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Questions and Answers
What does operationalization in psychology primarily involve?
What is a key reason that happiness and well-being are difficult to measure directly?
Which type of reliability assesses the correlation of scores from two different time points?
What does systematic measurement error relate to?
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Which of the following is true about internal consistency?
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What does validity assess in psychological measurement?
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What phenomenon causes people to believe they are better than average?
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What does content validity refer to?
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Which method can help standardize evaluations of how people perceive themselves?
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Which statement best describes random measurement error?
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What is a potential negative consequence of positive illusions?
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Which type of thinking involves believing in one's ability to achieve set goals?
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What is a characteristic of optimistic individuals regarding negative outcomes?
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What is the relationship between hope and well-being?
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What is the concept of positive comparisons based on?
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What does unrealistic optimism often lead to?
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What percentage of subjective well-being (SWB) is considered heritable?
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Which factor significantly contributed to the lower concordance rate at time two?
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What is the heritability range for subjective well-being based on multiple meta-analyses?
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Which statement regarding cheerfulness and subjective well-being is incorrect?
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What are shared environmental factors?
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What does an internal perceived locus of control imply?
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What does the stress-diathesis model describe?
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What does heritability assess?
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How does setting self-concordant goals affect basic needs?
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What is a limitation of behavior genetic designs mentioned?
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What does self-esteem primarily reflect?
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How are high self-esteem individuals expected to respond to the me/positive condition?
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What correlation exists between explicit self-esteem and well-being?
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What is a possible issue with measuring implicit self-esteem?
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What does research suggest about implicit self-esteem and the experience of negative emotions?
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What is a limitation in the relationship between IAT scores and subjective well-being (SWB)?
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What correlation was found between life satisfaction and affective balance in the study?
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Which aspect of culture plays a greater role in life satisfaction according to the findings?
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How does culture influence goals related to well-being?
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What was found regarding self-esteem in different cultures?
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What does tactical self-enhancement refer to?
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Which of the following statements best describes self-serving attributional bias?
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How is the correlation between hedonic balance and life satisfaction moderated by culture?
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The findings from Schimmack et al. suggest which personality trait has a negative correlation with hedonic balance?
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Study Notes
Positive Psychology
- A new branch of psychology focuses on people's strengths and positive functioning
- Aims to study positive experiences that facilitate well-being and happiness
Operationalization of Happiness and Well-being
- Happiness and well-being are latent constructs - abstract and cannot be directly measured or observed
- We use indicators (e.g., surveys) to infer information about latent constructs
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Measurement error exists in self-report scores, making them inaccurate reflections of the true score
- Random measurement error is unpredictable and unrelated to the construct
- Systematic measurement error is related to the construct, like response bias
Reliability
- Assess how much random measurement error is present in a person's score
- Split-half reliability compares two halves of a survey, ideally with a correlation greater than +0.70
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Test-retest reliability assesses scores at different time points
- Short intervals reveal reliability
- Long intervals reveal stability (whether the measured construct has truly changed)
- Interrater reliability assesses differences in measurements between raters (Kappa K = 1.0)
- Internal consistency assesses how much items in a measure correlate with each other (Cronbach's ⍺ > +0.70)
Validity
- Assess how much non-random measurement error is present
- Content validity assesses if items measure the construct at face value (face validity)
- Construct validity assesses if the operationalization matches the theoretical definition of the construct
- Criterion validity assesses how much a measure correlates with a gold-standard measure
Heritability of Subjective Well-Being (SWB)
- Twin studies found that around 50% of SWB is heritable, with 50% attributed to environmental factors
- This suggests a strong genetic influence, but not absolute determination
- Criticisms of this research include:
- Small sample size
- Only two time points, questioning the validity of the findings
- Environmental factors play a role, evidenced by lower concordance rates at later time points
Cheerfulness vs. SWB
- Cheerfulness, a tendency towards positive emotions, displays lower heritability than SWB
- Shared environment influences emotions and moods as much as genes
Meta-analysis of Heritability
- Meta-analysis of twin studies suggests a 32-41% heritability for SWB
- Controlling for measurement error, this estimate rises to 50%
- This confirms that genetics play a significant role, but environment remains influential
Environmental Influences
- Shared environmental factors affect everyone in a family, while non-shared factors are unique to each individual
- Measurement error also contributes to variations in heritability estimates
Gene-Environment Interactions
- Stress-diathesis model highlights the interplay between genes and environmental stressors
- A genetically predisposed vulnerability can manifest when triggered by environmental stress
Self-Concordant Goals
- Goals aligned with personal values, interests, and needs contribute significantly to well-being
- Associated with an internal perceived locus of control (believing in one's ability to control positive outcomes)
- Self-concordant goals are linked to:
- Increased effort towards achieving goals
- Satisfaction of basic needs, including autonomy
Self-Esteem
- Reflects our evaluations of ourselves, can be both trait-based (global or domain-specific) and state-based (context-specific)
- Both cognitive and affective components, and manifests explicitly and implicitly
Explicit Self-Esteem
- Moderately correlated with well-being, both self-reported and observed by others
Implicit Self-Esteem
- Shows a weak correlation with well-being
- Correlation varies depending on the measures used
- Some studies suggest implicit self-esteem may be a predictor of negative emotions and somatic symptoms
Challenges in Measuring Self-Esteem
- Positive illusions bias can contaminate self-reported measures
- Difficulty in standardizing "average person" for comparisons
Positive Thinking
- Positive correlation exists between optimism and measures of life satisfaction, positive affect, and reduced negative affect
- Optimists expect good things to happen and attribute positive outcomes to internal factors and negative outcomes to external factors
- Self-enhancement can sometimes lead to unrealistic optimism and self-serving biases, potentially causing risky choices
Hope
- Hoping for positive outcomes in the future through personal effort
- Associated with pathways thinking (identifying multiple paths to achieving goals) and agentic thinking (believing in one's ability to achieve those goals)
- Positively correlated with well-being
Positive Comparisons
- Individuals compare themselves to standards they set, either self-defined or based on others
- Influence individual well-being and life satisfaction
Cultural Influences on Well-Being
- Relationship between affect and life satisfaction varies across cultures
- Emotion plays a greater role in individualistic nations than collectivistic nations
- Culture influences which goals are considered important for well-being
Cultural Influences on Self-Esteem
- Western cultures generally exhibit higher SWB and self-esteem compared to Eastern cultures
- Correlation between SWB and self-esteem is stronger in Western contexts
- This could be due to differences in self-enhancement tendencies and cultural values of individualism vs. collectivism
Self-Enhancement
- Universal self-enhancement exists, but the specific dimensions of enhancement vary across cultures (tactical self-enhancement)
- Mutual enhancement (enhancing others) also differs culturally
- Self-serving attributional bias (attributing positive events to oneself and negative events to external factors) is weaker in collectivistic cultures
"Unpackaging" Culture
- To understand cultural effects on well-being, we need to go beyond broad cultural classifications
- Examining specific cultural dimensions and their influence on individual and collective well-being
- Exploring the interplay of cultural values, beliefs, practices, and social structures can unlock insights into the diverse pathways to a fulfilling life
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Description
Explore the key concepts of positive psychology, focusing on strengths and well-being. This quiz delves into the operationalization of happiness and the methods of measuring reliability in psychological constructs. Test your understanding of these vital topics in psychology.
