Positive Traits and Well-Being Trait = enduring, stable, internal characteristic of person that influence how act, perceive, and feel about world Like colored lens in camera….everything we see Individual differences in traits account for as much as 50% of differences in levels of happiness & well-being One reason circumstances, money, life events don’t matter much (Ch 5-6) How we interpret life - subjective side - more important What Makes a Trait Positive in Positive Psychology? Make us happy - increase SWB Make us psychologically healthy - eudaimonic well-being Make us physically healthy Considered virtuous/good/moral whether happy or not (Ch 10) Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 All rights reserved Biological Foundation of Happiness Paul Meehl… “some people just born three drinks ahead” -Emotional life, attitude towards self & life - childhood to adulthood (Lab effect) What We Inherit - overlapping concepts Positive and negative affectivity - characteristic experience of positive and negative emotions Strong genetic component - positive & negative independent Individual differences in characteristic emotional experience: Many positive & negative - many negative & few positive Many positive & few negative - little of each Measures of + & - highly predictive of long-term happiness Temperament - Kagan - 20% infants reactive or non-reactive Reactive - shy introverts Non-reactive - party animals Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 All rights reserved Big Five Personality Traits Extraversion vs introversion - strong connection to SWB Neuroticism vs emotional stability - strong to SWB Agreeableness vs antagonism - less connection Conscientiousnes vs undirectedness - less Openness to experience vs non-openness - somewhat Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 All rights reserved Basic Biological Tendencies Towards Approach & Avoidance May underlie biology of happiness (animal models) Behavioral Activation System (BAS) - reward - incentives + emotions Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) - threat/punishment - emotions Approach Orientation = positive attitude towards self & world and more positive emotional experiences Opposite for avoidance orientation Two built-in systems control approach and avoidance behaviors People may vary in the relative strength or ease of activation of two systems….may be basis for affectivity, temperament & personality Measures of approach-avoidance orientation predictive of outcomes in lots of life domains Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 All rights reserved Genetics and Change “Trying to be happier is like trying to be taller.” Arguments Against Inability to Change Genetic Set-point: Even if set point is set pretty high - majority happy or very happy May have multiple set points for different domains of life that offer compensation … relationships, work, family Can move in different directions…good day at work, bad at home… Can change set point up or down based on powerful events Widowers who don’t recover Happy marriage - long-term increase 7-year longitudinal study - 17% long-term increase in set point Choosing right life activities, goals, etc - overcome genetics Find what makes you happy and pursue it Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 All rights reserved Family Origins of Positive Attitude Toward Self & World If you wanted to raise child to have low opinion of themselves and a negative-suspicious view of other people and world we live in, what would you do? Family Origins of Self-Esteem - Coopersmith Acceptance - attentive, positive, warmth, concern, love Respect - for children’s abilities, opinions, individuality Limits - structure child’s world with rules and expectations of appropriate behavior Clear basis for evaluating child’s actions Freedom - permit freedom with structure - individuality & choice Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 All rights reserved Higgins - Family Dynamics and Parenting Relative strength of ideal and ought self that guide/regulate behavior and used as standards for selfevaluation Strong Ideal Self - positive attitude & many approach goals Strong Ought Self - negative attitude & many avoidance goals Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 All rights reserved Happiness Built on Positive Attitude Towards Self, Life, and Future Self-esteem, self-efficacy, optimism are more specific components of positive attitude Positive attitude - related to: - more frequent positive emotional experiences - more effective functioning - perseverance in the face of challenge - better health - better relationships Important point - most people have generally positive attitude most of the time - Troubles with self-esteem rare - Majority at least mildly optimistic Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 All rights reserved Differences between Extremes Lyubormirsky - Happy and unhappy people live in separate worlds Differences between upper 25% and lower 25% on Subjective Happiness Scale Overall Difference: Happy people happy with what they get and have in life Unhappy - focus on what they don’t have, didn’t get, and envy people who have more Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 All rights reserved Social Comparisons & Happiness •Happy – less sensitive to social comparisons with others More selective and use others mostly to protect self-esteem and wellbeing •Unhappy – always comparing to others - happiness is “out there.” •Feel good or bad depending on how others •Happy – less affected if peers better or worse •Unhappy – deflated rather than delighted in success of peers and relieved (feel good) when peers fail Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 All rights reserved Optimism-Pessimism Most widely researched positive trait Do you see the glass as half full or half empty? Two views of same reality Two major theories and tests of optimism Dispositional optimism - Carver & Scheier Optimism as a personal trait Optimism as explanatory style - Seligman & Peterson How people explain negative events Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 All rights reserved Dispositional Optimism Optimism as a general expectation about the future Optimists believe future holds lots of good things and few bad Confident about abilities and future Pessimists expect the worst - more bad than good Doubts about abilities and a positive future Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 All rights reserved Measure - Life Orientation Test (LOT) In uncertain times, I usually expect the best If something can go wrong for me, it will I’m always optimistic about the future I hardly ever expect things to go my way I rarely count on good things happening to me Overall, I expect more good things to happen to me than bad Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 All rights reserved Dispositional Optimism Why is optimism beneficial? Enhances self-regulation of actions towards personal goals When obstacles encountered - optimists believe in themselves - overcome challenges - pessimists doubt themselves - become passive or give up Bottom Line: attitude/confidence somewhat independent of ability Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 All rights reserved LOT Optimism & Well-Being Personal resource that fosters resilience in times of distress First child birth and post partum depression Recovery from bypass surgery Early stage beast cancer - level of distress Coping with care-giver role for Alzheimers, cancer High school to college transition Physical & emotional health - longevity Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 All rights reserved Optimism as Explanatory Style Originally focused on thinking of depressed people Why bad things happen to me? (ASQ scenarios) Optimists find “excuses” that deflect away from them as cause Pessimists take ownership, feel less control, likely happen again Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 All rights reserved Three aspects of pessimistic explanatory style: Stable causes - unlikely to change - I’m no good at math Global causes - effect everything - I’m a bad test-taker Internal causes - personal traits - It,s my fault Optimists Unstable - just had a bad day - no time to study Specific - just couldn’t get this test or this teacher External - I was late for class and rushed through exam Research: Stable-unstable and global specific best predictors Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 All rights reserved Optimism as Explanatory Style Similar pattern of predictions to LOT - dispositional optimism: E.g., Harvard grads from 1930s & 40s - optimism at 25 predicted physical health, longevity, & mental health 35 years later How Optimism Works: Source of positive motivation - get you out of bed Protect against passivity & defeatist attitude Optimists use more effective and active coping/problem solving strategies Better at identifying controllable and uncontrollable threats & problems…work on things can change, give up on those that can’t Serenity Prayer of A.A.: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; wisdom to know the difference.” Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 All rights reserved How Optimism Works Optimism may increase experience of positive affect/emotion and follow Broaden-and-Build theory More social support, resilience, creative problem solving-ability to fight disease, etc Coping Tendencies Optimists Information seeking Active coping & planning Positive reframing Seeking benefit Use of humor Acceptance Pessimists Suppression of thought Giving up Self-distraction Cognitive avoidance Focus on distress overt denial Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 All rights reserved Varieties of Optimism Hope Theory Defensive Pessimism - Norem & Cantor Positive power of negative thinking (at a price) Defensive pessimists: Expect the worst despite past success Say -”know won’t well” - but usually High anxiety about upcoming event/performance BUT: thinking/anxiety about failure motivates attention to every detail to avoid failure - mental rehearsing of what will do, how to avoid problems….so usually great Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 All rights reserved Price: Suffer more anxiety & worry - more neurotic Negative thinking seems to lower self-esteem Pain for others to be around - get tired of being supportive - constant reassurance will well Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 All rights reserved Unresolved Issues Realism versus Optimism Explanations for negative events best predictor, not positive…seems backwards….curious - excuse making - really measuring presence or absence of pessimism not presence of optimism Age & cultural differences Young optimism benefits older some cynicism & realism College students versus “real people.” Asians as defensive pessimists Asians - pessimism better predictor of good coping Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 All rights reserved “Healthy Illusions” (even if illusions) Shelley Taylor & Jonathon Brown (1988) – Literature Review People biased towards the positive, who see themselves in best possible light are happier and healthier than those who don’t • • Sadder but wiser effect – depressive realism – Alloy & Abramson Depressed show “sadder but wiser effect” – depressive realism Healthy illusions promote positive self-image and sense of well-being and serve as self-protection from ego-deflating experiences Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 All rights reserved •Depressed •1 Realistic assessment of control •2 Realistic assessment of future •3 Accept responsibility for outcomes •4.Accurate perception of self •Non-Depressed •1 Exaggerated belief in control •2 See only a rosy future •3 Self-serving bias •4 Inflated perception of self Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 All rights reserved Positive Distortion Buffers a Negative Reality Compared to “truth” and “reality”: – Happy people show a positive bias in their view of themselves and life – Less happy (mildly depressed) people view themselves and their life more realistically – Living a life too close to reality is a bummer – Happiness comes in part from the ability to distort reality in positive and self-serving ways: healthy illusions – Mental health = mild positive distortions not “reality.” Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 All rights reserved ... on Positive Attitude Towards Self, Life, and Future Self-esteem, self-efficacy, optimism are more specific components of positive attitude Positive attitude - related to: - more frequent positive. .. Individual differences in characteristic emotional experience: Many positive & negative - many negative & few positive Many positive & few negative - little of each Measures of + & - highly predictive... We Inherit - overlapping concepts Positive and negative affectivity - characteristic experience of positive and negative emotions Strong genetic component - positive & negative independent Individual