Week 4: Very happy people, striving for greater happiness - college

Question 1

What can you tell about very happy people compared to normal people (4)

Answer 1

(1) They experience the full range of emotions
(2) They experience positive but not ecstatic feelings most of the time and occasional negative moods
(3) They have stronger social relationships
(4) They are more extraverted, agreeable and less neurotic

Question 2

Can attending a course on happiness make you more happy?

Answer 2

Yes; students who completed either online psychology courses increased their well-being BUT students in the SoH course showed greater improvement

Question 3

What are 4 criticisms of the happiness pie of Lyubomirsky?

Answer 3

(1) Oversimplification
(2) the ingredients are not independent, leading to overestimation
(3) Life-circumstances probably has a bigger influence
(4) measurement error is not taken into account, if you did, intentional activities would become much smaller

Question 4

What does the revised happiness pie look like?

Answer 4

(1) Genetics 40/50%
(2) Circumstances about 5 - 25%
(3) Intentional activities about 25-55%

Question 5

What are 3 things to remember when selecting activities that contribute to happiness?

Answer 5

(1) Activity should be meaningful to you, not feel obligatory
(2) Preventing hedonic adaptation
(3) Variety is the spice of happiness

Question 6

Name 2 ways how you can prevent hedonic adaptation?

Answer 6

(1) Keep enjoying the initial change
(2) Avoid striving for better circumstances

Question 7

Can people become happier?

Answer 7

Yes, insofar they are able to engage in meaningful activities

Question 8

Why should we want to become more happy (broaden/build)? (4)

Answer 8

(1) New thoughts, activities and relationships
(2) Building new personal resources such as new contracts skills and knowledge
(3) may lead to enhanced health and more positive emotions
(4) creating a hunger to go again

Question 9

Is there such a thing as too much happiness? (3)

Answer 9

(1) high levels of positive emotion don’t foster creativity, mild ones do
(2) People with extreme happiness exhibit more rigid behaviors
(3) More riskier behaviors such as alcohol binge eating and drug use

Question 10

Why should you not strive for happiness? (2)

Answer 10

(1) People who value happiness more report lower levels of happiness, are more alone and sad and have higher levels of depression
(2) People who are made to value happiness more are less happy after watching a positive movie clip

Question 11

What are some tools that may lead to a lasting increase in happiness? (3)

Answer 11

(1) adaptive emotion regulation strategies
(2) greater awareness of what makes you happy
(3) engagement in happiness enhancing activities rather than the direct pursuit of happiness

Question 12

Positive activities contribute to happiness via increases in (3)?

Answer 12

(1) Positive emotions
(2) Positive thoughts
(3) Positive behaviors

Question 13

What are 5 ways people can improve their happiness?

Answer 13

(1) Spend your time on meaningful activities and experience flow
(2) use your money wisely and spend them on experiences
(3) be kind/ prosocial spending
(4) Invest in your relationships with others
(5) Be grateful

Question 14

What are 6 characteristics of flow?

Answer 14

(1) activity is doable
(2) activity has clear goals
(3) activity provides immediate feedback
(4) experiencing a sense of control
(5) concern for the self disappears
(6) sense of duration of time is altered

Question 15

Why should you spend your money on experiences? (3)

Answer 15

(1) They are more prone to positive reinterpretation
(2) they have more favorable abstract features than material things
(3) they are more likely to be experienced together thus fostering social relationship

Question 16

Name the example how it was found that prosocial spending makes you happier?

Answer 16

(1) people were allocated to personal spending condition (pay bill or buy gift for you) or prosocial spending gift condition
(2) People in prosocial spending gift condition reported more happy

Question 17

Describe 2 experiment outcomes that show performing acts of kindness boosts happiness and well-being

Answer 17

(1) Act compassionate to someone 5-15 min a day vs control condition: compassionate group experiences greater increase in happiness, even after 6 month
(2) Experiment among children 9-11: perform 3 acts of kindness vs visit 3 places; both groups were more happy but children with kindness condition were better liked by their peers

Question 18

Describe the outcome of the social animals experiment on a bus?

Answer 18

Riding a bus you were either told to mind your own business or talk to strangers. People assigned talk to strangers thought they would hate it but actually rated their happiness higher than people who minder their own business

Question 19

Name 3 things gratefulness is associated with

Answer 19

(1) Higher life satisfaction
(2) more prosocial behavior, higher vitality
(3) More forgiveness

Question 20

Ostracism and first impressions experiment:

Answer 20

Show video introduction tape of yourself to another participant
3 options: refusal accepted or control

Outcome: refused participated later reported to perceive life as less meaningful compared to other conditions

Question 21

Explain the mechanisms how gratitude improves happiness (3)?

Answer 21

(1) Strengthens social relationships (prosocial reciprocity)
(2) Counters negative states (by retrieving positive experiences)
(3) gives resiliency in times of stress (by foster benefit finding of negative events)

Question 22

Can one apply mindfulness to improve happiness?

Answer 22

(1) Yes, it increases psychological well-being