Positive psychology
Unit 1 PP-an
introduction
Unit 1 PP-an
introduction
1.1.. Role of emotions and historical over view
Definition:
Positive psychology is the scientific study of
affirmative experiences and individual traits,
and the institutions facilitating their
development (Duckworth, Steen &
Seligman, 2005).
Focus: what goes well and how persons live
with purpose in difficult times – focus on
strengths
Areas of study
4 areas: (1) positive emotions (happiness,
fullfilment, gratitude) ,
(2) positive individual traits (optimism, resilience,
character strength,
(3) positive relationships among groups, and
(4) enabling institutions (schools, etc) that foster
positive outcome.
The concepts of happiness, flow, strengths and
virtues; and gratifications are central to + Psy.
Historical overview
Before WWII Psychology had three missions: curing
mental illness; making the lives of people more
productive; identifying and nurturing high talents.
(Terman’s study of giftedness)
After the war, things changed – economically and
politically
1947 – National institute for mental health
Focus was on mental illness, curing the damage
Seligman and Mihaly: Psy is also a study of strength
and virtue- strength as buffer against mental illness
Perspectives: Eastern, Western
Western
-in all culture element of hope; good over evil
- Greek mythology – pandora box – troubles
and hope to troubles
-Socrates – self knowledge as path to
happiness
-Plato- allegry of cave – happiness in deeper
meaning
-Aristotle – happiness in rational activity in
accordance with virtue
- stoics – happiness in spiritual exercises
-Judeo-Christian – happiness in after life
- Middle ages – building, publishing: Notre dame
in Paris, St. Bartholomew hospital in England
(1070), Florence – city of culture in Europle (1282)
-with Renaissance, hope in present life, rationality
over faith; Michelangelo’s Art, Copernicus’ solar
system
- Drafting of the Declaration of Independence
(1776), Mozart’s last three symphonies (1788),
Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason (1981)
- The industrial revolution (1700-1800) – material
and personal benefits; Louis Pasteur’s work with
bacteria in Paris
- 20th Cent:
William James (1902/1958), the father of
American psychology, wrote about the term
‘healthy mindedness’ in Varieties of Religious
Experience (1902/1958)
- Gordon Allport’s (1958/1961) interest in
positive human characteristics
- Humanistic and existential psychologies
(Maslow’s self actualisation; Rogers self growth)
- Terman’s study on gifted children
Eastern perspectives
-Western emphasis on rationalism; Eastern on
experience of hope and compassion
-Life is a balance of good and evil
-Confucius: service to the community, morality a
cure for evils of society, truth, sensitivity, duty
and virtue – good life
- Taoism – the way, light and darkness; harmony,
flow with the river and transcends the flow
-Buddhism – compassion, true knowledge; 4
noble truths
- Hinduism – interconnectedness, harmonhyh
Positive emotions and Build and
broaden theory
Positive emotions
Working definitions vary
Emotions are subset of broader class of
affective phenomena
Emotions are best conceptualized as
multicomponent response tendencies that
unfold over relatively short time spans.
- It begins with assessment (Cs and UnCs) of an
event that triggers subjective experience, facial
expression and physiological changes
Emotions are different from Affect. Emotions are
specific-fear, joy, anger, sad etc. Affect are more
general categories of pleasant or unpleasant
feelings and long lasting
- Positive affect facilitates approach behavior; it
prompts one to engage with the environment
positively, explore options and situations; it signals
to approach and continue the activity; it triggers
positive tendencies
The Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive
Emotions (Fredrickson, 1998).
Certain discrete positive emotions—including joy,
interest, contentment, pride, and love—although
phenomenologically distinct,
-all share the ability to broaden people's
momentary thought-action repertoires and
-build their enduring personal resources, ranging
from physical and intellectual resources to social
and psychological resources.
This theory is different from traditional specific
action theory applicable to negative emotions; in
fear the quick response would be to fight or flee.
- But in Build and broaden model, positive
emotions can occur in adverse situation but in a
non-life threatening context.
-In positive emotions quick action may not be
required.
-They broaden people's momentary thought-
action repertoires, widening the array of the
thoughts and actions that come to mind
- Eg Joy gives the urge to play, to be creative in
physical, social, intellectual and artistic behavior
- Likewise all the distinct positive emotions broaden
the experiences and repertoire, explore into new
areas and expand the self in the process
- negative emotions have immediate adaptive benefits
- Positive emotions have long terms benefits in other
ways; it augments personal psychological and
physical resources
- Evidence for this theory come from intrinsic
motivation, cognition, attachment styles and animal
behavior
- Research shows that people with positive emotions
are flexible, open to new information, creative, ability
to integrate new information, cognitively open ,
broaden the attention as opposed to narrowed
attention in negative emotions
- Positive emotions also strengthen resilience
- Resilient individuals bounce back from stressful
experience quickly and efficiently; in cardiovascular
problem these people bounce back to normality
faster
-Positive Emotions Build Psychological
Resiliency and Trigger Upward Spirals Toward
Improved Emotional Well-Being
-Positive emotions broaden cognitive and
emotional ability and therby creates psychological
resilience and subsequently emotional well-being;
even in aggrievement, such people have long term
plans and goals
- Positive emotions and positive thinking
are reciprocally related.
- it helps them to cope effectively the
adverse situation
- well prepared for future challenges
• In general, the goals of positive psychology in coaching are as
follows:
• To positively impact the client’s life—this goal is above all others, and all
others feed indirectly into this goal. The main goal of coaching is to
improve the client’s life. Positive psychology coaching is no different;
• Increase the client’s experience of positive emotions;
• Help clients identify and develop their strengths and unique talents;
• Enhance the client’s goal-setting and goal-striving abilities;
• Build a sense of hope into the client’s
perspective;
Cultivate the client’s sense of happiness
and wellbeing;
Nurture a sense of gratitude in the client;
Help the client build and maintain healthy,
positive relationship with others;
Encourage the client to maintain an
optimistic outlook;
Help the client learn to savor every positive
moment (Mentor Coach, n.d.; Peppercorn
An Introduction to the PERMA Model
• P – Positive Emotions: Even though seeking positive
emotions alone is not a very effective way to boost your
wellbeing, experiencing positive emotion is still an
important factor. Part of wellbeing is enjoying yourself
in the moment, i.e., experiencing positive emotions;
• E – Engagement: Having a sense of engagement, in
which we may lose track of time and become
completely absorbed in something we enjoy and excel
at, is an important piece of wellbeing. It’s hard to have a
developed sense of wellbeing if you are not truly
engaged in anything you do;
R – (Positive) Relationships: Humans are
social creatures, and we rely on
connections with others to truly flourish.
Having deep, meaningful relationships with
others is vital to our wellbeing;
developed sense of wellbeing if they do not find
meaning in their life. When we dedicate
ourselves to a cause or recognize something
bigger than ourselves, we experience a sense of
meaning that there is simply no replacement
for;
A – Accomplishment / Achievement: We all
thrive when we are succeeding, achieving our
goals, and bettering ourselves. Without a drive
to accomplish and achieve, we are missing one
of the puzzle pieces of authentic wellbeing
(Seligman, 2011)
1.2. Areas of positive psychology:
-Character strength and virtues
- flow
-Happiness
- Mindfulness
- Hope
- Optimism
-Positive thinking
-Resilience
1.3. Western and Eastern perspectives
1.4. Research approaches in PP
- Case study
-Experiment
- Observational study
- Survey
- Content analysis
Unit 2: Happiness
2.1. Meaning and measure
Happiness refers to the spontaneous reflections
of pleasant and unpleasant feelings in one’s
immediate experience.
Modern western psychology emphasizes
pleasure, satisfaction, & life meaning.
A person’s chronic happiness level is governed
by three major factors; a genetically
determined set point for happiness, happiness-
relevant circumstantial factors, & happiness-
relevant activities & practices.
2.2. Theories of happiness
HEDONIC HAPPINESS
It defines good life in terms of personal happiness.
The chief goal of life is the pursuit of happiness &
pleasure.
Hedonic enjoyment is associated with activities that
made people feel relaxed, excited, content or happy,
& that led to losing track of time & forgetting
personal problems.
EUDAIMONIC HAPPINESS
Aristotle define happiness as self-realization,
meaning the expression & fulfillment of inner
potentials.
The good life results from living in accordance
with your true self.
Happiness results from striving toward self-
actualization
Eudaimonic happiness results from experiences
of personal expressiveness(Waterman).
Such experiences occur when we are fully engaged in life
activities that fit & express our deeply held values & our sense
of who we are.
Eudaimonic happiness are related to activities that create
feelings of challenge, competence, & effort that offer the
opportunities for personal growth & skill development
THEORIES OF HAPPINESS have been divided into 3
types.
Need/goal satisfaction theories: Psychoanalytic &
Humanistic theorists suggested that the reduction of
tension or satisfaction of needs lead to happiness.
Process/activity theories say that engaging in
particular life activities generates happiness.
E.g., Csikszentmihalyi proposed that people who
experience flow(engagement in interesting activities
that match or challenge task-related skills) in daily
life tend to be happy.
Snyder have emphasized how the process of
pursuing goals generates energy & happiness.
Genetic & personality predisposition theories
see happiness as stable(Watson).
In Western culture, happy people are
extraverted, optimistic and have high self-
esteem and an internal locus of control.
The least happy of all are people trapped in unhappy
marriages(Myers, 2000).close supportive
relationships between parents & children, between
siblings & friends, enhance the social support ,
subjective well-being.
Studies show that people involved in religion &
spiritual practices are happier than others.
Pleasant physical environments are moderately
associated with happiness.
Subjective ratings of personal health correlate with
happiness.
Exercise induces positive mood states &in the long
run regular exercise leads to greater happiness.
Employment status, job satisfaction, skill usage,
goal directed activity & education are all associated
with happiness.
People report greater happiness on days when they
achieve highly valued goals than on days when
they achieve less valued goals.
Rest, relaxation, good food & leisure activities all
have positive short-term effects on happiness.
Subjective well-being
SWB refers to people’s evaluations of their lives-
evaluations that are both affective & cognitive.
Diener defines SWB as a combination of positive affect (in
the absence of negative affect) & general life satisfaction.
SWB have 3 primary components, life satisfaction,
positive affect, & negative affect.
Life satisfaction is a cognitive judgment concerning how
satisfied a person is with his life.
Positive & negative affect refer to people’s feelings about
their lives.
Positive affect- the frequency & intensity of
pleasant emotions such as joy,& happiness.
Negative affect- the frequency & intensity of
unpleasant emotions such as sadness,& worry.
Psychological well-being includes (Ryff)
Self-acceptance-positive attitude toward oneself,
accepting of varied aspects of the self, feel positive
about past life.
Personal growth-feelings of continued development &
effectiveness, open to new experiences & challenges.
Purpose in life- possessing goals & beliefs that give
direction to life, feeling life has meaning & purpose.
Environmental mastery-feel competent & able to mange
complex environment; able to create personally suitable
living situation.
Autonomy-feel comfortable with self-direction,
possess internal standards; resist negative
social pressures from others.
Positive relations with others-warm, satisfying &
trusting relationships with others, capable of
empathy & intimacy.
Social well-being includes(Keyes)
Social acceptance-holds positive attitudes toward others,
while understanding their complexities.
Social actualization-cares about & believes that people
have potential; society can evolve in a positive direction.
Social contribution-feeling that one’s life is useful to
society & valued by others.
Social coherence-has interest in society & believes it is
intelligible & somewhat logical, predictable &
meaningful.
Social integration-feels sense of belonging to a
community, feels comfort & support from community.
2.3. Cultivating happiness
- Train your brain to be positive:
Gratitude to others; gratitude journal
- Nurture and enjoy relationship
- Live in the present, savor life
- Focus on helping others and live with
meaning
- take care of health
2.4. Measures of Happiness
4 approaches:
1. Biological: difficult; happiness is not the opposite
of depression; low level of serotonin causes
depression, but high level does not mean happiness
2. Behavioral: helping behavior, frequent smiling, etc
3. Other reports: asking parents about their children
4. Self reports
Unit 3
3.1. Resilience
Resilience means the ability to bounce back
from adversity. The resilient people also often
find meaning in the experience and grow from it.
In PP, resilience means the ability to —
put up a brave face in times of adversity and
hard times,
use the available strengths and resources to
resist and cope,
recover and flourish from the event and
experience.
Resilience is important as it gives us the
strength to process and overcome
hardships.
Resilience is important because:
it enables us to develop strategies,
it helps us to hold on steadfast in our lives
it serves us to guard ourselves against
some serious mental health issues like
depressionand suicide
4 types of resilience
Physical, mental, social and emotional
5 skills of resilience
Self-awareness
Attention – flexibility & stability of focus
Letting go (1) – physical
Letting go (2) – mental
Accessing & sustaining positive emotion
six core competencies of resilience:
Self-Awareness
Self-Regulation
Optimism
Mental Agility
Strengths of Character
Connection
Ginsburg’s 7 C’s (competence, confidence,
connection, character, contribution, coping,
and control)
Flow experiences occur when we
are engaged in controllable and
challenging tasks that require skills
and are intrinsically motivating.
(painting, art, sculpting, music,
dance, etc)
Flow experiences are an end to
themselves
Concentration – high degree of
concentration
Loss of the feeling of self-
consciousness
Distorted sense of time – subjective
experience of time is altered
Balance between ability level and
challenge
A sense of personal control over the
situation
Activity is intrinsically rewarding
A lack of awareness of bodily needs
(Michael Angelo)
Action-awareness merging
The flow state includes
Perceived challenges or opportunities for
action that stretch (neither underutilised or
overwhelming) existing personal skills
Clear proximal goals and immediate
feedback about progress
Three regions of momentary optimal
experiences:
Flow: challenges and skills match
Boredom: challenges are too easy relative
to skills
Anxiety: challenges exceed abilities
Anxiety Arousal Flow
Worry Control
Apathy Boredom Relaxation
may be associated with the ability to achieve
flow.
Existence of autotelic personality: autos (self),
telos (end); generally persons do things , enjoy
doing things for own sake, rather than in order
to achieve external reward or goal
Autotelic personality concept is more applicable
in the context of high-challenge and high-skill
situations.
Autotelic personality is related to positive and
affective states and the quality of personal goal
statements
People with autotelic personality experience
little stress when in the flow quadrant.
Finding and shaping activities and
environments that are more conducive to
flow experiences
Identifying personal characteristics and
attentional skills that can be tuned to make
flow more likely
Children allowed to choose activity of own
interest and pursue the activities.
Challenge and stretch
3.3. Compassion and empathy
Empathy and egotism lead to altruism,
gratitude and forgiveness
Empathy and sympathy
Altruism is behavior that is aimed at
benefiting another person. It can be
motivated by pure empathic desire to
benefit another person, irrespective of
personal gain.
Egotism is the motive to pursue some sort
of personal gain or benefit through
targeted behavior. Most authors believe
that egotism fuels altruistic behavior – we
care for other people because it benefits us
to do so.
Forms of egotism-motivated altruism:
helping another to get praise, reward, or to
avoid social punishment for failing to help
or to lessen one’s own distress
contrast to egotism theory, this theory
proposes that there can be ‘pure’ altruistic
behavior driven by empathy as in the case
of a soldier sacrificing his life to save his
friend
Genetic and Neural foundations of
empathy: studies done monozygotics and
dizygotics, and the empathy scores among
the twins showed correlationships among
the former as .41 while in the later it was .
Recent research on neurology: prefrontal
and parietal cortices are essential for
empathy. Damage to this leads to
impairment in appraising other’s emotions.
Researchers also have discovered ‘mirror
neurons’ that react identically when an
animal performs an action seeing another
animal perform the same action. So far this
study has been done only on monkeys.
This could explain why and how we feel
empathy.
about others as we care and identify with
others
The idea of compassion is in Aristotle’s
writings and in Eastern traditions.
Confucianism: compassion with concept of
jen (humanity). Taoism: compassion must
occur naturally, without premeditation.
Buddhism: compassion (karuna) is a virtue
on the path towards transcendence.
Hinduism: with compassion one will not
return again to this life.
inflicted, (3) must be able to identify with
recipient’s suffering.
Compassion is focusing on others,
transcending centrality of one’s own self –
helps achieve good life. Completely
transcending oneself is referred to as
transcendental compassion as different
from applied compassion (karuna) in
Buddhism
Compassion comes natural in collectivist
culture
has transgressed against a person. The target
of forgiveness may be oneself or others
McCullough et al. define forgiveness as that
which increases in prosocial motivation toward
another such that there is (1) less desire to
harm or seek revenge, and (2) increased desire
to act positively toward the transgressing
person
Enright et al. define forgiveness as a
‘willingness to abandon one’s right to
resentment, negative judgment and indifferent
behavior toward one who unjustly hurt us, while
fostering qualities of compassion,
understanding and love toward the other
cognitive-affective transformation following a
transgression in which
(2) the victim makes a realistic assessment of the
harm done and acknowledges the perpetrator’s
responsibility, but (3) freely chooses to ‘cancel the
debt’ giving up the need for revenge. The cancelling
of debt also involves (4) a ‘cancellation of negative
emotions’ directly related to the transgression and in
doing so, the harmed individual (5) essentially
removes himself from the victim role.
Giving up the negative emotions is the crux of
forgiveness. It is the ‘letting go’, surrendering of one’s
need to cling to negative feeling.
forgiveness of others implies forgiveness of oneself
Evolutionary and neurobiological bases of
forgiveness
Man lives in a group and there are chances that hurt
and violence breaks the communal nature of man. So
also forgiveness can break the cycle of violence. Lack
of forgiveness may threaten the demise of the entire
group. In this sense, there is evolutionary advantage
in forgiving actions. Forgiving others can also produce
positive feelings around us that helps to stabilise the
social order. Hence forgiveness has an adaptive
evolutionary advantage.
Newberg et al. Neurophysiology of forgiveness
process:
1. Forgiveness involves a person’s sense of self
as self is damaged through transgression. The
sense of self is located in the frontal, parietal
and temporal lobes, which receives input from
sensory system and the hippocampus
input, and this input is mediated through limbic
system (the sympathetic nervous system) and
the hypothalamus
3. Initiation of the reconciliation process
involves activation of the temporal, parietal and
frontal lobes along with limbic system input
4. finally, the actual outward direction of the
forgiveness occurs through the limbic system
and is associated with positive emotions (link it
with alpha brain waves)
him/her, valuable to the recipient and intentionally
rendered.
Gratitude springs from propensity to appreciate and
savor everyday events and experiences
One can be grateful to life, nature, events, persons,
God
Gratitude is viewed as a prized human propensity in
the Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Christian and Jewish
traditions
Hume- ingratitude is the most horrible and unnatural
of all crimes
Thomas Aquinas - gratitude is beneficial to the
individual, and also serves as a motivational force for
human altruism
Though no research directly on gratitude, there are
studies on appreciation. These two concepts are
similar as gratitude requires appreciation.
Frustration elicits disordered and erratic heart
rhythms reflecting a lack of synchrony between
parasympathetic and sympathetic branches of the
autonomous nervous system. But appreciation
produces coherent patterns of heart rhythms, calming
patterns of heart beat
Appreciation also produces another form of
physiological coherence, the synchrony between
alpha brain wave activity (taken from
electroencephalograms [EEGs] and heart beats.
Lighter shading is observed in the picture when there
is synchrony
responsible for regulation of internal organs and
glands, which occurs unconsciously. To be
specific, the parasympathetic system is
responsible for stimulation of "rest-and-digest"
activities that occur when the body is at rest,
including sexual arousal, salivation, lacrimation
(tears), urination, digestion, and defecation. Its
action is described as being complementary to
that of one of the other main branches of the
ANS,
the sympathetic nervous system, which is
responsible for stimulating activities associated
with the fight-or-flight response.
Alpha Brain Waves are a sign of relaxed activity
in your brain. Alpha brainwaves are defined as
brain waves that cycle between the frequency 8
Hz – 12 Hz.
They are commonly produced in synchronized
fashion connecting both hemispheres of your
brain, though they can be found solely in the
right hemisphere as well.
Alpha brainwaves are the dominant brain wave
activity when your body and mind are able to
relax.
Hope
Snyder hope theory: emphasises cognitions that
are built on goal-directed thought.
Hope as goal directed thinking in which the
person utilises pathways thinking (perceived
capacity to find routes to desired goals) and
agency thinking (the requisite motivations to
use those routes)
are women happier than men?” The answer is
“yes, but it’s complicated.
Women around the world report higher levels of
life satisfaction than men, but at the same time
report more daily stress.
And it does not hold in countries where gender
rights are compromised, as in much of the
Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa.
The gap between women and men’s well-being
is greater (e.g., women are that much happier
than men) in wealthier contexts, among more
educated and older cohorts, and in urban areas.
Happiness across cultures
culture influences how we seek happiness and
regulate our emotions
European Americans typically want to feel
peppy emotions like excitement and
cheerfulness,
while people in the East prefer calmer states
like peace and serenity.
Even the factors that promote happiness may
be different, as self-esteem is more important to
our feelings of life satisfaction in the West than
in East Asia.
UNIT 4: Religion and spirituality
Religion, spirituality and wellbeing
Spirituality: transcendence, introspection,
interconnectedness, and the quest for meaning
in life
Religiosity: commitment, in-depth exploration
and reconsideration of commitment
Spirituality is positively correlated to
wellbeing: cognitive aspect (life satisfaction)
and affect aspect (positive over negative)
-the drive to construct meaning or purpose in
life is a quintessential consequence of being
human rather than something that is conceived
under a specific religious or philosophical
framework.
- perceiving to have inner strength reduce the
experience of negative affect
-positive emotions and SelfTranscendence are
intertwined; positive emotional states create an
opened and broadened mindset favorable to
self-transcendence.
- However, religiosity is correlated to only affect
aspect of subjective well being
Religiosity-WB
- However, religiosity is correlated to only affect
aspect of subjective well being
-positive emotions have been demonstrated to
be a direct consequence of behaviors related to
religious commitment
Indian Spirituality and Well-Being
The Indian culture is deeply rooted in religious
and practices on one hand and spirituality and
spiritual practice on the other
Well-being means individuals ability to enjoy life
and efforts to achieve psychological resilience
"The Indian culture and philosophy has been
unique in its fostering of spiritual independence
and growth in the people
A common Indian is under the strong impact of
the could be Vedas, Upanishads, Yoga,
Bhagavad Gita, Buddhism and its Various
schools. Indian philosophy
lights effective in the whole process of
counselling.
Attending spiritual discussions, Satsangs,
Bhajans, visiting religious places, renewing
hobbies are the most efficient tools for attaining
the mental peace.
Through spirituality negative attitude changes
into positive and gives a new vision to
consciousness. Dr. S. Radhakrishnan said, "Gita
is a book of grace. Most wondrous divine and
peace giving feeling arises by it recitation.
Mental stability can be attained through Gita."
man is endowed with these powers: (i) Power of
act (strength) (ii) Power to know (Knowledge)
(iii) Power to believe (faith). The power to act is
for rendering service to world selflessly that is
Karmayoga, the power to know is meant for self
realization that is Gyanyoga, the power to
believe is totally surrender to God is
Bhaktiyoga.
According to Gita one should accept things as
they come and leaves them without regret
"Yoga means binding one's psychic power,
balancing and enhancing them.
Sermon on the Mount. When disappointment
stares me in the face and all alone I see not one
ray of light, I go back to the Bhagvad Gita. I find
a verse here and a verse there and I
immediately being to smile in the midst of
overwhelming tragedies and my life has been
full of external tragedies and if they have left no
visible, no indelible scar on me, I owe it all to
the teaching of the Bhagvad Gita." (Young India,
1925)
The karma, so peculiar to Indian thought, is
about acceptance, gracious acceptance of
every turn of events as Prasad from God.
tremendous positive feelings as compared to
others.
The electroencephalograph (EEG) records
indicate that meditation can even tame
amygdale enabling the individual to be less
shocked, flustered, or angry.
Reduced levels of anxiety associated with
spiritual activity have been found in various
populations such as women with cervical cancer
Another study found that Jain technique of
meditation was very effective in reducing
frustration levels and consequent aggression in
prisoners.
