Week Five Flashcards
(24 cards)
Studies on Happiness and Kindness Otake et al. 2006
1. Happy People and effect on its kindness
2. Positive Impact
- Happy people not only desire to be kind, but they are also more attuned to recognition of kindnesses, and more
likely to behave in kind ways - Research also shows that giver underestimates the positive impact of acts of kindness
Promoting Kindness in Preschool Flook et al. 2015
1. Intervention Sharing
2. Intervention Grades
3. Control Group Behavior
4. Flexibility and Gratification
- After KC intervention, researchers found that children in the intervention group shared significantly more stickers with the anonymous child compared to the control group
- KC intervention group showed greater improvements in social competence and earned higher report card grades in domains of learning, health, and social-emotional development
- Control group exhibited more selfish behavior over time
- Effect sizes overall indicate small to medium effects favouring KC group on measures of cognitive flexibility and
delay of gratification
Pursuing Happiness Lyubomirsky et al. 2005 Key Findings:
1. 5 Acts of kindness
2. Counting Blessings
- Better to do 5 acts of kindness in one day than spread over a week; spreading over course of a week might diminish their salience and power or make them less distinguishable from participants’ habitual kind behavior
- Counting blessings: contemplate “the things for which they are grateful” either once a week or three times a week; doing it too often might lead to boredom
Effect of one positive reinforcement on helping behavior McGovern et al. 1975 Key Findings:
1. Subjects are willing to receive shocks if
- 3 times more likely if they receive reinforcement
Seligman Gratitude Studies
1. Write a letter of gratitude to someone intervention condition
2. Write Three Good Things that went well each day for one week
- Positive effects lasted for 3 months after the experimental condition
- Within 15 days, the depression lifted from “severely depressed” to “mildly to moderately depressed” and the happiness effect increased for 6 months
Counting Blessing Versus Burdens Emmons et al. 2003
1. Study Details
2. Key Findings
- One group was asked to think of blessings for one week and the other group asked to think of 5 daily hassles
- The Blessing group felt more positive emotions also diminished anger bitterness and greed
Gratitude recounting and processing enhances subjective well-being Watkins et al. 2015
1. Study Details
2. Key Findings
memory placebo
gratitude and pride
- Memory placebo: recall random route taken, pride: 3 things good in last 48 hours and how it made you feel relative to others, gratitude: 3 things good and how it made you feel grateful
- Gratitude out-performed pride group in enhancing well-being: enhance and attend positive events, interpret grateful manner, and recall memories
Factors Related to Overdoing Gratitude
- 6 Key Points
Overdose, variety, valuing, meaningful, perceive, culture
- Activity Overdose - causes boredom
- Variety is important - avoid doing the same thing
- Overvaluing happiness can be problematic and thwart real happiness
- Choosing activities meaningful to you
- Acts of kindness can perceive actions in different ways
- Cultural context is important
Gratitude Effects on Anxiety & Depression Cregg & Cheavens Metananlaysis Study 2021
1. Gratitude Interventions on Anxiety and Depression
2. Moderation Analyses
- Small effect size
- Show that large effect size are due to waitlist control rather than active control group.
What are the 6 Character Strengths
- Wisdom and Strength
- Courage
- Love and Humility
- Temperance
- Spirituality
- Justice
What are the 12 Core Features of Character Strengths
- Ubiquitous
- Fulfilling
- Morally valued
- Not able to diminish others
- The opposite of a negative trait
- Trait-like
- Mesurable
- Distinctive
- Paragons - Recogniseable in notable figures
- Prodigies
- Selective absence
- Institutionalized
Seligman Study on Using Character Strengths for 6 Months 2005
1. Key Findings
- Happiness significantly increased over 6 month period depressive symptoms decreased in the intervention group
Applying Character Strengths at Work Harzer & Ruch 2012
- Applying 4-7 strengths at work positive experiences are higher
- Increased use means increased productivity and job satisfaction.
Forgiveness McCullough 2000
1. Key Findings on Forgiveness
- Preoccupation, hostility, and resentment that we harbour only hurts us.
- Forgiving people are less likely to be depressed, anxious, hostile, and angry
and tend to be happier, healthier, and more agreeable - Higher levels of forgiveness are associated with higher levels of psychological well-being, greater life satisfaction, more +ve emotions, fewer –ve emotions
What Does the REACH Forgiveness Program stand for? How effective?
- Recall the hurt, empathize with the offender, give the altruistic gift of forgiveness, commit to experience, and hold on to forgiveness
- Improves mood and anxiety
What is the Vagus Nerve and What is its function?
- Starts at the brain stem, runs through throat and larynx, down into the chest, through heart and lungs, to liver kidneys, and gut – bidirectional
- The nerve main component of the parasympathetic nervous system –
responsible for relaxation - can be activated by breathing
Relaxation training may reduce healthcare resource utilization Stahl et al. 2015
1. Key Findings
- The intervention group’s Emergency department (ED) visits decreased from 3.6 to 1.7/year (p<0.0001) and Hospital and Urgent care visits converged with controls
- Subgroup analysis showed intervention group significantly reduced utilization relative to controls
Savoring Flow Mindfulness
1. Definitions
2. Present Focus
- Definition
- Savoring: Actively focus on lengthening and strengthening positive experiences and present emotions
- Flow: Actively focus on lengthening and strengthening positive experiences and present emotions
- Mindfulness: Focus attention on a specific stimulus in the present moment, for example, the breath, and observe other sensations, thoughts, and feelings as they arise and dissolve in awareness - Present Focus: In savoring flow and mindfulness, attention is intentionally focused on a specific aspect of present
Savoring Study Bryant and Veroff 2007
- Correlational, longitudinal, and experimental research found strategies
people used to savor positive experiences related to levels of daily mood and subjective wellbeing
Savouring Chocolate LeBel & Dube, 2001
Results showed group who savored chocolate reported higher levels of positive emotions and a more enjoyable experience compared to the control group
Promoting Savoring
- 8 ways
- Sharing with others
- Memory building
- Temporal awareness
- Behavioral expression
- Sensory-perceptual sharpening
- Absorption
- Comparing one’s current state with another worse state
- Counting blessings
Characteristics of Flow
- 6 Characteristics
- A sense of ecstasy
- Greater inner clarity
- Knowing activity is doable
- A sense of serenity
- Timelessness
- Intrinsic motivation
The Research on Flow
Simillar terms across cultures
High flow kids
Psychological capital
- Flow described in remarkably similar terms regardless of SES, age, culture
and ethnicity - Teenagers identified as “high-flow” kids are more likely to make it to University, have deeper social ties and experience more success in life relative to “low-flow” teenagers
- Suggests flow is a state that builds psychological capital that can be drawn on for years to come
