Authentic Happiness

POSITIVE
PSYCHOLOGY
Martin E.P. Seligman, Ph.D

Presented By: Castro,Irish A.

Ellado, Josalie M.
Espino, Charina Nina
 Table of contents

POSITIVE
01 Introduction 02 EMOTION : About
Past, Present and Future

POSITIVE POSITIVE
03 TRAITS: 04 INSTITUTIONS:
Strength and Virtue In the Mansions of Life
 Introduction
Positive Psychology is a scientific study of human flourishing and an applied
approach to optimal functioning. It has also been defined as the study of strength
and virtues that enable individuals, communities and organizations to thrive. The
main function of positive psychology is to encourage people to discover and nurture
their character strengths, rather than channeling efforts into correcting
shortcomings. It highlights the need for one to shift their negative outlook to a more
optimistic view in order to improve quality of life.

The 3 pillars of positive psychology:

• Positive Emotion - confidence, hope and trust

• Positive Traits – strength and virtue
• Positive Institutions- democracy, strong family and free inquiry that supports the
virtue, which in turn support the positive emotion.
 POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
Positive psychology could be seen as a subset of the larger area we refer to as the Science of Happiness,
which encompasses both the social and natural sciences and more recently on related areas such as intimate
relationships and the discovery of meaning. It was coined in the 1950s by psychologist Abraham Maslow.
Maslow used the terminology a bit loosely to advocate for a fairer assessment of human nature, emphasizing
both human potential and mental illness. The optimistic work of "humanistic" psychologists like Carl Rogers
and Abraham Maslow provided a source of inspiration for the emerging discipline of Positive Psychology.
According to Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000; Seligman, 2002, Positive Psychology is the study of what
makes life worthwhile. A valuable endeavor that considers both strength and weakness, enhancing potential,
treating illness, and helping regular people to find happiness, and for those who are upset to find equilibrium.

Martin E. P. Seligman, Ph.D.

• Born on August 12, 1942
• Founder/Father of Positive Psychology
• In his seminal book "Authentic Happiness," published in 2002, former
American Psychological Association President Martin Seligman
popularized the term "positive psychology," which he described as the
study of positive emotions and the "strengths that enable individuals
and communities to thrive."
QUESTIONS ABOUT HAPPINESS
• What is happiness?
• Why are humans seeking happiness?
• How did happiness arise in evolution?
• Can happiness be lastingly increased? How?
 POSITIVE EMOTIONS ABOUT PAST,
PRESENT AND FUTURE
POSITIVE FEELING AND POSITIVE CHARACTER

 Positive emotions are essential for resilience and wellbeing. It is not only good for
us, but if also makes us better human beings. When we are happy, we want to
engage more with others, uplift others and share our happiness. It is said that
happier people tend to be healthier, live longer and pursue healthy habits. They
also tend to be more productive, aim higher and determined.

TWO TYPES OF SMILES

 DUCHENNE SMILE - discovered by Guillaume Duchenne and is the genuine one

in which the corners of the mouth curl and the skin around the corners of the eyes
becomes wrinkles (like crow’s feet). The muscles involved in this, the orbicularis
oculi and zygomaticus, are exceedingly difficult to control voluntarily.

 PAN-AMERICAN SMILE – is in authentic and not genuine Duchenne

characterization.
Positive Emotion - emotions that we usually find pleasant. Love, joy, interest and amusement are the example of
momentary positive emotions.

Negative Emotion - is the opposite of positive emotion, the emotions that are unpleasant to us. The following are the
example of negative emotion; Fear, sadness, anger, disgust and loneliness.

Intellectual Broadening and Building

The broaden-and-build theory was proposed by Barbara Fredrickson in 1998 in an exploration of changes caused by
positive emotions. According to Fredrickson, positive emotions encourage people to engage in social behavior and build
skills. Fredrickson suggests that a 3:1 ratio of positivity to negativity is ideal. That way, people remain hopeful and
proactive, but they are still challenged by negativity.
 
Building Physical Sources
Positive emotions strongly anticipated who lived, who died, and disability. After factoring in age, income, education, weight,
smoking, drinking, and illness, researchers found that happy people were partly as likely to die and partly as likely to
become disabled. Positive emotions also protect against the damage of aging .
Building Social Resources
The exception determines the rule here. There is a tragic facial paralysis called Möbius Syndrome in which
victims cannot smile. People born in with this condition are unable to show positive emotions on their faces, so
in they react to the friendliest conversations with uneasy dryness. When the process of feeling a positive
emotion, expressing it, extracting another positive emotion, and answering to it goes wrong, the music that
supports the dance of love and friendship is interrupted.
Happiness and Win-win: Evolution Reconsidered
Barbara Fredrickson's theory and all this research convinced it completely that bringing more positive emotions
into our life was worth the effort. Positive feelings are important not only because they feel good in themselves,
but because create a better way of doing business with the world. As you develop more positive emotions in
your life, you build friendships, love, better physical health, and greater achievements.

The Happiness Formula tells us how happiness works and shows

the variables that determine whether our level is high, medium or
low.
Enduring happiness is the result of designated zones, living
conditions, and certain variables that can be controlled. The
expansion of details is:
H: Your enduring level of happiness.
S: Your set range.
C: The circumstances in your life.
V: Factors under your voluntary control.
 Satisfaction About Past

It is important to understand that these emotions from past, present, and future are separate and not
necessarily closely related. While it is desirable to be happy in all, this is not always the case.

“Your past does not determine your future”

Forgiving and forgetting

 How we feel about the past depends entirely on our memories.
 The human brain has to cognate to ensure that negative emotions outdo positive emotions that expand,
build, sustain, but are more fragile. The only way out of this emotional wilderness is to change your mind by
rewriting your past: forgive, forget, or suppress bad memories.

How to Forgive

 Worthington describes a five-step process (neither easy nor quick) he calls REACH:
 R represents painful memories as objectively as possible.
 E stands for empathy.
 A represents the altruistic gift of forgiveness, another difficult step.
 C represents a commitment to publicly award.
 H stands for holding onto forgiveness.
 OPTIMISM ABOUT THE FUTURE PERMANENCE: Permanent versus Temporary
 Being optimistic is taking a view that benefits beyond
thinking big, it is also a future-oriented attitude that
things will turn out well. Optimistic people believe that
good things will happen to them, and they also believe
that being a successful person is all about hard work.

CHARACTERISTICS OF BEING OPTIMISTS

 
 See the positive side of things
 Optimistic people explain good events to themselves
in terms of permanent causes such as traits and PERVASIVENESS: Specific versus Universal
abilities. The following are examples of universal and specific
 They always think that they can make the best of any explanations of the bad and good events.
situation see opportunities instead of problems
 Optimists are more satisfied with their lives, even
they’re going through difficult situations.
 
 There are 2 dimensions in one explanatory style;
the permanence and pervasiveness.
 HAPPINESS IN THE PRESENT
HAPPINESS in the present moment consists of very different states from happiness about the past and
about the future, and itself embraces two very distinct kinds of things, the pleasures and gratifications.

PLEASURES

 These are the delights that have a clear sensory and strong PLEASURE VS. GRATIFICATION
emotional component that the philosophers call “raw feels”, Distinction between
thrills, orgasm and comfort.
It is closely related to value, desire, and action: humans and  Gratifications last longer than pleasures;
other conscious animals find pleasure enjoyable, positive or pleasures tend to be short-lived.
worthy of seeking. Gratifications don’t habituate as easily as
 BODILY PLEASURES pleasures do.
 THE HIGHER PLEASURES  Pleasures are about engaging the senses
and feeling emotions; gratifications are about
ENHANCING THE PLEASURES contacting a higher part of us: our personal
 SPACING: Avoid habituation strengths and virtues.
 SAVORING: deliberate conscious attention  In terms of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human
 MINDFULNESS: no more mindlessness Needs, pleasures are the satisfaction of our
basic needs, especially biological ones.
GRATIFICATIONS  Gratifications, in contrast, are the result of
Seligman's argument is that we get into deep trouble because higher needs, like our cognitive needs,
we learn from our culture to confuse the two, and to try aesthetic needs, self-actualization, and self-
(sometimes over and over and over) to get satisfaction from transcendence.
pleasure.
POSITIVE TRAITS: STRENGTH AND VIRTUE

 Character strengths as classified by positive psychology are a family of positive

traits expressed through a person's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are
universally recognized for the strength that they create in individuals and
communities. There are three key strengths in positive psychology; Forgiveness,
Gratitude and Humility.

 The virtues are core aspects of human excellence that allow us to survive and
thrive. Researchers found six core virtues to be ubiquitous across cultures.

 The 24 character strengths are organized under the six virtues.

Martin E.P Seligman make a three reasons for a solid ground a viable classification
of strength and virtue.

Character was given up for essentially three reasons:

1. Character as a phenomenon is entirely derived from experience.
2. Science should not prescriptively endorse, it should just describe.
3. Character is value-laden and tied to Victorian Protestantism.
 
 THE SIX UBIQUITY OF VIRTUES

 Led by Katherine Dahlsgaard, they read the Samurai code, the Koran,
Benjamin Franklin, and the Upanishads – some 200 virtue catalogues
in all. Almost every single one of these traditions flung across 3000
years and the entire face of the earth endorsed six virtues:

 Wisdom and Knowledge

 Courage
 Love and Humanity
 Justice
 Temperance
 Spirituality and Transcendence
 YOUR SIGNATURE STRENGTHS

 This chapter will allow you to identify your signature strengths. The chapters that follow are about
building them and choosing to use them in the main realms of your life.

 WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE

 The knowledge is the information you have learned, while the wisdom is the ability to use that knowledge in profound
way.
 Martin Seligman arranged a six routes to displaying wisdom and its necessary antecedent from the most basic up to the
mature.

 Curiosity
 The love of learning
 Judgment
 Ingenuity
 Social Intelligence
 COURAGE
 It is to reflect the open-eyed exercise of will toward the worthy ends that are not certain of attainment.
 This virtue is universally admired and every culture has heroes who exemplify this virtue. In this virtue there are three
ubiquitous routes to this virtue;

 Valor
 Perseverance
 Integrity

 LOVE AND HUMANITY

 This strengths are displayed in positive social interaction with other people.

 Kindness and Generosity

 Loving and allowing oneself to be loved

 JUSTICE
 These strengths show up in civic activities. They go beyond your one-on-one relationships to how you relate to another

 Citizenship/ Teamwork/ Loyalty

 Fairness and Equity
 Leadership
 TEMPERAMENCE

 It refers to the appropriate and moderate expressions of your appetites and wants.
 The temperate person does not suppress motives but waits for opportunities.

 Self control
 Prudence
 Humility and Modesty

 TRANSCENDENCE

 These are the strengths that reach outside and beyond you to connect you to something larger and more permanent

 Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence

 Gratitude
 Hope/Optimism/ Future-mindedness
 Spirituality
 Forgiveness and Mercy
 Playfulness and Humor
 Zest/Enthusiasm
 POSITIVE INSTITUTIONS: IN THE MANSIONS
OF LIFE
WORK AND PERSONAL SATISFACTION

“Money really cannot buy Happiness”

 According to Seligman (2004) stated that our economy is rapidly changing from a
money economy to a satisfaction economy. For example, an employees is changing
company even though they have the highest income because of dissatisfaction with
the management, organizations or the policy of company. Also, because they are
not happy with the environment they are working in.

3 KINDS OF WORK ORIENTATION

 A JOB – you do a good job for paycheck, you are not seeking any rewards from it,
if the wages stop, you quit

 A CAREER – entails a deeper personal investment in work. You mark your

achievements through money but also through an advancement. Each promotion
brings you higher prestige and more power

 A CALLING – a passionate commitment to work. An individual with a calling see

their work as contributing to their god
LOVE
 The tedious law of homo economicus maintain that human being are fundamentally selfish
 Love is vastly more than affection in return for what we expected to gain
 It is to see someone’s worth, giving value and increases commitment
BANKERS PARADOX
 Love is a paradox because it can make us feel happier and more connected to someone, the catalysts that pushes into a
hole of depth and despair that almost indescribable.
 In the Diener and Seligman study of extremely happy people, every person in the top 10 percent of happiness was
currently involved in a romantic relationship. The single most robust fact about marriage, across many surveys is that
married people are happier than anyone else.
 As David Myers says “In fact, there are few stronger predictors of happiness than a close, nurturing, lifelong
companionship with one’s best friend.
 Depression shows that married people have the least depression and never married people the next least, followed by
people divorce once, people cohabiting and people divorced twice.

STYLES OF LOVED AND BEING LOVED

1. SECURE - I find it relatively easy to get close to others, and am comfortable depending on them and having them depend
on me. I don’t often worry about being abandoned, or about someone getting too close to me.
2. AVOIDANT - I am somewhat uncomfortable being close to others. I find it difficult to trust them completely, to allow myself
to depend on them. I am nervous when someone gets too close, and often love partners want me to be more intimate than I
am comfortable being.
3. ANXIOUS - I find that others are reluctant to get as close as I would like. I often worry that my partner doesn’t really love
me or won’t want to stay with me. I want to merge completely with another person, and this desire sometimes scares people
away.
 John Bowlby Mary Ainsworth
 Bowlby’s claim that a strong  Ainsworth took Bowlby’s
THREE KINDS OF LOVE BY parent-child bond was observations into the laboratory
CINDY HAZAN irreplaceable was met with a roar by putting many pairs of mothers
of hostility from academics and and children into what she called
 Love of the people who give social welfare agencies alike. This the “strange situation”
us comfort, acceptance, and controversy emerged the first truly
help, who bolster our scientific observations of children 3 MAJOR STYLES OF
confidence and guide us. separated from their mothers. ATTACHMENT

 The prototype is children’s 3 STAGES OF SEPARATION  Secure Infant – infant uses her
love of their parents. We love ANXIETY mother as a secure base to the
the people who depend on us explore room
for these provisions; the  Protest (consisting of crying,
prototype of this is parents’ screaming, pounding the door, and  Avoidant Infant – infant plays
love for their children. shaking the crib) lasted for a few when her mother is around, but
hours or even days. she does not smile much nor
 Romantic love—the  Despair (consisting of whimpering does show her toys to her mother
idealization of another, and passive listlessness). The
idealizing their strengths and ultimate stage was;  Anxious Infant – the infant cling
virtues and downplaying their  Detachment (consisting of to their mother even before
shortcomings. alienation from their parents, but separation and get upset when
renewed sociability with other adults the mother leaves
and other kids, and acceptance of a
new caregiver).
  BOWLBY AND AINSWORTH
 Two pioneering infant researchers
 Field the mantle of dispassionate behavioral science called “attachment”

 CINDY HAZAN AND PHILIP SHAVER

 Freer spirits in the psychology of 1980’s
 They realized that Ainsworth and Bowlby investigating not just the behavior attachment but also the emotion
of love
 They propose that same way you look at your mother when you are a toddler operates in intimate relations
all through your life. Called “your working model”

different paths of love, across a variety of dimensions;

 MEMORIES

• Secure adults remember their parents as available, as warm, and as affectionate.

• Avoidant adults remember their mothers as cold, rejecting, and unavailable, and
• Anxious adults remember their fathers as unfair

 ATTITUDES

• Secure adults have high self-esteem and few self-doubts. Other people like them, and they regard other people as
trustworthy, reliable, good-hearted, and helpful until sad experience proves otherwise.
• Avoidant adults regard other people with suspicion, as dishonest and untrustworthy (guilty until proven innocent). They
lack confidence, especially in social situations.
• Anxious adults feel they have little control over their lives, find other people hard to understand and predict, and so are
puzzled by other people.
 GOALS
• Secure people strive for intimate relations with those they love and try to find a good balance of dependence and
independence.
• Avoidant people try to keep their distance from those they love, and they put a greater weight on achievement than on
intimacy.
• Anxious people cling; they fear rejection continually, and they discourage autonomy and independence in the people they
love.

 MANAGING DISTRESS
• Secure people admit it when they are upset, and they try to use their distress to achieve constructive ends.
• Avoidant people don’t disclose. They don’t tell you when they are upset; they do not show or admit to anger.
• Anxious people flaunt their distress and anger, and when threatened they become too compliant and solicitous.

Making Good Love (Better)

• Seligman give four opinions about marriage, to not tolearte bad behaviour and abusive relationship. But solving problems
are not the goal.
• The Positive Psychology of relationships and this chapter are not about repairing damage to a marriage on the brink of
dissolving, but about how to make a solid marriage even better.
1. Reconcilable Differences by Andrew Christensen and Neil Jacobson
2. The Relationship Cure by John Gottman with Joan DeClaire
3. The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work by John Gottman with Nan Silver
4. Fighting for Your Marriage by Howard Markman, Scott Stanley, and Susan Blumberg.
 
Strengths and Virtues
• Marriage goes better when it is an everyday vehicle for using our signature strengths. Indeed, marriage is the everyday
vehicle for gratifications. Often, with some luck, our partners fall in love with us because of these strengths and virtues.
 John Gottman, professor at the University of Washington

• The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work, by John Gottman and Nan Silver
• He predicts in advance which couples will divorce and which will stay together, and he uses this knowledge to design
programs to make marriage better.
• He watched hundreds of couples interact for twelve hours each day for an entire weekend in his “love lab” (a
comfortable apartment with all the amenities of home, plus one-way mirrors), Gottman predicts divorce with over 90
percent accuracy. The harbingers are as follows:

 A harsh startup in a disagreement

 Criticism of partner, rather than complaints
 Displays of contempt
 Hair-trigger defensiveness
 Lack of validation (particularly stonewalling)
 Negative body language

• He also predicts accurately which marriages will improve over the years. He finds that these couples devote an extra
five hours per week to their marriage. Here is what these couples do, and I commend his wisdom to you:

Partings. Before these couples say goodbye every morning, they find out one thing that each is going to do that day. (2
minutes X 5 days = 10 minutes)
Reunions. At the end of each workday, these couples have a low-stress reunion conversation. (20 minutes X 5 days = 1
hour, 40 minutes)
Affection. Touching, grabbing, holding, and kissing—all laced with tenderness and forgiveness. (5 minutes X 7 days = 35
minutes)
One weekly date. Just the two of you in a relaxed atmosphere, updating your love. (2 hours once a week)
Admiration and appreciation. Every day, genuine affection and appreciation is given at least once. (5 minutes X 7 days = 35
minutes)

Raising Children

Two Division of Principle of Positive Psychology in Parenting of Raising a Children; First is Positive Emotions in kids
(because of it’s foundational). Then Strenght and Virtues, the best outcomes of abundant positive emotion in childhood.

Positive Emotions in Young Children

• Positive emotion advertises growth.

• Positive emotion emanating from a child is a neon sign that identifies a winning situation for the child and the parents alike.
• The first of three parenting principles about positive emotion is that such emotion broadens and builds the intellectual,
social, and physical resources that are the bank accounts for your children to draw upon later in life. Therefore evolution has
made positive emotion a crucial element in the growth of children.

Hold onto three principles for parenting that emerge from Positive Psychology:

• Positive emotion broadens and builds the intellectual, social, and physical resources that your children draw upon later in
life.
• Augmenting positive emotions in your children can start an upward spiral of positive emotion.
• The positive traits that your child displays are just as real and authentic as his or her negative traits.
 Eight Techniques for
Building Positive Emotion
1.Sleeping with Your Baby
There are several good reasons for this age-old arrangement:
• Amai. We believe in creating strong bonds of love (“secure attachment”) between the new baby and both parents.
• Safety. Like many parents we worry overly about our babies.
• Adventures with Daddy. Mothers do most of the baby-minding in our culture.

2.Synchrony Games - Our choice of toys is shaped by the synchrony game principle and by flow. First, we choose
toys that respond to what the baby does. Second, when the baby’s highest capacities are exactly matched to the
challenge the toy presents, flow and gratification occur.

3.No and Yes - One possible cause is our self-conscious rationing of the former words. “No” is a very important word in
the life of a child, since it signifies limits and dangers. But I believe it is used promiscuously, and to the detriment of the
child.

4.Praise and Punishment - Learned helplessness develops not just when bad events are uncontrollable, but also,
unfortunately, when good events are uncontrollable. Praise your child contingent on a success, not just to make him feel
better, and grade your praise to fit the accomplishment.
5.Sibling Rivalry - might be much less of a problem in families in which affection and attention are not such
a scarce resource. And while inconvenient sometimes, there is nothing insurmountable about making attention
and affection more abundant in your household. There are also effective antidotes that involve raising the
feeling of importance of the older child.

6.Bedtime Nuggets - Those minutes right before your child falls asleep can be the most precious of the
day. This is a time that parents often squander with a perfunctory goodnight kiss, a simple prayer, or some other
small ritual.

7.Making a Deal - The child-raising world was convinced that Skinner was right and that positively
reinforcing desired behavior was the way to raise kids.

8.New Year’s Resolutions - Make the resolutions positive accomplishments that build on our strengths