REVIEWER POS PSYCH (CONT.

) greatest good for the greatest

number of people’ Also known as
‘greatest happiness principle’ or the
principle of utility.
• Hedonism. - First sector that attempt measured
- It focuses on pleasure as the basic happiness, creating a tool with 7
component of good life. categories assessing the quantity
- Belief is the pursuit of wellbeing is experienced of happiness.
fundamentally pursuit of individual
sensual pleasures and avoidance of
• William James
harm, pain and suffering.
- Founder of American Psychology
- Came the first significant
• The Early Hebrews development in the search for well-
- Happiness is found by living in
being early in the 20th century.
accord with the commands or rules set
down by a Supreme Being.
• Humanistic Psychology
- If you follow the commands there is
- Imperative paradigm to research
rewards but if you don’t follow
human thought, behavior, and
commands there is punishment.
experience, adding holistic
dimensions to Psychology.
• Greeks - Focus on mental health, specifically
- Introduced that good life and the positive attributes such as happiness,
proper path to happiness could be contentment, kindness, sharing and
discerned through logic and rational generosity.
analysis.
- Views life as a process, with all
- Socrates taught that true happiness humans beholding innate drive for
could be achieved through self- growth and fulfillment of potentials.
knowledge (true wisdom)
- Plato taught that happiness or good MODULE 2- Understanding Emotions
life involves looking beyond sensory
experiences toward a deeper
• Emotion (Peterson) – is a
meaning to life.
psychological state defined by
- Aristotle introduced the virtue
subjective feelings but also
theory of happiness which holds
characteristic patterns of
cultivation and development of
psychological arousal, thought, and
certain values that can lead a person
behaviors.
towards the greatest well-being.
• Emotion (Oatley) – a conscious
- Epicureans asserts that happiness is
mental state with recognizable quality
best achieved by withdrawing from
of feeling and directed towards some
the world of politics to cultivate a
object, recognizable expressions of
quiet existence of simple pleasures.
the face, tone of voice, and gestures.
• Feelings- are generated from our
• Utilitarianism
thoughts and how we will interpret
- Created by Jeremy Bentham and
emotions and let them sink in.
carried on by John Stuart Mill
- Argued that the right of act or policy
from govt. which will cause ‘the
• Moods- free floating objectless, more
long lasting and occupy the
background of consciousness.
- Tends to be less intense than
emotions and do not necessarily
triggers depend on a event.
• Components of Emotion
- Biological factors is when
neurotransmitters and hormones are
released in our mind.
- Mental or Cognitive is how we
interpret or appraise and give
meaning to an event affect how we
feel. This how we think about a
certain situation
- Behavioral factor this how we act
influences how we feel
- Social and cultural factors this is
how we experience or influence
emotions by social situations.
- Affectivity is an extent to which an
individual experiences
positive/negative moods.
- Positive affect is positive emotions
such as joy, confidence, contentment
and happiness
- Negative affect is the extent to which
someone experiences feelings such as
sadness or fear.
- Affective Style is a broad range of
individual differences in which
parameters of emotional reactivity
include threshold to respond, the rise
time to peak in the response, recovery
function and the duration of response.
• Reward system- responsible for
inducing pleasure.
• Pleasure system- recognizes
what person is doing good, and
gives him/her good
• Dopamine- main key to
neurotransmitter involve in
pleasure centre. High dopamine
low serotonin.
• Ventral Tegmental Area- key
area of the dopamine, it is where
it came from.
• Nucleus accumbens:
component of the brain that is
very important player in the
reward system of the brain. It is
part of the limbic system, where
the pleasure centre as it holds
the highest concentration of
dopamine neurotransmitters.
• Neurotransmitters has
suggested that the brain make its
own version of
tetrahydrocannanibols or
THC which is active ingredient
in marijuana. The hormone
oxytocin or the ‘love hormone’.
• Orbital frontal cortex: this is
the area of the brain where
decisions are made.
• Our brain is divided into two
systems - the approach system
(positive affect) and the
avoidance system (negative
affect)
• BAS- Behavioral Activation
System, more sensitive and
responsive to incentives
resulting in extraverted and
impulsiveness.
• BIS- Behavioral Inhibition
System, more sensitive and
responsive to threats, resulting
in anxiety.
• Positive Emotions
1. Live a satisfying and productive
life
 2. Fight terrible social and
personal costs of pressing social
problems
3. Contribute to positive outcomes
in life
Theory of Positive Emotion
1. Broaden and Build Theory of
Positive Emotions
• Broadening Effect
• Minds tend to open up and able
to think “outside of the box”
• Becoming more creative and
enhanced verbal creativity tasks.
• Building Effect
- Build personal resources we dip
into
- Intellectual resources (solving,
being open to learning)
- Physical resources (health)
- Social resources (maintain
relationship with others)
- Psychological resources (goal
orientation, optimism, resilience
and sense of identity)
• Undoing effect- positive
emotions can quell or undo
cardiovascular after-effects of
negativity.
• Experience-Broaden-Build-
Transform
Emotions, goals, and discrepancy
Theory
- Discrepancy loop- trying to
minimize the distance of our
behavior and goals
- Reference value- our goal, large
or small, physical or mental.
- In discrepancy we will adjust our
behavior to achieve a certain
goal
- Negative emotion will hinder to
achieve your goals and less to
gain your determination to that.
- Positive affect have faster
progress toward future success
• The Power of Positivity Ratio
- It said that ppl who experience
positive emotions can also feel
sadness and anxiety, just anyone
else.
- Positive attenuation- essential
in protecting against depressive
symptoms.
- Resilient individuals- unique
ability to maintain and regulate
positive emotions
- Optimal ratio of positive and
negative 3:1
- Dysphoric individuals and
non dysphoric individuals-
Dysphoric individuals have a
stronger tendency to identify
sadness and fear when mixed
with happiness than non-
dysphoric individuals.
Personality and Positive Emotions
• Conscientiousness- high tends
to have high levels of grit while
low tends to be inattentive, idle,
unsystematic and unreliable.
• Neuroticism- high tends to
experience anxiety, low tends to
be more calm
• Openness to experience- high
tends to be artistic, low tends to
be uncreative
• Extraversion- high tends to be
more sociable, low tends to be
introvert or shy
 • Agreeableness- high tends to be
compassionate, pleasant while
low tends to be untrusting.
Smiling and Positive Emotions
• Duchene Smile- genuine
happiness/positive emotion
• When you smile it do can track if
your faking it or not
Emotional Intelligence
• EI- ability to monitor one’s own
and others’ feelings and
emotions.
Four Stages of EI
1. Perceiving Emotion- ability to
recognize emotions either
yourself or others
2. Using Emotions- refers to the
ability to use emotions to
facilitate your mood.
3. Understanding Emotions-
ability to understand what kind
of emotion and causes why you
are experiencing this
4. Managing emotion- ability to
manage, self-regulate
• Daniel Goleman defined El as
'the ability to adaptively
perceive, understand,
regulate, and harness
emotions in the self and
others' (Goleman, 1996; Schutte
et al., 2002)
• El mixed models view El as a
combination of perceived
emotional skills and personality.
El matters because of its ability
to predict academic,
occupational and relationship
success better than traditional IQ
(Goleman, 1996).
Module 3- Happiness and
Subjective Well-Being Across
Nations
Part 1
• Happiness refers to the
attainment of subjective well-
being.
- It is described according to
Hedonic concepts (pleasure
seeking)
• Subjective Wellbeing
encompasses how people
evaluate their own lives in terms
of affective and cognitive
components.
• SWB = satisfaction with
life+high positive affect+ low
negative affect.
• Life satisfaction encompasses
the cognitive component if
happiness which is how
individuals rate the way their life
turned out to be.
• Higher levels of SWB tend to
demonstrate higher levels of
creativity, optimism, and
systematic but lower levels of
SWB may experience negative
effects on behaviors or traits.
• Gallup World Poll- most widely
known global wellbeing poll,
which boasts data from over 98
percent of the world’s
population
• Five Essential Elements for
overall wellbeing
 1. Career Wellbeing- this
represents where you
spend most of your time
during the day
2. Social wellbeing-
represents the
relationship and
experiences of love
3. Financial wellbeing-
how you manage your
financial situation
4. Physical wellbeing-
ability to have good health
and energy
5. Community Wellbeing-
represents your role and
participation within the
community you live in.
• Foresight Report- indicates
that there are five ways to
wellbeing.
1. Connect- socialize, build
connections with people
around us.
2. Be Active- find an activity
that will fits you.
3. Take notice
4. Keep Learning – enhance
your level of wellbeing
5. Give
• Happiest Country in Earth is
Norway
• Unhappiest Country in Earth is
Central African Republic
• What makes us happy?
➢ Income and SWB – Income
may incfluence wellbeing
because wealthier nations
appear to have equality,
human rights, democracy,
literacy and longer life.
- Countries with higher income
tend to have more
competitiveness, more
materialism, and less time for
socializing and leisure.
- Income is collerated with
happiness in men, not in
women and low personal
income is related to
depression for husbands not
in wife.
- Low income is related to
depression for single but not
married women.
➢ Relationships and SWB
• People who interact on a daily
basis with happy people, in
small, large, direct or indirect
networks are happiers.
• Social relationships are
greatest predictors and
facilitators of SWB.
➢ Marriage and SWB
• After the initial one year
‘honeymoon phase’ indivuals
return to ther previous levels of
SWB. Caveat couples who
cohabit tends to less satisfaction
that couples who are married.
• Relationships between children
and marital satisfaction are
curvlinear, high levels at the
marriage ceremony, dropping
low at the birth of first child,
continued drop because of
childhood and adolescence and
then returning to higher levels
 after the children became
independent.
4. Work/Employement and
SWB
- The 58% of women who were
not in employment would like to
hold jobs that involved paid
work and 41% would like to be
able to both hold an paid job and
care for their families
- When perceiving a job as a way
to progress forward and they
are focused on the extrinsic
reward that can come with
progressing in their career is
called career orientation.
- Calling orientation is when a
worker is immersed healthily
in what they do they do the job
not for the money or the fame
but because they believe it is
worthy in its own right.
➢ Health and SWB
- People who experience higher
levels of positive emotions are
protected from various illnesses
including heart disease.
- When someone has a violent levels
of positive emotions and optimism
their health can be positively
influenced research shows quite
simply that happier people live
longer.
➢ Religion and SWB
- People who report themselves
as being spiritual or religious
tend to report slightly higher
levels of well-being in addition
to higher scores on hope and
optimism.
Theories of Wellbeing
• Dynamic Equilibrium Theory
- This theory states that
personality determines baseline
levels of emotional responses
events may affect us in the short
term however over time we
eventually revert to our genetic
set point.
- According to Sonja
Lyubomirsky the determining
factors of happiness is in
disproportion: 10% caused by
environment 40% caused by
things that you do and 50%
caused by genetics
- Epigenetics is the area of
biological research that looks at
the casual interaction between
genes and the environment.
• Adaptation Theory
- You might stand to have a
natural happiness or set point
which following good and or bad
news/events we tend to revert
back to after approximately 3
months
- Hedonic adaptation theory is
linked to ‘zero-sum theory’
which posits that happy periods
in our life are inevitably followed
by negative periods which
cancel each other out.
- Natural happiness is what we
feel when we get what we want
however synthetic happiness
is what we make when we don't
get what we want.
• Discrepancy Theory
- This model those at that
subjective will be in is primarily
 a function of comparison
process.
- With social comparison we can
compare our situation
attractiveness and wealth to
others either in an upward or
downward spiral
- Social comparison is only
detrimental if you use it to
negatively evaluate yourself
or downward with others.
- Freedom of choice has now
been replaced with the tyranny
of freedom where more choice
isn't necessarily a good thing.
- Linked to discrepancy theory
is the paradox of choice it is
cited that as nation become
richer and consumers become
more demanding our world is
packed with choice alternatives
and violations to most
everything for sale.
- Satisficers are individuals who
are able to choose items that
meet their minimum criteria and
go for what's good enough while
maximizers on our individuals
who fixate on searching for all
the possible options and look for
the best possible choice.
• Goal Theories
- This theory explains that when
we are committed to a set of
goals it provides us a sense of
personal agency and a sense of
structure and meaning to daily
life in achieving our goal.
- We tend to use the aim approach
where
- A is Attention refers to our
ability to look at the entire
picture when going through
daily life both the good and the
bad.
- I is interpretation refers to our
tendency to put together a story
when all the facts are not yet
presented.
- There are a six being
destructive thinking patterns
that we tend to default to and
interpret interpreting events:
- Awfulizing exaggerating a
negative event or a person
beyond what is objectively true.
- Distress intolerance
perception that individuals
adopt that tells them that they
will not be able to recover or
withstand potentially traumatic
events
- Learned helplessness this one
people adopt a mental mentality
that they have no control over
their negative situation and give
upz
- Perfectionsim individuals who
use this type to fixate on the
minute details and only accept
excellence
- Negative self-fulfilling
expectancies phenomenon of
eliciting negative responses
from others via a person's
previous communication with
others
- Rejection goggles this is when
people identify and fixate on
rejection even when it may not
exist in the situation.
- M is memory Relates to the
large body of research showing
that they're calling and favoring
 past positive events and
experiences leads to enhanced
well-being.
Part 2: Eudaimonic Well-being
• Eudaimonia is fullfilling or
realizing one’s daimon or true
nature.
• Eudaimonic wellbeing
proposes that true happiness is
found in the expression of virtue
and doing what is worth doing.
• Realization of human potential
is an ultimate goal (Aristotle).
Pursue happiness through
prudence (John Locke) and self-
discipline (Epicurus).
• Psychological Wellbeing
- According to Ryff and Keyes
(2006) and Ryff and Singer the
concept of PWB consists of 6
components; self acceptance,
personal growth, purpose in life,
positive relations with others ,
environmental mastery , and
autonomy.
- SWB and PWB are two
correlated but distinct factors
and that they show a different
pattern of relationships to
demographic and personality
variables.
• What is Authetic Happiness?
- According to Seligman (2002 )
there are three routes to
happiness;
1. Pleasant life is when we
experience high levels of
positive emotions and
gratification.
2. Good life is when we
experience constant
absorption engagement
and flow.
3. Meaningful life is when
one uses one’s strength in
the service of something
greater than oneself.
• Flow is the indent experiential
involvement in moment to
moment activity which can be
either physical or mental.
• Flow has direct ties with
consciousness and psychic
energy where it is positive that
when people feel psychic
entropy they will experience
depression and stress.
• Conditions to facilitate flow
experiences
- Structured activity with clear
goals and immediate feedback.
- Balance of challenges versus
skills.
- Complete concentration
(merging of action and
awareness).
- Sense of control
- The transformation of time
- Activity for the sake of activity.
• What are the activities that we
can do to experience flow?
- Activities that tend to inhibit
flow and (induce apathy and
boredom) include housework
watching TV and being idle.
• Importance of Meaning and
Purpose in Life (Third Route
of Happiness)
- Victor Frankl’s concept of will
to meaning proposed 3 benefits
 of living a meaningful life
including: creative,
exponentia, and attitudinal
value.
- MacGregor and Little (1988)
concluded that the concept of
well-being should be regarded
as consisting of two elements
which are happiness and
meaning.
• Self-determination Theory
- Three basic psychological needs
which must be made to attain
psychological wellbeing.
- Autonomy The tendency to self
regulate ones behavior in
accordance with personal
volition it is also the tendency to
risk coercion pressure and
control.
- Competence the tendency to be
interested and open to seek
learning mastery opportunities.
- Relatedness The tendency to
feel connection and caring with
group members.
• Existential Psychology and
Positive Psychology
- Existential psychology focuses
on human existence and the
human drama of survival and
flourishing.
- both existential and positive
psychology focus on the same
fundamental questions– what is
a good life and what makes life
worth living?
- Happiness is a process not an
end result on going and there's
sort of foregoing self-interest
and serving something higher
than the self.
- Pursuing happiness may not be
the aim of life however
existential psychologists think
that we're pursuing meaning
and authenticity one will
eventually achieve happiness.
• Death and Positive Psychology
- Death is the most feared
concept in human existence yet
it is a potential ave. for growth
and development.
- By embracing that we can live
more authentically thereby
enhancing the likelihood of self
actualization.
- Three things stink attitudes
toward death
1. Neutral Death
Acceptance, When one
accepts that death is a
part of life and attempts to
live life to the fullest.
2. Approach acceptance
when one accepts that
there is a an afterlife that
will be pleasurable
3. Escape acceptance which
precedes death as the
preferable option to a
miserable life.
• Management Theory
- This theory suggests that there
is an innate biological need to
survive and deals with the
management of the evolutionary
cognitive realization of
inevitable death.
- The mortality salience
hypothesis suggests that when
people are reminded of the
inevitably of death their
worldview defense strengthens
 and they seek to conform to the
accepted beliefs and behaviors
of their culture.
- A dramatic and life threatening
event paired with lifelong
reminder of a person close
encounter with death creates A
mortality salient environment.
Module 4: Optimism and Hope
• Optimism is a Velcro
construct which means that
there are other contracts that
are related to it including
happiness health and
achievement.
• Optimism was thought of
naivety or a superficial denial
of suffering.
• Dispositional optimism is a
stable personality trait correct
relating to generalized outcome
expectancy.
• Self-regulatory model which
states that all human activity is
based on gold and that in order
to reach our goals we need to
regulate our actions and
behavior.
• Expectancy is the most crucial
element as it has a direct link
with expectancy value theories
of motivation which posit that
all behavior is a result of a
person desires to obtain their
values or goals.
• Confidence is the second
component which is highly
influential on optimism it is
noted that if confidence is high
the goal can be achieved and
the person is more likely to
act.
• Attribution style also known as
explanatory style is the second it
refers to the way in which one
explained the causes and
influences of previous positive
and negative events in order to
create expectancy about the
future
• The pessimists explain
negative events by inferring
internal stable or global causes
while optimists adopt unstable
external and specific
explanation for bad events.
• Attributional style recognizes
optimism as a learned skill and
not a stable personality trait.
• The key to lend optimism is said
to be through reframing
cognitive reframing also known
as cognitive restructuring is the
process by which situations or
thoughts are challenged and
then change
• Learning optimism as ABC‘s
- Adversity is the straight non
judgmental facts of situations
involves asking questions that
start with who, what, when, and
where.
- Belief is your immediate
patterned belief. Next is to
identify your negative thoughts
identify your negative thoughts.
- Consequence- Are your feelings
and behaviors related to this
belief.
• The benefits of optimism are
improved health but evaluation
 and performance and career
success
• Unrealistic optimism or
wishful thinking as other may
call it is all about the person who
illustrated he not clear picture of
his situation.
• Optimism and locus of control
this is the belief that you can take
an active role in controlling
things like exam results work
performance and your
environment in general. Hetch
claims that those with an
external locus of control tend to
feel helpless about changing
their relationships lives and so
forth
• Defensive pessimism is the
ability to take off and plan for the
worst case scenario of a
situation hence defensive
pessimists like to be prepared
and cover all angles. It is a
cognitive strategy to set low
expectations for upcoming
performance despite having
performed well in previous
similar situation.
• Three selves in optimism
1. Self-confidence
2. Self-Efficacy
3. Self Esteem
• Two Models of Self-Esteem
1. The social meter model
of self esteem generally
correlates strongly with
whether one belief that
one is included or
excluded by other people.
2. The terror
management model or
of self esteem perceived
self esteem as a function
to shelter people from
deeply rooted anxiety
inherited in the human
condition.
• Hope theory is defined as the
determination to achieve goals
plus the belief that many
pathways can be generated.
Hope as a positive motivational
state that is based on an
interactively derived sense of
successful (a) agency go directed
energy and (b) pathways
planning to meet goals.
• Agency is the belief that one can
begin and sustain movement
along the envision pathway to
work a given goal pathways
thinking reflects an individual's
perceived ability to formulate
plausible goal routes.
• Hope theory can be
subdivided into four
categories
1. Goals- That are valuable
and uncertain are
described as the anchors
of hope theory as they
provide direction and an
endpoint for hopeful
thinking.
2. Pathway thoughts-
Refer to the routes we
take to achieve our
desired goals and the
individuals perceive
ability to produce this
route.
3. Barriers- Block the
attainment of our goals
 and in the event of a
barrier we can either give
up or we can use our
pathway thoughts to
create new routes.
4. Agency Thoughts- refers
to the motivation to have
undertake the routes
towards our goals.