LECTURES
Notes for lecture 11/3/04
The 3 question process-1) what is meaningful to me? What is important to me?
2) what is pleasurable to me? What do I enjoy doing?
3) what are my strengths? What am I good at?
Flow--Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
-defines state of being--"a dynamic state that characterizes consciousness when experience is
attended to for its own sake"
-High performance and high satisfaction
-peak experience, peak performance
-different from Maslow's peak experience which only happens once in awhile.
-Motivation
-Creativity
-Self-esteem
-Happiness
Too Easy?
-The need for challenge (Bexton et al, 1954)
-challenging self is necessary
-Stretch goals (Locke, 2002)
"The best moments usually occur when a person's body or mind is stretched to its
limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile."
(Mihaly Czikzentmihalyi
-Big, hairy, audacious goals (Collins)
The Underprivilege of Privilege
-# depressed people in middle and upper class is high.
"It is doubtful whether any heavier curse could be imposed on man than the
complete gratification of all his wishes without effort on his part (Samuel
Snides)
-Pressure to be Happy
-What right do I have not to be happy?
-Feelings of inadequacy and guilt, on top of pain
-Emotions as the great equalizer
Too Difficult?
-Divide and conquer (short-term goals)
-Breaking down achievement (Langer, 1989)
Clear sense if Direction:
-immediate feedback
-written plan (Claypool and Cangemi, 1983)
-specific goals (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1982)
-setting lifelines (Tami, 1999)
-goals inspire
-goals are life-enhancing
Time management
-urgent vs important (Stephen Covey, First Things First)
-happy time management
-procrastination
Maximizing Happiness:
-overcoming stress addiction
-Stress is not a prerequisite for success
-Multitasking (discriminately)
-Task multiplying
The 80/20 Rule (Pareto Principla)
-20% of people hold 80% of wealth, etc
-identify your productive hours
Lecture 10/13/04
Optimizing Optimism
-The Stockdale Paradox: A man named Stockdale survived as a POW in Vietnam. He
survived not because he was too optimistic, rather, he used optimism with realism.
-in this case, positive thinking is not enough
-The “secret” to success is working hard at something you are passionate about.
-William James’ idea of self-esteem: Achievements/Expectations. In other words, if you
expect to get an A and you receive a B, you will not feel good.
-There were experiments done where people’s self-esteem were measured after they won
something, like the lottery, or accomplished some goal. For a little while, the person
feels very good, but eventually, he or she will return to his or her base level of happiness.
This is similar to the “rat race” Tal talks about.
How to Become an Optimist
-Just do it! (action)
-Imagine that (visualization)
-Cognitive theory (rational thinking)
Taking Action
-Tal talked about a self-reinforcing loop: Hard Work/CopingSuccessPositive Beliefs
Imagine Success
-Use the mind as a simulator; focus on the journey; evoke emotions
Cognitive Therapy
-Thoughts drive emotions; restore rationality; this is an acquired skill that takes time to
develop.
Extremely Happy People
-Everyone experiences bad times. Pessimists see bad times as permanent (all or nothing).
Optimists see bad times as temporary. It is up to each person to decide if you spiral up or
down.
The Ten Cognitive Distortions (David Burns)
Lecture October 27
Combining the ABC’s  Journaling
Pennebaker Study (1997) – coping through writing
- tell people to write about traumatic experience
– anxiety levels first went up, but reduced in the long run
– 50% drop in visits to doctor
– immune system and overall health improved
– general emotional well-being increased
– became more social
– found gender differences
– replicated across cultures
Burthon & King (2004) – writing about intense positive experiences
- resulted in fewer doctors visits and more positive attitude
Mechanism:
-Tension Release
-Coherence
ABC’s : Affect  Behavior  Cognition  Affect (it’s a loop)
– you can start anywhere in the loop
- Affect: Meditation, Medication, Exercise
- Behavior: Just jump in and do it
- Cognition: Self perception, therapy
Goal Setting
-People who set goals perform better & are happier
-Focus  organization & efficiency
-Beliefs as self-fulfilling prophecies
-“throwing the knapsack over the wall” = making commitment in the future
-even just writing down goals is making a commitment
Nov. 8th Lecutre
There is a continuum from a job to a passion. Goal is to get closer to passion/calling
throughout life.
80/20 rule (Pareto Principle) = 80% of work done in 20% of time
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Input/Output Ratio (diminishing returns)
Productive Hours (most not in tune with their natural rhythms)
Overcoming Procrastination
(Carleton Univ., Ottowa Canada)
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5 minutes take-off (Myth: Need inspiration to work. Reality: Just start doing it)
Reward yourself
Go public: assert yourself
Team approach: do it with someone else
Goals, plans, lists
Simplify!
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Do less, not more
Susan and Clyde Hendrick (2002): Love and sex affected by negatively by stress.
Additionally, life in general is better w/o stress.
Quantity affects quality.
Optimum levels of simplicity
Material Perceptions (post-scientific revolution phenomenon)
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Material as highest end (Tal argues this is not true)
Count activities (ex. In academic, publications, in business, money)
Obsession with material wealth
Nov. 10th Lecture
Happiness Perception
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Happiness as the highest end
Ultimate currency
Money = means not end
In Our Lives
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Asking the right questions
Framing makes the difference
Happiness Revolution
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inside out (vs. outside in)
non-zero-sum game
Implications for Politics
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Wars mostly over material possessions
Gov’t role = creating conditions for pursuing happiness, ensuring freedom and
educating.
LECTURE 3
Basic Premises
o Bridge Building vs. Division and Separation
o Bridging ivory tower and main street. The need for practical idealists. Desire
to make a difference
 Harvard students desire to make a difference. False stereotypes about
Harvard students and Americans(we give humanitarian aid, donate to
charities, volunteer).
 Influential positions to donate money and change.
 Good intentions are not enough.
 Psychology can help – apply research. Need a superordinate
goal to overcome conflict.
o Bridge among disciplines. Allows us to think outside the field etc.
o Change is possible versus change is illusive
o Minnesota twins Studies – look at twins separated at birth. Look at how genes
affect. Very similar in happiness levels.
o Counter Evidence: People do change; error of the average, most people aren’t
necessarily the average. Must study the best
o Growing-tip Stats: Studies reslience, study meditation, studies relationships > shows how to approach and how to improve situations.
o When you study the best you can increase the average.
o Describe or prescribe – if you focus on the average, you can describe what is
going on. If you focus on peaks, you can prescribe what to do.
o Changing the world – Cambridge-Somerville Youth Study
 5 year study tha had twice a month intervention.
 Shocking results – no difference in juvenilel offenses nor adult,
alcoholicsm and job status in the wrong direction.
 What does it mean? That we should quit? NO! There are social
programs that work. Some don’t work but some do so concentrate on
the ones that work!! Exceptions to the rule.
o The power of one!!Human networks are exopential -> smiling. If I smile at 3
people, they smile at three other people etc. the pay if forward crap.
 We underestime our capacity to change because we fail to understand
exponential growth. We can affect a lot of shit
o Premise 3: Internal factors primarly determine happiness vs. happiness is primarly a
function of external circumstances.
o DAN GILBERT – Affective forecasting
o ED DIENER – income matters little (to subjective gdp above 8,000), no
change across generations, place of residence irrelevant. Money doensn’t
bring happiness.
 Democracy and oppression does matter. People happier.
o Transformation comes from the inside; not changing external events.
o Premise 4: Human nature must be obeyed vs. human nature must be perfected.
o Contrainted visions and uncontrained vision
 Constrained says human nature is immutable, flaws are ineveitbale and
we need to accept the flaw and work around them. Channel nature.
 Uncontrained -> can be improved, perfectible, and solutions exists and
we need to change nature.
 Vision of Psychology – human nature immutable (contrained) and that
we need to understand it and make the best use of it
 Permission to be Human – if we reject our nature, we will be unhappy.
We need to understand that we get jealous. If we realize we get
jealous we can deal with it.
 Not resignation. Courage is realizing that we have fear but
dealing with it.
Need to be true to reality. Deal with your human nature
Lecture September 20
History of Positive Psychology:
 Humanistic movement in the 1950s
1. Behaviorism (Watson, BF Skinner) and Psychoanalysis (Freud)
2. Reaction to Behaviorism – i.e. humans actually have emotions, not automatons
3. Reaction to Psychoanalysis – there are subjects that are not dark, i.e. joy, happiness,
and other positive experiences
4. This humanistic movement, however, lacked rigorous methodology and so was not
considered an academic movement; simply a self-help movement
 Carl Rogers, May, Abraham Maslow are considered the grandparents of positive
psychology
 Maslow (1908-1970) and Karen Horney (1885-1952) investigated the positive aspects
of psychoanalysis
 Martin Seligman began a more rigorous approach to positive psychology; highlighted
self-actualization, peak experiences, etc.
 Alice Isen examined humanistic elements
 Philip Stone was the first to bring positive psychology to Harvard
Education is a  INFORMATION or
quest for info
(=information into
& transformation formation)
TRANSFORMATION
(=changing formation – different
interpretation of the same information)
 Covering less; uncovering more – analogy given of stone block in quarry
transforming into the statue of David
 Basically information is not enough:
o “Soul grows by subtraction, not by addition” –Henry Thuroe
o “What is wrong is that belief will change the world” –Archibald MacLeish
o “Humanistic philosophy… it is helping the person to become the best that
he is able to become” –Abraham Maslow. Is this too idealistic, too naïve?
 Study done by Professor Coter on 1974 HBS grad students: a small number excelled
because they were always asking questions and were always learning/curious
 How can we help ourselves and others – individuals, communities, and society – to
become happier? How can I become happier?
 Eastern and Western psychology – Western humanistic psychology new; Eastern
psychology much older, and includes meditation, yoga, etc.
 Reflection and Introspection through the study of people and ourselves – therefore
useful to read biographies.
“We shall not cease from exploration
And at the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time. –T.S. Eliot
Lecture September 22
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Why study positive psychology?
1. David Myers: Psychology Abstract Study (1967-2000) – recognized that
studies focused too much on negative side of human nature; neglecting
positive aspects. Ratio of negative to positive is 21:1.
2. Abraham Maslow – focusing too much on the negative
3. Martin Seligman: Highlighting positive – psychology needs help; 21:1 ratio
unhealthy, but reflects reality.
 This is because depression 10 times higher today than in 1960.
 Mean age for depression today is 14.5 yrs (compared to 29.5 yrs in 1960) –
because children maturing faster, more pressure today, etc.
 80% of Harvard students depressed at least once last year.
 39% of college students nationwide depressed to point of not functioning once
last year.
 Need more money in mental health system; more positive research necessary.
 Psychology should better reality; not a reaction against it
 Happiness not the negation of unhappiness
 Cannot de research without changing reality – Heisenberg Uncertainty
Principle (to break cycle; affects reality); positive research reinforces positive
experience
1. “Unhappiness Spiral” – negative research reinforces negative experiences.
2. Happiness is not the negation of unhappiness
POSITIVE (depression, neurosis, anger,
anxiety)
Health model
Focus on strength
Building competencies
Seeking pleasure
Pursuing happiness (passion)
No ceiling
Creative tension as ideal
NEGATIVE (joy, well-being, satisfaction,
excitement)
Disease model
Focus on weakness
Overcoming deficiencies
Avoiding pain
Running from unhappiness (workaholic)
Neutral state (0) as ceiling
Tensionless as ideal
3. Prevention through cultivating the positive
 Maslow: Illness = absence of health (vs. health = absence of illness)
 Seligman: Fight depression by focusing on self-esteem, well-being, optimism
 Stronger mental immune system – can recover more quickly when down and can get
angry/anxious less often
 Mental health at Harvard; more mental health resources needed
Power of Positive Psychology
Case Study
 Research mostly done in inner cities, but can apply to Harvard as well.
 Money for research given to at-risk population (after WWII)
o Question: why do these individuals fail?
o Answer: poverty, abusive homes, etc.
 Recent shift in research: from looking at deficiencies to focusing on strengths, i.e.
pathogenic (sickness) to salutogenic (health) – Antonovosky (1979).
Resilience
 Master & Reed: “a class phenomena characterized by patterns of positive adaptation
in the context of significant adversity and risk.”
 New questions asked: What makes some individuals overcome difficulty and
hardship? What makes some individuals succeed despite unfavorable circumstances?
 Werner & Smith (2000): Hawaiian children from inner city studied. Realized that
these children demonstrated ordinary characteristics, but extraordinary results. Why?
1. Social support (women reach out more than men. Men benefit more from
marriage)
2. Pro-social behavior – e.g. helping others
3. Faith and sense of meaning in life
4. Optimism and self-esteem
5. Focusing on strengths
6. Setting goals – focus on future helps present situation
7. Role models – individuals they know/new, e.g. parent, teacher, friend;
historical role models (reading biographies are the best self-help books)
Lecture Notes from October 18
Adaptation
-we are change detectors
-change detection is helpful in case of danger
-adaptation helps to overcome difficulties associated w/ change
Taking thing for granted
-Must things get worse before we recognize how wonderful our lives are?
Learning to be Grateful
Br. David Steindl-Rast—“Gratefulness, the heart of prayer”
-turn gratitude into a habityour whole heart is in it w/o thinking
-don’t take anything for granted, opposite of taking things for granted is being
grateful
Research on Gratitude
-Emmons & McCullough (2002)
-Four groups: gratitude, hassles, superior, control  gave them all same task
-the group that performed worst were “hassles” (blamed things on others)
-gratitude group behaved bestmost prosocial, optimistic, likely to
achieve goals
-psychological and health benefits
-McCraty and Chuldre (2004)
-showed physiological benefits of gratefulness
Becoming a merit-finder
-takes 21 days to break/form a habit
-must visualize it, feel it
Change
The Nature of Change
-change is hard twin research (Lyken and Tellegan, 1996)
-change is possible
-the error of the averagethe exception proves the rule
Self-Help and Change
-success literature (Covey, 1989)
-character change (1800-1930)
-quick-fix (1930-today)
Biography—Samuel Smiles
-the price of the quick-fixdepression is on the rise, ppl try to avoid struggle
The Anatomy of Change
-Neuroplasticity (Davidson, 2000)
-Neural pathways (channels)
-Self-reinforcing loopcomparable to creek turning into river
-Habits as fortified pathways
Deep Change: Brain Structure…..to be continued on 10/20
October 20th Lecture
ANATOMY OF DEEP CHANGE
-people didn’t think it possible beyond the age of three until 1998
-now we know the brain is always changing
-there is a self reinforcing loop of changing neural pathways
-study of cab drivers and the fact that their brain grows in specific areas
-how can I change my brain?
-there are negative and positive channels in the brain
-both can be cultivated
-one event can be interpreted as either positive or negative
-we must work on the positive interpretations
-in merit finders, their left prefrontal cortex is larger than their right
-it is also more easily triggered
-the right side is larger in negative people
-meditation can positively change the ratio of these areas
-there are two types of change: gradual (i.e. gratefulness exercise) and acute (i.e. eureka moment)
-neither are quick fixes (even acute changes take much preparation)
-the subconscious mind resists change because negative and positive traits are often linked
-we don’t desire rigidity, but we want consistency
-we must therefore have a nuanced understanding of what we want to change
-Affect, Behavior, Cognition (A B C)
-we must focus on all three to actually change, whether acute or gradual
-if we don’t habit will win out, and we won’t be able to change
-Affect: our emotions
-gradual change comes about through mindfulness meditation
-being present in the here and now
-acute change
-PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) creates new negative neural pathways
-this is then reinforced
-one event causes acute change (due either to experience or witnessing)
-is there a positive equivalent to PTSD? Yes:
-PPEO (post peak experience order) can lead to a new brain order
-peak experiences transform (Maslow)
-how can we get more peak experiences?
-acceptance (permission to be human)
-mindfulness
-music
-meaningful goals
-take time
-how can we make the most of them?
-reflect
-keep journal
-take time
-Behavior
-immediate application of desired behavior leads to more peak experiences
-attitude changes behavior changes attitude changes behavior, etc.
-the mind doesn’t like the lack of congruency between attitude and behavior
-cognitive dissonance
-self-perception theory
-facial feedback hypothesis
-attitude often changes to match behavior
Lecture Notes - October 20
(Can we change?) - YES WE CAN CHANGE
Deep Change: Brain Structure
-negative channels in the brain vs. positive channels in the brain
(Tal got a particular fellowship his senior year and still thought about the negative
consequence of why he didn’t the other fellowships)
-same trigger, different response
-transforming the brain is possible
2 Types of Change
-Gradual approach – (gratefulness exercise)
-Acute approach – (Eureka exercises)
-Neither is a quick-fix
-But do I really want to change? (is the important question)
The Cost/Benefit of Change (Langer & Thompson 1989)
The people who valued the characteristics in the left column (rigidy, gullibility…etc) couldn’t
change because they didn’t want to give up the characteristics in the right column.
-Rigidy
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Consistency
-Gullibility
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Trustworthiness
-Grimness
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Seriousness
-Perfectionism 
Drive/ambition
-worry/anxiety 
Responsibility/Concern
-fault-finding 
Realism
*The subconscious mind stops me from changing my perfectionism, for example, because I
also want to have drive and ambition.
**We need a more nuanced understanding of what we desire to change
Learning (and applying) Your ABC’s
-Affect
-Behavior
-Cognition
(You can’t just think about change – you need all three: affect, behavior, and cognition)
1. Affect: our emotion
-Gradual Change: Mindfulness Meditation
-Listening to what is going on: your friend talking, your teacher, music, your
thoughts
-Think about “tight” spots on your body and breathe through to them
-Meditate Daily
*Acute Change (Hammer approach)
-Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
-Widespread (Society for Neuroscience) – 30 % of Vietnam vets have PTSD, 20,000
to 40,000 had PTSD after 9/11
-Creating new pathways (shock treatment)
*Is there a positive equivalent to trauma? –Acute Change Through Peak
Experience – experiences of ecstasy, rapture, bliss, joy
-Post Peak Experience Order (PPEO)
-Religion, the Enlightenment
-Peak experiences can lead to a new brain order
-How do we enhance the likelihood of Peak Experiences?
-How do we make the most of them?
Enhance the likelihood of peak experience:
-acceptance (permission to be human)
-mindfulness (being in the moment)
-music
-meaningful goal (whatever is personally meaningful whether it’s a banker or Mother
Theresa)
-time (taking time to hang out)
-Enhancing the likelihood of PPEO
-reflection
-journaling (coherence through writing)
-taking time
-Behavior: Taking Action
-Permanent Change
-Attitude: towards myself, the world, a presidential candidate
-Behavior: start meditating, yoga, writing thank you’s
-Behavior Changing Attitudes
-POWs in Korea (Schein, 1956)
-cognitive dissonance (Festinger, 1959)
-self-perception theory (Bem, 1967)
-facial feedback hypothesis (Ekman, 1983)
-“smile and the world smiles with you”
Lecture Notes – Nov. 8, 2004
Goal in life is to find your calling
use “cognitive reconstruction” – maids in hospitals think of their job as “caring for
people” rather than just cleaning
in the modern world, people are not attuned to their biological rhythms, use caffeine and
other substances to artificially stimulate self
Overcoming Procrastination:
The 5 Minute Take-off – force yourself to work for the first 5 min.
-procrastinators only do work when they REALLY feel like it
-reward self
-go public, make a commitment
-team approach – do things together
-goals, plans, lists
connection between procrastination and perfectionism
Simplify:
do less, not more – improves relationships with others
quantity affects quality
there are optimum levels of simplicity
happiness, creativity, and productivity are highest at optimum levels
identify optimum levels through trial and error
work expands to fill the time available
we equate doing more with ambition
Material Perception:
stemming from the need to use the scientific method, all about quantity
move from intangible to tangible results
material as highest end
counting activities, publications, products – focus on quantitative over qualitative
money as highest end
Obsession with material wealth...
need to challenge people’s perception with capitalism
making the most of our blessings – being grateful
rising levels of depression due to heightened goal of making money over meaning
people who have money as ultimate goal:
less liklihood of self-actualization
higher chances of depression, anxiety, distress
less happiness
worse physical health
need to look at happiness as highest end, not money!
9/29/04
Lecture #4
- growing tip stat
- elitist? Doesn't exclude studying the average
- studying our personal best (when did I thrive the most? Then apply)
- describe or prescribe
- changing the world
* Cambridge-Sommerville Youth Study
- shocking outcomes and results suggest societal change impossible
- is societal change possible?
- exception proves the rule
- practical idealists unite
- the power of one
- exponential growth: we underestimate our capacity to effect change
because we underestimate the growth of an exponential function
Premise 3: Internal factors primarily determine happiness vs. happiness
primarily a function of external circumstances
- subjective well-being research
- affective forecasting (go back to base emotion)
- happiness levels: income matters little; no change across generations
(of subjective well being, depression increases) place of residence is
irrelevant; democracy and oppression
- our readiness and potential to experience happiness is mostly dependent
on out state of mind, not on our status or the state of our bank account
- is change illusive? Not if the focus is on transformation
Premise 4: Human nature must be obeyed vs. human nature must be perfected
Constrained vision
Unconstrained vision
Human nature immutable
Can be improved
Flaws inevitable
Perfectible
Acceptance
Solutions exist
Channel nature
Change nature
- applies to psychology and politics
- vision of psychology: our role is to understand nature and make best use
of it
- permission to be human: "to err is human"
* unconditional acceptance
* rejecting nature leads to unhappiness (part of my nature is to be
jealous, joyous, etc.)
* accepting does not mean resigning (accepting gravity doest not mean
resigning flight)
* true to reality
Positive Psych Lecture Notes: November 10, 2004
Simplification: we equate stress and complexity with ambition
- Langer: We don’t want to give up doing too much because we don’t want to
give up success.
How to simplify:
- Distinguish between have-to’s and want-to’s. The challenge arises when we
have too many want-to’s to choose from - quantity effects quality, so we
cannot do too much or too little.
Material Perception vs. Happiness Perception
- Money should not be seen as an end in itself - Happiness should be the highest
end
- A million dollars is worth only as much as it can be translated into the
ultimate currency.
Steps to make the shift to the Happiness Perception
- Sheldon: Self-concordant goals (personally important goals)
- Asking the right questions: How I can I identify what is truly meaningful in
my life  Three Question Process: what gives me pleasure, what are my
strengths, what gives me meaning
- How we frame the situation makes all the difference: as a threat or an
opportunity
Happiness Revolution: getting people to understand that the ultimate currency is
happiness
- It comes from the inside out – perceptions must change
- Non zero-sum game – unlimited resource of happiness
- Peaceful revolution – it’s about liberation from materialism
Implications for Politics
- Most wars fought over material possessions – this disappears when people
choose happiness
- Government’s role: create conditions for pursuing happiness, ensure freedom,
educate (get them to focus on ultimate truth of happiness over materialism0
o Example: Bhutan uses goal of Gross National Happiness instead of
Gross National Product  at the core of collective change must be a
change from within
Perfectionism
- Journey from A  B can be a straight line (perfectionism) or a twisty curvy
line (pursuing excellence). Focus on the journey not just the goal 
excellence
- Tal’s squash story: Whole childhood revolved around squash. Wanted to be
Israeli National Champion. Constant anxiety, knot in stomach wouldn’t go
away. Won Israeli National Championship, knot momentarily disappeared,
but returned quickly. Got hurt training too hard – All or Nothing mentality.
Came to Harvard focused on schoolwork, same knot in stomach. Short-lived
relief when turned in paper or test, then return to knot. Sophomore year
realized it was not something out there (external) that was going to make him
happy, it was internal.
- Could not be where we are today without thousands of failures in the past
LEARN TO FAIL OR FAIL TO LEARN
Lecture Notes 10/ 13:
- Optimizing Optimism
~ unrealistic beliefs – need some realism….where’s the balance?
a. The Stockdale Principle: the kind of person that is more likely to
survive by their sense of reality
b. Positive thinking is not enough
c. The “secret” to success is working hard at something you are
passionate about
~ self-esteem and happiness
- William James: self-esteem = Achievement
Expectations
- whether you achieve expectations or not, self-esteem fluctuates up and
down, always returning to the base level
- to raise base level: move out of your comfort zone!
(coping vs. avoidance)
- Becoming an Optimist
1. action – just do it!
2. visualization – imagine
3. rational thinking – cognitive therapy
1. Taking action:
Hard work -> success -> positive beliefs (a constant cycle)
2. Imagining success:
~ using the mind as a simulator
- the mind cannot tell what is real and what is imaginary
- the mind looks for consistency – imagine success inside can achieve
success outside
~ focus on journey and destination
~ involve different senses – fool the mind into thinking it’s real
~ evoke emotions – create an imaginary picture
3. Cognitive Therapy:
~ thoughts drive emotion : event -> thought -> emotion
- must intervene at the thought level – restore rationality to the thought
- highly effective and acquired skill
~ The TEN Cognitive Distortions
1. all-or-nothing thinking
2. over-generalization
(predicting all future events from one event)
3. mental filter
(focusing on the worst)
4. disqualifying the positive
(taking the good for granted)
5. jumping to conclusions (mind reading, fortune telling)
6. magnifying or minimizing
7. emotional reasoning
8. “should” or “must” statements
9. labeling
10. personalization and blame
Lecture: October 25
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This lecture picks up on the idea of the ABC’s of change
o Affect
o Behavior
o Cognition
Behavior
Behavior can change our attitudes
Overcoming shyness (Hammerlie, 1987): Experiment where shy subjects came to
a lab and while they were in the waiting room experimenters had lab assistants
strike up conversations with them. These conversations changed their lived;
helped them overcome shyness.
Fake it till you make it (Myers, 1992) Behave like happy people do and
eventually you’ll be happier
Coping: The way to increase self esteem is to exit your comfort zone. You want
the optimum level of discomfort. (Tal’s display of his pink shirt)
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Bias for action:
o Increase confidence by taking risks
o Reduce stress by simplifying
o Become more positive by practicing gratefulness
Imagination (exposure through visualization)
Cognition: Thoughts create worlds
How we interpret a situation matters a great deal: you can tell the same story
through the eyes of a “fault finder” or a “merit finder”
Changing interpretation style takes time
Experiments which show examples of how cognitive reconstruction affects us:
o Threat of challenge(Tomaska, 1997)
o Arousal as anger or euphoria (Schacter & Singer, 1962)
o Cooperation or competition (Ross & Samuels, 1993)
o Volunteering as a privilege or duty
o Failure as opportunity or disaster
Acute Change: The Eureka experience. There are no shortcuts to the creative
process
The creative process:
o Preparation-immersion
o Incubation-idle time
o Eureka-insight
o Evaluation-reality test
o Elaboration-coherence
September 20th Notes
The Road to Positive Psychology
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Humanistic Psychology (1950’s)
o Third Force
Reaction to behaviorism
Reaction to psychoanalysis
Lacked rigorous methodology
o No controlled experiments
o Humanistic psychology became “self-help” movement


Meet the Grandparents
Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)—Grandfather
Karen Horney (1885-1952)—Grandmother

Meet the Parents
Martin Seligman— Father
o Founded Association of Positive Psychology in 1996
o Gave sense of coherence to the field
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Alice Isen—Mother
o Applied empiricism to humanistic ideas
Philip Stone
o Taught first positive psychology class
o Here at Harvard in 1999
Positive Psychology
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Not just about information
Also about transformation
o Changing shape of form
o Covering less; uncovering more
 Michaelangelo’s David→ Saw David in block of stone; chipped
away excess
o Information is not enough (Need transformation highway)
Not just about providing definitive answers concerning good life
o Also about identifying the right questions to ask
o “Children enter school as question marks and leave as periods.”—Neil
Postman
Harvard Business School Class of 1974
o Two differences were found between the merely successful and the cream
of the crop
 Belief in self
 Always asking questions
Question of Questions
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How can we help ourselves and other—individuals, communities, and society—
become happier?
o Not “Am I happy?”→ Finite
Education is the quest for information and transformation. All education must
begin with a question
Not a survey
o Selective exploration of “question of questions.”
o Cross-cultural psychology→ Some Eastern psychology; mostly Western
psychology
o Eclectic
o Studying others and ourselves
o “Rigorous” fun
 About taking difficult material and engaging it
o A different kind of effort
September 22nd Notes
Why Positive Psychology?

The importance of positive psychology as an independent field of study


Why should I study positive psychology?
A preview…
Independent field
 Psychological Abstracts (1967-2000)
Negative Topics
Positive Topics
Anger: 5584
Joy: 415
Anxiety: 41,416
Happiness: 1710
Depression: 54,040
Life satisfaction: 2582
Ratio: 21/1 Negative to Positive
 Focusing on the Negative
o Maslow pointed this out
 Accentuating the Positive
o Aim to change focus from negative to positive—Seligman
 Psychology needs help
o 21/1 ratio is unhealthy…
 …But it reflects reality
o Depression is 10X higher now than it was in 1960
o Mean age for depression today is 14.5 (29.5 in 1960)
o 80% of Harvard students depressed at least once in last year
o 39% of college students nationwide depressed to the point of not
functioning in the past year
Why More “Positive” Research?
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
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Psychology as creative rather than merely reactive
Happiness is NOT the negation of unhappiness
Prevention through cultivating the positive
Unhappiness Spiral
o Negative research ↔negative experiences
o Similar to Heisenberg “Uncertainty Principle”
 Happiness Spiral→ “Positive Research”↔ Positive Experience
 Happiness isn’t the negation of unhappiness
o Have to overcome indigestion to enjoy gourmet meal
Disease Model
Health Model
Neurosis, anger, anxiety, depression,
Well-being, satisfaction, joy, excitement,
psychois
happiness
Focus on weaknesses
Focus on strengths
Overcoming deficiencies
Building competencies
Avoiding pain
Seeking pleasure
Running from unhappiness (80 hr/wk
Pursuing happiness (Passionate type)
work-a-holic)
Neutral state (0) as ceiling
No ceiling
Tensionless as ideal
“Creative tension” as ideal

Prevention through cultivating positive
o Maslow stated that illness was the absence of health (vs. health as the
absence of illness)
 Building competencies is more effective than allaying weaknesses
o Stronger immune system
 Recover more quickly from depression
 Get angry/anxious less often
 Improving mental system improves physical system
o Mental health at Harvard
The Power of Positive Psychology: A Case Study

Approach of resilience
o Applies to Harvard
o At-risk population (Post-WWII)
 Why do these individuals fail?
 80% don’t go to college; 90% experience anger
o Recent shift: From deficiencies to strengths
 Pathogenic to salutogenic (Antonovsky, 1970)
o Resilience
 “A class of phenomena characterized by patterns of positive
adaptation to the context of significant adversity or risk.”—Masten
and Reed
 “What makes some individuals overcome difficulty and hardship?”
 What makes some individuals succeed despite unfavorable
circumstances?”
 Research
 Superkids?
o Succeed against all odds
 Ordinary characteristics, extraordinary results (Werner and
Smith, 2000)
o 700 Hawaiian children
 Social support (Women reach out more than
men)
 Prosocial behavior (Lisa Lareau)
 Faith and a sense of meaning in life
 Optimism and self-esteem
 Focusing on strengths
 Set goals
 A role model
OCTOBER 25 LECTURE NOTES
-Behavior changing attitudes: post-peak experience must be immediately implemented,
otherwise it will be washed away by habit: behavior has to follow action:
-Hammerlie experiment: took shy people and brought them in for a “fake” experiment
during which they were told to wait for 12 minutes in a room between sessions. During
these waiting times, a different woman would engage them in conversation. This waiting
period was in fact the experiment itself. Six months later, when checking in with subjects,
experimenters found that the12 sessions of 12 minute waiting periods with women left
subjects more socially confident. Subjects were told the premise of the experiment, and
that the women were hired to talk to them. But after six months it didn’t matter, because
their behavior had shifted and their social confidence had become entrenched in action.
-Bendura: self-efficacy or nothing succeeds like success
-David Meyers: Fake it Till you Make it: behavior changes attitude
-The action or behavior changing attitude is a slow-process.
Changes divided between the gradual and the acute: Mindfulness as the gradual
emotion, peak experience as the acute.
-Bednar and Peterson, 1995: a more acute change through coping. Increase happiness and
self-esteem through coping, as opposed to avoiding things that aren’t comfortable.
“optimum levels of discomfort”
Levels of arousal
High
Medium
Low
Anxiety
Optimal Level of
Discomfort
Discomfort Zone:
Taking a risk, though still
not high
Comfort zone
-change has a bias for action, whether fake it till you make it, taking risk, but getting out
of low levels of arousal where things don’t change. Bias for action: You increase
confidence by taking risks; reduce stress by simplifying; practicing gratefulness (behavior
change leading to attitudinal change) -imagination
COGNITION:
-the gradual approach to change and the acute approach to change
the gradual approach: cognitive reconstruction
-the eureka experience, like the peak experience, but only cognitive
cognitive reconstruction: interpretation as neural pathway: nothing is good or bad unless
we make it so.
-as a merit-finder versus fault-finder: two ways of telling stories, two different
interpretations
-the twin studies: identical twins have abusive father, one becomes abusive, the other
loving. Both say they had no choice but to turn out like they did.
-it takes time to become a merit finder, rather than a fault finder.
Examples of cognitive reconstruction or framing the story
-threat or challenge? Tomaska, 1997: people came in with the same experience who
talked about it as threatening or challenging reaction. Some had different physiological
reactions.
-Ross and Samuels, 1993: a group of cooperative and competitive ppl assembled to play
the prisoner’s dilemma. Divided groups randomly to assess cooperative or competitive.
One group was told they were playing a community game, the other a “wall-street” game.
Individual competitiveness didn’t play factor, only whether you were told if you were in
a community vs. wall-street game. It’s all how the game is framed.
-Lareau, 2004: seeing volunteering as privilege or duty: how we interpret it affects
involvement.
-failure as opportunity or disaster? Learn to fail or fail to learn
Acute change: The Eureka Experience
Cognitive reconstruction is gradual change
-the acute change is very misunderstood. People think it just happens. No, the process of
creativity looks : 1. preparation (immersion, perspiration) 2.incubation (idle time) when
our mind is idle, it makes all the connections.
like the love-making process: preparation/incubation as foreplay, eureka as orgasm.
-you can’t get to stage three without going through the first two.
-after the eureka experience, an evaluation or a reality test: Is it a worthwhile invention, is
it feasible?
-Elaboration, coherence
10-18 lecture
Adaptation
- We are change detectors
- Change detection = helpful in case of danger
- Adaptation helps to overcome difficulties
- Taking things for granted
- Eating the cake and leaving it whole?
2 Things that lead to negative schema
- media
- we adapt to good things and bad things…we’re not grateful for things, and focus
on the negative
o Do things need to go bad for us to appreciate the good?
 NO, we can learn to be grateful for things
 Must make gratitude a way of life
“Gratitude produced the most purely joyful moments that have been known to man”
-
Gratitude as the ultimate prayer
- Make these things a habit (gratefulness) so they become second nature
- Must appreciate the extraordinaryness of every day life
“Gratefulness is the measure of our aliveness. Are we not dead to whatever we take for
granted? Surely to be numb is to be dead”
Research of Gratitude
- Emmons and McCullough (2002)
o Took students into 4 groups : gratitude, hassles, superior, control group
o Each of these groups wrote about these things…5 of each every night.
Had to actually think about/focus on these things
o Measured health, optimism, hope, gratitude, and how  they were after 10
weeks
 Group that performed worse was hassles
 Control group and superior were the same
 Gratitude group did best. They benefited physically and were
healthier and happier
 Physiological benefits
 Benefits of trait gratefulness --> higher levels of well being
Becoming a Merit Finder
- DO the gratefulness exercise, try for 21 days
- Visualize it, feel it, don’t take it for granted
- Chipping away negativity
- Celebrate thanksgiving 365 days/year!
“We live in a “given” world…what brings fulfillment is gratefulness, the simple response
of our heart to this given life is fulfillment.
-Helen Keller…”Glory in all the facets and pleasures and beauty which the world
reveals to you”
Change
The Nature of Change
-
-
change is hard
o twin research (Lykken and Tellegan, 1996)
o affective forecasting (Gilbert, 1998)
o Cambridge-Sommerville study
Change is possible
o Error in looking at the average
o The exception proves the rule
Self Help and Change
- Success literature (Covey, 1989)
o Character and change (1800-1930)  written about during these years,
cultivation of self…deep change, slow and gradual
o Quick fix (1930-today)  gets things done/better NOW!
 There is a price to this “quick fix”…
 Samuel Smiles explains in “Self Help”…depression on rise,
avoiding struggle instead of dealing w/ it
The Anatomy of Change
- Neuroplasticity (Davidson, 2000)
o Showed that the brain changes thoughtout our lives. The brain isn’t
“made then stays the same”
- Neural pathways (channels)
o Like water…starts as a creek, gets bigger and bigger, finally turns into a
big river
- Self-reinforcing
- Habits as fortified pathways (we make out habits…out habits make us)
- ***the brain does change!***
Lecture notes for 10/6
THE (POSITIVE) POWER OF THE SITUATION
 The Milgram Experiment
o This is where Milgram had subjects administer shocks to confederates
hooked up to a bunch of wires
o The experimenter would often get the subjects to administer what would
have been detrimental amounts of shock to the confederates
o The confederates, to increase the realism of the study, would scream in
pain
 Zimbardo prison experiment
o Simulated a prison environment
o Those who played the role of guards often went on genuine power trips
o Those who played the role of prisoners actually were willing to listen to
the guards and took on the real identity of prisoners
 Langer (1979) study
o Men above the age of 75
o They were put in a resort
o Everything was as if it was 1959
 Subjects were encouraged to live as if it was 1959
o Results: the subjects showed both mental and biological age decreases
 Langer (1989)
o Went and tested navy recruits
o Tested eyesight
o Eyesight of those who dressed-up as fighter pilots and did the real
simulation actually improved their eyesight
o Those who didn’t dress up and didn’t have an actual simulation didn’t
improve in eyesight
POSITIVE PRIMING
 Bargh (1999)
o Interpret words associated with old people
 The subjects who had ‘elderly’ words embedded in the text acted
‘older’
 E.g. took longer walking from room to room
 Also did it for a positive effect
 Embedded uplifting words
 People primed with positive words performed better on an
intelligence test
 Dijksterhuis and Van Knippensberg (1998)
o Subjects primed with ‘professor’ scored better on intelligence tests than
those primed as ‘hooligans’
 Creating a positive environment
o Our environment affects us
 Pictures (people, places, etc)
 Pleasant objects (memorabilia, flowers, etc.)
 Quotes
THE SELF-HELP MOVEMENT
 Napoleon Hill wrote Think and Grow Rich
 Norman Vincent Peale wrote The Power of Positive Thinking
 Albert Bandura on Self-Efficacy
o Said that self-efficacy is cultivated over time
 Nathaniel Branden on Self-Esteem (we’ve read his book)
THE PLACEBO EFFECT
 Herbert Benson
o Gave pregnant women a drug that should’ve made them vomit more but
he got these women to believe that they received anti-vomit medicine and
it actually worked
 The women cured themselves with beliefs alone
 The mind controls the body

Seligman
o Pessimists were realistic in the long and short run
o Optimists were unrealistic in the short run but realistic in the long run
o Interpretation style matters
o Optimism improves our mental/physical health
 Immune system
 Resilience
 Happiness
 Longevity
o All of this can be learned
6 October 2004
“Treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he can and should be
and he shall become as he can and should be.” ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The (Positive) Power of the Situation
 Zimbardo prison experiment: students from Stanford were put in a make believe
jail and within a few hours people took on roles of sadistic wardens or obedient
prisoners (Negative)
 Ellen Langer (1979)
o Men over the age of 75 that were not working
o She put them together in a resort where everything was as if it was 1959
(20 years earlier)
o Participants were told to behave as if it was twenty years earlier
o Lived in this make-believe world for a week
o The results showed that mental and biological age decreased
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Physical flexibility went up
Finger joints became longer over a week
Memory improved
Hearing and vision improved
Men became more self sufficient when they went home
The environment expected something positive from them and they
lived up to the expectations
 Negative expectations in the west for the elderly
 Elderly live down to expectations
Ellen Langer (1989)
o Tested recruits (future fighter pilots) for eyesight
o Tested one group in the normal environment
o Second was in an actual flight simulator
 Had to read letters (which were the same as a regular eye chart) on
the simulator
o Eyesight of those who dressed up as pilots and used the simulator
increased by 40%
Positive Priming
 Bargh (1999)
o Testing comprehension
 Interpret words that are associated with old people
 People who were primed with elderly words:
 Walked slower to the elevator
 Remembered less
o Primed people with positive words
 People performed better
 Dijksterhuis & Van Knippensberg (1998)
o Subjects who were primed with professor scored better on analysis,
comprehension, memory, and intelligence than those primed with hooligan
 What are the implications for us?
o Creating a positive environment matters for us
 Pictures of people, places, etc. that matter
 Even if we stop seeing them they still influence us
 Pleasant objects: memorabilia, flowers, books, etc.
 Quotes
 Nii’s room…
o Eisenberg Principle
 We affect our environment by measuring it
 Stop studying depression, study happiness
 Cannot measure a phenomenon without influencing it
The Self-Help Movement
 Napolean Hill: Think and Grow Rich
o Packaged the American Dream
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o “Whatever your mind can conceive and believe it can achieve.”
~Napolean Hill
o “Whether you think you can or can’t—you are right.” ~henry Ford
Norman Vincent Peale: The Power of Positive Thinking
o “Have great hope and dare to go all out for them. Have great dreams and
dare to live them. Have tremdnous…”
Albert Bandura on Self Efficac
o “Beliefs in personal efficacy affect life choices, level of motivation,
quality of functioning, resilience to adversity and vulnerability to stress
and depression.”
o “People who regard themselves as highly efficiacious act, think, and feel
differently from thos who perceive themselves as ineffiacacious. They
produce their own future, rather than simply foretell it.”
o Can be cultivated over time
o Curry (1997) on college athletes
 56% of the variance was accounted for by hope and efficacy
Nathaniel Branden on Self-Esteem
o Bridged self-help movement and academia
o “The level of our slef-esteem has profound consequences for every aspect
of our existence: how we operate in the workplace, how we deal with
people, how lhigh we are likely to rise, how much we are likely to
achieve….”
o “Self concept is destiny.”
The Placebo Effect
 Herbert Benson: Timeless Healing
o Pregnant Women who were suffering from stomach problems came to lab
 Gave them a placebo drug
 They took it and got better
o Second group came in and took ipecac: something that makes us want to
vomit
 Told them it was drug against nausea
 Also stopped the vomiting
 Women reversed the proven action of a powerful drug
 With beliefs alone they cured themselves
o Women were allergic to a particular plant
 First group touched two plants
 Regardless of which hand touched the plant they were allergic to,
the hand they thought touched it flared up
Beliefs as Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
 Beliefs/ExpectationsMotivationPerformanceInterpretation of the Situation
o We desire and need consistency
o The mind does not like when there is inconsistency between what is inside
our mind and the outside reality
 If there is a discrepancy, we try to even it out


We either change our mental schema
Or we fit the reality into the schema (more likely)
o Ex) 4 minute mile
o Interpretation of the Situation
 Objective
 Did I get an A or C?
 Did I run the mile in 3:59 or 4:01?
 Did he say yes or no?
 Subjective
 I got an A: why?
o I worked hard
o I’m lucky
 She said no: why?
o I’m unlovable
o She’s not interested—her problem
 Edison: Tried over 5,000 times to create the lightbulb
o I haven’t failed over 5,000 times, I’ve succeeded
5,000 times in showing what hasn’t worked
 Pessimists are much more realistic in the short term
 Optimists were not realistic in the short term, but ultimately
realistic in the long run
 Keep going around the loop until they succeed and
ultimately make the unrealistic beliefs realistic
o Bring reality up to a dream
 Took Edison over 10,000 experiments to invent the
lightbulb
 Babe Ruth had the most strike outs
 Learn to fail, or fail to learn
o There are no shortcuts
Optimism and Pessimism (Seligman)
 Interpretation Style
 Success
o 1988 Olympics: Biondi
 was going to break mark spitz’s record
 first two were bronze and silver
 went on to win 5 golds b.c he was an optimist
 Mental/physical health
o Immune system
o Resilience
o Happiness
 Pessimists are 8 times as likely to be depressed
o Longevity
 Optimists live much longer
Oct. 15 lecture
How do we interpret things

“It appears that the way people perceive the world is much
more important to happiness than objective circumstances.” –
Ed Diener
 Base level of happiness – Dan Gilbert
 Emotions internal and external
 The choice is focus
“To the different minds, the same world is a hell, and a heaven.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
 “Nothing is good or bad but thinking makes it so.” – William
Shakespeare
Fun video clip – big waste of time!
Two Archetypes
 Fault Finder
o “The fault-finder will find faults even in paradise” Henry David Thoreau
o Could lead to resignation – learned helplessness (Marty
Seligman) No matter what I do – I am in trouble
 Merit Finder
o Focus on positive
o Makes lemonade out of lemon, looks on the bright side
o Could lead to detachment.
 No perma happiness, upsie downsies instead
o The need to respect reality!
A Matter of interpretation
 “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” – Anne Harbison
 Big difference between saying “things happen for the best”
and “some people make the best out of things”.
 More quotes about the benefits of being optimistic/meritfinding
Well being
 Thompson, 1985 – looking for the positive led people to be
happier, better mood, immune system, etc
Health
 Afflect 1987 – after a heart attack chose to become healthier
and believe they had a chance at changing
 House burning down, can be optimistic? Happy and healthy
 Bower (1988) – optimistic aids patients, more likely to be
healthy not see their doctors
 King & Miner (2000) – victims of trauma – better off
Longevity
 The Nun Study (Danner et al, 2001) 178 nuns – intellect,
devotion predicted nothing, 1 variable – how much positive
feelings did they express? Independent raters – rated
cheerful, positive attitude
 at 85 top 25% 90% alive, bottom 25% 34% alive…
 at 94 top 25% 54% alive, bottom 25% 11% alive…
Media bias
 Not terrible fox news or new york times but… accentuating
the negative and under-representing the positive.
 Who is really detached?
 Focusing on the 99% full part of the glass.
 Focus creates reality
Correcting the negative schema
o “good news paper”
o pretty pictures…
o happy music
o studies – psychologists stone, langer, gilbert
We… ADAPT to the status quo (positive) and take it for granted!
We are

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change detectors – bad smell etc.
Adaptation helps us overcome difficulties.
Like when someone dies.
Must things get worse before we recognize how wonderful our
lives are?