PSYC A236F
POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY &
MENTAL HEALTH
LECTURE 1
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LECTURER: MR. LOUIS HUANG
EMAIL: LHUANG@OUHK.EDU.HK
TEXTBOOKS
(Baumgardner & Crothers, 2014)
(Compton & Hoffman, 2019)
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(Lopez, Pedrotti, & Snyder, 2018)
BEFORE WE START,
THINK ABOUT…
• What does “positive” mean to you?
• Why “positive” psychology?
• How is it different from other branches of psychology?
• Why now?
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• Why explosion in interest,
books, articles and
press coverage?
LECTURE OUTLINE
1. Our Neglected Missions in
Traditional Psychology
• Historical Emphasis on Negatives
2. Going From the Negative to the Positive
3. What is Positive Psychology?
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4. Two Final Notes
MISSION OF
TRADITIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
Before World War II, psychology had THREE distinct
missions:
1. curing mental illness,
2. making the lives of all people more productive and
fulfilling, and
3. identifying and nurturing high talent
In 1947, National Institute of mental health was created
and fostered the growth in research on mental illness
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• Instead of nurturing genius and making peoples lives
better, psychology became about victimology, external
forces, and mental illness.
TRADITIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
• Historical Emphasis on NEGATIVES
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A. Negative Aspects Perceived as
More Authentic and Real
B. Negative as More Important
C. Dominance of Disease Model
WHY THE NEGATIVE FOCUS?
A. Negative Aspects Perceived as
More Authentic and Real
• The “Classic” experiments
Zimbardo’s (1971) Stanford prison experiment
Milgram’s (1974) experiment on
obedience to authority
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•
•
WHY THE NEGATIVE FOCUS?
A. Negative Aspects Perceived as
More Authentic and Real
Freud was influential in promoting the belief
that beneath the veneer of everyday
politeness and kindness lurked more selfserving motives.
•
E.g., You donated blood at a
university blood drive
You were motivated by
sexual attraction to one of
the blood drive volunteers.
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•
WHY THE NEGATIVE FOCUS?
A. Negative Aspects Perceived as
More Authentic and Real
Topics of positive psychology were considered
as reminiscent of the popular psychology
literature (e.g., self-help books)
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•
WHY THE NEGATIVE FOCUS?
B. Negative as More Important
The universal tendency
•
•
Greater weight and attention
to the negatives in human
behavior compared to the
positives
Trait negativity bias
•
Impression formation gives
more weight to negative
information
•
•
e.g., Relationships - One
negative comment can undo
thousand acts of kindness
Presence or absence of
negative, not positive,
differentiates good from
bad relationships
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•
WHY THE NEGATIVE FOCUS?
B. Negative as More Important
Why negative given more weight & attention?
Good and neutral events are usually
more common than bad ones in our
experience (Gable & Haidt,2005).
Therefore, negative events and
information stand out.
Violates general expectation of
positivity in everyday life.
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•
WHY THE NEGATIVE FOCUS?
B. Negative as More Important
Why negative given more weight & attention?
•
•
•
It is a human adaptive evolutionary behavior
Aversive events & negative behaviors
represent threats
Psychologists are simply human, studying
what attracts the greatest attention and what
has the greatest impact on human behavior
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•
WHY THE NEGATIVE FOCUS?
C. Dominance of Disease Model
•
Focused mainly on treating illness and away from
building strengths
Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental
Disorders(DSM)
International
Classification of
Diseases (ICD)
By American Psychiatric Association
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By World Health Organization
TED TALK 2004: THE NEW ERA OF
POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
Martin Seligman
https://www.ted.com/talks/martin_seligman_on_the_state_of_psychology?utm_campai
gn=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare
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• the founder of positive psychology, a field of study that examines
healthy states, such as happiness, strength of character & optimism.
THINGS GET BETTER?
The “Paradox of Affluence”
• In the past 40 years, twice as rich but 10 times more
likely to be depressed, especially among young, affluent,
educated
• 15-20% of Americans suffer from severe depression
• 50% deal with milder forms
• Women twice rates of men
• Other indicators:
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• Teen suicide tripled
• Juvenile crime quadrupled
• Divorce rates doubled
PHENOMENON OF MENTAL HEALTH
PROBLEMS IN HONG KONG
(REVIEW COMMITTEE ON MENTAL HEALTH, 2017)
In Hong Kong, as in other similarly developed countries or
regions, mental health occupies a very prominent position
on the current health care agenda.
For a high-tempo, action-packed and densely-populated city
like Hong Kong, mental health problems are not uncommon.
• With a population of 7.5 million
• Many people are living under different degrees of stress.
• Without proper management of such stress, mental health
concerns that require medical and clinical attention may arise.
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• The challenges we are facing are immense and multi-faceted.
MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS
MAJOR PUBLIC HEALTH CONCERN IN HK
The Hong Kong Mental Health Index Research 2020
For Internal Use Only. All Rights Reserved.
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• Conducted by Mental Health Month (MHM)
• Adopting WHO (Five) Well-being Index (1998 version)
• Phone interview 1002 HK citizens, aged 15 or above
MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS
MAJOR PUBLIC HEALTH CONCERN IN HK
The Hong Kong Mental Health Index Research 2020
• According to WHO-5 Well-being Index (1998 version)
• A score of 100 meant the best possible quality of life, and
• 52 was the passing mark.
• Average score of the respondents 2020:
• Mental health in Hong Kong at
worst level in 9 years
(since the survey was launched in 2012)
• 40% of the interviewees said they have
faced traumatic experiences due to
social unrest & COVID-19.
(SCMP, 9 Sept 2020)
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45.12 (vs 46.41 in 2019).
WHY THE NEGATIVE FOCUS?
C. Dominance of Disease Model
Limitation:
•
•
Fail to promote health and prevent illness
Psychologists know far less about mental
health than about mental illness
VS
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•
WHY THE NEGATIVE FOCUS?
C. Dominance of Disease Model
Mental health ≠ Absence of mental illness
Disease Developing
-5
-4
-3
-2
Wellness Developing
-1
0
1
2
3
4
5
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•
MENTAL HEALTH
≠ ABSENCE OF MENTAL ILLNESS
According to World Health Organization (WHO, 2018),
“Mental health is a state of well-being in which
the individual realizes his or her abilities, can
cope with the normal stresses of life, can work
productively and fruitfully, and is able to make
a contribution to his or her community.”
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-strengthening-our-response
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• Psychology should be more than a
“repair shop” for a broken lives!!!
LECTURE OUTLINE
1. Our Neglected Missions in Traditional
Psychology
2. Going From the Negative to the
Positive
3. What is Positive Psychology?
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4. Two Final Notes
PIONEER OF POSITIVE
PSYCHOLOGY: ABRAHAM MASLOW
The term “positive psychology” was first coined by
Maslow, in his 1954 book “Motivation and Personality.”
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• Maslow did not like how psychology concerned itself
mostly with disorder and dysfunction, arguing that it did
not have an accurate understanding of human potential.
• He emphasized how psychology successfully
shows our negative side by revealing much
about our illnesses and shortcomings, but
not enough of our virtues or aspirations
(Maslow, 1954, p. 354).
PIONEER OF POSITIVE
PSYCHOLOGY: MARTIN SELIGMAN
• APA President 1998
• Psychology split into two camps:
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• Academics more interested in science
• Clinicians interested in practice of psychotherapy
• Hoped to bring science and practice together
“Psychology has, since World War II, focused on the
question of how can we cure mental illness? It's done
very well. There are by my count at least 14 mental
illnesses which we can now treat or relieve……but that's
just half of the battle. We've ignored the other side,
which is to ask, How can we take what we are strongest
at and build them up in such a way that they become
great buffers against our troubles?”
Why did we
always focus on
“what is wrong
with people”?
Martin Seligman (1999)
START OF POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
MOVEMENT: NIKKI AND THE WEEDS
Seligman’s inspiration:
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• Weeding garden at his home
• 5-year old daughter throwing weeds
• Seligman had yelled at Nikki for throwing them
• Finally, Nikki said, “Daddy. From when I was 3 until I
was 5, I was a whiner. I whined every day. On my 5th
birthday, I decided I wasn’t going to whine anymore.
That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. If I can stop
whining, you can stop being such a grouch.”
START OF POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
MOVEMENT: NIKKI AND THE WEEDS
Seligman resolved to change
• His purpose in life was not to correct his daughter’s
shortcomings, instead, raising her to nurture the strength
she displayed (social intelligence)
• Can psychological science be about identifying and
nurturing strengths?
• Readdress the balance by using psychology resources to
learn about normal and flourishing lives, rather than lives
that are in need of help.
• ‘What works?’ rather than ‘what doesn’t?’
• ‘What is right with this person?’ rather than ‘what is wrong?’
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His mission as APA president
Martin Seligman (1999)
POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
MOVEMENT
• Offers a balance to previous weakness-oriented
approach
• Suggesting that we also must explore people’s
strengths along with their weaknesses.
• However, does not mean to lessen the importance of
human suffering
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• Both the positive psychology perspective and
the traditional weakness-oriented perspective
are useful in understanding
and improving human’s life
LECTURE OUTLINE
1. Our Neglected Missions in Traditional
Psychology
2. Going From the Negative to the Positive
3. What is Positive Psychology?
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4. Two Final Notes
WHAT IS POSITIVE
PSYCHOLOGY: A DEFINITION
“Positive psychology, then, is the scientific study of
human functioning and flourishing on multiple levels
that include the biological, personal, relational,
institutional, cultural, and global dimensions of life”
(Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000)
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“Positive psychology is the scientific study of personal
qualities, life choices, life circumstances, and
sociocultural conditions that promote a life well-lived,
defined by criteria of happiness, physical and mental
health, meaningfulness, and virtue”
(Baumgardner & Crothers, 2009).
SELIGMAN’S DESCRIPTION OF
POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
Positive
Psychology
Positive
subjective
experiences
Positive
individual
characteristics
Positive social
institutions &
communities
FOCUS OF
POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
Positive psychology focuses on the positive events and
influences in life, including:
• Positive Experiences/Emotion (The Pleasant Life)
• Subjective level: like happiness, joy, inspiration, and love
• Positive Character/Traits (The Good/Engaged Life)
• Individual level: like gratitude, resilience, and compassion
• Positive Institutions (The Meaningful Life)
• Group level: applying positive principles within entire
organizations & institutions (e.g., religious community, family)
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a.k.a. Three Pillars of Positive Psychology
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POSITIVE EXPERIENCES/EMOTION
(THE PLEASANT LIFE)
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POSITIVE CHARACTER/TRAITS
(THE GOOD/ENGAGED LIFE)
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POSITIVE INSTITUTIONS
(THE MEANINGFUL LIFE)
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COMPLETE STATE MODEL OF
MENTAL HEALTH (KEYES & LOPEZ, 2002)
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COMPLETE STATE MODEL OF
MENTAL HEALTH (KEYES & LOPEZ, 2002)
LECTURE OUTLINE
1. Our Neglected Missions in Traditional
Psychology
2. Going From the Negative to the Positive
3. What is Positive Psychology?
40
4. Two Final Notes
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FINAL NOTES
1. Positive psychology is not opposed to
psychology
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• “Urge psychologists to adopt a more open and
appreciative perspective regarding human
potentials, motives & capacities”
• Aims to EXPAND – not replace –
psychology’s understanding of
human behavior
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POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY –
LIFE ABOVE ZERO
Zero is the line that divides
• illness from health & unhappiness from happiness
• Promote the understanding of healthy human functioning
• Expand the scope of psychology beyond disease model
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Expectation of Positive Psychology:
FINAL NOTES
2. Positive psychology and the status quo
•
Our attitude toward life is NOT the only
contributor to happiness & health
External situation/life circumstance is vital to
the quality of life; and there are limits to ability
to maintain positive in the face of adversity
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•
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TO KNOW MORE…
• Video “What is Positive Psychology?”
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• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qJvS8v0TTI
END OF
LECTURE 1
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Prepared by: Louis sir