming keeper of meaning 2- has perspective on the workings of the world and of people 3- willing to share their wisdom with others 4- protects traditions and rituals that may facilitate the development of younger people 5- links the past to the future

What is subjective/emotional well being?

1- individuals' appraisals of their own lives capture the essence of well-being 2- three components: - life satisfaction - happiness (how frequently do you experience positive affect) - absence of negative affect (infrequent experiences of deep sadness or anger)

What are the 5 virtues according to Confucianism?

1- jen (huamnity) 2- yi (duty to treat others well) 3- lli (etiquette and sensitivity for others' feelings) 4- zhi (wisdom) 5- xin (truthfulness)

What is the Pennebaker Paradigm applied to?

1- job loss 2- diagnosis of illness 3- breakups

What is the emotional balancing act?

1- key = balancing approach and avoidance tendencies 2- diversify coping-skill repertoire

What are some happiness enhancing strategies?

1- count your blessings 2- cultivating optimism 3- avoiding overthinking and social comparison 4- practicing acts of kindness 5- nurturing relationships 6- doing more activities that truly engage you 7- replaying and savouring life's joys 8- committing to your goals 9- developing strategies for coping 10- learning to forgive 11- practicing religion and spirituality 12- taking care of your body

What are the 11 moral virtues?

1- courage 2- moderation 3- generosity 4- munificence 5- magnificence 6- even temper 7- friendliness 8- truthfulness 9- wit 10- justice 11- friendship

Explain culture free positive psychology research and practice.

1- cultural values of researchers and practitioners do NOT influence their work 2- have to take some training in cultural sensitivity 3- happiness acts as a defining factor of people across nations - BUT diff cultures define happiness differently

What is culturally embedded perspective?

1- cultural values of the researcher and practitioner influence their daily work 2- EX: trying to manipulate how Chinese participants experience pain in the lab 3- when Chinese people were put in Chinese culture, they reported more pain 4- numerous human strengths that are valued universally 5- the pursuit of happiness is common across cultures 6- BUT important to remember that most positive traits MANIFEST in diff ways for diff purposes in diff cultures 7- definitions of strengths may vary across cultural groups 8- we want to promote cultural awareness of diseases we study

What was the historical perspective moving into the 20th century?

1- culturally deficient perspective: people lack certain psychological resources b/c of limited exposure to the prevailing values and customs of the day (i.e. those of European Americans) 2- deviations from normative culture = deficient 3- goes back to discussion of what is "normal"

What is the main message of David Satcher's "Culture Counts"?

1- culture plays a role in the etiology, effects and treatment of educational and psychological problems 2- cultural issues must be a part of client conceptualizations of psychological problems and treatments 3- cultural influences must also be a part of understanding educational successes, psychological strengths and the good life 4- positive psychology criticized for lack of attention to cultural influences

What is eudaimonia?

1- defined byAristotle 2- human flourishing associated with living a life of virtue 3- happiness based on a lifelong pursuit of meaningful, developmental goals

Who is Hans Selye?

1- known for his research on effects of prolonged exposure to fear and anger 2- he found that physiological stress harmed the body yet had survival value for humans

What are positive outcomes associated with school, work and civic contributions?

1- learning and productivity 2- taught to understand one's place in the world

What does play result in adults?

1- less perceived stress 2- cope better with various stressors in life 3- linked to greater life satisfaction

What are the major theories of development?

1- maturational and biological 2- psychoanalytic 3- behavioural 4- cognitive developmental

What is the adaptive value of emotion-focused coping?

1- may foster a better understanding of our experiences and direct our attention to central concerns 2- may develop tendency to face our stressors directly and repeatedly and habituate to certain predictable negative experiences 3- understanding our emotional experience can help us select optimal relationships and environments

What is the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT)?

1- measure used to assess the four branches of the ability model using two sets of tasks designed to assess each of the 4 branches of the ability model: **perceiving emotions: asked to identify emotions of people in photos **using emotions to facilitate thinking: asked to describe feelings using non-feeling words and indicate feelings that might interfere with successful performance on given task **understanding emotions: asked how emotions evolve and how some feelings are produced by blends of emotions **managing emotions: presented with scenarios eliciting most adaptive ways to regulate one's own feelings and those that arise in others

What is the Clifton Youth Strengths Explorer?

1- measures 10 Talent Themes 2- online measure for children and youth 3- released in 2006 4- comes with a Youth Workbook and Parent and Educator Guides

Explain its inventory of strengths.

1- measures 24 character strengths 2- online and paper and pencil measure for adults 3- psychometrically sound (valid and reliable) 4- sensitive to change over time - if you develop or lose a strength and retake the test, your profile will reflect this

Explain its inventory of strengths for youth.

1- measures 24 character strengths 2- online measure for adolescents 3- adequate psychometric properties

What is some evidence against this theory?

1- research found that links between personality and happiness may be more idiographic than we think 2- personal set points for happiness may be more dependent on temperament and individuals may vary in the type of adaptation to positive and negative external experiences

What are 9 positive outcomes?

1- rewarding bonding 2- promoting social, emotional, cognitive, behavioural and moral competencies 3- encouraging self-determination 4- fostering spirituality 5- nurturing a clear and positive identity 6- building beliefs in the future 7- recognizing positive behaviour 8- providing opportunities for prosocial development 9- establishing prosocial norms

What are some strategies for promoting resilience in youth?

1- risk-focused strategies: preventing /reducing risk and stressors 2- asset-focused strategies: improving number or quality of resources or social capital 3- process-focused strategies: mobilizing the power of human adaptation systems

What are the 6 domains of life?

1- self acceptance: know one strengths and weaknesses, feel good about who you are, feel positive about life so far 2- personal growth: someone who feels they are developing as a person, realizing your potential 3- purpose in life: strong belief that they have a direction in life, goal and working towards this goal 4- environmental mastery: feel competence in certain things that are important to them, competent in managing everyday life and take advantage of new opportunities 5- autonomy: believe that choices they are making are their own choices, freedom to make choices and not being forced by others 6- positive relationships with others: able to form warm and trusting relationships and capable of empathy, affection and intimacy

What are its 3 core emphases?

1- sense of independence: norm for people to see themselves as independent of the surrounding group of people 2- desire to stand out relative to others (need for uniqueness) - follow own motives and preferences instead of adjusting their desire to accomodate for those of the group 3- use of the self or individual as unit of analysis in thinking about life - explanations of events likely involve the person

What are the two components of engagement with life?

1- social support: most potent when it is mutual 2- productivity

What are the two diff types of social support?

1- socio-emotional support: liking and loving 2- instrumental support: assistance when someone is in need

What are the different forms of these programs?

1- structured/semi structured activities - Big Brothers/Big Sisters 2- organizations that do activities/foster relationships - Boy's Club, YMCA 3- growth-focused socializing systems - day care centres, schools

Compare Eastern vs. Western orientation to time.

Western: future oriented Eastern: past oriented - more reflection on how behaviours of what you do in your life reflect upon your ancestors and people in your group

Compare Eastern vs. Western cultural value systems.

Western: individualistic, independence, competition Eastern: collectivistic, interdependence, cooperation

Compare Eastern vs. Western thought processes.

Western: pursuit of happiness, linear, goal directed, built on strength of hope, focus on salient objects or people instead of larger picture Eastern: pursuit of balance, cyclical yin yang, built on strength of endurance, search for relationships between things

Explain their different ways to positive outcomes.

Western: rugged individualism and hope, need for uniqueness Eastern: compassion and harmony

What are some major differences between Westerners and Easterners?

Westerners: - linear path to resolve problems and monitor progress - search for rewards in the physical plane - emphasizes optimal functioning as it occurs intra-physically Easterners: - the world and its inhabitants are in a perpetual state of flux - just as easy as good times occur, so will bad times - adaptive and mindful - move with the cycle of life until the change process becomes natural and enlightenment - seek to transcend the human plane and rise to the spiritual one

What is the difference between how Westerners and Easterners define happiness?

Westerners: usually mention personal achievement and individual related contributing factors when asked questions about their happiness Easterners: usually mention harmony or aspects related to their social spheres as contributing to their happiness

What are the major classifications of strengths?

1- The Gallup Themes of Talent 2- The Values in Action Classification of Strengths 3- The Search Institute's 40 Developmental Assets

Explain the historical approach of understanding emotional intelligence.

**Early view of emotions as undermining intelligence Mowrer: 1- emotion as a high order of intelligence Salovey and Mayer: 1- adapting to life circumstances required cognitive abilities and emotional skills that guide our behaviour 2- developed theoretical framework for an emotional intelligence 3- three core components: **appraisal and expression **regulation **utilization (use emotions to push you past threat) **this was based upon the Salovey and Mayer four-branch ability model of emotional intelligence **based on belief that skills needed to reason about emotions and to use emotional material to assist reasoning can be learned

What are some cultural differences in expressing emotions?

**Emotional experience is not universal - precursors, experience, expressions differ based on context 1- Western cultures avoiding expression of anger is undesirable so people do not "blow up" later 2- Eastern cultures view expression of anger as unacceptable or unnecessary 3- less intense emotional expression is more culturally normative and functional for Asians 4- more common for Asians to be dialectical in their emotional experience

Explain the Pennebaker paradigm (University of Texas).

**Studied emotional upheaval Research procedure involving the act of written disclosure of emotional upheaval (emotional storytelling) 1- experimental group: told to write about deepest thoughts and feelings about most traumatic experience in life 2- control group: told to write about non-emotional topic for 15 minutes a day for 4 days RESULTS: - experimental group was more distressed immediately after - BUT experienced numerous health benefits over the next year than control group participants **other benefits in other research: - health improves more when writing contains: more positive emotion words and more insight/causality

Explain beliefs of Buddhism.

1- Buddha: the Master, The Enlightened One 2- key themes: **seeking the good of others **suffering as part of being **Nirvana: self is freed from the desire for anything 3- Brahama Viharas **Maitri (love) **Karuna (compassion) **Mudita (joy) **Upeska (equanimity - temperance) 4- achieve virtues via divorcing self from desire - staying away from all the things you think you need

What is successful aging?

MacArthur Study of Successful Aging: 1- avoiding disease 2- engagement with life 3- maintaining high cognitive and physical functioning Vaillant: - joy, love and learning

What are some cultural differences and similarities in terms of older adults and the positivity bias?

1- Chinese older adults have same pattern of memory for remembering positive and negative pictures 2- Chinese older adults remembered fewer negative pictures than positive pictures and in comparison to US counterparts 3- more common for Chinese to look away from positive images, showing no attentional preference toward positivity

What are the Eastern influences on positive psychology?

1- Confucianism 2- Taoism 3- Buddhism 4- Hinduism

How were emotions historically viewed?

1- "the beast within" 2- toxic to our lives or detrimental to rational decision making 3- linked with maladaptive outcomes in life 4- intense emotions as dysfunctional and irrational

Who is Dr. Emmy Werner?

1- "the mother of resiliency" 2- person centred resilience researcher 3- studied cohort of 700 students born in Kauai

Explain the search institute's profiles of student life: attitudes and behaviour.

1- 156 item survey for use with children and youth 2- describes: **40 developmental assets **8 thriving indicators **5 developmental deficits - areas for growth **24 risk taking behaviours 3- psychometrics are unknown

What is the Judeo-Christianity view?

1- 3 Old Testament virtues: faith, hope, charity 2- 7 heavenly virtues (Aquinas) 3- Ten Commandments 4- New Testament - Book of Romans, Book of Proverbs, Book of Matthew 5- The Talmud provides instruction on living virtuous life 6- diff ways through the years that virtues/values have been bestowed on us over and over again

What is involved in the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire?

1- 5 factors: cultural empathy, open mindedness, emotional stability, initiative, flexibility 2- developed as a multi-dimensional instrument aimed at measuring multicultural effectiveness

Explain George Vaillant's research.

1- 90 women in the Terman sample were interviewed to examine the generalizability of his findings on adult development from his all-male sample 2- mapped out and refined 6 tasks of adult development

What are some cultural differences in positive youth development?

1- African American youth who have strong ethnic identity related to positive characteristics such as higher self esteem 2- Mexican immigrant children with strong ethnic identity have greater academic performance 3- American Indian and Alaska Native - Project Venture specifically designed for them 4- programs may not be equally accessible to all youth - African American and Latino youth do not participate in after school programs as much as White children 5- studies on African American youth more often investigate deficits and negative outcomes whereas articles on Asian Americans and Europeans focus more on positive outcomes

What are some cultural differences between the adaptive value of emotion-focused coping?

1- Americans seem to benefit from expressing emotions in meaningful way 2- emotional processing becomes more adaptive as people learn more about what they feel and why they feel it 3- Asian cultures encourage suppression of emotions as opposed to expression 4- suppression in Chinese cultures not associated with same negative correlates in Western cultures

What is the Athenian view?

1- Ancient Greek scholars such as Plato and Aristotle - focused on virtue and human strength 2- 11 moral virtues 3- intellectual virtues - believed strength of character would lead to enduring human excellence 4- correlation between virtues and political community 5- government responsible for virtue development via early education and training - had to train people how to be this way b/c people are not naturally like this (EX: train people to be virtuous) 6- people with good human virtue create a community and can provide a good model for others

What is evidence that culture may affect us at the neurological level as well?

1- Asians seem to be culturally trained to down-regulate their emotional processing when required to suppress emotion 2- when asked to suppress their reactions to negative pictures, Asians were able to decrease their neurological reaction 3- European Americans did not seem to have this ability

What are the Western influences on positive psychology?

1- Athenian views 2- Judeo-Christianity 3- Islam

What are the results of some studies that highlight the function of emotional approach?

1- Breast Cancer: women who used emotion-focused coping perceived their health status as better, lower psychological distress and fewer medical appointments about pain 2- Undergrad Students: students dealing with a parent's psychological or physical illness coped better with stressors if they were assigned to sessions that matched their emotional approach tendencies (expressing vs. not) 3- Cardiac Stress: patients who used emotion-focused coping had less severity overall

What are the 2 major classifications of illnesses?

1- International Classifications of Diseases (ICD): by World Health Organization - includes all physical and psychological illnesses (more popular in Europe and countries outside of US) 2- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM): by America Psychiatric Association - complete list of every diagnosable psychological, psychiatric disorder, used in US, criteria has to be present in person in order for diagnosis to be made

What is the Taoism view?

1- Lao-Tzu: creator of Taoism, from China 2- must live according to the Toa 3- Toa: "The Way" - energy that surrounds everyone, cannot be taught, must be experienced by fully participating in life 4- GOAL: achieve naturalness and spontaneity 5- key virtues to be practiced without effort: **humanity **justice **temperance **propriety 6- transcendence = behave virtuous naturally

What are the beliefs of Hinduism?

1- NO specific founder (roots in Southeast Asia) - main diff between this and others 2- emphasis on interconnectedness of all things 3- GOAL - live life fully and correctly in order to achieve afterlife without need for reincarnation 4- avoid reincarnation by: **attaining ultimate self knowledge **strive for ultimate self betterment 5- karma

What are some 21st century models of happiness?

1- Seligamn: pleasure and meaning via using character strengths 2- Lyubomirsky et al: genetic set point (50%) + circumstances (10%) + activities (40%) - acknolwedges components of happiness that cannot be changed but also leaves room for volition and self generated goals that lead to attainment of pleasure, meaning and good health 3- cultural perspectives - extent to which culture is collectivistic in relation to individualistic is one of the strongest predictors of differences in subjective well-being across cultures - relationship between subjective well-being and self esteem is stronger for individualists and weaker for collectivists - Chinese more likely to emphasize spiritual cultivation and transcendence in their definitions of happiness vs. US students more likely to emphasize enjoyment of present life

What is Confucianism?

1- The Sage, from China - leadership and education are central to morality 2- morality as a cure of evil 3- precursor of the Golden Rule: "You would like others to do for you what you would indeed like for yourself" 4- collectivist ideal - leaders caring for the GROUP - concept of caring for everyone instead of just own welfare 5- attainment of virtue (5 virtues) to reach enlightenment (understand position in world and accepting of your ability to influence things) 6- must strive to make wise decisions based on these virtues - constant striving = follower to enlightenment or the good life

What is resilience?

1- a class of phenomena characterized by patterns of positive adaptation in the context of significant adversity or risk 2- triumph in the face of adversity 3- inferential concept - two major judgments must be made to diagnose resilience

Describe Big Brothers and Big Sisters.

1- a community-based mentoring program 2- for no fee, matches low income children and adolescents with adult volunteers who are committed to providing caring and supportive relationships 3- effectiveness - DID promote the good and prevent the bad

Describe the Penn Resiliency Program.

1- a highly structured life-skills development program that is offered to school children for a fee 2- a highly trained facilitator conducts sessions in a classroom 3- sessions focus on awareness of thought patterns and on modifying the explanatory style to change the attributions for events to become more flexible and accurate

What are the two major judgements made to diagnose resilience?

1- a judgement that individuals are at least doing ok with respect to a set of expectations for behaviour 2- must be sig exposure to risk or adversity that has posed a serious threat to good outcomes

What is emotion?

1- a more specific version of mood 2- fleeting and subjective feeling 3- involve judgements about important things in which appraising an external object as salient for our own well being, we acknowledge the world we do not fully control 4- occur as we become aware of painful or pleasurable experiences and associated autonomic arousal and evaluate the situation 5- has a specific and sharpened quality, always has an object and is associated with progress in goal pursuit **mood: objectless, free floating and long lasting

What is happiness?

1- a positive emotional state that is subjectively defined by each person 2- rarely used in scientific studies b/c little consensus on meaning

What is thriving?

1- a specific expression of positive youth development 2- doing more than just surviving 3- achieving one's potential and living a rich life via giving back to community and increasing well being as a result 4- set into motion by a 'spark' - a passion for and the exercise of action to nurture a self identified interest, skill or capacity

How does Deiner define the term subjective well being?

1- a synonym for happiness 2- a combination of positive affect (in the absence of negative affect) and general life satisfaction

What is multicultural personality?

1- ability to navigate and adapt to an increasingly diverse world 2- related to cultural adjustment and quality of life outcomes/well being

Emotion-focused coping.

1- active movement toward, rather than away from a stressful encounter 2- involves 2 related, yet distinct processes: **emotional processing: understand emotions **emotional expression: intentional displays of feeling

What are some factors of programs that have worked in the past?

1- adequate design and outcome measures 2- adequate description of research methods 3- description of the population served 4- description of the intervention and implementation 5- effects demonstrated on behavioural outcomes

What are the results of the study on adolescents' perceptions of their parents' success?

1- adolescents who had parents who were higher in maternal warmth, parental monitoring and involvement in their school were likely to have developed certain other positive behaviours 2- highlights the important role that parents play in their children's well being 3- other research shows that it doesn't always have to be an actual parent who assists a child in developing good traits

What is the chickering model?

1- development of competence identified as primary developmental direction or goal for college students 2- trying to pull together lessons 3- increased confidence in their resourcefulness 4- being working on developmental tasks of... **managing emotions **moving through autonomy toward interdependence **developing mature interpersonal relationships **establishing identity **developing purpose **developing integrity **learning skill sets to take into adult life

What are the issues of equivalence in using these measures of psychological strength?

1- differences between cultural definitions of certain traits - therefore important strengths might not be identified by someone from a diff culture and will not be identified as one of their strengths

What are 3 requirements for compassion?

1- difficulties of the recipient must be serious 2- recipient's difficulties cannot be self-inflicted 3- we as observers must be able to identify with the recipient's suffering

Why does it work best for these people?

1- disinhibition 2- cognitive processing 3- social dynamics

According to the chickering model, how does one increase beneficial outcomes?

1- do more - more time committed to youth = better 2- start earlier - younger = better 3- have structure - purposeful and systematic = better

What are some resilience resources in the community and relationships with organizations?

1- effective schools 2- ties to prosocial organizations 3- neighbourhoods with HIGH collective efficacy 4- high levels of public safety 5- good emergency social services 6- good public health and health care availability

What two related but distinct processes did Stanton and colleagues identify as being involved in approach-oriented emotion-focused coping?

1- emotional processing: attempts to understand emotions (i.e. I realize that my feelings are valid and important, I take time to figure out what I am really feeling) 2- emotional expression: free and intentional displays of feeling (i.e. I feel free to express my emotions, I allow myself to express my emotions) - often eased by alcohol

What are the results of the study examining resilience in American Indian adolescents?

1- enculturation was sig linked to resilience 2- encouraging children to develop positive connections with cultural communities may increase resiliency toward negative factors in life

What does juvenile play build?

1- enduring social and intellectual resources by encouraging attachment 2- higher levels of creativity 3- brain development

Explain process/activity theories.

1- engaging in particular life activities = happiness 2- Mike Csikszentimihaly 3- flow = engagement in interesting activities that match or challenge one's skills **everything slows down around you - (i.e. an athlete taking a shot) 4- engagement produces happiness - closer you get to flow, more you feel comfortable and confident 5- regular engagement in these activities can help individuals improve their happiness over time - prescriptive use of tasks such as writing gratitude letters, strategic use of optimism, purposeful acts of kindness

What is the undoing hypothesis?

1- expansions of the broaden-and-build model 2- positive emotions as antidotes to negative emotions 3- participants in joy and contentment condition were able to undo the effects of negative emotions more quickly than those in other conditions 4- the potential effects of negative experiences can be offset by positive emotions

What are some strategies for combatting this?

1- experience more positive events and feel more positive emotions 2- variety is the spice of relationships 3- maintain reasonable aspirations 4- cultivate appreciation

What are some cultural differences in terms of the process/activity theory?

1- expressing gratitude benefitted US participants in that it increased their well-being 2- BUT was less helpful for South Korean participants - decrease in well-being 3- acts of kindness had same effects on both groups

What is some support for this theory?

1- extroversion and neuroticism were found to be closely related to characteristics of happiness 2- link between personality and life satisfaction has been found in many cultures 3- one study found that happiness changed very little over a 6 year period

What are some determinants of subjective well-being?

1- financial status **more highly correlated with satisfaction for students in poor nations than those in wealthy nations **students in wealthy nations generally happier than those in poor nations **once household income rises above poverty line, additional bumps in income not necessarily associated with increases in well-being 2- marriage - those married reported more happiness than those not married - same-sex couples who have legalized unions also report greater levels of well-being - marital quality also associated with personal well-being 3- social relationships - out of 10% of happiest college students in US - good mental health and good social relationships consistently emerged in the lives of these people

What is the goal of positive youth development programs?

1- focus efforts on youth who are not struggling with major life problems but who also do not possess the personal assets or environmental resources needed to reach many of their goals as they transition into adulthood 2- challenge is helping those who might fall through the cracks and to build competencies in young people

What is involved in the process-focused strategies?

1- foster secure attachment relationships between infants and parents through parental-advisory training or home-visiting programs for new parents and infants 2- nurture healthy brain development through high quality nutrition and early childhood programs 3- nurture mentoring relationships for children through program to match children with potential mentors 4- encourage friendships of children with prosocial peers in healthy activities 5- support cultural traditions that provide children with adaptive rituals and opportunities for bonds with prosocial adults

What are its secondary emphases?

1- goals set by citizens are typically at level of self and related satisfactions operate accordingly 2- focused on pleasure and their own self esteem in interpersonal relationships 3- weigh advantages and disadvantages of relationships before deciding to pursue them 4- tend to be short term in their thinking 5- somewhat informal in interactions with others

What are the different levels of focus on diff cultures and positive psychology?

1- more focus on Western values and experiences (hope, optimism, personal self-efficacy) 2- Eastern perspectives now being consulted - looking back to roots and contrasting Eastern and Western perspectives on how we think 3- East and West combination produces multiple viewpoints of human strengths and characteristics that allow you to live good life WESTERN = linear/physical plane (do this, get this - materialistic) EASTERN = fluid/spiritual plane (not always going forward)

Historical study of emotions - what was the main focus?

1- more focus on negative emotions - can harm the body but also have survival value - want to fix these **study: strong negative emotions associated with heart attacks **if you are angry and exercise while angry - increases chance of heart attack even more **more focus on these b/c they kill people 2- less focus on positive emotions - seen as having hedonic (pleasure-based) value only 3- focus has gotten more balanced recently

What should future research focus on?

1- more research required with emphasis on cultural facets 2- determine how "culture counts" with every client or research participant interaction 3- psychological strength is universal = all people have strengths 4- there are NO universal strengths - how strengths manifest differs in subtle and obvious ways 5- life contexts affect how strengths are developed, manifested, enhanced 6- culture is a reflection of and determinant of life goals that we value + pursue - values are diff across cultures

What are 3 theories of happiness?

1- need/goal satisfaction theories 2- process/activity theories 3- genetic/personality predisposition theories

What are the results of the study investigating the effect of positive emotions early in life?

1- nuns more likely to live longer if they told stories laden with positive emotions from childhood 2- resilience was related more strongly to the ability to accept and tolerate negative affect in older adults in comparison to more active coping styles in younger adults

What is social well being?

1- objective approach **4 domains 1- social integration (sense of belonging): feel like you belong in group and are supported by them 2- social contribution: in turn feel like you are offering something of value in return to group or community 3- social actualization: believe that the group you are in is going in direction that makes itself better 4- social acceptance: positive attitudes towards other people in your group

What is psychological well being?

1- objective approach 2- someone who scores high is doing well in 6 domains of life... - self acceptance - personal growth - purpose in life - environmental mastery - autonomy - positive relations with others **PAGE 360-362

What are some suggestions for ME people?

1- often perceive collectivists as being too laid back 2- must take into account their norms - often expect some initial warm up banter before getting down to business 3- prefer problem solving be done at group level 4- want interpersonal harmony and try hard to avoid situations of conflict **do not continually ask them WHY questions

What are some suggestions for WE people?

1- often see individualists as being too competitive 2- must take into account the "What's in it for me perspective"

What are some age cohort effects for how we handle positive and negative daily life experiences?

1- older people did not sweat the small stuff and savoured positive events 2- older people also seem to orient to here and now goals that foster emotional meaning

What is Lent's Integrative Well Being Model?

1- one model - explains capacity for positive functioning during normative times 2- another model - provides direction for restoring well being during difficult times

Explain his research.

1- participants nicknamed themselves "the Termites" 2- RESULTS: **people with HIGH IQ tend to be - physically hardy - healthier than peers - most graduated college - most secured professional jobs - few went on to become national leaders **does NOT guarantee adult successes and better mental health **emotional intelligence missing - intrapersonal intelligence 3- studied Termites' childhood responses to open-ended questions and found that an explanatory style was characterized as catastrophizing (explain bad events with global causes) 4- predicted risks of mortality in this sample of "healthy" children **genius-level IQ and good health in childhood do not protect individuals from making bad choices that lead to poor health and premature death

What are its secondary emphases?

1- pay close attention to rules and goals of the group 2- success and satisfaction stem from the group's reaching of desired goals and feeling from fulfilling socially prescribed duties as a member of effective, goal directed group effort 3- become very involved in goals and activities of group 4- interchanges between people characterized by mutual generosity 5- long term thought patterns 6- more formal interactions with others 7- monitors social context carefully

Generativity.

1- people become more involved in building of a broader social circle through "giving away" of self 2- mastery of first 3 tasks results in competence and altruism needed to directly mentor the next generation of adults 3- associated with longer life and less impairment in daily living activities

What does the related inventory, the EQ-I measure?

1- personality and mood variables 2- self regard empathy, tolerance and happiness

What is other research on positive affect?

1- positive affect as the cause of success and other beneficial outcomes 2- research evidence is preliminary 3- need more focus on causation

What are some resilience resources in the family and close relationships?

1- positive attachment relationships 2- close relationships to competent, prosocial and supportive adults 3- authoritative parenting (high warmth, structure/monitoring) 4- positive family climate with low discord between parents 5- organized home environment 6- post-secondary education of parents 7- parents with qualities listed as protective factors with the child 8- parents involved in child's education 9 SES advantages 10- connections to prosocial and rule-abiding peers 11- romantic relationships with prosocial and well-adjusted partners

What is the upward spiral of positive emotions?

1- positive emotions - broadening - novel thoughts, activities and relationships 2- building enduring personal resources (i.e. social support, resilience, skills and knowledge) 3- enhanced health, survival, fulfilment 4- produces more experiences of positive emotions, creating an upward spiral **emotions happen which broadens way you think about world, activities and relationships engaged in - this helps BUILD resources

What is the flourishing hypothesis?

1- positive emotions might be associated with optimal mental health or flourishing 2- ratio of 2:9 positive to negative emotions predicts human flourishing

What is emotional intelligence associated with?

1- positive interpersonal functioning 2- informs social functioning beyond personality traits

What are some of the basic mechanisms?

1- potential stressor: external event --> stress: psychological, physical 2- primary appraisal: is this neutral or negative? If negative to what extent is this a threat? --> secondary appraisal: are my coping resources enough to get me through this experience?

Explain what Islam believes.

1- practiced by both Western and Eastern individuals and could fall under both 2- incorporates many virtues recognizable in other philosophical traditions and categorizes them as moral obligations 3- strong component of looking out for one's brother 4- wealthy are obligated to aid the poor as their duty - encouraged to do so in private so wealthy maintains humility and poor not embarrassed for having to accept this gift

What is involved in the risk-focused strategies?

1- prevent or reduce the likelihood of low birth weight or prematurity through prenatal care 2- screen for and treat depression in mothers of newborns 3- prevent homeless episodes through housing policy or emergency assistance 4- avoid multiple foster care placements 5- reduce neighbourhood crime or violence through community policing

What are some resilience resources in the child?

1- problem solving skills 2- self regulation skills for self control of attention, arousal and impulses 3- easy temperament in infancy, adaptable personality later in development 4- positive self perceptions, self efficacy 5- faith and a sense of meaning in life 6- positive outlook on life 7- talents valued by self and society 8- general appealingness or attractiveness to others

What is involved in the asset-focused strategies?

1- provide food, water, shelter, medical care or dental care 2- provide a tutor, nurse or guardian 3- organize activity clubs for children or build a recreation centre 4- educate parents about child development and effective parenting 5- restore community services after a natural disaster

What is the socio-emotional selectivity theory?

1- put forth by Laura Carstensen 2- posited that our later years (the "golden" years) may be valuable as we - focus less on negative emotions - engage more deeply with the emotional content of our days - savour the "good stuff" in life 3- we are able to appreciate these benefits in our later in life b/c we come to realize that we have a short amount of time left

What is the job of positive youth developmentalists?

1- put the findings of resilience researchers and other positive psychologists into action 2- give growth a nudge by designing and conducting programs that help youth capitalize on their personal assets and environmental resources

What is the historical perspective on culture and positive psychology in the late 1800's and early 1900's?

1- race and culture as determinants of positive and negative personal characteristics and behaviour 2- dominant race or culture (European ancestry) as superior to all other races/cultural groups in the US 3- genetically deficient perspective: biological differences cause perceived gaps in intelligence 4- pseudoscience as support - used to demonstrate the presumed genetic basis of intelligence and to emphasize the "finding" of intellectual superiority of Europeans and European Americans - culturally sensitive measures - for longest period of time people were discriminated against based on test scores that were developed outside of cultural norms - EX: people go to South Korea and administer tests on people without taking into consideration their culture

What are some of David Myer's suggestions for living a happier life?

1- realize that enduring happiness does not come from success 2- take control of your time - set daily goals 3- act happy - going through the emotions can trigger them 4- seek work and leisure that engages your skills 5- join the "movement" movement - exercise 6- give body the sleep it needs 7- give priority to close relationships 8- focus beyond the self - do good to others 9- keep a gratitude journal 10- nurture your spiritual self

How does the aging process inform how to strive for a deeper emotional life?

1- recall of positive experiences 2- savouring the good times 3- setting/investing in emotion-focused goals

What is the Strengths Finder 2.0?

1- related semi-structured interview - wanted to identify what talents lead to success in variety of settings 2- looked at variety of work settings, picked out people top of the field 3- measures 34 Talent Themes 4- online measure for adolescents and adults 5- released in 2007 6- psychometrically sound (valid - measuring what is should be measuring and reliable - provides similar results over time) 7- available in 17 languages

Career consolation.

1- requires development of social identity 2- engagement with a career characterized by contentment, compensation, competence and commitment 3- "worked on" rather than achieved by many 4- career adaptability is a prerequisite (especially in our society)

How do we make sense of the role of culture in positive psychology?

1- research across nations 2- research between cultural groups within diverse nations (like the US) 3- qualitative and quantitative research Qualitative: deals with more open ended, free style interviews, pulling in info generated by the participant, not just the researcher Quantitative: more about numbers, scales, questions that are graded, generate data 4- Chang's research on optimism across cultural groups 5- Utsey and colleagues research on well being in African American populations 6- Shaw and colleagues and Lui's research on coping strategies across cultures 7- identification with cultural facets can influence the development, recognition and enhancement of strengths 8- diff cultures highly value sense of wonderment and visions about the future but other cultures disvalue this type of thinking MAIN QUESTION: What works for whom?

What is evidence of emotional intelligence being associated with positive interpersonal functioning?

1- students' abilities to manage emotions positively associated with quality of social interactions 2- strengths of emotional regulation skills positively associated with interpersonal sensitivity, prosocial tendencies and proportion of positive vs. negative peer nominations 3- individuals with high level skills in managing emotions were more likely to report positive relationships with others and perceived parental support AND less likely to report negative interactions with close friends

Who is Lewis Terman?

1- studied intelligence 2- intelligence = adaptive quality that leads to success and national leadership 3- 1920's began studying 1500 gifted children

What is the Gallup's Clifton Strengthsfinder?

1- talent = natural product of what happens when you have normal and healthy development **can be operationalized, studied and accentuated in work and academic settings 2- strengths are extensions of talents 3- strength = talent + related knowledge + related skills 4- Clifton's definition of strength: ability to provide almost a near perfect performance when achieving a certain task (9/10 times) 5- considered success to be closely allied with personal talents, strengths and analytical intelligence

What is support of the distinction between emotional approach and emotional avoidance?

1- the existence of two neurobiological systems that govern approach and avoidance behaviour 2- behavioural activation system: regulates our appetitive motivation which helps us realize emotional or behavioural rewards 3- behavioural inhibition system: functions to help us avoid negative events and punishment

What is positive psychology?

1- the scientific and applied approach to uncovering people's strengths and promoting their positive functioning 2- if we know weaknesses, we can correct these and move forward 3- balancing foci of applied psychology: what is wrong with people (study of deficits) vs. what is right with people (study of assets)

How does Deiner define well-being?

1- the subjective evaluation of one's current status in the world 2- involves our experience of pleasure and our appreciation of life's rewards

What are the main key aspects of resilience research?

1- there is no timeline for finding strength, resilient behaviours and coping skills 2- about 1/3 of poor, neglected children are capably building better lives by teenage years 3- faith is an essential ingredient 4- most resilient people don't do it alone 5- setting goals and planning for the future are strong factors in dealing with adversity 6- believing in oneself and recognizing one's strengths is important

Who tends to have greater positive immune response to emotional storytelling?

1- those with high hostility (suggests difficulty managing emotions) 2- people high in the trait of alexithymia (difficulty identifying and making sense of emotions)

What are some concerns about resilience resources?

1- thousands of programs developed based on protective factors 2- concerns about programs created in the absence of research evidence 3- concerns about life skills that are not reinforced in the cultures in which children live

Identity.

1- typically developed during adolescence or early adulthood 2- people's views, values and interests begin to become their own rather than a reflection of their caregiver's beliefs

What is subjective well-being?

1- unique to person that experiences it 2- BUT common things involved in subjective well-being - health (physical and mental) 3- involves subjective evaluation of one's current status in the world 4- a combination of positive affect and general life satisfaction 5- often used as a synonym for happiness in psychology literature

What are the strengths of these?

1- universal acceptance - way to communicate with other people and short cut to understand what is happening 2- BUT both have issues

What are examples of some other activities that can promote positive youth development?

1- volunteering - led to greater life satisfaction 2- leadership activities - promote development of purpose in life and sense of hopeful future

What is the Search Institute's 40 Developmental Assets?

1- was developed initially in response to this question: "What protects children from today's problems?" 2- 40 developmental assets that lead to thriving: help protect the child and do well 3- 20 external: positive experiences that children and youth gain through interactions with people and institutions (i.e. caring school) 4- 20 internal: personal characteristics and behaviours that stimulate the positive development of young people (i.e. honesty, high self esteem)

According to Carstensen, when does positivity appear?

1- when cognitive resources are available 2- when experimental task or stimuli do not activate automatic processing 3- when information processing in unconstrained by external factors (i.e. instructions) 4- when there is low or no pressure or risk of failure

Intimacy.

1- with development of identity, comes increased likelihood to seek an interdependent, committed relationship with another person 2- achieving intimacy 3- woman from Terman sample identified close friendships with females as most intimate whereas men identified wives as most intimate relationships in their lives

What is the efficacy of foster youth systems?

1- work to create and enhance relationships of support with caring adults 2- provide experiences for youth to give back to community 3- protective factors existing in the lives of these children: social support, involvement in community service, sense of competence and possession of future goals

How has she shown in her lab that young and old people manage emotion-laden material differently?

1- younger people attended to negative images more quickly 2- older people attended faster to images laden with positive emotions (i.e. smiling faces) 3- younger people remember positive and negative info to same degree, when recalling BUT older people recalled positive material more quickly than negative material (positivity bias)

Explain the ABCD model.

A - actions - create consequences through our beliefs B - beliefs C - consequences - emotional , physical, spiritual D - disputing **if you understand how and why you felt what you felt, you will experience self efficacy, confidence, mastery, etc. Primary Appraisal: is this a threat? Secondary Appraisal: do i have the proper resources? - when this is not available, becomes a threat, when it is available, able to manage situation

Emotional avoidance.

Active movement away from, rather than toward, a stressful or emotional encounter

What is a positive outcome associated with love?

Agape: spiritual love that reflects selflessness and altruism 1- involves concern for another's welfare and being relatively undemanding for oneself 2- may be most beneficial

What brain structure plays an important role in processing matters of emotional significance?

Amygdala

How does Bar-On define emotional intelligence?

An array of non-cognitive capabilities, competencies and skills that help us deal with the demands of the environment

Who changed how we view emotions?

Annette Stanton, UCLA 1- problem in how emotions were defined and measured 2- worked to clarify what emotion focused coping means 3- found that scales assessing emotion-focused coping contained confounding questions - respondent had to engage in self-deprecation and psychological adjustment 4- when these items were removed, frequently cited relationship between greater emotion-focused coping and poorer life outcomes was invalid

What is its greatest impact?

Child rearing, the importance of biological determinants, aspects of cultural and historical development

What do they identify as diff life spans?

Childhood: birth - age 11 Youth: 12-25 Adulthood: 26-59 Older Adulthood: 60 - death

What is the Adult Development Study?

Conducted by Vaillant 1- independent evaluations of the functioning of participants 2- Caucasian, socially advantaged participants identified by deans at Harvard and have been studied for past 80 years 3- identified lifestyles predictors of healthy aging: **not smoking **coping adaptively **not abusing alcohol **maintaining a healthy weight **stable marriage **some exercise **being educated

What is the more recent perspective?

Cultural pluralism/cultural relativism: the concept of trying to see the relative strengths and weaknesses across cultures and keep the diversity portfolio open across study of positive psychology Culturally Pluralistic: recognizing distinct cultural entities and adopting some values of the majority of the group Culturally Relativistic: interpreting behaviours within the context of the culture

Eventually, what was the perspective that came to be most widely accepted?

Culturally different perspective: uniqueness and strengths of ALL cultures are recognized 1- still needs work but far move advanced than before 2- most psychologists had abandoned belief that race predetermined cognitive capacities and life outcomes 3- shift from race to culture 4- identified a host of environmental, nutritional, linguistic and interpersonal factors that they believed to explain the stunted physical and psychological growth of members of selected groups

What is the basic assumption of the behavioural theory?

Development is a function of the laws of learning and the environment has an important influence on growth and development

What is the basic assumption of the cognitive-developmental theory?

Development is the result of the individual's active participation in the developmental process in interaction with important environmental influences

What are the variables studied in the psychoanalytic theory?

Effects of instincts on needs and the way instincts are satisfied

What is the philosophical rationale for the psychoanalytic theory?

Embryological

What are the dimensions of well being?

Emotional well being = 1- happiness 2- life satisfaction 3- balance of positive and negative affects

What component of successful aging is most often addressed by positive psychologists in their research and practice?

Engagement with life

What is some evidence on the broadening aspect of this model?

Experience of joy leads to.... 1- expands the realm of what a person feels like doing at the time - the broadening of an individual's momentary thought-action repertoire 2- list more possibilities for the future 3- opens us up to many new thoughts and behaviours 4- increases our likelihood of behaving positively towards other people and aids in developing positive relationships 5- induces playfulness (important b/c evolutionary adaptive)

What is the difference between flourishing and languishing?

Flourishing: high levels of emotional, psychological and social well being Languishing: term for someone who doesn't necessarily suffer from psychological disorder but has low levels of emotional, psychological and social well being

What are the variables studied in the behavioural theory?

Frequency of behaviours

What are its variables of study?

Growth of biological systems

What are the results from high vs. low functioning adults and productivity?

HIGH: sig more productive than comparison group **changes over time were associated with more hospital admins and strokes **age, marriage and increased mastery of certain skills related to greater protection against declines

What are two versions of happiness?

Hedonistic Perspective: - view subjective well-being and happiness as synonymous Eudaimonic Perspective: - happiness and well-being are not synonymous - happiness + meaning = well-being - embraces flourishing as the goal in all our actions

What is the basic assumption of the psychoanalytic theory?

Humans are conflicted beings and individual differences as well as normal growth result from the resolution of those conflicts

What is the difference between internal and external adaptation?

INTERNAL: positive psychological well-being EXTERNAL: meeting the social, educational, cultural and occupational expectations of society

What are positive outcomes associated with play?

Introduces us to the social, emotional and physical skills needed to make the most out of life

Emotional approach.

Involves active movement towards rather than away from a stressful encounter

Who was involved in the classifications of illness and strengths?

Karl Menninger 1- challenged labelling of pathology 2- wanted to change way health care professionals viewed diagnosis, prevention and treatment of mental illness 3- diagnosis focused on: life process vs. states or conditions 4- strength: a capacity for feeling, thinking and behaving in a way that allows optimal functioning in the pursuit of valued outcomes

What is the difference between linguistic and metric equivalence?

Linguistic: must be established when measures for positive traits are translated into languages other than the one in which they were originally developed Metric: the same metric must be utilized in measuring a construct in one culture and comparing it to results found in another culture

What is the difference in how men and women tend to receive emotional support?

MEN: more likely to receive from their wives WOMEN: more likely to receive from friends, relatives and children

Branch 4.

Managing Emotions: 1- requires numerous mood regulation skills 2- often takes time to master 3- parents, teachers, coaches, bosses, role models usually good at this 4- ability to be open to feelings, both pleasant and unpleasant 5- ability to monitor and reflect on emotions 6- ability to engage, prolong or detach from an emotional state 7- ability to manage emotions in oneself and others **with too much regulation, a persona may become emotionally suppressed VS> with too little, one's emotional life becomes overwhelming **people who become very good at regulating their moods also are able to share these skills with others

Who is the founder of positive psychology?

Martin Seligman - president of APA in 1998

What is poignancy?

Mixed emotions related to an ending or to losing something meaningful

What is one disadvantage to this?

NOT sensitive to change and should not be used as a pre-post measure of growth

What are the variables studied in the cognitive-developmental theory?

Stage-related transformations and qualitative changes from one stage to another

Who does it work BEST for?

People who are hostile

Branch 1.

Perceiving Emotions: 1- involves skills needed to perceive and express feelings 2- ability to identify emotions in other people 3- ability to identify emotion in a person's physical and psychological states 4- ability to discriminate between authentic and unauthentic emotions 5- ability to express emotions accurately and to express needs related to them 6- considered a threshold competency that needs to be acquired to the other 3 competencies can be developed

What is the greatest impact of the psychoanalytic theory?

Personality development and the relationships between culture and behaviour

What is the philosophical rationale of the cognitive-developmental theory?

Predeterminist

What is the ultimate goal of positive psychology?

Psychology as an INCLUSIVE approach 1- individual strengths 2- individual weaknesses 3- environmental stressors 4- environmental resources

What is its philosophical rationale?

Recapitulation theory, preformation and pre determinism

What is the basic assumption of the maturational and biological theory?

Sequence and content of development are determined mostly by biological factors and evolutionary history of the species

Explain the stress model.

Stress --> automatic thinking (shaped by beliefs, attitudes) --> negative mood (psychological symptoms) --> negative physical symptoms (pain) --> maladaptive behaviour (pain-contingent resting) **if negative, creates more stress

What is the greatest impact of the behavioural theory?

Systematic analyses and treatment of behaviour and educational applications

What is the philosophical rationale of the behavioural theory?

Tabula rasa (blank slate)

What was the most robust predictor of membership in the happy-well group vs. the sad-sick group?

The extent to which people used mature psychological coping styles (altruism humour) in their everyday life

What is the soundness of these programs based on?

The extent to which they promote the good and prevent the bad in today's youth

What is hedonic adaptation in long term relationships?

The tendency for people to adjust back to their baseline happiness after a positive event such as the start of a relationship

Branch 3.

Understanding Emotions: 1- ability to understand relationships among various emotions 2- ability to perceive the causes and consequences of emotions 3- ability to understand complex feelings, emotional blends and contradictory states 4- ability to understand transitions among emotions EX: understand that emotions such as jealousy or envy are destructive and fuels maladaptive interpersonal behaviour likely to result in negative emotions **highlights skills needed to foster an understanding of complex emotions, relationships among emotions and between emotions/behavioural consequences

What is the greatest impact of the cognitive-developmental theory?

Understanding how thinking and cognition develop in light of cultural conditions and demands

Branch 2.

Using Emotions to Facilitate Thought: 1- concerns using emotions and emotional understanding to facilitate thinking 2- ability to use emotional states to facilitate and improve problem solving and boost creativity 3- ability to redirect and prioritize thinking on the basis of associated feelings - physiological feedback from emotional experience is used to prioritize the demands on our cognitive systems and direct attention to what is most important 4- ability to capitalize on mood changes to appreciate multiple viewpoints 5- ability to generate emotions to facilitate judgement and memory

What does he identify as the major problem?

We have spent more time looking at how to classify illnesses and not classifying strengths - tend to focus on the negative

What is individualism?

When concern for the individual is greater than the concern for the group

What is collectivism?

When each person is very concerned about the group

What are the results of Alice Isen's study?

When experiencing midl positive emotions, people are more likely to: - help others - be flexible in their thinking - better problem solve - to be more willing to exhibit self-control **if you surround yourself with more positive people, you will also feel more positive emotion

What was the research question posed by prominent happiness researcher Ed Deiner?

Would you choose to have your brain treated with a chemical hormone that would make you ecstatically happy all of the time?

Can emotional intelligence be learned?

YES 1- children, youth and adults can be taught to use emotional experiences to enrich their daily lives 2- can be equipped to deal with the good and bad events they encounter **more empirical data needed to determine if EI can be enhanced via skill development programs