Happiness and Positive Psychology

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Happiness and Positive Psychology

• Dr. Phil Watkins

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I. An Introduction to Positive Psychology

• A) The Importance of a Positive Psychology

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Sadly, while plumbing the depths of what is worst
in life, psychology has lost its connection to
the positive side of life the knowledge about
what makes human life most worth living, most
fulfilling, most enjoyable and most
productive. -Martin E. P. Seligman
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Occurrences of Positive and Negative Emotions in
the Bible
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Positive Negative Psychology Publications Over
Time
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I. An Introduction to Positive Psychology

• A) The Importance of a Positive
  Psychology
• B) What is Positive Psychology?

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What is Positive Psychology?

• the positive side of life the knowledge about
  what makes human life most worth living, most
  fulfilling, most enjoyable and most productive.

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II. The Psychology of Happiness

• A) The What of Happiness
• 1) Defining Happiness

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Myers definition of happiness

• a pervasive sense that life is good.
• (p. 23)

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II. The Psychology of Happiness

• A) The What of Happiness
• 1) Defining Happiness
• 2) Measuring Happiness

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Happy Faces Measure
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The Distribution of Happiness
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II. The Psychology of Happiness

• A) The What of Happiness
• 1) Defining Happiness
• 2) Measuring Happiness
• 3) Positive Emotions and Happiness

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II. The Psychology of Happiness

• A) The What of Happiness
• B) The Why of Happiness
• 1) Why study happiness?

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• ...how to gain, how to keep, how to recover
  happiness is in fact for most men at all times
  the secret motive of all they do"
• -William James (1902/1958, p. 76)

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Positive Emotions

• Broaden
• Your scope of attention
• Your scope of cognition
• Your scope of action
• Build
• Your physical resources
• Your intellectual resources
• Your social resources

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Problem Solving Positive Affect
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What good is happiness?

• The utility of happiness
• (Veenhoven, 1984)

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II. The Psychology of Happiness

• A) The What of Happiness
• B) The Why of Happiness
• 1) Why study happiness?
• 2) What things dont cause happinessand why
• a) Material Wealth

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Positive Emotion Longevity (The Nun Study)
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Happiness and National GNP
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Why cant you buy your happiness?
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Pete Incavelia (former outfielder for the Texas
Rangers) "People think we make 3 million or 4
million a year. They don't realize that most of
us only make 500,000
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An ever increasing craving for an ever
diminishing pleasure is the formula -C. S.
Lewis, (Screwtape Letters, 1961/1982, p. 42)
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How much would you need per year to fulfill your
dreams?
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II. The Psychology of Happiness

• A) The What of Happiness
• B) The Why of Happiness
• 1) Why study happiness?
• 2) What things dont cause happinessand why
• a) Material Wealth
• b) Age

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II. The Psychology of Happiness

• A) The What of Happiness
• B) The Why of Happiness
• 1) Why study happiness?
• 2) What things dont cause happinessand why
• a) Material Wealth
• b) Age
• c) Gender

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II. The Psychology of Happiness

• A) The What of Happiness
• B) The Why of Happiness
• 1) Why study happiness?
• 2) What things dont cause happinessand why
• a) Material Wealth
• b) Age
• c) Gender
• d) Ethnicity

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II. The Psychology of Happiness

• B) The Why of Happiness
• 1) Why study happiness?
• 2) What things dont cause happinessand why
• a) Material Wealth
• b) Age
• c) Gender
• d) Ethnicity
• e) Intelligence

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Can a mortal ask questions which God finds
unanswerable? Quite easily, I should think. All
non-sense questions are unanswerable. How many
hours are there in a mile? Is yellow square or
round? Probably half the questions we askhalf
our great theological and metaphysical
problemsare like that. -C. S. Lewis (1961), A
Grief Observed, p. 81-82
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II. The Psychology of Happiness

• A) The What of Happiness
• B) The Why of Happiness
• 1) Why study happiness?
• 2) What things dont cause happinessand why
• 3) Things that are related to happinessand why

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To be what is called happy, one should have
something to live on, something to live for, and
something to die for. The lack of one of these
results in drama. The lack of two of these
results in tragedy. -Cyprian Norwid
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3) Things that are Related to Happiness and Why

• a) Happy Genes (and other biological factors)

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"So we never live, but we hope to live -- and as
we are always preparing to be happy, it is
inevitable we should never be so." -Pascal
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We want a whole race perpetually in pursuit of
the rainbows end, never honest, nor kind, nor
happy now, but always using as mere fuel
wherewith to heap the altar of the Future every
real gift which is offered them in the
Present. -CS Lewis, Screwtape Letters, p. 70
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The happiness which is lacking makes one think
even the happiness one has unbearable. -Joseph
Roux, Meditations of a Parish Priest (1886)
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A great obstacle to happiness is to anticipate
too great a happiness. -Fontenelle, Du Bonheur
(1687)
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The search for happiness is one of the chief
sources of unhappiness. -Eric Hoffer, The
Passionate State of Mind (1954)
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One of the surest ways to avoid being happy is to
insist on being happy at all costs. The religion
of cheerfulness, as Father Brown reminds us, is a
cruel religion, and maybe the best way not to go
mad is not to mind much if you go mad. -Simon
Tugwell, (1980).
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The greatest happiness you can have is knowing
that you do not necessarily require
happiness. -William Saroyan
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3) Things that are Related to Happiness and Why

• a) Happy Genes (and other biological factors)
• b) The Happy Personality

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Happiness depends, as Nature shows,Less on
exterior things than most suppose. -William
Cowper
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3) Things that are Related to Happiness and Why

• a) Happy Genes (and other biological factors)
• b) The Happy Personality
• 1) The Big 5 Approach

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The Big 5 Personality Traits

• Openness
• Conscientiousness
• Extraversion
• Agreeableness
• Neuroticism

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3) Things that are Related to Happiness and Why

• a) Happy Genes (and other biological factors)
• b) The Happy Personality
• 1) The Big 5 Approach
• 2) More Specific Cognitive Traits of Happy People

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3) Things that are Related to Happiness and Why

• b) The Happy Personality
• 2) More Specific Cognitive Traits of Happy
  People
• a) Happy people are not Defensive
• b) Happy people dont rest on Chance
• c) Happy people tend to be Trusting people
• d) Happy people tend to be Emotionally Stable
• e) Happy people tend to want Control of their
  life
• f) Happy people are Hardy people
• g) Happy people tend to be Grateful people

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3) Things that are Related to Happiness and Why

• a) Happy Genes (and other biological factors)
• b) The Happy Personality
• 1) The Big 5 Approach
• 2) More Specific Cognitive Traits of Happy
  People
• 3) Summarizing the Traits of Happy People
• a) Traits that focus on emotional tendencies
• b) Relationship enhancing traits
• c) The way people tend to explain their lives

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3) Things that are Related to Happiness and Why

• b) The Happy Personality
• 1) The Big 5 Approach
• 2) Specific Cognitive Traits of Happy People
• 3) Summarizing the Traits of Happy People
• 4) How are Personality Traits Related to
  Happiness?
• a) Temperament Models
• b) Congruence Models
• c) Cognitive Models
• d) Emotion Training Models

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3) Things that are Related to Happiness and Why

• a) Happy Genes (and other biological factors)
• b) The Happy Personality
• c) Satisfied with Self, Satisfied with Life
• 1) Importance of Positive Self-Regard

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How might Self-Esteem contribute to Subjective
Well-Being?
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Narcissism

• Personal Superiority
• Inflated Sense of Entitlement
• Inflated Sense of Uniqueness

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Pride is essentially competitive is competitive
by its very nature while the other vices are
only competitive, so to speak, by accident.
Pride gets no pleasure out of having something,
only out of having more of it than the next
manIt is the comparison that makes you proud
the pleasure of being above the rest. -C. S.
Lewis (1943/1996, p. 110)
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3) Things that are Related to Happiness and Why

• a) Happy Genes (and other biological factors)
• b) The Happy Personality
• c) Satisfied with Self, Satisfied with Life
• 1) Importance of Positive Self-Regard
• 2) The Importance of Humility

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How do you think most people picture a humble
person?
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"Humility is the mother of giants. One sees
great things from the valley only small things
from the peak." -G. K. Chesterton
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A proud man is always looking down on things and
people and, of course, as long as you are
looking down, you cannot see something that is
above you. -C. S. Lewis
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There is the strangest lightness about the heart
when ones nothingness is once accepted in good
faithEverything added to the Self is a burden as
well as a pride. -William James
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If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can,
I think, tell him the first step. The first step
is to realize that one is proud. And a biggish
step, too. At least, nothing whatever can be
done before it. If you think you are not
conceited, it means you are very conceited
indeed. -C. S. Lewis
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3) Things that are Related to Happiness and Why

• a) Happy Genes (and other biological factors)
• b) The Happy Personality
• c) Satisfied with Self, Satisfied with Life
• 1) Importance of Positive Self-Regard
• 2) The Importance of Humility
• a- The humble person is self-forgetful

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"In every part and corner of our life, to lose
oneself is to be a gainer, to forget oneself is
to be happy.-Robert Lewis Stevenson
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A person who has gained a sense of humility is
no longer phenomenologically at the center of his
or her world. His or her focus is on the larger
community, of which he or she is a part.
-June Tangney (2000, p. 72)
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Feelings of insecurity, inadequacy, inferiority,
and self-hatred rivet our attention on ourselves.
Humble men and women do not have a low opinion
of themselves they have no opinion of
themselves, because they rarely think about
themselves. -Brennan Manning
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3) Things that are Related to Happiness and Why

• c) Satisfied with Self, Satisfied with Life
• 1) Importance of Positive Self-Regard
• 2) The Importance of Humility
• a- The humble person is self-forgetful
• b- The humble person has an accurate view of
  herself

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Humility is the realistic appraisal of ones
strengths and weaknessesneither overestimating
nor underestimating them. To be humble is not to
have a low opinion of oneself, it is to have an
accurate opinion of oneself. It is the ability
to keep ones talents and accomplishments in
perspective, to have a sense of self-acceptance,
an understanding of ones imperfections, and to
be free from arrogance and low self-esteem.
-Bob Emmons
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Human Weaknesses and Limitations the Humble
Person is Aware of

• The self-serving bias
• Our vulnerability to evil
• Our contingency
• She knows that she doesnt know

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3) Things that are Related to Happiness and Why

• c) Satisfied with Self, Satisfied with Life
• 1) Importance of Positive Self-Regard
• 2) The Importance of Humility
• a- The humble person is self-forgetful
• b- The humble person has an accurate view of
  herself
• c- The humble person is able to laugh at herself

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Pride cannot rise to levity or levitation. Pride
is the downward drag of all things into an easy
solemnity. One settles down into a sort of
selfish seriousness but one has to rise to a gay
self-forgetfulness. A man falls into a brown
study he reaches up at a blue sky. Seriousness
is not a virtueFor solemnity flows out of men
naturally but laughter is a leap. It is easy to
be heavy hard to be light. Satan fell by the
force of gravity. -G.K. Chesterton
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3) Things that are Related to Happiness and Why

• c) Satisfied with Self, Satisfied with Life
• 1) Importance of Positive Self-Regard
• 2) The Importance of Humility
• a- The humble person is self-forgetful
• b- The humble person has an accurate view of
  herself
• c- The humble person is able to laugh at herself
• d- Humble people give up their high
  pretentions

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William James Self-Esteem Formula
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3) Things that are Related to Happiness and Why

• c) Satisfied with Self, Satisfied with Life
• 1) Importance of Positive Self-Regard
• 2) The Importance of Humility
• a- The humble person is self-forgetful
• b- The humble person has an accurate view of
  herself
• c- The humble person is able to laugh at herself
• d- Humble people give up their high
  pretentions
• e- Humble people appreciate simple pleasures

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The truth is, that all genuine appreciation rests
on a certain mystery of humility and almost
darkness. The man who said, Blessed is he that
expecteth nothing, for he shall not be
disappointed, put the eulogy quite inadequately
and even falsely. The truth is, Blessed is he
that expecteth nothing, for he shall be
gloriously surprised. The man who expects
nothing sees redder roses than common men can
see, and greener grass, and a more startling sun.
Blessed is he that expecteth nothing, for he
shall possess the cities and the mountains
blessed is the meek, for he shall inherit the
earth. Until we realize that things might not
be, we cannot realize that things are. Until we
see that darkness we cannot admire the light as a
single and created thing. As soon as we have
seen that darkness, all light is lightening,
sudden, blinding, and divine. -G. K.
Chesterton
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3) Things that are Related to Happiness and Why

• c) Satisfied with Self, Satisfied with Life
• 1) Importance of Positive Self-Regard
• 2) The Importance of Humility
• a- The humble person is self-forgetful
• b- The humble person has an accurate view of
  herself
• c- The humble person is able to laugh at herself
• d- Humble people give up their high
  pretentions
• e- Humble people appreciate simple pleasures

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3) Things that are Related to Happiness and Why

• a) Happy Genes (and other biological factors)
• b) The Happy Personality
• c) Satisfied with Self, Satisfied with Life
• d) Happy at Work, Happy in Life
• 1) The Employed are Happier than the Unemployed

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Why does employment contribute to happiness?

• Unemployment degrades self-esteem
• Unemployment contributes to an external locus of
  control
• Unemployment contributes to boredom

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3) Things that are Related to Happiness and Why

• d) Happy at Work, Happy in Life
• 1) The Employed are Happier than the Unemployed
• 2) What Kind of Work is Happy Work?

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"When work is a pleasure, life is a joy! When
work is a duty, life is slavery." -Max
ism Gorky
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"I am doing work which is worth doing. It would
still be worth doing if nobody paid for it. But
as I have no private means, and need to be fed
and housed and clothed, I must be paid while I do
it." -C.S. Lewis
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How can work provide us with meaning?

• Identity
• Purpose

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3) Things that are Related to Happiness and Why

• d) Happy at Work, Happy in Life
• 1) The Employed are Happier than the Unemployed
• 2) What Kind of Work is Happy Work?
• 3) Work that Flows is Happy Work

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Job Complexity Depression
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Well-being resides not in mindless passivity but
in mindful challenge. -David Myers
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Ways to turn boredom into excitement (Myers)

• Set Goals
• Immerse Yourself in the Activity
• Be Mindful of What is Happening
• Enjoy the Immediate Experience

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"It is neither wealth nor splendor, but
tranquility and occupation, which give
happiness." -Thomas Jefferson
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3) Things that are Related to Happiness and Why

• a) Happy Genes
• b) The Happy Personality
• c) Satisfied with Self, Satisfied with Life
• d) Happy at Work, Happy in Life
• e) Happiness at Play

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Joy in Different Group Activities
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Satisfaction with Different Activities(Robinson,
1977)
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What can we do to reassess our leisure time?

• Think about how you use you leisure time now
• Ask yourself what active hobbies and leisure
  activities you enjoy doing
• Ask yourself what kind of active leisure
  activities you enjoy most
• Ask yourself what you would have to do to engage
  yourself in those activities more frequently
• Plan for your leisure

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3) Things that are Related to Happiness and Why

• a) Happy Genes
• b) The Happy Personality
• c) Satisfied with Self, Satisfied with Life
• d) Happy at Work, Happy in Life
• e) Happiness at Play
• f) Happy People are Social People
• 1) Friendships

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Positive Affect with Different Companions(Larson,
1990)
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Why does friendship seem to enhance happiness?
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3) Things that are Related to Happiness and Why

• f) Happy People are Social People
• 1) Friendships
• 2) Love and Marriage

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Does marriage benefit men more than women?
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Marriage and Depression
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Problems with Cohabitation

• 1990 Gallup survey showed that of those still
  married, 40 of those who had cohabited before
  marriage said they might divorce, but only 21 of
  those who had not.
• A Canadian survey found that women who had
  cohabited were 50 more likely to have divorced
  within 15 years
• A Swedish study found that cohabitation was
  associated with an 80 greater risk of divorce
• Serial cohabiters are even more likely to divorce

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Why might marriage enhance happiness?

• Marriage offers meaning to the individual
• Marriage offers an intimate, supportive
  relationship that endures over time and life
  circumstances

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3) Things that are Related to Happiness and Why

• a) Happy Genes
• b) The Happy Personality
• c) Satisfied with Self, Satisfied with Life
• d) Happy at Work, Happy in Life
• e) Happiness at Play
• f) Happy People are Social People
• g) Happy People are Giving People

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3) Things that are Related to Happiness and Why

• a) Happy Genes
• b) The Happy Personality
• c) Satisfied with Self, Satisfied with Life
• d) Happy at Work, Happy in Life
• e) Happiness at Play
• f) Happy People are Social People
• g) Happy People are Giving People
• h) How Happy People Cope

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3) Things that are Related to Happiness and Why

• h) How Happy People Cope
• 1) Positive Affect in the Midst of Stress
• 2) The Coping Strategies of Happy People

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3) Things that are Related to Happiness and Why

• a) Happy Genes
• b) The Happy Personality
• c) Satisfied with Self, Satisfied with Life
• d) Happy at Work, Happy in Life
• e) Happiness at Play
• f) Happy People are Social People
• g) Happy People are Giving People
• h) How Happy People Cope
• i) The Goals of Happy People

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What are goals?

• What people are typically trying to do in life
  (Austin Vancouver, 1996)

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Write down your goals

• (using our definition)

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3) Things that are Related to Happiness and Why

• i) The Goals of Happy People
• 1- The existence of goals
• 2- Progressing toward your goals
• 3- Goal content
• 4- Goal conflict

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3) Things that are Related to Happiness and Why

• a) Happy Genes
• b) The Happy Personality
• c) Satisfied with Self, Satisfied with Life
• d) Happy at Work, Happy in Life
• e) Happiness at Play
• f) Happy People are Social People
• g) Happy People are Giving People
• h) How Happy People Cope
• i) The Goals of Happy People
• j) Spirituality and Happiness

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3) Things that are Related to Happiness and Why

• j) Spirituality and Happiness
• 1- The Relationship

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Happiness Religious Attendance
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3) Things that are Related to Happiness and Why

• j) Spirituality and Happiness
• 1- The Relationship
• 2- Why are Religious People Happier?
• a- social support
• b- coping benefits
• c- goal integration
• d- a balanced view of self
• e- increased gratitude

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McCullough, Emmons, Tsang (2002) found that
grateful people tend to

• feel that religion is more important
• attend church and other religious services more
  frequently
• have more religious friends
• read Scripture more
• pray more often
• rate their relationship with God as more intimate

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Relationship of Gratitude to Religiosity
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3) Things that are Related to Happiness and Why

• a) Happy Genes
• b) The Happy Personality
• c) Satisfied with Self, Satisfied with Life
• d) Happy at Work, Happy in Life
• e) Happiness at Play
• f) Happy People are Social People
• g) Happy People are Giving People
• h) How Happy People Cope
• i) The Goals of Happy People
• j) Spirituality and Happiness
• k) Happy Memory
• l) Life Stories of Happy People

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• I. Introduction to Positive psychology
• II. The Psychology of Happiness
• III. The Psychology of Virtue The Example of
  Gratitude
• A) The What and Why of Gratitude
• 1) Gratitude and Indebtedness

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Procedure
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Conclusions

• Gratitude and indebtedness can be dissociated
• Gratitude and indebtedness may best be viewed as
  distinct states
• With an increasing sense of obligation,
  indebtedness increases but gratitude decreases
• Gratitude covaries with positive emotional states
  but indebtedness covaries with guilt
• Gratitude is associated with an increased
  inclination for future altruism but indebtedness
  is not

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A Paradox of Giving and Gratitude

• If gifts are given for the purpose of receiving
  return favors from the beneficiary, the
  beneficiary is less likely to feel grateful, and
  less likely to feel like returning the favor

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• I. Introduction to Positive psychology
• II. The Psychology of Happiness
• III. The Psychology of Virtue The Example of
  Gratitude
• A) The What and Why of Gratitude
• 1) Gratitude and Indebtedness
• 2) The Conditions of Gratitude

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Recognitions of Gratitude

• Recognize the gift
• Recognize the goodness of the gift
• Recognize the goodness of the giver
• Recognize the gratuitous nature of the gift

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• I. Introduction to Positive psychology
• II. The Psychology of Happiness
• III. The Psychology of Virtue The Example of
  Gratitude
• A) The What and Why of Gratitude
• 1) Gratitude and Indebtedness
• 2) The Conditions of Gratitude
• 3) Gratitude as State and Trait

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The Trait and State of Gratitude
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Attitude of Gratitude

• The Pervasive sense that all of life is a gift.

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What are the Characteristics of a Grateful Person?

• Lack of a sense of deprivation (or a sense of
  abundance)
• Appreciation for simple pleasures
• Appreciation for others
• Importance of expressing gratitude

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• III. The Psychology of Virtue The Example of
  Gratitude
• A) The What and Why of Gratitude
• B) Gratitude and Happiness

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C. S. Lewis Approach to Praise

• I think we delight to praise what we enjoy
  because the praise not merely expresses but
  completes the enjoyment it is its appointed
  consummation. It is not out of compliment that
  lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful
  they are the delight is incomplete until it is
  expressed.

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• III. The Psychology of Virtue The Example of
  Gratitude
• A) The What and Why of Gratitude
• B) Gratitude and Happiness
• 1) Are Grateful People Happy People?

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Relationships of Gratitude with Positive States
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• III. The Psychology of Virtue The Example of
  Gratitude
• A) The What and Why of Gratitude
• B) Gratitude and Happiness
• 1) Are Grateful People Happy People?
• 2) Does Gratitude Cause Happiness?

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Effect of Mood Inductions(Westermann et al.,
1996)
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Impact of Gratitude Induction(from Woodward,
2000)
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Expression of Gratitude Well-Being(Stone
Watkins, 2001)
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• III. The Psychology of Virtue The Example of
  Gratitude
• B) Gratitude and Happiness
• 3) How Might Gratitude Cause Happiness?

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How Might Gratitude Enhance Happiness?

• Are goods better when theyre gifts?
• Does gratitude counteract the principle of
  adaptation?
• Does gratitude direct our attention away from
  upward social comparison targets?
• Does gratitude enhance a happy memory bias?

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Gratitude Intentional Memory Bias
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Gratitude Intrusive Memory Bias
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Emotional Impact Ratings of Positive Memories
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Emotional Impact Ratings of Negative Memories
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Do grateful people notice and relish positive
events more than less grateful individuals?
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How Might Gratitude Enhance Happiness?

• Are goods better when theyre gifts?
• Does gratitude counteract the principle of
  adaptation?
• Does gratitude direct our attention away from
  upward social comparison targets?
• Does gratitude enhance a happy memory bias?
• Does gratitude enhance adaptive coping?

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Gratitude PTSD Symptoms in Trauma Survivors
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Gratitude Impact of Event on Trauma Survivors
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How Might Gratitude Enhance Happiness?

• Are goods better when theyre gifts?
• Does gratitude counteract the principle of
  adaptation?
• Does gratitude direct our attention away from
  upward social comparison targets?
• Does gratitude enhance a happy memory bias?
• Does gratitude enhance adaptive coping?
• Does gratitude increase social benefits?
• Does gratitude prevent depression?

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Relationship of Gratitude to Unpleasant States
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Gratitude Clinical Depression
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• III. The Psychology of Virtue The Example of
  Gratitude
• A) The What and Why of Gratitude
• B) Gratitude and Happiness
• C) Happiness and Gratitude

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A Cycle of Virtue?
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Except where intolerably adverse circumstances
interfere, praise almost seems to be inner health
made audible -C. S. Lewis