Outline What is positive psychology? Major research areas - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Outline

 What is positive psychology?  Major research areas  Criticisms of the discipline  Future directions  Questions

Defining Positive Psychology…

“Positive psychology is the scientific study of optimal human functioning [that] aims to discover and promote the factors that allow individuals and communities to thrive” (Seligman, 1999)

 Positive psychology focuses on well-being, happiness,

flow, personal strengths, wisdom, creativity, resilience and characteristics of positive groups and institutions

Positive coping

Motivation & goal theories Applied pos. psychology Strengths & virtues Emotions Happiness & well-being

Positive Psychology

Creativity Emotional intelligence Humour Positive emotions Hedonic approaches Flow Eudaimonic approaches Psychological well-being Psychology of time Positive therapy Coaching Positive education Positive business Wisdom & knowledge Positive ageing

Resilience

Love & humanity Strengths of temperance Strengths of courage Strengths of justice

Strengths of

transcendence Post- traumatic growth Coping with choice

Founding ‘Parents’ of Positive Psychology*

• Martin Seligman
• Clinical psychologist
• President of the American Psychological

Association (APA)

• Ed Diener
• Mihalyi Csikzentmihalyi
• Christopher Peterson
• Sonja Lyubomirsky
• Barbara Fredrickson

Abraham Maslow (1954)*

Why Positive Psychology?



Three tasks of psychology prior to WWII

1) Cure mental illness 2) Enhance the lives of the normal population and 3) Study and identify geniuses



“The message of the Positive Psychology movement is to remind our field that it has been

• deformed. Psychology is not just the study of disease, weakness, and damage; it also is

the study of strength and virtue. Treatment is not just fixing what is wrong; it also is building what is right. Psychology is not just about illness or health; it is about work, education, insight, love, growth, and play. And in this quest for what is best, Positive Psychology does not rely on wishful thinking, self-deception or hand-waving; instead it tries to adapt what is best in the scientific method to the unique problems that human behavior presents in all its complexity.” Seligman (1998)

1) as concerned with strength as with weakness; 2) as interested in building the best things in life as in repairing the worst; 3) as concerned with making the lives of normal people fulfilling as with healing pathology; 4) should create interventions to make people happier

The aims of positive psychology

Asking a different question…

 “Why do these

individuals fail?”

 “What makes

some individuals succeed despite unfavorable circumstances?”

Criticised for (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000):

 Never developed a respectable empirical basis  Inspiring subjective, self-help movements  Encouraging narcissistic preoccupation with the self and self- improvement, at the expense of societal welfare  Peterson (2006), however, states: “…As positive psychology has evolved and more carefully examined allied perspectives, the whole dismissal of humanistic psychology now seems glib and mistaken”

Posi%ve ¡psychology ¡vs. ¡Humanis%c ¡psychology ¡

Positive Psychology Timeline



Annual Summer Positive Psychology Institute summit

(2001-2005)



Medici II (summer 2005, 2006, 2007): dozens of scientists and scholars in attendance



6 European Positive Psychology Conferences



2 International Positive Psychology Congresses



Conferences in Australia, Singapore, Korea, Denmark…



> 50 international research groups



International Positive Psychology Association http://www.ippanetwork.org/



Several international MAPP programmes

UK Positive Psychology in 2012

 Action for Happiness  The Young Foundation  New Economics Foundation (Happy planet index)  UK government & Office for National Statistics  UN Happiness convention (April 2012)

Major Global surveys



Gallup World Poll: The most widely known global well-being poll, which boasts data from over 98% of the world’s population



World database of happiness: The database contains information and results from nearly 30 years of scientific research on happiness across the globe



World Values survey: Since 1981, this survey has collected information on changing values within 97 countries around the world



Eurobarometer: In Europe, the European commission issues the Eurobarometer that is used to measure citizen’s perceptions of quality of life



European Social Survey (ESS): Another European social survey, funded by the European Commission’s framework programme, is the ESS, which aims to collect data from over 30 countries on their citizen’s beliefs, attitudes and behaviours (including well-being)



Latinobarometer: In Latin America, the LatinoBarometro surveys over 400 million Latin Americas, from 18 countries, on several topics including trust in government and

• pinions (as cited in Buetnner, 2010)

Applications of positive psychology

 Health  Education  Workplace  Individuals  Therapy

(Hefferon & Boniwell, In press)

Evidence supporting use of PPI’s



Sin & Lyubomirsky’s (2009) meta-analysis



4000+ both normal and depressed populations benefited from participation in PPI’s



Higher levels of depression at baseline reporting the greatest impact



People who self selected for the studies had higher levels of improved well-being



Younger individuals experience more benefits



Method of delivery (individual or group therapy or self-administered)



PPI’s that were longer than 4 weeks, but shorter than 12 weeks

Ways to well-being…

• Good life
• Engaged life
• Meaningful life

Authentic Happiness

• Positive emotions
• Engagement
• Relationships
• Meaning
• Achievement

PERMA

• Career Well being
• Relationship well being
• Financial well being
• Physical well-being
• Community Well-being

Gallup

• Connect
• Be active
• Take notice
• Keep learning
• Give

5 ways

Positive psychology:

 Gives us new perspectives

• n existing ideas

 Provides empirical

evidence to support human flourishing

 Rebalances the deficit

approach

 Connects different

disciplines

In Sum…

Happiness

What is the highest of all goals achievable by actions?...both the general run of man and people

• f superior refinement say it is happiness…but

with regard to what happiness is, they differ. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book 1,Chapter 4

Two Major Theoretical Positions

Well-being

Hedonic Well-being Eudaimonic Well-being

Hedonic well being

Satisfaction with life High positive affect Low negative affect Subjective well being (SWB)

SWB

 Cognitive and Affective evaluations  Discrepancy between:

Present situation Ideal

Experiencing self Reflective (Future) Self

Satisfaction with Life Scale

Distribution of happiness



1.1 million (across 45 nations) (Myers, 2000)

Number of Surveys

Ubiquity of Happiness

 Assumption that most people view themselves as

unhappy appears to be false (Myers, 2000)

 Most people (> 2/3) in most samples (across age, race,

sex, measures) view themselves as ‘above average’ in happiness

 Exceptions: “Hospitalized alcoholics, newly incarcerated

inmates, new therapy clients, students living under political suppression” (Myers, 2000)

Benefits of High SWB



Higher levels of sociability, trust, helpfulness



Better at task persistence and multi-tasking



Better academic performance



Less vulnerability to illness



Less hostility and less self-centeredness



Longevity (Diener & Biswas-Diener, 2009) http://s.psych.uiuc.edu/~ediener/index.html



Money



Personality



Age – (now more about life cycles; emotion intensity tends to decrease)



Gender (no clear difference)



Education (small positive effect; women)



Work and employment



Health



Religion



Certain life events (prolonged unemployment; widowhood)

Possible correlates/predictors of SWB

Introducing the ‘Hedonic treadmill’

 Adaptation theory/Set point theory (Lykken &

Tellegen, 1996)

 Happiness ‘Set point’ (Set range)  Lottery versus paraplegic study (Brickman et al.

1978)

 Social comparison  Hedonic adaptation prevention model-

manipulation of positive events and experiences (via interventions) (Lyubomirksy, In press)

Affective forecasting

 People tend to overestimate the impact of future

events, assuming these would have a more intense and enduring hedonic impact

 Tenureship  3 month window reaction period to positive and

negative experiences (Lykken & Tellegen, 1996)

 http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/97

Challenging ‘the treadmill’



Dynamic equilibrium theory



Heady and Wearing (1989, 1992)



Debating accuracy of set point theory



German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) (25 years)

Change from 1984-88 (baseline) to…. Change of 25 percentiles

• r more

% Change of 50 percentiles

• r more

% 1984-88 to 1989-93 23.8 4.8 1984-88 to 1994-98 31.4 9.5 1984-88 to 1999-03 37.6 11.8 1984-88 to 2004-08 37.9 12.3 Long term change in life satisfaction set-points from 1984-88 to 2004-08a

• a. Source: SOEP 1984-2008: a balanced sample of respondents who reported their life satisfaction every year

N=1076).

Eudaimonic well being

Psychological ¡ ¡ Well-­‑being ¡

Self ¡acceptance ¡ Autonomy ¡ ¡ Environmental ¡ ¡ mastery ¡ Positive ¡ relationships ¡ Purpose ¡in ¡ ¡ life ¡ Personal ¡ ¡ growth ¡

Ryff’s ¡(1999) ¡model ¡of ¡psychological ¡well-­‑being ¡

What is ‘Flourishing’?

 Mental Health/Dual Continua Model/MHPP (Keyes)  Mental health spectrum (Huppert, 2009)  PERMA (Seligman, 2011)

Flourishing research



Flourishing as mental health: ‘flourishing is a form of complete mental health distinct from the mere absence of mental disorder’ (Keyes, 2002, 2005,

2006). 

Flourishing ‘mental health’ = high levels of:

a.

Psychological wellbeing (PWB) (Ryff & Keyes, 1995)

b.

Social wellbeing (Keyes, 1998)

c.

Subjective wellbeing (SWB) (Diener, 2000)



The absence of mental illness does not imply the presence of mental health



Languishing (Low levels of well being, emptiness, stagnation, hollow)

Tripartite Structure and Specific Dimensions Reflecting Positive Mental Health

Hedonia

Positive Affect: Cheerful, interested in life, in good spirits, happy, calm and peaceful, full of life. Avowed Quality of Life: Mostly or highly satisfied with life overall or in domains of life.

Positive Psychological Functioning

Self Acceptance: Holds positive attitudes toward self, acknowledges, likes most parts of self, personality. Personal Growth: Seeks challenge, has insight into own potential, feels a sense

• f continued development.

Purpose in Life: Finds own life has a direction and meaning. Environmental Mastery: Exercises ability to select, manage, and mold personal environs to suit needs. Autonomy: Is guided by own, socially accepted, internal standards and values. Positive Relations with Others: Has, or can form, warm, trusting personal relationships.

Social Well being

Social Acceptance: Holds positive attitudes toward, acknowledges, and is accepting of human differences. Social Growth (Actualization): Believes people, groups, and society have potential to grow. Social Contribution: Sees own daily activities a useful to and valued by society and others. Social Coherence: Interest in society and social life, and finds them meaningful and somewhat intelligible. Social Integration: A sense of belonging to, and comfort and support from, a community.

MIDUS Studies



1995 Midlife in the United States study of adults between the ages of 25 and 74 (n = 3,032).



17.2 % fit the criteria for flourishing



56.6 % were moderately mentally healthy



12.1 % of adults fit the criteria for languishing



14.1 % fit the criteria for DSM-III-R major depressive episode (12-month)



The risk of a major depressive episode was two times more likely among languishing than moderately mentally healthy adults



Nearly six times greater among languishing than flourishing adults



Males, older adults (45-74), high education (16 + years) and married



Individuals who are mentally healthy miss fewer days of work, cut back on work on fewer days, and have fewer limitations in their daily lives (Keyes, 2002; In press)



Languishing may be as debilitating as major depression

The Mental Health Spectrum

(Huppert, 2005; 2009)

Applied Psychology: Health and Well‐Being Volume 1, Issue 2, pages 137-164, 9 MAR 2009 DOI: 10.1111/j.1758-0854.2009.01008.x http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1758-0854.2009.01008.x/full#f1

Critiques

1) Negative is more important and immediate 2) Use of crude methodology 3) Tyranny of positive thinking 4) The separatist stance of (some) Positive Psychologists 5) Lack of cohesive guiding theory

Future

 Continued cross-disciplinary  Use in clinical settings  Longitudinal research  Neuroscience (www.positiveneuroscience.org )  Biomarkers  Epigenetics

• Hefferon, K. & Boniwell, I. (2011).

Positive Psychology: Theory, research and applications. London: Open University Press.

• BPS ‘The Psychologist’ PP special

issue March 2003

• ‘Journal of Humanistic Psychology’

PP special issue (2001)

• ‘American Psychologist’ PP special

issue (2000)

Introductory resources



University of East London http://www.uel.ac.uk/psychology/



Positive Psychology UK http://www.positivepsychology.org.uk



Action for happiness http://www.actionforhappiness.org/



The Well-Being Institute http://www.cambridgewellbeing.org/



CAPP http://www.cappeu.org/



The Young Foundation http://www.youngfoundation.org.uk/



NEF http://www.neweconomics.org



Centre for Confidence and Well-Being http://www.centreforconfidence.co.uk



Positive Psychology Quarterly http://www.ppquarterly.org.uk

Positive Psychology

Thank you for your time

K.hefferon@uel.ac.uk www.katehefferon.com