Fully functioning person

• Therapeutic approaches should address defence mechanisms used by non-fully functioning individuals

Three Conditions for Therapeutic Change

• Therapeutic change requires specific conditions in client-centered therapy

Hedonic vs. Eudaimonic Happiness

• Research should distinguish between hedonic and eudaimonic happiness

Sources of Happiness

• Research should summarize sources of happiness and personality characteristics linked to it

Autotelic Personality

• Autotelic personality and flow should be defined

Virtues and Character Strengths

• Should identify virtues and character strengths

Interventions to Enhance Happiness

• There should be discussion of research findings on interventions to enhance happiness

Signature Strengths

• Signature strengths can be used to enhance happiness

Rogers' Therapeutic Approach

• Rogers' therapeutic approach, focuses on unconditional positive reward and client-centered therapy to achieve full functionality
• Individuals experience conflict between their self-perception and reality, leading to unconscious incongruity

Incongruities

• Incongruities between self-concept and experience cause anxiety/tension
• Fully functioning individuals reduce incongruities by incorporating new experiences, while non-fully functioning individuals use defense mechanisms

Non-Fully Functioning Person

• A person who does not have positive reward will use self-defence mechanisms to reduce incongruities
• Denial involves failure to acknowledge incongruity of anxiety
• Distortion involves a distorted reality

Rogers' Solution: Client-Centered Therapy

• Client-centered therapy, is a therapeutic approach to enable full function
• It is also known as "non-directive therapy"
• Therapists must develop an environment where clients can solve their own problems, example: a crisis line for suicide
• Requires genuineness and authenticity of therapist with client (therapist congruence)
• Requires therapists ensuring the client acknowledges being approved and accepted (unconditional positive regard)
• Requires empathetic understanding, by restating comments and expressing feelings shared by patient without judgement

Criticisms of Rogers' Conditions

• Conflict exists between honesty and unconditional positive regard
• Therapists can disapprove of a behavior but still accept the person

Research on Client-Centered Therapy

• Client-centered therapy has been effective, sometimes more than CBT
• Used in treating bipolar disorder, depression, PTSD and other conditions

Limitations of Client-Centered Therapy

• Client-centered therapy not effective for collectivistic individuals (80% of cultures) due to lack of unconditional positive regard and common self-criticism
• Not effective for authoritarian personalities due to their wish to be dictated
• Not effective for individuals unable to verbalize emotions (alexithymia)
• Not effective for those with low tolerance of ambiguity

What is Happiness

• Humanistic theories have contributed to the rise of positive psychology movement
• Positive psychologists study positive subjective experience, individual traits, and institutions to improve life quality
• Positive subjective experience equals focus on happiness

Two Types of Happiness

• Hedonic happiness includes high life satisfaction, positive affect and low negative affect
• A cognitive component: specific domain or overall life satisfaction (e.g., work, love)
• An emotional/pleasure experience (affective): describing situational positive emotions and avoiding negative ones (e.g., going to Disneyland)
• Both positive and negative affect are independent
• Eudaimonic happiness involves self-actualization, significance, purpose, & meaning

Correlation of Happiness

• Hedonic and eudaimonic happiness are highly positively correlated (0.76)

Factors Predicting Happiness

• There are three broad sources of happiness
• Set-point accounts for 50% is a balance point we move towards despite fluctuations, or the prototypical level
• Winning a lottery moves one to the set-point after a large happiness
• Hedonic treadmill/adaptation may take 7 years to return to set-point after an event like bereavement and male unemployment can be permanent
• Set-point is genetically determined (40-50% variance due to heritability)
• Circumstances account for 10% of ones happiness
• Income has a limited impact (major impact up to $60k)
• After $60k, every additional $10k increases happiness by only 1-2%
• Higher education attainment leads to happiness through learning and purpose
• Marital status relates to higher happiness
• Parental status can decrease happiness starting with the first child
• Religion has some influence if it fosters support
• Health enhances happiness and vice versa
• Direction of effect is unknown (ex: if happiness increases health or vice versa)
• Intentional activity accounts for 40%
• Exercising agency offers opportunity to increase happiness
• Intentional acts that can improve happiness: socializing, physical activity, savoring, academic education, and acts of kindness

Personality Traits and Happiness

• Extroversion: tendency to seek positive emotions
• Frontal asymmetry is an effect with BIS & BAS with right hemisphere associated with neuroticism
• Optimism: dispositional & attributional style is stable across situations and traits
• Success is attributed to internal, stable, and global factors
• Failure is attributed to external, unstable, and specific factors
• Autotelic personality: intrinsic motivations

Autotelic Personality

• Autotelic personality requires curiosity, need to achieve, enjoyment of activities, and narrow concentration

Frequent Experience of Flow

• Experiencing flow involves intense experiential involvement in moment-to-moment activity with focused attention resulting in optimal functioning
• Requires clear goals, sense of control, distortion of time, and a balance between challenge and skill
• “Self-transcendent” is experience of flow
• 10-15% experience flow daily, while 10-15% do not experience it at all

Character Strengths

• Character strengths are signature strengths examined across cultures and centuries
• Identified six virtues (24 character strengths)
• Virtues include wisdom & knowledge, creativity, open mindedness, and humanity: social intelligence
• Are important because they offer opportunity to foster happiness

Happiness Research

• Using signature strengths daily has a significant effect on happiness and depression
• Happiness scores can increase at the baseline over 6 months
• Identifying signature strengths alone cannot increase happiness, implementation and action is required