Introduction to Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology Introduction

• Positive psychology focuses on studying positive strengths and traits that lead to a fulfilling life.
• Humanistic psychology studies overall life experiences and individual meaning-making.

PERMA Model

• Developed by Martin Seligman, this is a scientific theory identifying five key elements for human well-being and flourishing.
• P: Positive emotions
• E: Engagement
• R: Relationships and connection
• M: Meaning and purpose
• A: Achievement and accomplishment

Hedonic vs. Eudaimonic Happiness

• Hedonic: Short-term pleasure stemming from pleasure-seeking activities (e.g., sex, drugs, splurging).
• Eudaimonic: Long-term happiness derived from a sense of meaning and purpose.

Keyes and Lopez's Classification of Mental Health

• Flourishing: High well-being and low mental illness, characterized by meaning, optimism, and goal achievement.
• Struggling: High well-being but also high levels of mental illness.
• Floundering: Low well-being and high mental illness.
• Languishing: Low well-being and low mental illness, characterized by disconnection and acceptance of difficulties.

Study of Positive Emotions (Alice Isen)

• Positive emotions increase flexibility and creativity in thinking, facilitating divergent and innovative thought processes.
• Positive emotions are enhanced when helping others and solving problems.

Basic Emotions (Ekman)

• Sadness, fear, anger, disgust, surprise, happiness, and contempt are fundamental emotions.
• Each is associated with specific physiological responses.

Core Affect (Russell and Feldman Barrett)

• Core affect is a blend of pleasant/unpleasant and activated/deactivated emotions.
• This is a fundamental aspect of individual experience.
• Driven by biological, cognitive, behavioral, and sociocultural factors.

Barriers to Awareness

• Emotions are often invalidated or discounted by others.
• Thoughts are sometimes confused with emotions.
• Difficulty expressing and defining emotions.

The Biology of Emotions

• Left prefrontal cortex (LPFC) associated with happiness and the ability to recover from negative emotions.
• Reward system in the brain; dopamine release associated with pleasure
• Endorphins: The body's natural opioid system.
• Oxytocin: Bonding hormone released during sex, love, and breastfeeding.
• Anandamide: A "bliss molecule" that binds to cannabinoid receptors in the brain.
• Neuroplasticity: The brain's ability to adapt and reorganize itself based on experience leading to development of brain areas by experience, such as learning music and/or meditation.
• Genetic/environmental factors influence emotions (approximately 30-50% genetic).
• Family/environment shapes emotional development and response.

Zimbardo & Boyd's Model on Time Perspective

• Past negative type: Negatively views the past.
• Past positive: Positively views the past.
• Present hedonistic: Focuses on present pleasures.
• Present fatalistic: Perceives a lack of control in the present.
• Future oriented: Concerned with the future.

Virtues, Strengths, and Character

• Strengths and virtues are essential tools for managing stressful situations.
• Four themes of Strengths and Virtues include Executing, Relationship, Influencing, and Strategic Thinking.
• Strategic thinking involves analysis, context, futurism, input, and learning.

Motivation (Intrinsic & Extrinsic)

• Intrinsic motivation: Autonomous engagement in an activity regardless of reward.
• Extrinsic motivation: Engagement in activity when external rewards or incentives present.

Hope Theory

• Pathways: Identify ways to reach desired goals.
• Agency: Confidence in motivation to pursue goals.

Self-Determination Theory

• Autonomy, competence, and relatedness—basic psychological needs that enhance well-being.

Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up Theories

• Top-down theory: Emphasizes long-term traits, subjective well-being, and meaning.
• Bottom-up theory: Emphases external events and relationships

Psychological Well-being Scale

• Developed by Ryff and Keyes.
• Comprised of six components: self-acceptance, personal growth, purpose in life, environmental mastery, autonomy, and positive relationships with others.

Subjective Well-being

• A measurement of individuals' feelings of satisfaction with life and their overall happiness.
• Happiness varies depending on how individuals view internal perceptions to external situations.
• Two assumptions:
  1. Happiness can be quantified.
  2. Individuals who share similar scores have similar degrees of well-being.

Self-Esteem & Self-Compassion

• Self-esteem: Subjective evaluation of the self-concept (e.g., “Do I like myself?”).
• Self-compassion: Kindness and understanding towards oneself (as opposed to self-criticism).
• Mindfulness: Being aware of thoughts and suffering without judgment.

Sense of Control & Self-Efficacy

• Locus of control: Internal attributes outcomes to personal effort while external attributes outcomes to outside forces.
• Self-efficacy: Belief in one's ability to produce desired effects through actions.

Optimism

• Optimistic explanatory style: Externalizing failures and internalizing successes.
• Learned Optimism: Martin Seligman's research focused on the idea of learned helpfulness and attribution style theories.

Cognition & Meaning

• Meaning in life: A predictor of higher subjective well-being, linked to openness to experience, self-reflection, and creativity.

Explore the fundamentals of positive psychology, including the PERMA model and the distinctions between hedonic and eudaimonic happiness. Learn about key classifications of mental health as proposed by Keyes and Lopez, highlighting flourishing and struggling states of well-being.