Positive Psychology
TED Talk by Martin Seligman
http://www.ted.com/talks/martin_seligman_on_the_state_of_psychology.html
Martin Seligman is the founder of positive psychology, a field of study that examines healthy states, such as happiness, strength of character and optimism.
Martin Seligman, Positive Psychology Center, University of Pennsylvania, [email protected]
Ann’s Notes
Psychology is “Good”, “Not Good”, and “Not Good Enough”.
Good
Two Victories of the Disease Model
1) 14 diseases are now treatable (60 years ago this was not true)
2) A science of mental illness has been codified
• Classification of mental illnesses (DSM)
• Measurement of “fuzzy” concepts through research
• Discovery of ideas about causality for these conditions through research
• Invent treatments (Tx and Rx)
• Efficacy and Effectiveness of Treatments
• Psychology can make people less miserable
Three Costs of the disease Model
1) Psychologists became victimologists and pathologizers
2) They also forgot about improving normal lives and helping people with “High Talent”
3) In the rush to help people in pain they forgot to develop methods to help people become happier
What is Positive Psychology?
Psychology should be:
• As concerned with strengths as with weaknesses
• As interested in building the best things in life as in repairing the worst
• As concerned with making the lives of normal people fulfilling and with nurturing high talent as with healing pathology
Science of Positive Psychology
1) Testing for yourself available at: www.authentichappiness.org
2) Classification of what produces happiness and flow, of strengths
3) Causation is discoverable (of first type of Happy people)
• Left Hemisphere brain activity
• Extremely happy people are extremely social
4) Interventions (Tx and Rx)
5) Efficacy and Effectiveness of the above interventions
Three “Happy” Lives
1) The Pleasant Life (PA=Positive Affect)
• Positive emotions (as many as you can)
• The skills to amplify them (i.e., savoring, mindfulness)
Three Drawbacks to this form are:
• It is Heritable (www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/heritable
• capable of being inherited or of passing by inheritance)
• It Habituates (feedback decreases with exposure)
• It is not particularly malleable (pleasure doesn’t generalize easily)
2) The Good Life (Engagement)
• Pleasure vs Flow (Eudiamonia)
• Identify Signature Strengths (www.authentichappiness.org)
• Recraft Work, Love, and Play to take advantage of signature strengths
• Derive thereby more Flow
3) The Meaningful Life
Martin Seligman is the founder of positive psychology, a field of study that examines healthy states, such as happiness, strength of character and optimism.
Martin Seligman, Positive Psychology Center, University of Pennsylvania, [email protected]
Ann’s Notes
Psychology is “Good”, “Not Good”, and “Not Good Enough”.
Good
Two Victories of the Disease Model
1) 14 diseases are now treatable (60 years ago this was not true)
2) A science of mental illness has been codified
• Classification of mental illnesses (DSM)
• Measurement of “fuzzy” concepts through research
• Discovery of ideas about causality for these conditions through research
• Invent treatments (Tx and Rx)
• Efficacy and Effectiveness of Treatments
• Psychology can make people less miserable
Three Costs of the disease Model
1) Psychologists became victimologists and pathologizers
2) They also forgot about improving normal lives and helping people with “High Talent”
3) In the rush to help people in pain they forgot to develop methods to help people become happier
What is Positive Psychology?
Psychology should be:
• As concerned with strengths as with weaknesses
• As interested in building the best things in life as in repairing the worst
• As concerned with making the lives of normal people fulfilling and with nurturing high talent as with healing pathology
Science of Positive Psychology
1) Testing for yourself available at: www.authentichappiness.org
2) Classification of what produces happiness and flow, of strengths
3) Causation is discoverable (of first type of Happy people)
• Left Hemisphere brain activity
• Extremely happy people are extremely social
4) Interventions (Tx and Rx)
5) Efficacy and Effectiveness of the above interventions
Three “Happy” Lives
1) The Pleasant Life (PA=Positive Affect)
• Positive emotions (as many as you can)
• The skills to amplify them (i.e., savoring, mindfulness)
Three Drawbacks to this form are:
• It is Heritable (www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/heritable
• capable of being inherited or of passing by inheritance)
• It Habituates (feedback decreases with exposure)
• It is not particularly malleable (pleasure doesn’t generalize easily)
2) The Good Life (Engagement)
• Pleasure vs Flow (Eudiamonia)
• Identify Signature Strengths (www.authentichappiness.org)
• Recraft Work, Love, and Play to take advantage of signature strengths
• Derive thereby more Flow
3) The Meaningful Life
Week 3
THE PENDULUM FOR COMMUNITY HIGH PART 1. DRAFT
Our feelings and emotions effect our judgement and our communications. They can prevent the best of what we have being available to us. Our emotions can erode our talent or they can be a source of steadiness and inspiration. The Pendulum is a tool that can help us get the best from our emotions. The Pendulum can give us choices about how best to use our commitment, our energy and the belief we can instil in others.
The Pendulum can help prevent mistakes because we can check out a decision in different parts of the Pendulum which can quickly give us a balance of certainty and doubt, enthusiasm and fear, anger and forgiveness. The Pendulum shows us the commonsense of taking time and viewing a situation from all sides.
Checking out a decision using the CT (Contribution Training) tool of the Pendulum can also bring in the blessed sanity of the Calm.
In the Compulsive High we can be too sure of ourselves, which is a Pleasant Compulsive High; or too angry, which is an Unpleasant Compulsive High. In the extreme or Compulsive Low we can be too guilty or too full of doubts and self pity. In the extremes we do not have choices but we can have vision and a sharp determination. In the Tolerable areas we have balance and more than one view. In the Calm we have the widest perspective and balance. However at times we need the extreme swings to find our grit and our dreams.
The extreme swings of the Pendulum represents the failure to communicate hard messages effectively and also are the places where our ability to listen is most restricted. In the extremes we can talk rubbish and not listen to what another person is trying so hard to tell us.
-- Peter Fleming
THE PENDULUM FOR COMMUNITY HIGH PART 1. DRAFT
Our feelings and emotions effect our judgement and our communications. They can prevent the best of what we have being available to us. Our emotions can erode our talent or they can be a source of steadiness and inspiration. The Pendulum is a tool that can help us get the best from our emotions. The Pendulum can give us choices about how best to use our commitment, our energy and the belief we can instil in others.
The Pendulum can help prevent mistakes because we can check out a decision in different parts of the Pendulum which can quickly give us a balance of certainty and doubt, enthusiasm and fear, anger and forgiveness. The Pendulum shows us the commonsense of taking time and viewing a situation from all sides.
Checking out a decision using the CT (Contribution Training) tool of the Pendulum can also bring in the blessed sanity of the Calm.
In the Compulsive High we can be too sure of ourselves, which is a Pleasant Compulsive High; or too angry, which is an Unpleasant Compulsive High. In the extreme or Compulsive Low we can be too guilty or too full of doubts and self pity. In the extremes we do not have choices but we can have vision and a sharp determination. In the Tolerable areas we have balance and more than one view. In the Calm we have the widest perspective and balance. However at times we need the extreme swings to find our grit and our dreams.
The extreme swings of the Pendulum represents the failure to communicate hard messages effectively and also are the places where our ability to listen is most restricted. In the extremes we can talk rubbish and not listen to what another person is trying so hard to tell us.
-- Peter Fleming
Feedback
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In CT we believe that being able to listen to other peoples' perceptions, opinions and suggestions to us is extremely important in being able to fulfill ourselves in our lives. This listening process includes what we call FEEDBACK. We almost always use Feedback as a second step in conjunction with Passive Listening. The things we most need to hear are often the things that are hardest for us to hear and Passive Listening is a great help in meeting that challenge.
Feedback and Passive Listening in CT aim always to be a two way process. A pair of people will take turns in giving and receiving Feedback. There are rules for giving Feedback as follows;
* Either party can stop the process at any time. No is always an acceptable answer.
* Feedback is offered in Goodwill. As the person giving the Feedback, you must be able to feel that you want the best for the person you are offering your observations to.
* Feedback is honest and direct communication about what you have seen and how it makes you feel.
We will practice this in class so that it is a clear concept, before I ask anyone to try it.
Some people find Feedback easy. Some people find it hard. It can change our lives in challenging and yet very rewarding ways.
Feedback and Passive Listening in CT aim always to be a two way process. A pair of people will take turns in giving and receiving Feedback. There are rules for giving Feedback as follows;
* Either party can stop the process at any time. No is always an acceptable answer.
* Feedback is offered in Goodwill. As the person giving the Feedback, you must be able to feel that you want the best for the person you are offering your observations to.
* Feedback is honest and direct communication about what you have seen and how it makes you feel.
We will practice this in class so that it is a clear concept, before I ask anyone to try it.
Some people find Feedback easy. Some people find it hard. It can change our lives in challenging and yet very rewarding ways.
Positive Psychology
Our 3-Week Experiment
Ann Says...It takes 21 days to change or create a habit. We are undertaking an "experiment" in Psychology, beginning today that will be research into this 21-day pattern predictor and research into how you can change yourself.
Using your journals (or create a new journal for this) and record your efforts. Begin to do the first four of the following 5 tasks. This should involve no more than 20 minutes a day (7 days a week) On day 21 bring your journals to class and we will have a celebration and discussion of what you have learned. If you miss a day or forget a task, don't quit! Make up the writing part of the work and keep going, but note the missing element in your journals. There is no punishment involved. To be a successful experiment, we must keep good records.
The 21 Day Challenge (From Shawn Achor) :
1. Write down three new things you are grateful for each day. Research shows this will significantly improve your optimism even 6 months later, and raises your success rates significantly.
2. Write for 2 minutes a day describing one positive experience you had over the past 24 hours. This is a strategy to help transform you from a task-based thinker, to a meaning based thinker who scans the world for meaning instead of endless to-dos. This dramatically increases work/life happiness. Or, alternatively, to offer even more boost in positivity you can substitute the Three Good Things exercise found on the clip we saw in class from EdX. (10 minutes of writing per day)
3. Exercise for 10 minutes a day. This trains your brain to believe your behavior matters, which causes a cascade of success throughout the rest of the day.
4. Meditate for 2 minutes, focusing on your breath going in and out. This will help you undo the negative effects of multitasking. Research shows you get multiple tasks done faster if you do them one at a time. It also decreases stress and raises happiness.
Our 3-Week Experiment
Ann Says...It takes 21 days to change or create a habit. We are undertaking an "experiment" in Psychology, beginning today that will be research into this 21-day pattern predictor and research into how you can change yourself.
Using your journals (or create a new journal for this) and record your efforts. Begin to do the first four of the following 5 tasks. This should involve no more than 20 minutes a day (7 days a week) On day 21 bring your journals to class and we will have a celebration and discussion of what you have learned. If you miss a day or forget a task, don't quit! Make up the writing part of the work and keep going, but note the missing element in your journals. There is no punishment involved. To be a successful experiment, we must keep good records.
The 21 Day Challenge (From Shawn Achor) :
1. Write down three new things you are grateful for each day. Research shows this will significantly improve your optimism even 6 months later, and raises your success rates significantly.
2. Write for 2 minutes a day describing one positive experience you had over the past 24 hours. This is a strategy to help transform you from a task-based thinker, to a meaning based thinker who scans the world for meaning instead of endless to-dos. This dramatically increases work/life happiness. Or, alternatively, to offer even more boost in positivity you can substitute the Three Good Things exercise found on the clip we saw in class from EdX. (10 minutes of writing per day)
3. Exercise for 10 minutes a day. This trains your brain to believe your behavior matters, which causes a cascade of success throughout the rest of the day.
4. Meditate for 2 minutes, focusing on your breath going in and out. This will help you undo the negative effects of multitasking. Research shows you get multiple tasks done faster if you do them one at a time. It also decreases stress and raises happiness.