Positive Psychology PDF

Positive psychology Positive states / emotions 1  Subjective level Positive states or emotions Dimensions of Individual level positive Individual traits psychology...

Positive psychology Positive states / emotions 1  Subjective level Positive states or emotions Dimensions of Individual level positive Individual traits psychology Group level Positive institutions 2  The subjective level Positive emotional states (experiences): positive emotions, peak performance, flow, mindfulness, savouring  Emotions, affect  Emotions are typically about something that is personally meaningful, they are experienced only briefly and lead to a range of response tendencies (e.g. subjective experience, facial expression, cognitive processing, physiological changes), and they can be conceptualised into discrete categories (e.g. fear, anger, joy, interest).  Affect on the other hand, is typically much broader and longer lasting, and varies along the dimensions of positive and negative. 4  Research on emotions  the typical focus of psychological research has been on the negative emotions, and the roles they have in breakdowns in health and functioning (e.g. depression, etc.).  One of the barriers to the development of positive psychology was the assumption that positive and negative emotions were simply opposite and balanced ends of an emotional continuum. 5 Attention to negative emotions  Two reasons that negative emotions have received so much attention are that they are (a) evolutionary adaptive and (b) may lead to psychological disorder. In the first instance, emotions like fear and anger would have helped us to survive. In the second instance, negative emotions are associated with psychological disorder, and it is generally accepted that people want to be psychologically well, rather than psychologically ill. 6  Positive emotions, on the other hand, were not traditionally associated with the need for survival, and were considered as the outcome of psychological well-being, rather than a contributor to psychological well-being. 7 The wheel of emotions (Plutchik, 1980) 8 Basic emotions  Anger  Fear  Sadness  Happiness  Disgust  Surprise 9 Evolutionary need for positive emotions  Why do wee need positive emotions?  Positive emotions are evolved adaptations to our environment  Human beings are social animals and need the protection and support of others to survive (D. Buss, 2000) 10  Different roles of emotions Negative Positive  Alert to possible dangers and  Difficulties recognising threats; (represented basically by Duchenne smile)  Easily recognisable  Broaden our awareness and  Many negative emotions are build upon learning to create associated with urges to act in future emotional and certain ways (specific action intellectual resources tendencies) (fight-or-flight  Lead to the desire to share response) them with others, help  Narrow options for thought creating reciprocal bonds and behaviour  Act as antidotes to Neg.emotion-> immediate unfortunate effects of negative action emotions (undoing hypothesis) pos.emotion≠ immediate action 11 Basic dimensions of positive emotion (David Watson, 2002)  Joviality (e.g. happiness, cheerfulness, enthusiasm)  Assurance (e.g. confidence, daring)  Attentiveness (e.g. alertness, concentration, determination) 12 Top 10 positive emotions (Fredrickson)  Joy Joy happens in an instant - a perfect moment captured when all is just exactly as it should be. Think of a wonderful holiday morning with the family, an unexpected present that delights you, or seeing the first smile on your infant's face. What brings you Joy?  Gratitude Gratitude is a moment of realizing someone has gone out of their way for you, or simply feeling overwhelmed with your heart opening, after being moved in some way. With gratitude comes a desire to give in return or 'pay it forward' in some way. When did you last experienced deep Gratitude?  Serenity Serenity is like a mellow, relaxed, or sustained version of Joy. Serenity is a peacefulness that comes on a cloudless day, when you realize there's nothing you have to do. Serenity is indulging in a favorite luxury, and being mindful enough to take it in. Serenity is the moment on vacation when you finally let go. Has Serenity crossed your door lately?  Interest Interest is a heightened state that calls your attention to something new that inspires fascination, and curiosity. Like a shiny new toy to capture your imagination, interest is alive and invigorating. Interest wakes you up, and leaves you wanting more. What Interests you these days? 13 Top 10 positive emotions (ctd.)  Hope Dr. Fredrickson describes it best: "Unlike other emotions that arise out of comfort and safety, hope springs out of dire circumstances, as a beacon of light. Deep within the core of hope is the belief that things can change, turn out better. Possibilities exist. Hope sustains you and motivates you to turn things around." The inauguration of President Obama brought me Hope. What brings you Hope?  Pride Ever done something really well that took a little time and effort? Maybe you reached a goal you never thought was attainable? Then pat yourself on the back with unadulterated Pride. Stand back, take that deep breath and let it in -- you earned it. What have you done that made your proud?  Amusement Think of amusement as those delightful surprises that make you laugh. It's those unexpected moments that interrupt your focus and crack you up. It's a great feeling to have amusement sparkle out of the doldrums and instantly change your perspective. Have you had any amusement in your life recently?  Inspiration Inspiration is a moment that touches your heart and nearly takes your breath away -- or takes in your breath, as the word literally translates. Inspiration whispers between the strands of your hair, as you watch a perfect sunset, witness academic or athletic excellence, or observe unexpected triumphs over adversity. What brings Inspiration in your life? 14 Top 10 positive emotions (ctd.)  Awe Awe happens when you come across goodness on a grand scale, and you feel overwhelmed by greatness. Awe is triggered when we are faced with the vastness of Nature, or the cosmos. Gazing at the Milky Way and counting the stars, or standing at the top of the Grand Canyon triggers awe. Have you had a moment of awe lately?  Love Guess what? The list is rigged. Actually, the #1 most frequent positive emotion is here at the bottom. Love encompasses all of the above: joy, gratitude, serenity, interest, hope, pride, amusement, inspiration and even awe. Love is all that and more. When we experience love, our bodies are flooded with the "feel good" hormones that reduce stress and even lengthen our lives.  (Fredrickson,2009, from Kari Henley blog: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kari-henley/what-are-the- top-10-posit_b_203797.html) 15 Interest in positive emotions  However, there has also been a substantial body of research into positive emotions – the feelings that might accompany happiness, for example, although there is not a coherent body of research within an integrated theory that accounts for all, or even most of the findings. 16  All positive emotions are not the same Pleasure Enjoyment  Good feeling coming from  Involves meeting satisfying needs and meeting expectations or fulfilling a expectations (e.g. biological needs, need and then going beyond obtaining socially desirable status those expectations to create symbols, etc.) (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990); smth. new, unexpected, or  Must be continuously renewed; even unimagined (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990);  Often do not produce any psychological growth or  A sense of accomplishment development; and novelty;  Bodily pleasures (biological needs)  Creates smth. new and and higher pleasures (cognitively expands our possibilities more complex and have more lasting and potentials; effect on mood) (Seligman, 2002) 17 Genetic influences on positive emotions  Is affectivity hereditary?  Happiness set-point (Lykken, Tellegen, 1996) – most people have an average levels of happiness (a set point) that they return to after they adjust to the effects of temporary highs and lows in emotionality. 18  Genetic and environmental interplay  Can affectivity be changed in some way?  Scientists agree that genes do not completely determine the level of happiness or life satisfaction in any given person.  We can influence our level of well-being by creating environments that are more conductive to feelings of happiness and working with our genes (Lykken, 2000). 19 The role of genetic and environmental factors in a sense of well-being Environment Genetics 20 Class exercise  Do you think that psychology’s relative ignorance of positive emotions is justified?  Spend a few moments, and record as many situations as you can where you have felt positive emotions in the last few days. 21 Class exercise (contd.)  Then, spend another few moments and record as many situations as you can where you have felt negative emotions in the last few days. 22 Class exercise (contd.)  On balance, which have you experienced more: positive or negative emotions? 23 Class exercise (contd.)  What did the experience of each emotion lead to?  For example, did you want to curl up and ignore people, or were you more keen to be engaged with life and other people?  Do you think that positive emotions are just the absence of negative emotion, or do they represent something else? If so, what? 24 A new glimpse…  there was a substantial shift in 1998 with the work of Barbara Fredrickson and her “broaden-and-build” theory of positive emotions. 25 Broaden-and-build theory 26 Positive emotions broaden thought-action repertoires  If we are experiencing positive emotions, we are more likely to be creative and to see more opportunities that are open to us, more likely to be open to relationships with others, and more likely to have a wider array of cognitive and behavioural options within our repertoire.  For example, positive affect has been associated with flexibility, creativity, integration, openness to information, and efficiency. 27 Positive emotions undo negative emotions  Positive emotions are essentially incompatible with negative emotions, and hence if we are experiencing positive emotions, they will serve to drive out negative emotions.  Hence, positive emotions can serve to undo the effects of negative emotions. People who experience positive emotions recover faster from stressors and other life difficulties. 28 Positive emotions fuel psychological resiliency  The deliberate experience of positive emotions at times of negative emotion (i.e. stress) can serve to undo potentially negative effects.  Individuals who are psychologically resilient (i.e. who bounce back faster after a stressor) use positive emotions in allowing them to do so. These may be achieved through problem- focused coping, positive reappraisal, or infusing negative events with positive meaning. 29 Positive emotions can trigger upward spirals  Just as negative emotions can lead one into downward spirals of depression, it is suggested that positive emotions can trigger upward spirals toward improved emotional well-being.  Positive emotions facilitate adaptive coping in times of stress, and create more opportunities for adaptive action.  During good times, positive emotions help us to see and even to create new opportunities for psychological well- being, and in doing so start to build buffers against downturns toward negative emotions.  In bad times, the broad-minded coping that positive emotions facilitate make it more likely that we will deal with the problem quickly and effectively. 30  Overall then, positive emotions are not just a signal of well-being, but they should rather be considered as being equally, if not more, a facilitator of well-being. In this way, the facilitation of positive emotions can lead to people living better lives. 31 Emotional intelligence  “The ability to perceive, appraise, and express emotion accurately and adaptively; the ability to understand emotion and emotional knowledge; the ability to access and / or generate feelings when they facilitate cognitive activities and adaptive action; and the ability to regulate emotions in oneself and others.” (Mayer & Salovey, 1997; as cited in Salovey, Mayer, & Caruso, 2002, p. 159). 32 Class exercise  With another person, label one person as A and the other person as B.  To begin, A should attempt to convey a series of three emotions to B through using facial expressions, vocal tones, or cultural artifacts (e.g. cultural hand gestures, etc.).  B should record what he / she believes each of these three emotions to be.  When you have completed this, reverse the roles and repeat the exercise. See if your perceptions of the other person’s emotional states were generally accurate. 33 Hierarchy of emotional intelligence (John Mayer, David Caruso ir Peter Salovey (2000) Emotional management Emotional understanding Emotional facilitation of thought (i.e. using emotional intelligence) Emotional perception and expression 34 Emotional intelligence (1) The current model of emotional intelligence suggests that there are four branches to this concept:  Emotional perception and expression – recognising and inputting verbal and nonverbal information from the emotion system. 35 Emotional intelligence (2)  Emotional facilitation of thought (i.e. using emotional intelligence) – using emotions as part of cognitive processes, such as creativity and problem solving 36 Emotional intelligence (3)  Emotional understanding – cognitive processing of emotion, including insight and knowledge brought to bear upon one’s feelings or the feelings of others. 37 Emotional intelligence (4)  Emotional management – the regulation of emotions in oneself and in other people. 38 Conclusion  Positive emotions and emotional intelligence are powerful factors that influence the living of a good life.  Not only are they markers of a good life, but also serve to create it through engendering emotional well-being and resiliency (positive emotions) and facilitating positive and productive relationships with others (emotional intelligence).  They are also clearly associated with successful coping and growth through adversity. 39 Leisure and life satisfaction Flow and optimal experience, being “in the zone”, mindfulness, savouring 40 Activities and leisure  Higher satisfaction with leisure is related to higher satisfaction with life;  Simply having leisure time does not increase well-being. Why?  Activities should be personally meaningful, provide for a sense of autonomy, be a break from routine, and involve frequent positive relationships with other people. 41  Peak performance (Gayle Privette, 1981, 1983)  Peak performance describes those moments when we perform at a level that is beyond our normal level of functioning.  Conceptualised as behaviour that is “more efficient, more creative, more productive, or in some ways better than [the person’s] ordinary behaviour… and may occur in any facet of human activity: intellectual, emotional, or physical” (Privette, Landsman, 1983, p.195). 42 Peak performance: parameters  Clear focus on self, object and relationship;  Intense involvement in the experience;  A strong intention to complete a task;  A spontaneous expression of power; Peak performance is rather the level than the type of behaviour. 43 Peak performance Manifestations:  Incidences of unusual courage (power etc.,) during a crisis;  Achieved by constant training (usually in sports). 44 Peak performance  Involves such psychological factors as commitment, dedication as well as emotional and intellectual involvement (maybe even called obsession) in all the nuances in the sport or other important activity for a person. 45 Class exercise  Think about your life – have you ever experienced peak performance?  If yes, what was the situation? 46 Flow 47 Flow  Think of a moment in your life when you were so involved in what you were doing that the rest of the world seemed to have disappeared. Your mind wasn’t wandering; you were totally focused and concentrated on that activity, to an extent that you were not even aware of yourself. Time disappeared too. Only when you came out of the experience, you realised how much time had actually passed (usually much more than you anticipated, although sometimes it could be less).  The state of flow happens under very specific conditions – when we encounter a challenge that is testing for our skills, and yet our skills and capacities are such that it is just about possible to meet this challenge. So both the challenge and the skills are at high levels, stretching us almost to the limit. 48  Definition of flow  “Flow denotes the holistic sensation present when we act with total involvement… it is the state in which action follows upon action according to an internal logic which seems to need no conscious intervention on our part. We experience it as a unified flowing from one moment to the next, in which we feel in control of our actions, and in which there is little distinction between self and environment; between stimulus and response; or between past, present, and future”. (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975, p.43) 49 Characteristics of flow  Merging of action and awareness  Complete concentration on the task at hand  Lack of worry about losing control, that, paradoxically, results in a sense of control  A loss of self-consciousness  Time no longer seems to pass in ordinary ways  Autotelic (the experience is done for its own sake: “climbing for the sake of climbing”) nature of the experience  Flow accompanies a challenging activity that requires skill  The activity has clear goals and immediate feedback 50 Being “in the zone”  In sports the experiences of flow are commonly referred to as being “in the zone” 51  Model of flow High Arousal Arousal Anxiety “Flow” Perceived challenge Worry Control Apathy Relaxation Low Boredom Low Perceived skill High 52 Microflow  The moments when we are leisurely involved in a relatively simple, almost automatic, activity (e.g. doodling) 53 The benefits of flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990)  Enjoying life  Feeling happier  Functioning better in a number of different contexts 54 ?  Why do people so rarely engage in activities which would produce flow? ◦ Because of junk flow (faux flow): video games, reality TV shows etc.? These activities have some elements of flow engagement and absorption), but they are nor especially challenging, and certainly do not leave us feeling invigorated or satisfied. Thus one may be seduced by the ease of experiencing junk flow and therefore distracted from more difficult but more rewarding experience of real flow. 55 Class exercise  Have you ever experienced a flow?  If yes, in what situations? 56 Additional aspects related to our experiences  Mindfulness  Savoring 57 Mindfulness (Ellen Langer, 1989)  Is paying attention to one’s on-going experience in a way that allows openness and flexibility.  Well-being is not associated with moving through life on automatic pilot but with actively participating in the ongoing experiences of life with openness and creativity. 58 Savouring (Bryant, 1989; Bryant, Veroff, 2004)  Awareness of pleasure along with a quite deliberate attempt to focus attention on the sensation and relish it. 59 Types of savouring  Basking, or receiving praise and congratulations;  Marveling, or getting lost in the wonder of a moment;  Luxuriating, or indulging in a sensation;  Thanksgiving, or expressing gratitude. 60 Ways to enhance savouring  Absorption (allowing oneself to be immersed in the experience);  Sharpening the senses (focusing on one sensation while blocking out others);  Memory building (to do smth. to help to remember the experience later on, e.g. souvenirs);  Sharing with others;  Self-congratulation (allowing oneself to feel good about having had an experience of savouring, to relish in the experience, and even allow oneself a bit of healthy pride). 61 Class exercise  How often and in what aspects of your life are you mindful? 62 Class exercise  In what instances of your life do you usually get involved in savouring the experience? 63 Tasks for the weekend: 1) Having this (and other possible) information in mind make a mind map of your way to happiness: “My way to happiness” 2) Have a good day. (try to have a good day and describe this shortly in your portfolio). 64