Course Notes - Positive Psychology - PDF

Course Notes Jan 6, 2025 Week 1 - Introductions & Defining Positive Psychology Chapter 1 (pg. 3-20): Notes Key points ​ Positive Psychology: the parts of psychology that deal with (positive experiences, dispositions, contexts, and processes in individuals and groups that facilitate w...

Course Notes Jan 6, 2025 Week 1 - Introductions & Defining Positive Psychology Chapter 1 (pg. 3-20): Notes Key points ​ Positive Psychology: the parts of psychology that deal with (positive experiences, dispositions, contexts, and processes in individuals and groups that facilitate well-being, achievement, and harmony. ​ Ways of Understanding ‘Positive’ ○​ Good Intentions: Psychologists who wish to make others’ lives more positive through research or applications. ​ Not unique to positive psychology ○​ Ideological Perspective: Assuming people are naturally good or growth-oriented. ​ Problematic from a scientific perspective ○​ Appreciative Stance: Psychologists are able to collect information objectively and look at the information from a positive or appreciative perspective. ​ Similar to idealogy, but it is more about research than content ○​ A Set of Topics: Defining positive in positive psychology is via its topics; positive psychology is about positive things. ​ Too broad as there is more to consider ​ Assessing Positivity ○​ Choice: We can infer positivity or desirability from the choice. ○​ Values: Tells us what is good, referring to larger systems (laws, religion, culture, etc.) that conclude which things are prioritized. ○​ Subjective Experiences: Suggests happiness is central to positive psychology; it is in the mind of the experiencer. Definitions ​ Psychology: deals with people's thoughts, feelings, social interactions, habits, dispositions, and responses to environments; how these develop and change over time. ​ Flow: A state of absorption that occurs when a task’s challenges optimally fit an individual’s skill.  ​ Resilience: People maintaining well-being despite difficult circumstances or challenges. Explanations ​ Positive Psychology as a Science ○​ Scientific Method: The process of objectively establishing facts through testing and experimentation. ​ *Distinguishes from other advice and self-help ​ Differentiating Positive Psychology ○​ Humanistic Psychology: the parts of psychology that deal with human dignity, personal choice and growth. ​ Focuses on qualitative methods (less about numbers) over quantitative methods (more about numbers). Jan 13, 2025 Week 2 - Psychological Science Chapter 1 (pg. 20-35) Notes Key Points ​ Correlational Approach: A research or statistical method that focuses on determining whether, and how strongly, two things are linked. ​ Experimental Approach: It manipulates a variable and observes the manipulation’s effect on a dependent variable rather than just observing the co-occurrence of two variables. ○​ Random Assignment: This is a key part of the process that provides an equal chance for participants to be placed in either group. Definitions ​ Correlational coefficient: Abbreviated as r, it describes the strength and direction of association between two variables; it can range from -1.0 to +1.0, with 0 indicating no association. ​ Causality: How things influence one another, how causes lead to the effect. ​ Longitudinal Studies: Studies that are conducted across at least two different points (days) in time, typically long-term studies over months and years. ​ Third Variable Problem: One reason why the two correlated variables may not cause one another is because a ‘third variable’ is a common cause of both. ​ Independent Variable: The thing being manipulated ​ Dependent Variable: The outcome or thing that is (possibly) effected by the manipulation  ​ Confounds: Things that may be unintentionally manipulated beyond the social independent variable in experimental studies. Explanations ​ Difference between Correlational and Experimental Approaches ○​ The correlational approach only observes two variables, whereas the experimental approach manipulates one variable. ​ Limitations to the Correlational Approach ○​ Directionality Problem: Correlations do not imply causality; they could go either way. ​ *Longitudinal Studies sometimes help ○​ Third Variable Problem: Something else may be a cause of both ​ Limitations to the Experimental Approach ○​ Experimental studies are often artificial: Constructs situations so key features can be controlled and manipulated, making more powerful conclusions about causality and studying less naturalistic behaviours, thoughts, and feelings. ○​ Confounds: Not completely immune to the third variable problem. The third variable is ‘confounded; with what the experimenter intended to manipulate. Chapter 10 (pg. 341-349) Notes Key Points ​ The Credibility Revolution: A recent movement that includes how psychological scientists conduct, report, and evaluate research, with reforms aimed at increasing the confidence of findings; it raises questions about how much we can trust past research in (positive) psychology. ​ ESP Psychology Journal: Bem’s 9 studies suggested humans might have ESP, specifically predicting the future​ ○​ Publication Despite Skepticism: Published for methodological soundness despite implausability. ○​ Failed Reciprocation: Attempts to replicate indicated false positives. ○​ Impact on Research: Prompted reflection, increased replication studies, and fueled the credibility revolution in psychology. ​ The Reproductability Project: Selected 100 studies from 2008 for replication, each paired with a new researcher.  ○​ Process: Researchers conducted original authors and publicly recorded detailed plans before data collection and analysis. ○​ Goal: Aimed to estimate the predictability rate in psychology. ○​ Results: About ⅓ - ½ of studies were replicated, with effect sizes about half of the originals were not consistently reproduced, raising questions about their reliability. ​ Cognitive psychology appeared to be more replicable than social psychology. ​ Ways Forward (Solutions): ○​ Cautious Evaluation: Prioritizing strong methods, openness, and testing moderators. ○​ Open Science: Make data and plans publicly available, pre-register studies, and use registered reports. ○​ Improved Methods: Use larger samples, multi-site collaborations, and valid measures. ○​ Support Replications: Reward replication efforts with funding, prizes, and recognition. Definitions ​ Replication: A hallmark of science demonstrated when a study is repeated; replication studies will usually produce the same results when findings are true. ​ Direct/Exact Replication: A type of study that attempts to repeat the procedures of another original study as closely as possible. ​ Conceptual Replication: A type of study that retests the basic idea of another original study but intentionally changes the procedures in some way. ​ False Positive: A statistical term for when a test concludes that a finding/difference is true when it is false. ​ Pre-registration: A step in research that involves recording a study’s procedure and planned analyses online before data are collected (or analyzed); this record is made public and helps to reduce flexibility, making it more difficult to hide a study with unsupportive results. Explanations ​ Publication Bias: A phenomenon where studies’ results influence whether or not they are communicated - takes the form of favouring studies that indicate effective interventions or hypothesis-confirming results. ​ P-hacking: A problematic practice is a statistical analysis, where researchers report only the choices/analyses that lead to p <.05 (statistical significance), ignoring other analyses that are less supportive of hypotheses. ○​ Depending on p ​ Unreported variables  ​ Adding statistical controls ​ Adding participants ​ Dropping experimental conditions ○​ Doing these can create false positives 60% of the time ○​ Small samples = false positive more likely ​ Key takeaways from the Reproductability Project ○​ Need for Reform: Suggests that improvements in research practices are necessary to enhance predictability. ○​ Scientific Approach: Promoted transparency and rigorous methods in research to ensure more reliable findings. Jan 20, 2025 Week 3 - Positive Emotions Chapter 2 (pg. 37-77) Notes Key Points ​ Positivity Offset: We do not wander in a neutral state; we confront neutrality and ambiguity with a slight sense of optimism and positive evaluation. ○​ Bad is stronger: threats quickly grab our attention, and unpleasant feelings motivate change. ​ Basic Emotions: A specific type of feeling with distinct physical reactions, expressions, and experiences that set them apart from other emotional states like moods. ○​ The intersection of a few components: ​ Appraisals: Mental assessments of circumstances, interpreting things ​ Cognitive component ​ Core themes to distinguish emotions ​ Explains individual differences in experiences ​ Physiological Changes: in the body and brain ​ Physical component ​ Peripheral Autonomic Nervous System; often assessed with polygraph, electrodermal activity, heart rate, breathing rate ​ James-Lange Theory: Do we experience emotions based on perceiving bodily arousal? ​ EEG & hemispheric asymmetry; left and approach, right and avoidance ​ fMRI & PET correlates; assess blood flow to infer activity ​ Expressions: In the face, posture, tone of voice, and touch ​ Behavioural component  ​ Facial Action Coding System (FACS): facial analysis to objectively code emotion expressions. ​ Electromyography (EMG): Measures facial muscle activity, recording the electricity generated by muscles just under the skin. ​ Subjective Experience: Our personal, first-person phenomenological feeling. ​ Internal component ​ Measured with self-reports, phenomenological experience is key ​ Time & Subjective Emotional Experiences: ○​ Experiencing self (feeling things in the moment) vs. Remembering self (completes self-reports of past experiences) ​ Duration neglect: This refers to how memories of emotional experiences are shaped more by the most intense or recent moments rather than the overall length of the experience. ​ Action Tendencies: Motivation to do some things rather than others. ​ Motivational component: the motivation to do… ​ Makes the body ready for action ○​ E.g. disgust prompts spitting out and avoidance ​ Motivates the Broaden & Build Theory ​ Two Broad Approaches ○​ Basic Emotions View(s) ​ Distinct things: clear and relatively strict criteria ​ Omits some affect ○​ Dimensional View(s) ​ More about organizing affect (feelings) based on similarity ​ Few clear definitions ​ Broaden & Build Theory: Suggest positive emotions temporarily expand our thinking and attention, which helps us build skills and resources that can benefit us in the future. ○​ Positive emotions broaden focus, and this builds resources for the future ○​ Early examples include: ​ Joy (play, activity) ​ Interest (exploration, new information) ​ Contentment (savouring, applying to the future) ​ Love (focuses on others) ○​ Building occurs over time, often correlational. Definitions  ​ Positivity Offset: people’s tendency to approach the world with a somewhat pleasant affective state, optimism, and towards positive evaluation (until contradicted). ​ Emotions: Feeling states that involve our physiology, thoughts, subjective feelings, motivation, expressions, and behaviour. ​ Mood: Feelings or states that lack a clear subject or source. ​ Emotion Traits: Relatively stable individual differences in average emotional experiences over time. ​ Affect: Feelings that can be either pleasant or unpleasant but do not cover all the aspects of a whole emotion. ​ Natural Kinds: The idea of ‘emotions’ has meaning only in the way people understand them. Explanations ​ Positivity Offset ○​ Ekman’s Research: Identified six basic emotions, with only joy representing a positive emotion. ​ Historical focus on negative emotions and imbalance in emotional research. ​ Emotions vs. Mood ○​ Emotions: During an emotion, facets of bodily and mental activity operate in concert, more concretely, on a specific thing. ​ Fleeting and quick, occurring over a few seconds, tend to resolve in minutes. ○​ Mood: Feelings or states less intense, slower to change, and ambiguously caused. ​ Longer lasting (hours) ​ Basic Emotions View(s) ○​ Identifies a list of discrete, basic emotions that should meet specific criteria, such as having distinct facial expressions, appraisals, physiology, and experience. ​ The classic basic emotion list includes sadness, fear, disgust, anger, surprise, and joy. ​ They have specific causes, are brief, and have automatic consequences. ​ Natural kinds. ​ Dimensional View(s) ○​ More subtle variations and fuzzy boundaries among affective states, arranging emotional experiences in a conceptual space based on similarities and differences.  ​ More general causes; psychologically or socially constructed based on individuals' ideas about emotions. ​ NOT Natural kinds. ​ The Affect Circumplex (Related to Dimensional View):​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Wanting vs. Liking in the Brain ○​ Dopamine; wanting, motivation ○​ Opioids & Cannabinoids; liking, enjoyment ​ Duchenne smiles: A facial expression where both cheek and eye muscles contract and that connotes genuine pleasant subjective experience; contrasts with ‘cheeks only’ smiles, which is easier to display voluntarily without actual positive feeling. ​ Limitation to B&B Theory ○​ Approach motivation: The drive to move towards or be energized by positive stimuli ​ For B&B Theory, this narrows attention by causing us to focus on a specific reward. ​ Positive Emotion; desire ○​ Different positive emotions influence mental processes differently. ○​ Positive emotions can channel people toward certain thoughts and behaviours, not necessarily broadening openness to all experiences. Jan 27, 2025 Week 4 - Happiness Basics Chapter 3 (pg. 77-96; 103-106) Notes Key Points ​ Subjective well-being ○​ Often described as the ‘hedonic approach’ ○​ 3 components: high life satisfaction, many pleasant emotions, and few unpleasant emotions. ○​ Life satisfaction: An individual’s subjective evaluation that things have gone well and that conditions are good. ​ Eudaimonia: Considers people’s sense of purpose, meaning, authenticity, growth, etc.  ○​ Seeks to develop a skill, learn, or gain insight into something, do what you believe in, pursue excellence, and use the best in yourself. ​ Hedonia: Pursues pleasure above all else to maximize pleasure rather than the particular means one uses. ○​ Seeking good feelings, relaxation, pleasure, enjoyment, fun. Definitions ​ Eudaimonia: Describes living a good life or psychological well-being, contrasted with hedonia. ​ Hedonia: Defines happiness or well-being that focuses on pleasant feelings; contrasted with eudaimonia. ​ Adaptation: Refers to the tendency for people to adjust to new circumstances; happiness returns to a baseline level after major life events; Applies to all emotional responses (positive or negative) ​ Hedonic Treadmill: Idea that happiness tends to be stable or will return to baseline, even following major life events; treadmill implies that we are not really going anywhere; stabilizes over time. Explanations ​ Aristotle ○​ Defined eudaimonia as living up to one’s true potential. ​ Based on virtue and efforts, includes society’s values ​ An objective’ good life is assessed by others, not a subjective experience. ​ Ryff’s Psychological Well-Being (PWB) ○​ 6 scales: Self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth. ​ Big Five-Factor Personality Model; a predictor of happiness through personality traits. ○​ Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Neuroticism, Openness, Extraversion. ​ Big means broad ​ Demographic Predictors of SWB ○​ Gender, age, intelligence, education, physical health, marriage, parenting, religion, and money. Feb 3, 2025 Week 5 - Happiness Across Nations & Project Guidance Chapter 3 (pg. 96-103) - Money Key Points  ​ Correlation between money and happiness: stronger between nations than within nations. ​ Life satisfaction: the SWB component most strongly linked to wealth. ​ Gallup World Poll (GWP): large-scale, long-term survey tracking happiness worldwide. ​ Materialism: often negatively associated with SWB. ​ Prosocial spending (spending money on others): can improve happiness under certain conditions. Definitions ​ Gallup World Poll (GWP): A global survey measuring happiness and well-being across 160 nations. ​ Life Satisfaction: A cognitive component of SWB, measured using a 10-point scale. ​ Materialism: Placing high importance on wealth and possessions, often linked to lower well-being. ​ Prosocial Spending: Using money to benefit others, which can enhance happiness under the right conditions. Explanations ​ Money and Happiness: Countries with higher GDP tend to have higher life satisfaction. -​ Better living conditions, social cohesion, and political stability. ​ GWP Methodology: Surveys conducted annually, in multiple languages, with carefully selected samples to represent national populations. -​ Data combined with country-level statistics like GDP and inequality indexes. ​ Materialism & SWB -​ Wealth does contribute to life satisfaction, but excessive focus on materialism can lead to dissatisfaction. -​ Due to social comparisons and external validation. ​ Prosocial Spending & SWB: Increases happiness, but it fosters social connections, is done voluntarily, and has a visible positive impact. Diener et al. (2011) - Religion Key Points ​ Religion and happiness are context-dependent: linked to higher SWB in difficult environments but have a weaker effect in stable, secured societies. ​ Religious people report higher well-being: in nations or states with economic hardship or insecurity. ​ Religious affiliation declining: in many wealthy, stable societies where basic needs are met.  ​ Religious involvement: provides social support, purpose, and coping mechanisms, contributing to well-being in challenging conditions. Definitions ​ Religion Paradox: The idea that religion contributed to happiness in some contexts but is declining in others where well-being is already high. ​ Anomaly: meaning and purpose are higher with religion, even in good circumstances (but without SWB gain) ​ Social Support: A network of relationships that provides emotional, financial, or practical assistance. ​ Coping mechanisms: Physiological strategies to manage stress and anxiety. Explanations ​ Religion & SWB: offers comfort, social support, and meaning, boosting happiness to countries or regions with high poverty, instability, or inequality. ​ Security & Well-being: Nations become wealthier and more secure = religious beliefs decline. -​ Material and psychological needs are met through other means. ​ Social Functions of Religion: Religious involvement strengthens social bonds, provides moral guidance, and offers coping strategies for stress, particularly in struggling countries. ​ Global Trends: Countries with high economic developments and strong social safety nets = lower religiosity but maintain high SWB -​ For example, Scandinavian countries Feb 10, 2025 Week 6 - Positive Psychology Interventions & Goals Chapter 9 (pg. 307-332) & Chapter 10 (pg. 335-341) Key Points ​ Mauss et al. (2011) Study: Valuing happiness too much can correlate negatively with actual happiness ​ Positive Psychology Interventions (PPIs): Activities designed to foster lasting improvements in well-being, supported by empirical research. ​ Effectiveness of PPIs: Meta-analysis generally supports the effectiveness of PPIs in increasing well-being, but effect sizes are often small and may diminish over time. ​ Positive Activity Model: Explains how PPIs work through activity features and person characteristics, influencing positive emotions and behaviours. ​ Self-Determination Theory (SDT): emphasizes intrinsic motivation for successful goal pursuit.  ​ Goal-Setting Theory: Effective goals are specific, challenging, and require commitment. ​ Implementation Intentions: ‘If then’ plans that help automate goal-directed behaviour. ​ Commitment Devices: Strategies that make it harder to deviate from goals. Definitions ​ Positive Psychology Interventions (PPIs): Activities designed to foster lasting improvements in well-being, supported by empirical research. ○​ Self-determination Theory (SDT): A theory that highlights the importance of intrinsic motivation and basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, relatedness) in achieving goals. ​ Goal-Setting Theory: A framework that outlines how specific and challenging goals can enhance performance and motivation. ​ Implementation Intentions: Plans that link specific situations with specific behaviours to facilitate goal achievement. ​ Commitment Devices: Mechanisms that help individuals stick to their goals by increasing accountability or reducing temptation. Explanations ​ The Pursuit of Happiness ○​ Research by Mauss et al. (2011): indicated that those who overly value happiness may experience lower actual happiness levels. ​ This suggested that actively striving for happiness can sometimes be counterproductive. ​ Positive Psychology Interventions (PPIs): Structured activities designed to improve well-being. ○​ Ranges from simple exercises like gratitude journaling to more intensive therapeutic interventions. ​ Meta-analysis supports their effectiveness, although effect sizes are often small and may diminish over time. ​ Positive Activity Model (PAM): Posits that PPIs work by influencing key factors such as activity features (dosage, variety) and person characteristics (motivation, personality). ○​ Effectiveness of PAM: enhanced when there is a good fit between the activity and the individual’s traits. ​ Goal Setting and Achievement: ○​ SDT: emphasizes the role of intrinsic motivation in achieving goals. ○​ Effective Goal Setting: involves creating specific, challenging goals and using implementation intentions to automate behaviours. ○​ Commitment devices: This can further support goal adherence by increasing accountability.