Up to Quiz 4: empathy, self-esteem, self-efficacy,(Review for quiz 3), Self compassion (14), Happiness pt 1 (15), Happiness pt 2 (16)
Innacurate affective forecasts
-How you ever gotten your dream job or dream dorm assignment, begun dating your ideal romantic partner, or traveled to a place you thought you'd love only to find out that these experiences didn't make you as happy as you thought it would? -Have you ever NOT gotten the job you wanted or the grade you wanted or into the college you wanted and found yourself to be less devastated than you thought you'd be? -If you've said yes to either of these (and I bet you have), you are experiencing inaccurate_______________
Affective Forecasting
-The prediction of one's future emotional state. -______________ influences our preferences, decisions, behaviors, etc. -Sometimes, we're inaccurate in making these predictions. (think we'll feel a certain way, and we're wrong)--> We often make incorrect forecasts, especially in the duration and intensity of the emotion. (we expect negative emotions to last longer than it really does, and positive emotions to not last as long as they should, etc.)
Self-Compassion
-_______________ involves treating yourself like you'd treat other people. -you tell them the opposite of what you tell yourself most times. You might tell yourself you're a failure, but you'd tell your friends its okay to fail + they'll do better next time (involves accepting failures as you would for a friend) •Includes aspects of acceptance, common humanity(we all fail), and mindfulness
Components of Affective Forecasting
1) Valence (positive vs. negative) 2) Specific emotions that will be experienced 3) how intense the emotions will be 4) How long the duration will be -we can make errors in all 4 of these areas -Errors most likely happen in (3) intensity and (4) duration
Consequences of incorrect affective forecasts
1. Avoiding experiences b/c we think we won't like them or b/c we think they will be more negative than they are. 2. Imagine something will make you happy and it doesn't, then end up--> Striving for a goal that isn't worth striving for. •Ex: If you think you're not going to have fun at a party, you're not going to go (never get a chance to find out if you would've liked the party)--> don't engage in experience in the first place •Ex: think money will make you happy, but it doesn't (after a certain point, having money stops giving you enjoyment you would expect) •Expect it will make us happy, and it doesn't (has consequences if striving for long term career based on incorrect affective forecast and you expect it to make you happier and it doesn't then you're in trouble)
How can we improve affective forecasting?
1. Imagining one's future self in detail •Stepping back + imagining all aspects of what could happen in future •Say making a lot of money a year will make me happy, but then wonder will you have the same friends as result, etc. 2. "surrogation" aka ask other people what it was like to experience the thing you are forecasting. •Counteracts misconstrual •Ex: Ask what it like to be a psychologist and they can tell you. Then you get idea of what it would be like for you
Self-compassion has 3 parts
1. Self-kindness vs. self-judgement 2. Common humanity vs isolation 3. Mindfulness
How do we make these errors?
1. We tend to expect negative emotion to last much longer and be much more intense than it really will be. •expect more intense, longer duration than it really ends up being (can be negative or positive) 2. How do we make these errors? •Impact Bias: The tendency to overestimate the intensity or duration of the impact of a negative event (Mostly negative, but applies to positive too)
Gratitude
A few components to the definition: 1.Noticing and appreciating the positive in everyday life. 2.Feeling of appreciation towards a benefactor who gives you a gift/help/etc. -Both a trait (people can be more vs. less grateful) and a state (you can feel grateful at any given moment). -Three good things increased gratitude.
3) How intense the emotions will be
Components of affective forecasting--Ex: how happy is it (4 out of 10 happiness)
4) How long the duration will be
Components of affective forecasting--Ex: relationship ends + you think you'll feel awful forever, but over time didn't;t feel so badly
1) Valence (positive vs negative)
Components of affective forecasting--How positive or negative something is
2) Specific emotions that will be experiences
Components of affective forecasting--ex: I'll feel happy, ecstatic, anxious (particular emotion)
"Empath"
Empathy is a continuum -Some legit research on people w/ really high empathy. -when saying "empath" you are referring to someone who is really empathetic -to much optimism can be dangerous which is a continuum, it is the same -Research discussed here was about touch (i.e., literally feeling like someone is touching you when you see someone being touched). -not really about empathy, about mirroring + touch
Distinction Bias
HOW DO WE MAKE ERRORS IN AFFECTIVE FORECASTING?-- Focusing on the negative ways that 2 things are distinct instead of the positive ways in which they are similar. (Focus on distinctions, instead of similarities) •Dorm ex: the actual happiness did not differ b/w the desirable + undesirable dorm •Overestimated how much dorm would affect happiness, in reality it is more due to people in dorm + school itself not the dorm itself
Projection Bias
HOW DO WE MAKE ERRORS IN AFFECTIVE FORECASTING?-- How we will now affects (is "projected on") how we expect to feel in the future. •When romantic relationship ends, you're likely to say you'll still feel crappy the next week (cover future feelings, by how you're feeling in the moment now)
Immune Neglect
HOW DO WE MAKE ERRORS IN AFFECTIVE FORECASTING?-- We often forget our ability to "bounce back" and make sense of negative experiences. •In the moment, thinking you'll feel bad forever, you forget we will bounce back + make sense of these negatve experiences
Focalism
HOW DO WE MAKE ERRORS IN AFFECTIVE FORECASTING?-- We tend to ignore the (positive) impact of other events that will occur. •Ex: Think you will feel this way forever after a breakup, so we tend to forget that there's many other positive things in your life
Misconstrual
HOW DO WE MAKE ERRORS IN AFFECTIVE FORECASTING?-- We're not good at imagining things we haven't experienced before. •Ex: 1st day of school, may feel anxious b/c have never done it before (anticipating what experience is going to be like) end up experiencing it as something negative •Ex: Think you will feel this way forever after a breakup, but b/c of misconstrual you get that experience (we imagine it negatively)
Fading Affect Bias
HOW DO WE MAKE ERRORS IN AFFECTIVE FORECASTING?-- When we discount the idea that negative emotion will fade over time. •We learn to accept + like things that we wouldn't otherwise accept + like •End up liking dorm + feeling positive over time •Get dumped, think will feel this way forever, but we know negative emotion fades over time (we learn to adapt + make meaning of things)
Happiness
Is incredibly subjective, which makes it hard to define and measure. Big picture: ___________ is both experiences and evaluations •Experiences: How positive do you feel right now, in this moment 1.Are you happy right now--> should say something about your experiences •Overall evaluations: How satisfied are you with your life?
What does gratitude do?
It does not make us feel "indebeted" •Indebtedness involves an aspect of obligation to repay that person. Gratitude is a moral emotion that not only makes us happier, but serves to push people to do pro-social things (are good for others). •When you express gratitude, it makes people want to do positive things for you and others (it feels good to be told you made someone grateful!)
Does more money make you happier?
Popular perspectives: 1. It does not: •"It's like the more money we come across, the more problems we see" (Wallace, et al., 1997) 2. It does: •It allows you to "treat yo' self" (Meagle & Haverford, 2011) 3. It does, but to a certain point: •"Emotional well-being also rises with log income, but there is no further progress beyond an annual income of ~$75,000" (Kahneman & Deaton, 2010). -Problems with this prior work about the $75k ceiling: Asked people to reflect on how happy they were over the prior day. -People are not good at this. -A more recent study asked people in the moment about their well-being and life satisfaction -->showed that happiness increases as you make more $
1) performance experiences 2) Vicarious performances
Quiz 3-- The best way to improve self-efficacy is ____1____, but if you can't improve self-efficacy this way, you can improve self-efficacy by seeing someone else like you do the same thing, which we call _____2______
Self-efficacy
Quiz 3-- When you believe that you can use your skills to reach a desired goal
Self-esteem
Quiz 3-- When you believe that you have high se;-worth or value (based on how others likely evaluate you)
Emotional Empathy
Quiz 3-- When you feel the same emotions as someone else
Cognitive Empathy
Quiz 3-- When you understand why someone feels the way they do
3. Mindfulness
Self-compassion has 3 parts-- •Accepting and not suppressing negative emotion (associated with failure) •Being mindful of failure and trying to be conscious of it (accepting this failure)
1.Self-kindness vs. Self-judgment
Self-compassion has 3 parts-- •Failure, imperfections, etc. are part of life and unavoidable.(showing compassion towards yourself) •Self-kindness involves recognizing this whereas self-judgement involves not accepting this.
2. Common humanity vs. Isolation
Self-compassion has 3 parts-- •When people fail, they often believe they are the only ones to fail (isolation) Self-compassion involves recognizing that everyone fails.(common humanity)
Self-efficacy
Strength of one's belief in one's own ability to complete tasks and reach goals. -best way to improve self-efficacy=through performance experiences, 2nd best= vicarious performances 1. Performance Experiences (succeed once, believe will succeed again) 2. Vicarious Performances (seeing someone succeed makes you think you can too) 3. Verbal persuasion (someone telling you you can do it) 4. Imaginal performances (imagine yourself doing well) 5. Affective states and physical sensations (Negative moods and negative physical sensations = failure & Positive moods and positive physical sensations = success)
Life Satisfaction
Subjective well-being-- -Overall evaluation of how satisfied you are with your life -More about your view of your life as a whole than how you feel right now. Caused by: •Satisfaction w/ relationships •Achievement of goals •Your outlook on your future •Other factors we've talked about in class (like self esteem)
Positive vs. negative mood
Subjective well-being-- What types of experiences you have 1. Does not mean ALL positive mood and NO negative mood. •Means a balance with more positive vs. negative. •No there is no optimal balance. -Ex: 3:1 ratio--> When people say 3 good things for every 1 bad thing -Positive and negative experiences are not equal
Subjective Well-being
The Scientific Conceptualization of happiness-- scientific term for happiness= __________________ 1. Life satisfaction •overall appraisals (that you make) of how satisfied you are with your life 2. Positive Feelings •Subjectively, how often do you feel positive? 3. Negative feelings •How often do you feel negative? ________________ contains 3 components: •Evaluative aspect of life satisfaction •2 experiential aspects (positive and negative emotion)
Impact Bias
The tendency to overestimate the intensity or duration of the impact of a negative event
What causes happiness?
There is no single thing that is the key to happiness The different components of happiness are determined by: •Your appraisals of yourself, your life, and your future •Your traits/tendencies/temperament •Your culture and values •And a lot of other things (multidetermined)
Empathy
Two types: 1. Emotional empathy: The degree to which a person feelsanother person's emotions. •What we think of when we think about empathy •If someone is sad, you feel sad as well 2. Cognitive empathy: Seeing the perspective of someone else, but not necessarily feeling the same emotions as them. •Understanding why person feels the way they do, but you don't feel the same way -Empathy has many benefits including: •Makes you more likely to help others •Improves your interpersonal relationships
What does self-compassion do for us?
•Increases well-being •Reduces perfectionism •Likely also has interpersonal benefits as well
How does self-compassion differ from pity?
•Pity involves a more intense self-focus or "over-identification" with suffering -Not objective •Self-compassion contains more of an aspect of objectivity and acceptance of failure.
how can we increase self-compassion?
•There are some longer-term treatments (e.g., types of meditation) •Other ways include methods to help you gain an "outside" perspective -Remember: self compassion can be thought of as treating yourself as you would treat a friend. •How can we do this? •"How would you treat a friend?" is surprisingly useful •Also, the self-compassion letter!
Self-esteem
•Your evaluation/view of your worth •Derived from how much you believe OTHER PEOPLE VALUE YOU •Social in nature •General self-esteem = your overall view of your self-worth •Specific self-esteem = your view of your self-worth in a specific area.
