LA1020: Psychology of Well-being

Topics
1. Character Strengths and Virtues
2. Positive psychology interventions for increasing well being
Earlier approach:
• Deficit – based focus of traditional psychology
• Understanding, treating, and preventing psychological disorders
• The positive psychology movement led to a series of studies on character strengths such as humour,
gratitude, and forgiveness which had not been priority areas in psychological research so far.

Positive psychology approach:

• Building a fulfilling life by identifying individual strengths of character and fostering them
(Peterson, 2006; Peterson & Park, 2003)
• Concept of character strengths and virtues (Seligman and Peterson)
• Character strengths are those aspects of personality that
(1) Function as indicators of healthy psychological development
(2) Prevent unfavorable circumstances
(3) Help to cope with unfavorable circumstances when they occur

Concept of character strengths and virtues by Seligman and Peterson

• Character strengths are those aspects of personality that:
- Function as important indicators of healthy psychological development
- Prevent unfavorable circumstances
- Help to cope with unfavorable circumstances
-

From DSM (deficit based) to Character Strengths and Virtues (strength based)
• The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) published by the American
Psychiatric Association
• Specifies diagnostic criteria for disorders
• Task force specifically constituted for this purpose. Experts including psychiatrists,
psychologists, policy makers, social workers, academicians etc discuss research findings in the
light of prevailing social and cultural norms to set criteria
• Currently in its 5th version

Mental health continuum

- +
Languishing Flourishing
(Symptoms) (Symptom free) (Symptom free)
(Unhappy) (But not necessarily happy) (Happy)

Character Strengths and Virtues: is a strength based approach to classification of traits; also called
Values In Action Classification (VIA). Positive psychologists developed a selection criteria for the
classification system in order to put together the VIA. Several researchers have employed this scale across
groups (culture, gender, age) with interesting findings.

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In Seligman’s and Peterson’s (2004) book, “Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and
Classification”, the authors describe a total of 24 universal character strengths, grouped into six broader
universal virtues. The measure is available in the Authentic Happiness website
(http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu ). The items can be answered online after which a report is
generated. This report consists of the top 5 strengths, which are called signature strengths.

Six Virtues 24 Strengths categorized under each Virtue

Wisdom Creativity
Curiosity
Judgment
Love of Learning
Perspective
Courage Bravery
Industry
Authenticity
Zest
Humanity Intimacy
Kindness
Social Intelligence
Justice Citizenship
Fairness
Leadership
Temperance Forgiveness
Humility
Prudence
Self-Control
Transcendence Awe
Gratitude
Hope
Humour
Spirituality

Characteristics of Strengths and Virtues – Seligman (2005)

• Contribute to overall well being
• Universal appeal; supported by parents and institutions, philosophy and religion
• Subject of traditional folk tales
• Can be enhanced through practice

Researchers have studied some of these character strengths in the last decade or so. Some studies have
attempted correlational means to establish the link between a particular strength and well being. For
instance, humour-and-well-being, forgiveness-and-well-being, kindness-and-well-being, gratitude-and-
well-being. Others have studied multiple strengths together and the relationship of these with each other
and also well being. For instance, gratitude, kindness and well being. Many researchers have also framed
interventions enhancing a particular strength and tested the impact of the exercises on over well being.

Such interventions have been framed on: gratitude (Emmons & McCullough, 2003; Froh, Sefick, &
Emmons, 2008; Lyubomirsky et al., 2005; Lyubomirsky, Dickerhoof, Boehm, & Sheldon, 2009; Seligman
et al., 2005); optimism (Sheldon &Lyubomirsky, 2006), kindness (Boehm, Lyubomirsky, & Sheldon, 2009;
Lyubomirsky et al., 2005), using signature strengths (Seligman et al., 2005).

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Positive Psychology Interventions (PPI)

• Built on the foundation of character strengths

• Seligman, Rashid, & Parks (2006): PPIs increase positive emotion, engagement, and meaning
rather than directly targeting depressive symptoms
• Seligman & Wyatt (2008): Positive psychotherapy involves a person discovering insight, and
going beyond the pain and suffering of the process.
• Seligman, Rashid, & Parks (2006): Mental health in the hands of talk therapy is all too often seen
as the mere absence of symptoms
• Seligman & Wyatt (2008): Other therapy, especially when talking about incidents of childhood
trauma, can be especially painful

Enhancing well being using character strengths:

• Peterson and Seligman proposed that well being can be enhanced by enhancing character
strengths.
• This can be done by (a) identifying signature strengths and (b) using these signature strengths in
personal and professional domains.
• Such interventions are useful for making an unhappy person happy and a happy person happier

Commonly practiced positive psychology interventions: Gratitude, Kindness, Humour, Savouring, Flow,
Active Constructive Responding

Gratitude
What is Gratitude?
• Gratitude is more than saying ‘Thank You’
• Term derived from gratia (Latin) – equivalent of grace, gracefulness
• It is about living in a state of thankfulness – and appreciating people, experiences, blessings and
circumstances that matter - Emmons et al.
• Defined as: “…an emotion which emerges upon the realization that one has obtained a positive
outcome from another individual who behaved in a way that was:
(1) costly to him/her
(2) valuable to the recipient
(3) intentionally rendered – Tesser et al. (1968) as cited in Emmons (2004)

Challenges for gratitude researchers: Some common beliefs about gratitude have proven to be a challenge
for researchers working in the area. Some of these beliefs are:
1. Gratitude is just another form of positive thinking
2. Most expressions of gratitude are insincere
3. Repeated expressions of gratitude is to be doubted always
4. Gratitude is fine in a religious context, but it has little relevance in practical life
5. It is impossible to be grateful in the midst of suffering

Gratitude researchers have studied:

1. The beneficial effects of gratitude on well-being
2. How gratitude can be cultivated

Research on the benefits of gratefulness: Experimental findings

• Emmons and McCullough (2003) reported the following:

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• Participants in the gratitude condition (versus the control condition) were more
optimistic, reported better health and felt better about life as a whole.
• The grateful condition (versus the hassles condition) made participants feel more: joyful,
enthusiastic, energetic, excited, determined and stronger.
• Participants with neuromuscular diseases; those in the gratitude group showed more
positive affect and less negative affect, more satisfaction with life.
• Wright and Staw (1999): Gratitude leading to happiness and well-being is positively associated
with performance, commitment, morale.
• Fredrickson, Tugade, Waugh, & Larkin (2003): Helps cope with stress and trauma
• Watkins et al. (2003): Gratitude enhances the retrievability of positive experiences; individuals
are able to display positive selectivity bias
• Emmons (2004): Gratitude and personality correlates: High agreeableness, forgiveness, low
narcissism, low envy

Gratitude Interventions: Most popular intervention tools:

1. Three Blessings Exercise
2. Gratitude Journal
3. Gratitude Visit
4. Benefit finding

1. Three Blessings Exercise/ Three Good Things:

• At the end of the day think of three good things that you are grateful for & ask what did you do to
make those things happen?
• Example: From Seligman (2005)
• “At the workplace: Identify three things that you are grateful for or that have gone well
for you this week - try to focus specifically on your work and people you work with
• Write them down
• Homework - continue this exercise for the next month and see if you notice any
differences in behaviour (your own or that of others)

2. Gratitude Journal: Regular accounts of situations when “you benefited because of someone
else’s kindness, helpfulness, or generosity” - Jeffrey Froh

3. Gratitude Visit: “Think of someone to whom you are very grateful, but who you have never
properly thanked. Compose a letter to them describing your gratitude, and read the letter to that
person by phone or preferably in person” - Seligman

4. Benefit finding: Difficult situations can be viewed as challenges or opportunities for self growth
and discovering strengths instead of treating them like unsurmountable obstacles. In situations of
adversity, benefit finding could help us notice the blessings in an unfavorable situations that
otherwise would not have come to light.

Future research may help to answer some of the following questions:

• Does the gratitude intervention appear to increase pleasant emotions more than it decreases
unpleasant emotions? For instance: The gratitude intervention is not able to significantly reduce
physical pain. Eg: study conducted in patients with neuromuscular disease (Emmons &
McCullough, 2003)
• The effects of such interventions are mostly short-term. Are there any ways to improve upon this
limitation?

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• The effects may be influences by gender-specific or culture-specific variables. More research with
these variables may help to understand the influence of other factors

Other positive psychology interventions on kindness, humour, savouring, and flow are popularly used by
researchers.

Effects of Positive Psychology Intervention (PPI):

• PPI increases well-being and diminishes stress and burnout; and depression and anxiety (Meyers,
Woerkom and Bakker, 2013)
• Quality of Life Therapy and Coaching (QOLTC) has also been used to boost well-being and
productivity of lawyers, physicians, bankers, probation and parole officers (Frisch, 2013)
• A growing body of evidence suggests that PPI leads to increases in well-being, resilience,
hardiness, engagement, hope, goal attainment and others (Donaldson, Dollwet & Rao, 2014)
Lyubomirsky & Layous (2013): Impact of PPI is determined by
1. Features of the activity (dosage, variety, sequence and built-in social support)
2. Features of the person (motivation, efficacy beliefs, effortfully engaging)
3. Person-activity fit (how much happiness an activity gives proportional to frequency of usage)

Positive psychology film:

Niemiec (2007) suggests that a good representation of a positive psychology film has at least four
elements: (1) a balanced portrayal of a character displaying at least one of the 24 strengths categorized by
Peterson and Seligman (2004), (2) depiction of obstacles and/or the struggle faced by the character in
reaching or maximizing the strength, (3) a character portrayal that illustrates how to overcome obstacles
and/or build and maintain strength, and (4) a tone or mood in the film that is inspiring or uplifting.

Application: The range of application of positive psychology films in research and practice is universal.
Wedding and Niemiec (2003): Films can enhance compliance and boost support in psychotherapy and
thus may be used as a valuable tool in treatment
Bergsma (2010): Positive psychologists often retort to the toolkit of negative psychology; hence studying
the positive effects of films may be a refreshing change from this approach

Conclusion
• Lyubomirsky & Della Porta (2008): Happiness can be amplified by intentional activity
• PPIs: Finding these signature strengths and using them in personal and professional domains
• Researchers study (1) the relationship of each character strength with other strengths, and also (2)
the contribution of these strengths towards well being
• Most researches show that positive psychology interventions have led to an increase in happiness
and well-being levels.
• Each character strength comprises of a number of interrelated components; therefore is complex
to understand
• Interventions limited to some character strengths only; future researchers need to develop
interventions for other character strengths as well
• Also, more interventions with a focus on specific populations are required; such as clinical
samples, employees, and students
• Positive psychology interventions are useful for making an unhappy person happy and a happy
person happier

Bibliography:
• Carr, A. (2004). Positive Psychology: The science of happiness and human strength. New York:
Brunner-Routledge.

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• Emmons, R. (2004). Psychology of gratitude. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

• Martin, R. A. (2007). The psychology of humor. Burlington, MA: Elsevier Academic Press.
• Peterson, C. & Seligman, M. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and
classification. New York: Oxford University Press
• Seligman, M. E. P., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress:
Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60, 410- 421.