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Self-Assessment and Positive Psychology
Organizational Behavior
a LSS Approach to Productivity
Professor Mort Anvari
Project Management and LSS
Chapter 1
Introduction and Outlines
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Self-Assessment - Agenda
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I.
WHAT ABOUT ME?
A. Personality Insights
1. What’s My Basic Personality?
2. What's My Jungian 16-Type Personality?
3. Am I a Type-A?
4. How Well Do I Handle Ambiguity?
5. How Creative Am I?
B. Values and Attitude Insights
1. What Do I Value?
2. How Involved Am I In My Job?
3. How Satisfied Am I With My Job?
4. What Are My Attitudes Toward Workplace Diversity?
C. Motivation Insights
1. What Motivates Me?
2. What are My Dominant Needs?
3. What Rewards Do I Value Most?
4. What's My View on the Nature of People?
5. What are My Course Performance Goals?
6. How Confident Am I In My Abilities to Succeed?
7. What’s My Attitude Toward Achievement?
8. What’s My Job’s Motivating Potential?
9. Do I Want an Enriched Job?
D. Decision Making Insights
1. Am I a Procrastinator?
2. How Do My Ethics Rate?
E. Other
1. What's My Emotional Intelligence Score?
2. What Time of Day Am I Most Productive?
3. How Good Am I at Personal Planning?
4. Am I Likely to Become an Entrepreneur?
II. WORKING WITH OTHERS
A. Communication Skills
1. What's My Face-to-Face Communication Style?
2. How Good Are My Listening Skills?
B. Leadership and Team Skills
1. What's My Leadership Style?
2. How Charismatic Am I?
3. Do I Trust Others?
4. Do Others See Me as Trusting?
5. How Good Am I at Disciplining Others?
6. How Good Am I at Building and Leading a Team?
C. Power and Conflict Skills
1. How Power-Oriented Am I?
2. What's My Preferred Type of Power?
3. How Good Am I at Playing Politics?
4. How Well Do I Manage Impressions?
5. How Do I Handle Conflict?
6. What’s My Negotiating Style?
III. LIFE IN ORGANIZATIONS
A. Organization Structure
1. What Type of Organization Structure Do I Prefer?
2. How Willing Am I to Delegate?
3. How Good Am I at Giving Performance Feedback?
B. Careers
1. What's the Right Organizational Culture For Me?
2. How Committed Am I to My Organization?
3. Am I Experiencing Work/Family Conflict?
4. How Motivated Am I To Manage?
5. Am I Well-Suited for a Career as a Global Manager?
C. Change and Stress
1. How Well Do I Respond to Turbulent Change?
2. How Stressful Is My Life?
3. Am I Burned Out?
IV. NEW ASSESSMENTS
A. Personality Insights
1. Am I A Narcissist?
2. Am I A Deliberate Decision Maker?
3. How Confident Am I In My Abilities To Succeed?
4. How Spiritual Am I?
B. Motivation Insights
1. Am I Engaged?
C. Values and Attitude Insights
1. What’s My Attitude Toward Older People?
2. What Are My Gender Role Perceptions?
D. Mood and Emotion Insights
1. How Are You Feeling Right Now?
2. What’s My Affect Intensity?
E. Leadership and Team Skills
1. Do I Have A Negative Attitude Toward Working In Groups?
2. What Is My Team Efficacy?
3. Am I A Gossip?
4. Am I An Ethical Leader?
5. What’s My LPC Score?
F. Organization Structure
1. Is My Workplace Political?
2. Do I Like Bureaucracy?
G. Other
1. How Much Do I Know About Organizational Behavior?
How Much Do I Know About HRM?
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Positive Psych’s “Official” Beginning
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Father of Positive Psychology
Martin Seligman 1998 APA Presidential address
Proposed shift in focus for all of psychology:
” Positive Psychology”
FROM: studying and trying to undo the worst things in life
TO: studying and trying to build the best things in life
Asked: Why not study courage , joy, hope, happiness instead of just
anxiety, violence, addiction, pathology, conformity, prejudice?
Why A Positive Psychology?
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Inside Factors
Balance:
A. General Psychology: Restoring balance to psychology’s historic emphasis on
the negative. Add study of positives.
- Overcome negative image of human nature.
- What learned about human nature in general psychology?
- Neutral to negative – classical conditioning, disease model, Milgram.
B. Clinical Psychology: Providing language of mental health and human
strengths to complement and complete language of mental illness and disease
model
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Why A Positive Psychology?
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B. Clinical Psychology: Providing language of mental health and
human strengths to complement and complete language of
mental illness and disease model.
-Traditional Psych. - Disease Model - DSM - what’s wrong.
- Positive Psych. - Strengths Model - Positive mental health what’s right.
-Traditional Psych. - life below zero.
- Positive Psych. - What is life above zero?
Absence of illness isn’t health.
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Completeness
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A. Restoring psychology’s original focus on the totality of human
qualities and experiences, including those declared off-limits for
“scientific” psychology.
- Bringing back “forbidden” topics, e.g., virtue, religion.
B. “Good Life” - life well-lived.
- Know about a bad life - what is a good life?
- Provide answers to “deathbed test.”
- I wish I had devoted more of my life to________.
- What matters most in life?
- Medical science defined healthy lifestyle - markers of health.
- Psychological science - definitions & markers of health &
flourishing?
Historical Focus of Psychology
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Why has Psychology Historically Focused on the Negative and
Not the Positives in Human Experience?
Disease Model & Being Useful:
Psychology’s historical desire to be useful, gain status, respect
as a scientific discipline by solving problems.
Dominance of Disease Model - primacy of pathology as a
focus.
World Wars.
Beliefs About Authenticity
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Beliefs About Authenticity
Negatives states viewed as more real and authentic.
Cynical view - Freud - underneath veneer of civility and politeness lies nasty
emotions and self-serving motives.
Psychology of motivation - self-serving biases, reinforcement, power, selfimage protection, and promotion.
Beliefs About Positive Emotions
Joy, hope, optimism, happiness viewed as coping mechanisms to offset
negative emotions. Not valuable in own right.
E.g., Offsetting stress versus cultivating positive emotions.
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Why negative?
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Power of Negative
Trait Negativity Bias Research:
- Impression formation gives more weight to negative information
- Relationships - One negative can undo thousand acts of kindness.
Presence or absence of negative, not positive, differentiates good from bad
relationships.
Why negative given more weight & attention?
1.Violates general expectation of positivity in everyday life.
2. Evolutionary value of negative/threats over positive.
Factors Outside Psychology - Why Now?
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Why explosion in interest, books, articles, press coverage?
Psychology and the “Zeitgeist” of 1990s & early 2000s
- Measures of material well-being going north.
- Measures of subjective well-being going south.
- Levels of happiness flat despite dramatic gains in income/material
possessions.
Paradox of Affluence - affluence and emotional well-being and
cultural malaise.
Affluent families & kids - The Lost Children of Rockdale
County.
Too materialistic - Cushman “empty self.”
Too disconnected from communities & family. PutnamBowling Alone.
Depression - up despite increased affluence
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Rates: higher than ever - “epidemic”
- Over last 40 years, twice as rich but 10 times more likely to be
depressed - high rates among young, affluent, educated.
- 15-20% of Americans suffer bout with severe depression.
- 50% deal with milder forms.
- Women twice rates of men.
Onset:
Past - average age of onset in 30s.
Today - 14 to 15 years old…10th grade girls…40-%-50% -symptoms.
Other indicators:
Divorce rates doubled, teen suicide tripled, juvenile crime
quadrupled.
Current Culture Vs. Traditional Psychology
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Outside & Inside
- Pop Psychology: Oprah & Dr. Phil
Millions looking for guidance & direction to find happy and meaningful
life.
- What does psychology have to offer? - Mostly negative.
Diener: 17 studies of negative states to 1 of positive.
Seligman: last 30 years - 54,000 articles on depression, only 14 on joy.
2% of NIMH budget of 1 billion spent on human strengths.
19,00 articles on bias and error to 7,500 articles on strength and virtue.
Defining Positive Psychology
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Orientation & Goals
1. Balance & Completeness
Restore balance to field of psychology…positives and negatives.
Just as important to know how most teens maintain health and happiness
(majority) as to now why some get depressed, use drugs, etc.
2. Positive – life above zero
Psychology should be more than a bicycle repair shop for broken lives.
Absence of misery not same thing as health or happiness.
3. Health & Strengths
What is life like on the other side of zero? Positive mental health.
Focus on positive: emotional health, strength, virtue, happiness, joy,
satisfaction, etc.
Develop classification of positive mental health, strengths & virtues
equivalent to DSM.
Definition Agenda
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Seligman:
Positive Psych. - study of what makes life worth living:
1. The Pleasant Life: happiness - more positive than negative emotions.
2. The Engaged Life: active involvement, absorption in work, play,
community, family, relationships.
3. The Meaningful Life: purpose, direction, personal expressiveness,
religion, spirituality, nature, transcendent beliefs beyond selfinterest.
Measuring a good life
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Positive Psych. Research – good life measured by:
1.
Happiness - life satisfaction, positive emotions.
2.
Health - physical & emotional well-being & positive mental health.
3.
Meaningfulness - purpose, transcendent , beyond self.
4.
Virtue - “good” behavior - wisdom, forgiveness, courage.
DVs = 1-5 = good life
IVs = all aspects of our personal qualities & life circumstances that contribute to
1-5.
Baumgardner/Crothers definition:
Positive psychology is the scientific study of the individual traits, life goals,
circumstances, and social conditions that contribute to a happy, a
meaningful, a virtuous, and a healthy life, defined by flexible criteria that
allow for individual and cultural differences in the particular features and
meanings of a life well-lived.
Can a good life be defined
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without imposing a “one size fits all”?
Potential Sources of Bias
1.Western cultural bias
universal or culturally relative?
support for both Values in Action Project
Asian emotional moderation
2. Middle-class liberal psychologists’ bias
Poor?
College students
3. Developmental Bias (last)
Young versus elderly?
Research: same level just different basis
Power of the Positive
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The Nun Study - Danner, Snowdon, & Friesen JPSP 01
Prior Research:
- Emotions, health & immune system
- Genetics & temperament - Labrador effect
- Temperament, + & - emotions, coping
- Writing about significant life events - outlook
Hypothesis: Cheerful people shown in autobiographical
sketches will live longer than sourpusses.
Sample: 180 nuns - 1930s (ideal sample)
IV: Emotions shown in autobiographical statements
DV: Mortality & longevity
Results
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Compare upper 25% to lowest 25% in expressions of positive
emotion in words & sentences.
- 90% of most cheerful nuns alive at 85 yrs. of age.
- Only 34% of least cheerful alive at 85.
- 54% of most cheerful still going at 94 yrs.
- Only 11% of least cheerful.
“Early” deaths in 50s & 60s mostly least cheerful.
One Final Issue - Myers
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Does it make sense to study happiness and health when the world is full of of
much misery?
Isn’t happiness a self-focused, self-absorbed, and selfish state that has no
enduring value beyond the pleasure of the individual?
What are people like when they are happy & content versus when unhappy or
depressed?
When we’re happy are we more likely to be:
Self or other focused?
Selfish or compassionate?
Unhelpful or helpful to others?
Hold a grudge or forgive?
Intolerant or tolerant?
Unkind or kind to others?
Research conclusions.
History and Context within Psychology
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History - the “positive” in psychology.
Drawing together positive research and theory.
Quality of Life Surveys - subjective well-being.
Objective circumstances don’t matter much:
10-15%.
Humanistic psychology (theory, no data).
Actualizing inner potentials - moving up need hierarchy.
Optimal functioning - peak experiences - personally expressive
life.
Current theory & research picked up humanistic ideas.
History Clinical Psychology
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Disillusionment with disease model - prevention of illness &
promotion of public mental health.
Curing illness not same as enhancing health.
PTSD versus PTG - over “therapizing.”
Developmental & Lifespan Psychology
Amazing resilience/strength among children, teens, adults, and
elderly in face of major life traumas and changes. Normal
or enhanced functioning in face of threats.
Successful Aging - most elderly not depressed, or in ill-health.
Socio-emotional Selectivity Theory - positive spin to previous
negative interpretations of change.
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History Psychology
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Mind-body connections, power of positive beliefs & emotions.
Hope, optimism and will show “real” effects.
Social support from others.
Social/Personality Psychology & Psych. of Religion
Relationships, health, and happiness.
Self-esteem, positive view of self, positive illusions.
Critiques of materialistic beliefs and values.
The Meaning and Measure of Happiness
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How should we evaluate the well-being of a society, a community, an
individual life? What measurable qualities should we use?
I. Traditional Measures of Well-Being
Economic Indicators - income, unemployment, inflation,
poverty, inequality, home ownership, job growth, etc.
Mental Health - depression, stress, suicide, autism, etc.
Physical Health - cancer, heart disease, obesity, etc.
Quality of Life - best cities, services, jobs, environment.
II. Positive Psychology - Critique
1. What is not measured .
2. Misleading assumptions.
3. Limits of objective measures & importance of subjective
judgments.
Limitations of Traditional Measures
1. Assess negatives not positives of life Misery index - do not directly measure health & happiness.
Problem: Surveys - happiness & life satisfaction important life goal.
Part of most American culture - Declaration of Independence .
Cory Keyes: positive health vs. only illness rates.
2. Infer health & happiness Assumes: well-being/happiness = absence of misery or negative
functioning - if not unhappy or ill must be ok - doing better when misery
index goes down.
Problem: absence of misery (e.g.depression) not same as
health and happiness.
3. Objective measures not same as subjective experience Assumes: money/material possessions primary factor in “good life.”
Happier - when income, jobs go up, etc.
Problem- faulty assumption - objective life circumstances, money, income very
weakly related to happiness - threshold effect.
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Positive Psychology’s Alternative Measures
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1. Measure happiness directly, not indirectly No inferences - are we happy or not?
Do objective facts make a difference or not?
E.g., Large-scale national and world surveys.
2. Define and measure aspects of positive functioning directly.
What is a good life beyond absence of misery?
What is on the other side of zero? Millions “languishing” but not
mentally?
How many show positive mental health, optimal functioning, flourishing?
3. Give primacy to subjective nature of health & happiness.
People’s interpretation of their life matters as much as facts.
Make a Difference?
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National Subjective Well-Being Index – Ed Diener.
Psychological equivalent to GNP – make widely available
(Eurobarometer).
Complement economic and social indicators.
Quality of life that includes subjective factors
Sense of community, happiness, beauty, promotion of positive
behaviors.
What Is Happiness & Well-Being?
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Two Views of Happiness and Well-Being
1. Hedonic View – Happiness & Satisfaction (SWB)
- Happiness is person’s own subjective judgment of the overall balance of
“good” and “bad” in their life.
- From own point of view how satisfied are you, are positive emotions and
events running ahead of negative?
Satisfaction + abundance of positive emotions (happiness).
Research-driven approach
Are people happy? To what degree? What is happiness related or correlated
with? Profile of happy and unhappy people.
Basis of happiness is empirical question.
Eudemonic View – Self-Realization & Optimal Functioning
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- Happiness and well-being more than emotion and satisfaction.
- Happiness machine – More to life than subjective pleasure.
Deeper meanings + mental/emotional health.
A. Self-realization & meaning: Eudaimonic – daimon = true self
Happiness and well-being result from expressing our inner potentials, selfrealization of talents and values, and healthy positive functioning. Satisfaction
from overcoming challenge. Deserve our happiness and satisfaction because of
abilities and effort.
B. Optimal functioning - Can you be happy and mentally ill, i.e., not healthy?
Eudaimonic view thinks should be able to tell the difference.
Health involves doing the hard things - not necessarily happy.
Eudaimonic view – Definition/measure of well-being should define basis of happiness
and health.
Theory-driven approach, i.e., theory of happiness first, then studies to evaluate/refine
theory.
Hedonic & Eudemonic
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• 1. List three activities that bring you pleasure and make you feel good.
• 2. List three activities that bring a feeling of accomplishment, express
your interests, talents, or passions and give you a sense that this is
who you are.
• 3. How much do your two lists overlap?
• 4. What are the psychological differences between activities on list 1
and list 2 that do not overlap?
Comparison: Overlapping but Different
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Waterman: If you wanted another person to know about who you are and what you are like as
a person, what four activities of importance to you would you describe? List four
activities. 1,2,3,4. Rate each activity twice (using 3 PE and HE criteria)
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Strongly Agree
Slightly uncertain Slightly Disagree Strongly
Agree
Agree
Disagree
Disagree
PE
1. This activity gives me my strongest feeling of really being alive and expressing my best
potentials.
2. When I engage in this activity I feel this is what I was meant to do.
3. When I engage in this activity I feel more intensely involved than I do in most activities, a
feeling of special fit or meshing, high concentration, challenge, and effort.
HE
1.This activity gives me the strongest sense of enjoyment and pleasure. I’m relaxed and
content.
2. When I engage in this activity I forget about my problems and lose track of time. Easy to
do…go with the flow.
3. When I engage in this activity I feel happier and more excited than I do in other activities.
Found: PE & HE r =.70 to .80 50 to 66% overlap.
Laura King - Positive Affect and Meaning
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Traditional opposition of pleasure and meaning - shallow vs. deeper
King: How positive affect/emotion may contribute to meaning
1. Positive emotions enhance meaning - fun with friends, scenery - think of
larger context, appreciation of life, what’s important
2. Positive emotions as markers of meaningful events
Personally expressive/meaningful events also pleasant
e.g., Christmas - childhood memories
Six studies:
Diary study: Each day – found something purposeful & meaningful -reason for
being here
rated positive affect
Expt. Manipulate mood
All showed meaning and positive emotions strongly related
Two-way street - each contributing to other
Differences & Similarities
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Differences
Hedonic View: Happiness = Positive Emotions + Satisfaction
Basis of happiness to be discovered through research - empirically.
Why we are happy not answered by theory or definition.
Quick and easy measures - easy to assess.
Research-driven approach.
Eudaimonic View - Personal Expressiveness, Optimal Functioning, Positive
Mental Health, and Meanfulness
Definition specifies basis for well-being, i.e., why/what makes us healthy. Likely to
also make us happy but maybe not in the short-term..e.g., strength to end bad
relation, confront conflicts, say “no.”
Complicated, lengthy & involved assessment.
Theory-driven…define well-being in way that includes why.
I.e., criteria for healthy, fully functioning person.
Simiarities
Moderate to strong correlations of r =.6. Tapping similar dimensions.
Hedonic View: Subjective Well-being (SWB)
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Subjective Well-Being – (self-reported)
(dominates research)
Colloquially - happiness.
Relatively stable and pervasive sense that life is “good.”
Initially conceived as three major components:
1. Life satisfaction - global judgment about one’s life
2. Positive affect - experiencing many positive emotions and moods
3. Negative affect - experiencing low levels of negative affect (low negative
emotion & mood) (independence of pos. & neg.)
Global Measures
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Life Satisfaction - single and multiple item scales
- “Taking all things together, how would you say things are these days? Would
you say you are very happy, pretty happy, or not too happy?”
- “How satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?
Very satisfied. Satisfied. Not very satisfied. Not at all satisfied?”
Rate on 7-point scale from delighted to terrible:
- “Which face comes closest to expressing how you feel about your life as a
whole?” Choose face: smile through neutral to frown
Lyubormirsky - Subjective Happiness Scale
Life Satisfaction Scale - Ed Diener
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7
Strongly agree
6
Agree
5
Slightly agree
4
Neither agree nor disagree
3 Slightly disagree
2 Disagree
1 Strongly agree
_____1. In most ways my life is close to my ideal.
_____2. The conditions of my life are excellent.
_____3. I am satisfied with my life.
_____4. So far I have gotten the important things in life.
_____5. If I could live my life over, I would change almost
nothing.
Add item ratings divide by 5 - Satisfaction ranges from 1 to 7
Satisfaction in Life Domains
• Life satisfaction as total of satisfaction in important areas of life.
• More informative than global measure.
– How satisfied are you with:
• Work
• Finances
• Friends
• Marriage
• Direction country is going
• Packer’s season
• Brett Favre
• Hobbies, etc….
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Emotional Component of SWB
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General Emotional State
During the past few weeks have you ever felt:
Particularly excited or interested in something?
Proud of an accomplishment?
On top of the world?
That things are going your way?
Calm & peaceful?
Extremely happy?
During the past few weeks have you ever felt:
So restless you couldn’t sit long in a chair?
Very lonely or remote from people? Bored?
Depressed or unhappy?
Upset because someone criticized you? Hopeless? Worthless?
Specific Emotions
PANAS
Future in Your Smile?
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Duchene versus Pan-Am Smile: Harker & Keltner JPSP - 01
Participants: 141 women graduates from Mills College
DV: Senior class photo from 1960sCoded as Duchene (genuine) or Pan-Am (forced).
50% coded as Duchene - natural.
IV: Contacted at age 27, 43, & 52 yrs. old
Measures happiness, satisfaction in life, marriage, health.
Results:
1. Likelihood of stable & happy marriage versus single or divorced.
2. Higher personal well-being, satisfaction, & happiness.
3. Better mental & physical health.
Scoring & Interpretation
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- Specify a time period - last week, this month, today.
- Compute separate scores for positive and negative emotions.
Positive affect & negative affect largely independent for given time period
versus at one point in time.
-Subtract negative from positive or divide positive by negative.
-Happiness defined as lots of positive and few negative emotions.
Finding: Happiness best predicted by frequency, not intensity, of positive
emotions. Intense moments of joy/ecstasy rare.
Summary: SWB = happiness - 3 parts (combined/separated in research)
1. Life Satisfaction
2. Positive Affect
3. Negative Affect
Global Self-Report Measures
versus Experience Sampling
Global self-report measures susceptible to several sources of distortion. Asking
to integrate experiences over long time periods.
1. Current mood - Schwartz & Strack
Finding money, my team wins, dirty & hot & smelly, sunny day.
2. Memory - selectivity & weighting
a. Peak-end-rule - Kahneman - peak intensity & ending intensity given most
weight in emotional experiences - not duration.
How bad/good and how it ends...not how long it lasts.
Ice water, aversive sounds.
b. State-dependent memory: mood = recall cue
happy - remember good things
unhappy - remember all bad
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Naturalistic Experience Sampling Methods
On-line Assessment of Emotions
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1. On-line measures
Beeper studies (hand computer, etc.) – report mood & what.
Doing random times throughout day over period of weeks or months.
Sample emotional experiences “on-line” as they happen.
Less chance for memory errors & emotional distortions.
40% of daily fluctuations related to days of week.
Good mood on Friday & weekends…Monday = bummer.
2. Retrospective measures (easier, less disruptive)
- Diary – record feelings and day’s events over time.
- Day Reconstruction Method - Kahneman
Global measures versus ESM (eg., Packers)
Global - maximal sensitive to traits & meaning.
ESM - max sensitive to states & short-term reactions.
Correlated but unless ESM long-term not larger.
Validity & Reliability of SWB Measures
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1. Reliability:
-Most measures show moderate to strong inter-correlations.
ESM moderate correlations with global measures.
-Multi-item scales of life satisfaction and positive and negative emotions typically
exceed r = .80; single item scales less.
Moderate stability & consistency over time - i.e., reliable.
Sensitive to changes in life circumstances but also stable over long periods.
As good or better than other measures in psychology.
2. Validity:
Measures of SWB correlate with other traits & behaviors.
Happy people act happy.
-Confirmed by reports of friends, family, & co-workers.
- Outgoing, smile, laugh, work satisfaction, mental health.
Longevity, etc…..
Eudaimonic Measures of Well-Being
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Positive Functioning and Positive Mental Health
- How define opposite of psychopathology? I.e., mental illness.
- Create language, definitions of health equivalent to language
& definitions in DSMIV.
- Mental Health = emotional well-being and positive functioning.
Not enough to feel good…..be happy or satisfied.
Also need psychological & social competence.
- SWB/Happiness is only one component of mental health.
Comprehensive Model – empirical support
Carol Ryff, Corey Keyes & Jeanna Magyor-Moe
Criteria of Flourishing, Psychological Well-Being
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Complete Mental Health. Optimal Functioning.
Operational Definitions of Symptoms
of Mental Health
1. Emotional well-being: Positive Feelings
2. Psychological well-being: Positive Functioning
3. Social well-being: Positive Social Functioning
Combines measures of emotional well-being and positive functioning.
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Validated in major study in 1995: “MacArthur Foundation Study of
Successful Midlife” (MIDUS Study) - 3,200 adults 25 to 74
DSM - presence/absence
Flourishing Positive Mental Health
- Internal reliability .80 or higher.
- Good factor structure: each component statistically distinct.
- Positive measures negatively correlated with negative
measures (e.g., depression) .
Keyes - definitions & scale items.
Complete Mental Health
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Emotional Well-Being
Positive Affect - experience of positive emotions like joy & happiness.
– During the last 30 days, how much of the time did you feel cheerful, in good
spirits, extremely happy, calm and peaceful, satisfied and full of life?
Negative Affect - absence of emotions suggesting life is unpleasant.
– During the last 30 days, how much of the time did you feel so sad nothing
could cheer you up, nervous, restless or fidgety, hopeless, that everything
was an effort, worthless?
Life Satisfaction
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Life Satisfaction – sense of contentment and satisfaction with life.
– During the last 30 days, how much of the time did you feel satisfied, full
of life?
– Overall these days, how satisfied are you with your life?
Happiness – having a general feeling and experience of
contentment and joy.
– Overall these days, how happy are you with your life?
– How frequently have you felt (joy, pleasure, happiness) in the past
week, month, or year?
Psychological Well-Being
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1. Self-Acceptance - Positive attitude towards oneself; accepts varied
aspects of self; feel positive about past life.
– In many ways I feel disappointed about my achievements in life. (-)
2. Personal Growth - Feelings of continued development & effectiveness;
open to new experiences & challenges.
– I think it is important to have new experiences that challenge how I
think about myself and the world.
3. Purpose in Life - Possessing goals and beliefs that give direction to life;
feel life has meaning and purpose.
– I live life one day at a time and don’t really think about the future. (-)
4. Environmental Mastery - Feel competent and able to manage complex
environment; able to create personally suitable living situation.
– The demands of everyday life often get me down. (-)
5. Autonomy - Comfortable with self-direction; possess internal standards;
resist negative social pressures from others.
– I have confidence in my own opinions, even if they are different from the way most
other people think.
6. Positive Relations with Others - Warm, satisfying, and trusting
relationships with others; capable of empathy and intimacy.
-- Maintaining close relationships has been difficult and frustrating for me. (-)
Social Well-Being
Anvari.Net
1. Social Acceptance - Positive attitudes towards others while understanding
their complexities.
- People who do a favor expect nothing in return.
2. Social Actualization - Cares about and believes that people have potential. Society
can evolve in a positive direction.
- The world is becoming a better place for everyone.
3. Social Contribution - Feel one’s life is useful to society and valued by others.
- I have something valuable to give to the world.
4. Social Coherence - Has interest in society and believes it is intelligible and
somewhat logical, predictable, and meaningful
- I cannot make sense of what’s going on in the world.(-)
5. Social Integration - Feels sense of belonging to a community; feels comfort and
support from community.
- I don’t feel I belong to anything I’d call a community. (-)
Degrees of Mental Health & Illness
Anvari.Net
Degrees of Mental health
-Flourishing – High positive mental health and low mental illness.
-Moderate Mental Health – Moderate positive mental health and low
symptoms of mental illness.
Degrees of Mental Illness
-Mental Illness – Low positive mental health and high symptoms of
mental
illness.
-Moderate Mental Illness – Low/moderate positive health and moderate
illness (e.g., depressive episode).
-Languishing – Low positive mental health and low mental illness symptoms. Not
happy but not suffering from mental disorder.
Findings
Anvari.Net
Findings of the MIDUS study extrapolated adults from 25 to 74 in United States in
1995.
Estimates-guesstimates for depression:
- 26.6 million flourishing
- 18.6 million pure languishing
- 7.3 million moderate mental illness –depressive episode and
languishing
- 14.5 million – pure depression
Self-Determination Theory - Deci & Ryan
Anvari.Net
-
Biological analogy – humans, like all living things, need nutrients
necessary for life. Compromised if not fulfilled. Defines basis of wellbeing in fulfillment of essential needs.
-
Humans need three types of nutriments to ensure growth, integrity, and
well-being: some in environment (state) some in individual (trait).
Self-Determination
Anvari.Net
1.
Autonomy - freely chosen activities and self-determined life of central importance.
Need for individual freedom of action. (opposite?)
Four degrees: extrinsic, introjected, identified, & intrinsic motives.
2.
Competence – effectiveness, achievement, pride. Need for success.
(opposite)
Relatedness – positive connections with others - need to
belong versus (opposite) exclusion, conflict, loneliness, social insecurity.
3.
Traits & States Theory
Traits: People high on these traits have higher SWB.
States: Experiences that fulfill these needs lead to higher SWB.
Baseline/traits and effects of experience.