3/7/2019
LIVE TO FLOURISH:
THE SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF
POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
Ms Debbie Pong / Ms Anita Lee
UGED 1553B/C
2019
INTENTIONAL BEHAVIORS
Elements in Daily Life



Under your personal control
Essential for keeping up positive
emotions
• Character Strength
• Daily Practice (Body Wellness)
• Behavioral Practice
• Cognitive Practice
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OPTIMISM
 Expectancies are pivotal in the theories of optimism
 Expectancy-value model of motivation
 Behavior is organized around the pursuit of goals (Value)
 The greater the confidence, the more they will move into action and continue their efforts.
(Expectancy)
 Focusing on expectation for the future
 Optimistic person adapt more effective coping as they are have more confidence
about the future and thus more willing to try, even when it is hard.
C.R. Snyder, Shane J. Lopez (2005) Handbook of positive psychology, Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press
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LEARNED OPTIMISM
 Becoming an optimist consists not of learning to be more selfish and self-
assertive, and to present yourself to others in overbearing ways, but simply of
learning a set of skills about how to talk to yourself when you suffer a personal
defeat.
 The Goal is
flexible optimism
, which aims at increasing one’s
control over the way they think about adversity.
 The fundamental guideline for not deploying optimism is to ask what the cost of
failure is in a particular situation (e.g. substance abuse and risky sex )
FUNCTION OF EMOTIONS
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THE FOUR BASIC EMOTIONS
驚(Fear)
怒
(Mad)
樂(Glad)
哀(Sad)
FUNCTION OF DIFFERENT EMOTIONS
Feeling
Thinking
Fear (驚)
Danger!
Mad (怒)
Being Trespassed!
Sad (哀)
Hopeless!
Glad (樂)
Hopeful!
Behavior
Fight/Flight
Avoid Danger  Survival
Fight
Withdraw
Broaden and Build
 IncreaseApproach
resources
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STEP ONE OF COGNITIVE PRACTICE:
UNDERSTANDING YOUR OWN EMOTIONS
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THE CYCLE OF EMOTION
Trigger
Physiological
Reaction
Emotion
Behaviors
INTERPLAY AMONG FEELING, THINKING AND BEHAVIOR
Trigger
Thought
Physiological
Reaction
Emotion
Behaviors
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Exercise
A
You have a quarrel with your
good friend
B
C
You think
You feel（do）
“I did nothing right!”
“He/she is in a bad mood!”
“I can often resolve our conflict!”
Trigger
My supervisor send me an email
asking me to
revise the thesis proposal.
Thoughts
I am useless!
I can’t do it right!
I have no chance to further my graduate studies
Physiological Reaction
Not sleeping well, lack of appetite,
poor concentration
THE DEPRESSIVE CYCLE
Emotion
Sad
Behavior
Withdrawal
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Trigger
My supervisor send me an email
asking me to
revise the thesis proposal.
Thoughts
• Oh my god！I don’t know how to do the revision!
• My supervisor will find me troublesome if I seek
further advice from him!
• I would definitely fail the course!
Physiological Reaction
Muscle tension, accelerated heartbeat,
sweating, increased blood pressure
THE ANXIETY CYCLE
Trigger
My supervisor send me an email
asking me to
revise the thesis proposal.
Behavior
Restlessness, avoidance
Thoughts
• Why it happened to me! What an unjust world!
• He is picking on me!
• He should have guide me at the very first beginning!
Physiological Reaction
Muscle tension, accelerated heartbeat,
sweating, increased blood pressure
THE ANGER CYCLE
Emotion
Nervous, worried,
embarrassed
Emotion
Angry,
Irritated, agitated
Behavior
Aggressive behaviors,
e.g. temper tantrum,
scolding or attacking
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Exercise
A
B
C
You think
You feel（do）
Your team failed in the interuniversity competition!
You feel unhappy
You feel anxious and worried
You feel angry and blame your team
members
You are not particularly upset and
get the motivation to work hard on
the next round
FUNCTION OF DIFFERENT EMOTIONS
Feeling
Thinking
Fear (驚)
Danger!
Mad (怒)
Being Trespassed!
Behavior
Fight/Flight
Fight
Sad (哀)
Hopeless!
Withdraw
Glad (樂)
Hopeful!
Approach
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UNDERSTANDING YOUR OWN THOUGHTS
EMOTION RECORD
Antecedent
Belief
結果Consequences
「Something happened。」
有些事情發生了
「My interpretation of the incident」
我對事情的理解
情緒
行為
Emotion
Behaviour
「I felt and did…」
我的反應（情緒和行為）
A teammate put off a task that I
instructed him!
He looked down on me，
I am nobody in the team！
Unhappy and
a bit angry
我叫個莊員做野，佢遲遲都唔做!
佢睇唔起我！
我總係被人當透明！
唔開心，又有啲嬲
事件
想法
Losing temper
發脾氣
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EMOTION RECORD
Antecedent
Belief
結果Consequences
「Something happened。」
有些事情發生了
「My interpretation of the incident」
我對事情的理解
情緒
行為
Emotion
Behaviour
「I felt and did…」
我的反應（情緒和行為）
I got rejected for an internship.
I am useless！
我的暑期實習申請落選了
我真係無用
事件
想法
There’s no chance for me to get the internship.
我都係無機會申請到咖喇!
Sad and
disappointed
Decreased
motivation
失望沮喪
無心機
My classmate will tease me for the failure.
實俾人笑到面黃喇！
Don’t want to file
another application
唔想再申請暑期實習！
UNDERSTANDING OUR REACTIONS
WITH THE BRAIN IN MIND
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DUAL‐PROCESS OF EMOTION REGULATION IN HUMAN BRAIN (LEDOUX,1996)

丘腦
杏仁核
下丘腦
內分泌系統
(長期抗爭)
自主神經系統
(緊急應變)
1. Sensory stimulation lead to immediate subcortical activation of emotions (fear
or anger) and actions (automatic or impulsive responses)
2. Sensory stimulation triggers cortical modulation of emotions, thus affecting
actions
3. Cortical activation (e.g, anxiety‐provoking thoughts) lead to both subcortical
activation and cortical modulation, determining our actions
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