PART V. PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR
PART VI. UNDERSTANDING AND CHANGING HUMAN BEHAVIOR
PART VII. POSITIVE ENVIRONMENTS
PART VIII. A POSITIVE LOOK AT THE FUTURE OF PSYCHOLOGY
What is the most important piece of wisdom you have received from your mentors about positive psychology?
Preface
Then in Chapter 9 ('Wisdom and Courage: Characteristics of the Wise and the Brave') we introduce findings about people who are at their best under sometimes difficult circumstances. In Chapter 11 (“Empathy and Selfishness: Portals to Altruism, Gratitude, and Forgiveness”) and Chapter 12 (“Attachment, Love, and Thriving Relationships”), we show how human connections improve the quality of life.
What’s New in This Edition
Between the Authors” we offer a conversation between the two of us to share our visions for the future direction of the field of positive psychology (Chapter 16, “The Future of Positive Psychology: A Conversation Between the Authors”). Unfortunately, Rick had an intimate knowledge of the relationship between hope and pain tolerance beyond what he learned through his scientific work.
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Intersection of Multiculturalism and Positive Psychology (with Lisa M. Edwards), and recently spoke on the topic of including cultural context in positive psychology discussions as a keynote speaker at the Asian Pacific Conference on Applied Positive Psychology in Hong Kong. Internationally known for his work at the interface of clinical, social, personality and health psychology, his theories concerned how people respond to personal feedback, the human need for uniqueness, the ubiquitous drive to excuse transgressions and, most recently, the motif of hope. .
Looking at Psychology From a Positive Perspective
Welcome to Positive Psychology
Welcome to Positive Psychology
Building Human Strength: Psychology’s Forgotten Mission
Our Neglected Missions
This task force will take on a number of tasks: it will try to identify “Best Practices in Prevention”, led by Karol Kumpfer, Lizette Peterson and Peter Muehrer; it will explore “Creating a New Profession: Training in Prevention and Health Promotion” by creating conferences on training the next generation of prevention psychologists, led by Irwin Sandler, Shana Millstein and Mark. Greenberg and Norman Anderson; it will collaborate with Henry Tomes of APA's Public Interest Directorate in the advertising campaign to prevent child violence; it will sponsor a special issue on Prevention in the 21st Century for the American Psychologist, edited by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi; and led by Camilla Benbow, it will ask what psychology can do to raise very talented children.
Building Strength, Resilience, and Health in Young People
For example, in the chapter on self-efficacy, optimism, and hope, we discuss the underlying. Similarly, in the chapter on gratitude, we examine the underlying heart and brain wave patterns.
Going From the Negative to the Positive
Consequently, our approach is to discuss the physiology, neurobiology and evolutionary factors in the context of the specific topics covered in each chapter. Finally, we suggest that attention to worldviews other than one's own can help researchers avoid these mistakes and harm against certain groups in the future.
A Positive Newspaper Story
The typical content of a newspaper story about such a situation would likely be very negative and full of actions that portray people in a very unfavorable light. When yelling and screaming, getting angry and upset, and generally "losing it" seems to loom just over the horizon, it's wonderful to see people's warming grace instead—much like the sun's rays on a cold day.
Reactions to This Positive Story
Positive Psychology Seeks a Balanced, More Complete
Positive Psychology Seeks a Balanced, More Complete View of Human Functioning
We also hope that today's parents will use positive psychology techniques to strengthen families and bring out the best in them. You, the readers, are the custodians of the ultimate culturally competent and balanced positive-negative psychology.
Views of Reality That Include Both the Positive and the Negative
We believe that both a positive psychology perspective and a more traditional pathology perspective are useful. Therefore, we encourage readers of this book—those who will eventually become leaders in the field—to avoid engaging in a debate aimed at proving a model of positive psychology or pathology.
Where We Are Now and What We Will Ask
Whether we want to believe the positive psychology or the pathological perspective, we must be clear that this debate involves social constructions about these facts. During his presidency, Seligman used his bully pulpit to bring attention to the subject of positive psychology.
Personal Mini-Experiments What You Want to Experience
Moreover, by caring about what they want to happen, people are more likely to take ownership of their daily activities than to be reactive. On the other hand, thinking about what we want to happen helps to keep the negative at bay.
A Guide to This Book
In Part II, "Positive Psychology in Context," we devoted two chapters to the factors related to a good life. In Part V, “Prosocial Behavior,” we describe the general positive connections people have with other people.
Personal Mini-Experiments
And in Chapter 12, “Attachment, Love, and Thriving Relationships,” we review the importance of close human bonds for a variety of positive outcomes. In Employment and Education That Gets Us There, we describe recent findings related to positive student learning outcomes, as well as the components of jobs that are both productive and fulfilling.
Life Enhancement Strategies
More specifically, love, work and play are called the three major domains of life (Seligman, 1998e). Developmental researchers have described love, work, and play as normal tasks associated with human growth (Icard, 1996) and as keys to successful aging (Vaillant, 1994).
The Big Picture
Freud defined normality as the ability to love, work and play, and psychological researchers referred to this ability as "mental health". Professionals interested in psychotherapy view the ability to love, work, and play as an aspect of the change process (Prigatano, 1992), while others view it as one of the primary goals of counseling (Christensen & Rosenberg, 1991).
Appendix: Movies for Review
Like the gifts arising from these three previous eras, perhaps the contribution of the United States in the twenty-first century lies in adopting and exploring the principles of positive psychology—the study and application of that which is good in humans (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). Citizenship (Social Responsibility, Loyalty, Teamwork): Works well as a member of a group or team; being loyal to the group; do one's part.
Key Terms
A Matter of Perspective
We also articulate the idea of the "good life" from both perspectives and discuss the associated strengths that help each group achieve positive life outcomes. We then delve into a discussion of some concrete concepts that are considered to be necessary qualities to achieve the "good life" in each group.
Historical and Philosophical Traditions
In this chapter, we discuss and compare Western and Eastern historical and philosophical traditions that show how these different groups characterize strengths and important life outcomes. Next, we discuss some of the inherent and fundamental differences between Eastern and Western value systems, thought processes, and desired life outcomes.
Western Influences: Athenian, Judeo-Christian, and Islamic Traditions
Although we will not always put this term in quotation marks as we do here, please note that it is always culturally bound. Finally, we talk about the ME perspective and the WE perspective and give our thoughts about trying to see things from more than one perspective.
Athenian Views
In addition to these moral virtues, Aristotle described intellectual virtues (mainly associated with ideas of wisdom) and believed that “strength of character, as inculcated by the political community, would lead to lasting human excellence.” Aristotle and Plato also emphasized the influence that the political community, called polis, has on the development and maintenance of these virtues (Euben, Wallach, & Ober, 1994; Solomon, 2006).
Judeo-Christianity
These words admonish followers to lead virtuous lives, giving special weight to the virtue of wisdom. In the Pirke Avot, or Ethics of the Fathers, directives are given on how to live life as an ethical follower of Judaism (N. Mendel, personal communication, February 3, 2010).
Islam
Finally, the Beatitudes mentioned in the Book of Matthew provide a series of virtuous traits (eg, meekness, being a "peacemaker", mercy, justice, etc.) that are said to please God (Matthew 5:1-11) . Giving to the poor is a requirement of the Islamic faith reflected in the third pillar, zakat (almsgiving), and it is something that should be done secretly as opposed to directly, if possible, so that the giver maintains his humility and the recipient is not embarrassed to accept the gift (Ahmed, 1999).
Eastern Influences: Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and Hinduism
Islam incorporates many virtues recognizable in other philosophical traditions and categorizes them as moral obligations. Observing these moral obligations and pillars helps the believers to please Allah in this tradition.
Confucianism
This emphasis is mainly on the rich in terms of their support of the poor, since “[the rich] are obliged to do so. In some ways these teachings parallel the thoughts of Aristotle and Plato on the responsibility of leaders to take charge of the group, although less emphasis is placed in Western writings on the collectivist ideal of acting for others in the group. to assure.
Taoism
Lao-Tzu (the creator of the Taoist tradition) states in his works that his followers must live according to the Tao (pronounced "dow" and roughly translated as "the Way"). The Chinese character that depicts the concept of the Way is a moving head and "refers simultaneously to direction, movement, method and thought" (Peterson & Seligman, 2004, p. 42; Ross, 2003).
Buddhism
According to Taoist traditions, the difficulty in understanding the Way stems from the fact that one cannot teach another about it.
Hinduism
Thus, the pursuit of one's life is to attain ultimate self-knowledge and to strive for ultimate self-improvement. Good action" is also encouraged in the sense that, if one does not achieve ultimate self-knowledge in one's life and therefore must return to earth via reincarnation after death, one's previous life's good actions directly correlate with better placement in the world in the next life.
Summary of Eastern and Western Philosophies
One's goal within this tradition would be to live life so fully and so correctly that one would go directly to the afterlife without having to repeat the lessons of life in a reincarnated form (Stevenson & Haberman, 1998). Hindu teachings are very clear about the qualities one must embody to avoid reincarnation: "To return to this world is an indication of one's failure to achieve ultimate knowledge of one's self" (Stevenson & Haberman, 1998, p. 53) .
East Meets West
Thus, the good life in the Hindu tradition encompasses individuals who continually attain knowledge and continually strive for good deeds (Dahlsgaard, Peterson, & Seligman, 2005; Peterson & Seligman, 2004; Stevenson & Haberman, 1998).
Individualism: The Psychology of ME
A Brief History of American Individualism
Such individualism was associated with the emphasis on equal rights and freedoms found in the United States (Lukes, 1973), as well as the country's capitalist economy and open borders (Curry & Valois, 1991).
Emphases in Individualism
Core Emphases
A third core emphasis of individualism is that the self or person is the unit of analysis for understanding how people think and act in a society. Therefore, the various definitions of individualism are based on worldviews that emphasize personal factors over social forces (Bellah, Madsen, Sullivan, Swidler, & Tipton, 1985; Kagitcibasi, 1994; Triandis, 1995).
Secondary Emphases
Individualists tend to be rather short-term in their thinking, while collectivists are more long-term in their thinking patterns. Finally, people in individualistic societies are often somewhat informal in their interactions with others, while people in collectivist societies are more formal in their interactions, as they pay attention to the expected and important norms that determine such behavior.
Collectivism: The Psychology of WE
A Historical Comment on Collectivism: We Came Together Out of Necessity
Finally, people in individualistic societies are often somewhat informal in their interactions with others while people are in them. By today's standards, our hunter-gatherer relatives were more primitive in their needs and aspirations.
Emphases in Collectivism
The three key emphases of collectivism are dependency; conformity or wanting to fit in; and the perception of the group as the fundamental unit of analysis. A collectivist is defined according to the characteristics of the groups to which he belongs.
Demographics Related to Collectivism
Collectivistic societies seem to have the key elements of dependence, conformity (low need for uniqueness), and defining existence in terms of the important group to which the individual belongs. Before leaving this section, we congratulate Daphne Oyserman and her colleagues at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research for their seminal peer review of the characteristics of individualism and collectivism.
The Stories We Tell
At the age of 15, to the great pride of his parents, he decides to go fight the ogres that plagued the town and bring their treasures back to his community. At the end of the story, Momotaro and his animal friends defeat the ogres by working together and bring the treasure back to the village, where everyone who lives there shares in the bounty.
Orientation to Time
Thought Processes
This more circular style of thinking is best illustrated by the Taoist figure of yin and yang. While in the United States we place high priority on the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," Lindore's goals may have a different focus.
East and West: Is One Best?
Personal Mini-Experiments Getting and Giving Help
Asking for Help
Contrary to what you've been taught not to ask for help, asking for help is not a weakness. This is not a bad thing, but a wonderful reality that is part of being a community member.
Volunteering Your Help
Part of the community is that you can call on people in that community for help.
Being Alone or With Others
For some of your goals you may prefer to go it alone, while for other goals you may want to be with one or more others. Put another way, you can determine the areas of your life in which you are an individualist and those in which you are a collectivist.
Different Ways to Positive Outcomes
The “Rugged Individualist,” the Construct of Hope, and the Need for Uniqueness
The period after the Renaissance, from about 1700 to the late 1700s, is known as the Age. The period that began around the late 18th century and continued until the end of the 18th century was known as the Industrial Revolution (or the Age of Industrialization).
The Need for Uniqueness
With the advent of the Renaissance, these active and hopeful thoughts began to be associated with purposeful actions. Indeed, the consequences of such enlightened thinking were long-lasting and reflected the power of hope.
Encoding of Similarity Information
The pursuit of individualistic goals to produce a sense of distinctiveness has been called the need for uniqueness (see Lynn & Snyder, 2002; Snyder & Fromkin Vignoles, 2009). Beyond proving that some specialty was desirable for most people in their sample from the United States, these researchers also reasoned that some people have a very high need for uniqueness, or distinctiveness, while others have a very low need for unique.
Emotional and Behavioral Reactions to Similarity Information
The acceptability reactions that result from some perceived similarity to others (see Figure 2.2) can also cause people to change their actual behavior to become more or less similar to another person. Moreover, a very high level of similarity with other people is low in acceptability, and therefore people must change to become less similar to others.
Uniqueness Attributes
In this latter sense, since people's need for uniqueness is not satisfied, we should strive to reestablish our differences. Furthermore, there appears to be a desire for balance in this area, such that people are motivated by the need for uniqueness when they feel too similar, and will strive for similarity when they feel too different.
Eastern Values: Compassion and Harmony
The ability to have feelings for something completely separate from our own suffering allows us to transcend the self and in this way be closer to the achievement of the "good life". In fact, transcendental compassion is said to be the most significant of the four universal virtues and is often called great compassion (mahakaruna) to distinguish it from the more widely used karuna (Sangharakshita, 1991). Coming together with others allows the person to be freed from individual pursuits and thus gain “collective agency” (Nisbett, 2003, p. 6) in figuring out what is good for the group.
The concept of harmony has received minimal attention in the field of positive psychology to date, although some attention has been given to the idea of assessing balance in one's life in relation to several other constructs (e.g., wisdom; see Baltes & Staudinger, 2000, and Chapter 9). Although this may be one way to classify this force, it can be argued that the idea of harmony is broader than this.
ME/WE Balance: The Positive Psychology of US Both the Individualistic and the Collectivistic
We believe that a positive psychology approach to this topic would align the emphasis on ME and WE. The hopeful people automatically think of both the ME goals and the WE goals.
Thinking About Your Own Life
That is, the hopeful children in their upbringing learned about the importance of other people and their perspectives and that role. Just as they think highly of ME goals, they can simultaneously imagine other people's VI goals.
Suggestions for ME People (Individualists)
In fact, other people can be very helpful when it comes to goals that we feel are most important. As we pursue our goals, we may also be explicitly or implicitly intertwined with other people who help us achieve them.
Suggestions for WE People (Collectivists)
Furthermore, if conflict is necessary, the individualist should try, whenever possible, to help the collectivist maintain his pride (what sociologists call face). Instead, the collectivist must be able to take into account the individualist's "What's in it for me" perspective in order to understand the latter's reactions during negotiations.
Final Thoughts
The realization that all people are part of a greater whole may grow in the twenty-first century. We are becoming increasingly interdependent, and nowhere is this more evident than in the operation of global markets that affect many.
Appendix: The Need for Uniqueness Scale
Classifications and Measures of Strengths and Positive Outcomes
In Menninger et al.'s 1963) review of the history of classifying disorders, it is noted that the Sumerians and Egyptians as early as 2600 B.C. distinguished between hysteria and melancholy. The Values in Action (VIA) classification of strengths (Peterson & Seligman, 2004), as measured by the adult and youth versions of the VIA Inventory of Strengths.
Classifications and Measures of Strengths
Psychiatric Association's (2013) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) er nu i sin 7. iteration som DSM-5. The Gallup Themes of Talent (Buckingham & Clifton, 2001; Rath, 2007) målt ved Clifton StrengthsFinder og Clifton Youth.
Gallup’s Clifton StrengthsFinder
StrengthsFinder™ and each of the 34 Clifton StrengthsFinder theme names are trademarks of the Gallup Organization, Princeton, NJ. Finally, a study that correlated Clifton StrengthsFinder themes with the Big 5 personality constructs (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism; McCrae & Costa, 1987) provided an initial impetus.
The VIA Classification of Strengths
The researchers at the VIA Institute plan additional studies into the psychometric properties of the measure. Preliminary validation of the 96-item VIA-Youth (also using a 5-point Likert scale) suggested that the internal consistency of the scales is adequate for most and that the basic structure of the measure is best can be described by four factors instead of six (Peterson & Park, 2003).
The Search Institute’s 40 Developmental Assets
Nominations of strengths by friends and family correlate at approximately a .50 level with corresponding scales' scores for most of the 24 strengths. The current iteration of the VIA-IS is available as an online (www.viame.org) and paper-and-pencil measure in English and several other languages.
Distinguishing Among the Measures of Psychological Strength
Strength
Issues of Equivalence in Using Measures of Psychological Strength
This is sometimes problematic because there may be differences in the way this trait is defined in the two cultures, ie. the two cultures do not have. In some studies, cross-cultural similarities have been found (e.g., the German versus English version of the VIA-IS; Ruch et al., 2010).
Identifying Your Personal Strengths
Discovering and Capitalizing on Your Strengths
Getting to Know Your Friend’s Weaknesses and Strengths
Discovering Your Strengths
Capitalizing on Your Strengths
Viewing Your Strengths Within Your Personal Context
They may also derive from your personal cultural aspects (eg, gender, race, nation of origin, etc.).
The Case of Shane
At other times, I leave the office around noon and walk around campus reflecting on some of my aspirations. This criterion has become critical when choosing friends, colleagues and students, and I believe it has increased my creativity and the quality of my work.
Positive Outcomes for All Dimensions of Well-Being
Ryff (1989) and Keyes (1998) proposed objective approaches to understanding psychological well-being and social well-being. Accordingly, individuals who do not have mental illness but have low levels of well-being are described as binge eaters.
Toward a Better Understanding of Positive Outcomes
We have found that informal assessment of well-being levels provides value. information on the operating range between blooming and wilting.). This conceptualization of mental health describes a syndrome of symptoms that may be amenable to intervention techniques aimed at increasing levels of emotional, social, and psychological well-being.
Positive Outcomes Associated With Love
Most of the remaining chapters of this text focus on the science of strengths (some of these strengths are not listed in the classification systems) developed through clinical, counseling, developmental, health, evolutionary,. Note that we are not addressing the "science of good living". Positive psychology research initiatives have done little to describe and measure.
Positive Outcomes Associated With School, Work, and Civic Contributions
The civic contributions of students and employees can be linked to the developmental benefits achieved at the start. As our globe becomes more connected to technology, we must remember to look outside our worldviews and help students and employees do the same.
Positive Outcomes Associated With Play
Perhaps one of the most influential contributions to society could be to teach our children to be broad-minded. Teaching children how to be multiculturally competent from an early age sets the stage for more effective diverse work relationships and potentially better global inclusion.
Identifying Strengths and Moving Toward a Vital Balance
NOTE
Psychometric properties: the measurement characteristics of a scale, including its reliability, validity, and statistics about the items of the measure. Reliability: The ability of a scale to produce consistent and reliable results over a number of applications or over time.
Positive Psychology in Context
Living Well at Every Stage of Life
The Role of Culture in Developing Strengths and Living Well
Culture and Psychology
However, this need has remained unmet according to critics of the positive psychology initiative. Third and finally, we discuss the steps that need to be taken to position positive psychology in the cultural context.
Main Message: Culture Counts
They affect many aspects of care delivery, including diagnosis, treatment, and the organization and reimbursement of services. Similarly, physician culture and the service system affect diagnosis, treatment, and the organization and financing of services.
Understanding Culture: A Matter of Perspective
The culture of the physician and the larger health care system governs societal response to a patient with mental illness. By the mid-twentieth century, most psychologists had abandoned the belief that race determined cognitive capacities and life outcomes.
Positive Psychology: Culture Is Everywhere
It was hypothesized that people lacked certain psychological resources because they had limited exposure to the prevailing values and customs of the time, namely those of European Americans (see the discussion of cultural deprivation in Parham, White, & Ajamu, 1999). They are also likely to recognize the need to understand the amazing diversity of human existence.
Culturally Embedded Positive Psychology Research and Practice
Outside observers might assume that all positive psychology researchers ask similar questions and use similar methods. Such observers may also note that all positive psychology practitioners focus on client strengths and help guide people toward positive life outcomes.
Culturally Embedded Daily Practice
While individuals from the majority culture in the United States define wisdom as more of a cognitive construct, other groups define it as both affective and cognitive (Benedikovicová & Ardelt, 2008; Yang, 2008). Please share your answer with your fellow students and try to determine the extent to which you account for the role of culture in your answers.
Situating Positive Psychology
In addition, positive psychology will need to address what role different configurations of the self play for positive psychology. The structure of their life gives the answer to the question of a good person.
Putting Positive Psychology in a Cultural Context
These implicit and embodied understandings must be juxtaposed with notions of the good that are consciously accessible and embraced by lay people, as well as with indigenous professional theories of well-being. I believe that by paying attention to our underlying moral views, by learning about the moral views of people from different cultures and across time, and by learning to think culturally, we can avoid prematurely reaching ethnocentric conclusions that do not fully reflect the wisdom of non-believers. - Western cultural traditions.
Examining the Equivalence of the “Positives” to Determine What Works
Another way to discover the cultural nuances associated with a positive construct or process is to ask people how a particular force became powerful in their daily lives. Others may feel that being a member of a collectivist group (such as Asian or Latino cultures .) may have helped them develop strong networking skills in them.
Determining the Foundations of the Good Life
The Wise Man of the Gulf
The American said, "Then you would retire, move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, pray, fish a little, play with your grandchildren, take a siesta with your wife, stroll in the village in the evening where you could sip for wine and spending time with la familia.'
Using Caution in Measuring “Universal” Strengths
Multicultural Mindset as a Strength
Questionnaire (MPQ) and identified five factors that describe personality style: cultural empathy, openness, emotional stability, initiative and flexibility. A number of studies have found correlations between multicultural personality orientation and well-being (Brummett, Wade, Ponterotto, Thombs, & Lewis, 2007; Ponterotto et al., 2007), suggesting that nurturing this personality style may lead to further benefits.
Final Thoughts on the Complexity of Cultural Influences
Living Well at Every Stage of Life
In the second half of the chapter, we investigate life tasks related to adulthood and the characteristics of people who have aged successfully, along with the statements of each lecturer about the neglect of the positive side of human activity by the psychology of Dr.
Resilience in Childhood
In this chapter we encourage the reader to consider the developmental factors related to adjustment and living well.
The Case of Jackson
Within weeks of the abuse, he became withdrawn, severely anxious, and developed constant stomach pains and headaches. The teachers at his small school realized that he was not the child he used to be.
What Is Resilience?
One major consideration that can be ignored in conceptualizing resilience outcomes is culture (Rigsby, 1994; see Chapter 4 for a related discussion). Returned to what?” must be answered within the context of the values of the culture and the expectations of the community for its youth.
The Roots of Resilience Research
Resilience Resources
Some scholars (e.g., Doll & Lyon, 1998; Gaylord-Harden, 2008; Miller, Nickerson, & Jimerson, 2009) argue that the proliferation of resilience programs has occurred in the absence of rigorous research on the construct of resilience and its effectiveness. of the programs that supposedly promote this. Given these programming concerns, policy makers and those developing promotional efforts should seek to replicate existing programs that have effectively served similar youth (i.e., promoted resilience-related competencies) or evaluate program effectiveness with small, targeted samples rather than of large community projects. groups.
An Excerpt From Finding Strength: How to Overcome Anything
Faith - whether in the future, the world at the end of the power lines, or in a higher power - is an essential ingredient. One of the outstanding findings of resilience research is that people who cope well with adversity, if they do not have a strong family support system, are able to ask for help or recruit others to help them.
Positive Youth Development
What Is Positive Youth Development?
They define flourishing as "a specific expression of positive youth development" (p. 90) and discuss it as a process between self and environment that develops over time. The impact of strong relationships, whether with parents or other stable and consistent adults, appears to be highly desirable in producing positive youth development.
Positive Youth Development Programs That Work
Regarding the effectiveness of the program, Tierney and Grossman (2000) found that this mentoring program does promote the good (academic performance, parental trust) and prevent the bad (violence, alcohol and drug use, truancy). Research has shown that this program achieves both of these goals in a diverse sample, although these researchers allowed that some of the findings may sometimes be different because of race or gender.
The Life Tasks of Adulthood
The Trajectories of Precocious Children
On the negative side of human functioning, Peterson, Seligman, Yurko, Martin, and Friedman (1998) studied Termites' responses to childhood open-ended questions and found that an explanatory style was characterized as:
What Are the Primary Tasks of Adulthood?
In the context of a larger social circle, some people take on the task of becoming custodians of meaning. Deliberate work on each of these tasks leads in turn to work on the next, and mastery of all tasks is the essence of successful aging.
The Case of Keyonna
By achieving mastery of the first three tasks, adults can possess the competence and altruism necessary to directly mentor the next generation of adults. The bearer of meaning has perspective on the workings of the world and people, and this person is willing to share that wisdom with others.
Successful Aging
She mastered new computerized design skills, yet she did not experience the same creative satisfaction from this new way of working. So, for the last 10 years of her career, Keyonna suggests that she will be paid for her ideas rather than her artwork.
What Is Successful Aging?
The Case of Tony
T." is a beloved member of the school community and still does what he loves, albeit in a different and more relaxed way than his own. The generativity he exudes in reaching out to the youth, the cognitive stimulation of being in a another role in his field, and his involvement in this new community are all factors in his highly successful aging process.
The MacArthur Foundation Study of Successful Aging
His enthusiasm for designing lesson plans for engaging activities across all age groups and his clear love for teaching children about the wonders of science are evident when asked about his involvement in the school. Gender also affected how married participants (a subset of 439 of the total sample) received social support: "Men received emotional support primarily from their spouses, while women drew more from their friends, relatives, and children for emotional support " (Gurung et al., p. 487).
The Adult Development Study
Perhaps predicting successful aging is not as complex as MacArthur and Vaillant's studies suggest. Furthermore, across studies, social support is one of the psychological factors that promote successful aging.
One Man’s View of Aging
A More Developmental Focus in Positive Psychology
Finding Amazing People of All Ages
Testing the Effectiveness of Your Mentorship
Building a Stronger Social Circle
Collecting Stories of Aging Well
Integrity: A life task that requires one to cultivate contentment with life and a sense of peace. Intimacy: A life task that requires one to develop an interdependent, committed and close relationship with another person.
Positive Emotional States and Processes
The Principles of Pleasure Understanding Positive Affect, Positive Emotions, Happiness, and
Then he asked the crucial question: "How many people in this room would want to do this?" Of the 60 audience members, only 2 raised their hands to indicate their wishes. In this chapter we attempt to add to what you know about pleasure by going far beyond Freud's (1936) pleasure principle (the requirement that an instinctive need be satisfied regardless of the consequences) and by promoting an understanding of the many principles of pleasure , which has been associated with a good life.
Defining Emotional Terms
He asked the audience to pretend their brains could be treated with a hormone (ie, joy juice) that would make them. Diener's question intrigued me, and since attending his lecture in 1999, I have tried to develop a better understanding of the positive side of emotional experience; this has led me to the solid research I summarize here.
Affect
Emotion
Although we attempt to clarify the differences between these closely related ideas, we acknowledge the overlap that exists.
Happiness
Subjective Well-Being
Distinguishing the Positive and the Negative
The content of negative affective states can best be described as general distress, whereas positive affect includes joviality, assertiveness, and attention. See PANAS, a precursor to the PANAS-X, which is short and valid for most clinical and research purposes.).
The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule
