By Derrick Carpenter -

"Positively Happy" book

Another workbook in the series presented by Robert Biswas-Diener’s Positive Psychology Services, Positively Happy: Routes to Sustainable Happiness is a superb workbook.  Sonja Lyubomirsky and Jamie Kurtz have culled positive psychology’s best researched methods for creating a happier life. The workbook is structured in six chapters that are designed to take the reader through six weeks of reflection and application. The workbook material itself is fairly concise, but allowing one week per session provides time for experimentation with the practical tools—which are the focus—and room for additional readings which are liberally recommended at the end of each chapter.

The workbook closely follows Lyubomirsky’s The How of Happiness (PPND review here). Those have read the book will find similar and often overlapping information here, but this workbook can serve as either a more concise standalone or as a companion to the book allowing for directed reflection and experimentation with the suggested happiness-increasing strategies.

Book Review: Positively Happy: Routes to Sustainable Happiness. Sonja Lyubomirsky and Jamie Kurtz (2008).

Fresh, Relatable Tone and Examples

Zen meditation

The first chapter provides a convincing background on the research-to-date on the importance of happiness and its effect on other areas in life. Lyubomirsky and Kurtz do a wonderful job of presenting their arguments in a fresh, relatable tone—they use HDTV to describe hedonic adaptation and provide web links for zen meditation. Although their evidence is convincing, ultimately, they allow us to choose if and how we want to apply the tools to our own lives.

Once we clearly understand why happiness matters, the workbook focuses on Lyubomirsky’s twelve concrete strategies for increasing happiness. I found this list to be an extraordinarily refreshing summary of positive psychology’s best tools which include expressing gratitude, increasing optimism, getting into flow, and savoring. Each topic includes a detailed description as well as written or practical exercises to encourage instantaneous uptake.

When appropriate, the workbook provides pre-assessments, followed by research, and then the exercises. It is a very crisp format that, accompanied by the encouragement of the authors to find strategies that best-fit the reader’s personality, allows for a highly interactive experience with the material. It is clear that the goal is to learn what works best for you, and the workbook simply serves as your guide through that journey of self-discovery.

Positive psychology veterans will be hard-pressed to find much that may not already be familiar on the research front. However, the clear packaging of the positive interventions throughout the course provides a great foundation for both newcomers eager to test the field out and practitioners looking for a well-structured view of positive psychology’s broad scope of application.

Simple Changes in Life Demand Hard Work

Above all, I appreciated the humility of the authors in noting that even simple changes in life demand hard work and attention to maintain, and that sustainability is the biggest piece of the puzzle. They write:

Although the twelve strategies may be simple to try for a short duration, it turns out that they are not so easy to sustain for the long haul – that is, for the time that it takes to witness real and sustainable changes in well-being.

An entire section at the end of the workbook is devoted to keeping up the momentum of positive change, a well-designed and necessary addition.

Overall, the workbook presents a beautiful balance of academic rigor and assessment, immediately applicable advice and tools, and warm encouragement to find your own true path to a happier and healthier life. It is a fantastic, brief introduction to the best of the positive psychology toolkit.

Image:
Zen meditation courtesy of h.koppdelaney

References:
Positively Happy: Routes to Sustainable Happiness. Sonja Lyubomirsky and Jamie Kurtz (2008).

This article first appeared on Positive Psychology News. To see the original article, click here. To comment on this article, click here.

By Derrick Carpenter -

Overthinking

My over-analysis rarely takes me to a higher state of being. In many cases, I get caught in spirals of “What if…?” and “If it wasn’t for…” that spin me around until I’m exhausted but still standing in exactly the same place. Most therapy and coaching practices ultimately focus on shifting energy from self-defeating thoughts to more self-serving ones. This is the foundation of cognitive-behavioral therapy. Lately, however, I’ve been thinking (obviously) that thinking less may be an equally viable alternative. We spend our days focusing on problem solving, multitasking, relating, and reading the latest facebook update. Maybe our minds just need more rest!

The Importance of Rest and Recovery

Our brains weren’t designed to think non-stop. They naturally shut down to recover and consolidate information while we sleep. According to David Dinges, Ph.D., a sleep expert at the University of Pennsylvania, if a research subject who’s been awake for 22 hours gets behind the wheel of a car, he will have the same ability as someone with a .08 blood-alcohol level. For those students reading this, remember that the next time you contemplate an all-nighter. Practitioners of meditation achieve additional rest as they aim to quiet their conscious minds, and anyone taking part in an activity inducing flow may experience the same results.

Roger Federer

Is Thinking Always the Best Approach?

No-thinking Zone

And these mental shifts may be more powerful than just solving logic problems. Author of A Stroke of Insight, neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor describes the experience of having a stroke after waking up one morning. The hemorrhage in her left brain hemisphere quieted that part of her mind and opened her attention to her right brain which was filled with feelings of peace, connectedness, and oneness with the universe. While she knew she was in trouble and needed help, she was in awe of what the other half of her brain was capable of. Her talk on TED is incredibly compelling.

Meeting Your Needs

John Mayer

Please share your favorite creative outlets for resting your analytical mind in the comments.

Images:
Over-thinking courtesy of striatic
Roger Federer courtesy of y.caradec
No-thinking zone courtesy of chris.corwin
John Mayer courtesy of P.Kelgan

References:

Dijksterhuis, A., Bos, M., Nordgren, L, & van Baaren, R. (2006). On making the right choice: The deliberation-without-attention effect. Science, 311(5763), 1005-1007.

Dinges, D. (2006). The neural basis of inter-individual variability in inhibitory efficiency following sleep deprivation. The Journal of Neuroscience 26(27), 7156-7162.

Loehr, J. & Schwartz, T. (2001). The Making of a Corporate Athlete. Harvard Business Review, 120-128.

Taylor, J. B. (2006). My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey. Lulu.com.

This article first appeared on Positive Psychology News. To see the original article, click here. To comment on this article, click here.

By Derrick Carpenter -

Never Before in Philadelphia

Fireflies in a Jar

I was instantly reminded of innocent and perfect childhood summers, laughing while running through my backyard hand-in-hand with friends and girls I had crushes on, swimming in a sea of hundreds of fireflies that would appear for only a few weeks every June, and only for a short period at dusk. I nearly gasped as these memories came flooding back. As I stopped to savor the moment, I saw another, then two more behind me, and five others to my right. They were all around me creating an incredible pattern of softly glowing light. Fireflies use a process of bioluminescence to attract mates and can usually be found in packs like this one. I began to wonder how one firefly emitting its lone light and slowly attracting others turns into the radiating sea of beauty in my childhood memories.

The Lucifer Effect and Fireflies

Philip Zimbardo

But just as fireflies use an enzyme luciferase to create their glow, Zimbardo believes there may a positive flip side to the Lucifer effect. His new research is focused on the processes involved when a person does the right thing despite the situational influences. He showed video of New York subway hero Wesley Autrey and photos of the famous Tank Man of Tiananmen Square and Lin Hao , the 9-year-old Chinese boy who rescued his classmates from the earthquake rubble of his school claiming, “I was hall monitor, it was my job to look after my classmates.” The audience wiped tears from their eyes. We all recognize heroes like these when we see them: individuals able to express the highest human strengths in times of crisis. Zimbardo calls this heroic imagination and stresses that the qualities of a hero must exist before the opportunity to express them is presented. We can all be heroes-in-waiting, ready to shine our light when the situation demands it.

Strengths in Numbers

Togetherness

Marcial Losada’s research on high-performance teams is often cited for the 3:1 positivity to negativity ratio findings which are both fascinating and powerful. Losada observes this ratio as a result of the overall connectedness of the team. The more that individuals trust and communicate with each other, the more easily information can flow in the social system. When connectedness is high, information passing through a social group resembles fluid dynamics. Adaptations proliferate throughout the system and change can occur quickly. When connectedness and trust are very high, heroic deed begets heroic deed and, as the tonnage of character strength increases in the population, large-scale social change becomes possible.

Positive Institutions

David Cooperrider received a rousing standing ovation at the IPPA Congress for his talk on Appreciative Inquiry that outlined a mission for the study and creation of positive institutions. His talk highlighted three key components of a strengths-based approach to organizational and institutional change.

• The elevation and engagement of life-giving strengths at the human level
• The connected and combined magnification of collective strengths
• The refraction of our higher human strengths out into the world

Positive institutions, according to this breakdown, should grow strengths in individuals, encourage the sharing and synergy of strengths across the institution, and spread the collective strength to others. Cooperrider expressed a simple point that when our strengths connect, anything is possible. He told stories of business leaders sitting around tables with other business leaders pounding their fists on the table in reaction to the sustainable and inspiring practices of other companies. When we have access to better options, we usually take them. If we can create well-connected, fluid social systems, we have at our fingertips the capacity of all the collective human strength we can imagine. We can find an heroic solution for any situation.

Many species of firefly exhibit a biological synchronicity in the alignment of their flashing patterns when in large groups. They shine their light together and the result is an incredibly beautiful array of connected luminescence. The current research and practice is beginning to suggest that we work the same way when shining our strengths. As positive psychology continues to grow in both its breadth and its depth, flourishing positive institutions that support wide-scale strengths revolutions will serve as model research subjects and the heroes within them will continue to inspire us all.

Images

Flies in a Jar courtesy of seanmcgraph  (also see this beautiful fireflies picture )
Fireflies (animated gif) courtesy of Coso Blues
Togetherness (Reunited ) courtesy of lepiaf.geo
Cycle courtesy of Derrick Carpenter

References
Cooperrider, D. L. (2008). The 3-circles of the strengths revolution. AI Practitioner, Nov. 2008, 8-11. Retrieved June 22 2009 from http://www.innovationpartners.com/Portals/0/AIP_0811_SBO_Foreword_DCooperrider.pdf

Fredrickson, B. L. (1998). What good are positive emotions? Review of General Psychology, 2( 3), 300-319.

Haidt, J. (2004). Haidt, J. (2003). Elevation and the positive psychology of morality. In C. L. M. Keyes & J. Haidt (Eds.), Flourishing: Positive Psychology and the Life Well-Lived, pp. 275-289. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

Losada, M. (1999). The complex dynamics of high performance teams. Mathematical and Computer Modelling , 30(9-10), 179-192.

Zimbardo, P. (2008). The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil . New York: Random House.

This article first appeared on Positive Psychology News. To see the original article, click here. To comment on this article, click here.

By Derrick Carpenter -

I want you to close your eyes (well, read the rest of this paragraph first) and—for about a minute—think of the following words: sanctuary, tranquility, and retreat. What images come to mind? What thoughts, emotions, and sensations do you experience? Where might one find such things? (OK, close your eyes and give it a shot.)

The Transcendent Nature of Nature
Raise your hand if your vision included scenes of nature: trees, sunshine, the beach, running water. I’m willing to bet a lot of you have your hands raised. To be fair, the title of this article may have primed you. But there is something incredibly powerful about the natural world and its ability to provide us with a sense of psychological well-being. Because today marks the 40th annual celebration of Earth Day in the United States, it seems a good opportunity to tie together a few positive psychology themes with Mother Nature.

The field of ecopsychology—founded on the belief that the natural world can have great impact on mental health since the natural world is where the modern human mind evolved—was formally founded in the early 90’s by history professor Theodore Roszak. But a tradition of nature-based spirituality extends to the origins of human civilizations. From pagan sun gods to Native American rain dances, nearly all cultures across the world and across history have revered nature.

Psychologists Stephen and Rachel Kaplan at the University of Michigan explain that nature experiences can have profound effects on an individual’s psychology. The researchers examined the effectiveness of one-to-two week wilderness programs by interviewing participants. Participants reported feelings of peace, wholeness and the ability to think more clearly. Further research studied the effect of employees having trees, bushes, or other natural scenes visible from their desks.

Those with nature-inspired views were less likely to report job frustrations and more likely to report enthusiasm for their job than those less fortunate.

Losing the Natural World

In the modern era of Netflix, Twitter, and ever-growing urban centralization, how many of us really connect with nature any more? I distinctly remember spending much of my childhood running through fields, catching insects, and climbing trees. I was lucky to have had a pre-internet youth and parents who limited my interest in, albeit archaic, videogames. But these days I’m lucky if I come within 50 feet of an actual tree most days, and even then, it’s usually through the glass of my car’s windshield.

Author Richard Louv warns of a modern epidemic of nature-deficit disorder in his book, The Last Child in the Woods. He views the experience of growing up in and around natural environments as vital to psychological well-being in adult life. But between technological distractions and a diminishing role of the outdoors in modern culture, he worries that we may be losing a part of ourselves as we lose our connection to nature. He writes:

Reducing that deficit—healing the broken bond between our young and nature—is in our self-interest, not only because aesthetics or justice demands it, but also because our mental, physical, and spiritual health depends upon it. The health of the earth is at stake as well. How the young respond to nature, and how they raise their own children, will shape the configurations and conditions of our cities, homes—our daily lives.

“The case is clear, but how can positive psychology help?” you ask. I believe positive psychology can inform our connection to nature in two significant ways. First, it provides great interventions to increase our connection to nature and thereby increase our happiness. Second, in order to enjoy those benefits and in honor of Earth Day, we must learn to be good stewards of the environment and take care of the natural world around us so future generations may reap the same benefits.

I invite you to add to these lists in the comments. I also encourage you to incorporate at least one of the suggestions from each list into your routine.

How a Healthy Planet Can Help Your Happiness

• Savor a walk through the woods. Savoring can intensify and elongate positive experiences.
• Exercise outdoors. Research by the Kaplans has shown that exercisers who walk outside in pleasant environments tend to walk longer than those who walk inside or around their neighborhoods.
• Enjoy peak experiences. Nature-based excursions such as climbing a mountain or swimming in the ocean are great catalysts for peak experiences.
• Appreciate the beauty of nature. Keeping a gratitude journal has been shown to increase subjective well-being. Why not focus a journal on nature-based gratitude and rekindle your character strength of appreciation of beauty and excellence at the same time.
• Get into flow. Outdoor activities can be wonderful opportunities for flow and can include rock climbing, pruning a garden, or painting a sunset.

How You Can Help Promote a Healthy Planet

Earth from Space

• Exercise self-regulation. Find ways to drive less, recycle more, and use less electricity by slowly building your self-regulatory muscles. Start in ways that are easiest for you and gently add more difficult ones.
• Flaunt self-efficacy and optimism. Write to your government representative to express your support for a new initiative and encourage the effort.
• Practice mindfulness. Be thoughtful about your environmental footprint for an entire part of your daily routine. For instance, choose to be mindful in the morning and take shorter showers, re-use towels, and bike or take a bus to work.

• Build meaning through social connectedness. Help a friend plant a tree or gather a group of neighbors to begin a campaign for local community gardens.
• Favor experience over comfort. Paul Rozin’s research suggests that happiness is increased more by positive experiences than by creature comforts, which we adapt to quickly. Crack your windows open to let a breeze in rather than cranking up the A/C or volunteer to clean up a local river instead of spending the afternoon in front of a TV.

References

Kaplan, R., & Kaplan, S. (1989). The Experience of Nature: A Psychological Perspective. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Louv, R. (2005). Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books.

Roszak, T. (1992). The Voice of the Earth: An Exploration of Ecopsychology New York: Simon & Schuster.

Rozin, P. (1999). Preadaptation and the puzzles and properties of pleasure. In E. Kahneman, E. Diener and N. Schwartz (eds) (1999). Well-Being: The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology (pp.3-25). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

Images
Landscape with clouds, image by federico stevanin
Autumn country road, image by Julie A. Wenskoski
Mountain lake
Earth photograph by NASA
Warming Up, image by Andy Newson

This article first appeared on Positive Psychology News. To see the original article, click here. To comment on this article, click here.

By Derrick Carpenter -

Brewing…
If you have ever had the chance to brew your own beer, you have probably experienced a tremendous lesson in humility. I recently spent my weekend hunting down the right grains, timing the initial fermentation just right, maintaining the proper temperature ranges at all times, adding hops and spices in sequence, protecting the beer from too much air exposure, and sterilizing anything that might come in contact with the liquid. It is an entire day’s process that leaves you re-evaluating the tastiness—by virtue of simplicity—of your tap water. The addition of yeast to my homemade brew should have kick-started a four-week process of fermentation, but the tell-tail air bubbles are not yet being produced. The end product may resemble water left soaking at the bottom of a cereal bowl more than drinkable ale. By now you must be asking the question I posed myself a dozen times: Why endure such a long and intense procedure all for a silly beverage?  

…Together
The answer is simple. I wasn’t brewing alone. I had traveled to Baltimore for the weekend to visit one of my best friends, and the brewing was really just an excuse for some quality male bonding. Given PPND’s current monthly theme of love, a term that has most of us thinking immediately of romantic and familial bonds, a sincere look at fraternal or male bonding is warranted. (Note: I am not explicitly distinguishing differences in male and female bonding, but my gender limits me to intimate experience with only one. I invite and encourage female readers to share their thoughts in the comments).

Male Bonding
Positive psychologists across the board have stressed that we are currently facing an epidemic of depression and loneliness (for more, see Seligman’s section on The Epidemic of Depression in his Positive Psychology address referenced below). From books such as Bowling Alone to a 2006 American Sociological Review article citing that a person’s average number of close confidants—people with whom you discuss important matters—has dropped from three to two in the last twenty years, the need for building close friendships is clear. Relationships have such a tremendous impact on our well-being that devoting the time and energy to cultivate bonds with others is nontrivial. Male bonding is an important and vital process that contributes significantly to the well-being of our communities.

Colloquially, the term male bonding connotes superficial relations over sports and childish one-upping competitions. The vision that always comes to my mind is one of two grown men who drive into the wilderness and go fishing for a day, but speak only intermittently and about little more than the weather. It is traditional wisdom that men are incapable of intimacy. This view of male bonding is extraordinarily short-sighted.

Male Bonding as Love
Psychologist Robert Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love divides love into three distinct notions: intimacy, passion, and commitment. Any combination of one or more of these elements leads to a unique type of love with consummate love being the combination of all three.

In Sternberg’s model, passion and commitment are reserved primarily for romantic and familial bonds, but intimacy—the component dealing with warmth, interpersonal closeness, and bondedness—defines love in friendships. The etymology of the word intimacy is derived from intimation, or “the act of making known.” Developing intimacy is literally the process of opening oneself up so that another person can see in. Male bonding is ultimately about sharing experiences which help individuals open up to one another and to develop commonalities unique and special to them.

Some of the greatest male bonding experiences I’ve taken part in have occurred during my epic bicycle tours with friends. Bicycle touring involves packing camping gear, clothing, and food in packs on a bicycle so that you become self-sufficient and can travel an area at your leisure. It’s a beautiful way to experience a landscape, but when spending most of the day exposed to the elements, challenging yourself physically and emotionally, self-regulation and tolerance deplete quickly.

And biking with a friend means nonstop social engagement. Arguments over the most inconsequential things become common, but also force us to engage with each other on much deeper levels. We begin to understand each other’s quirks and desires. And at the end of the day, when you become so exhausted that you don’t have the energy to argue any more, you begin to really appreciate the depths and complexities of your friend.

After setting up camp at nearly midnight one evening in the Columbia River Gorge outside Portland, Oregon, a college friend and I found a clearing in a wooded path and noticed the amazingly star-filled sky. He and I set our bikes aside and laid down on the dark gravel path staring up into the awe-inspiring universe. We instantly settled into a conversation about some of life’s deepest questions and meanings. We remained lying for at least at hour. It was one of the most beautiful evenings of my life, and I now have a friend with whom I can share that memory forever. To say we are bonded is an understatement. Despite all societal pressures for men to remain emotionally distant, love—I believe—is the right word.

Intimate shared experiences I have had with close friends are some of the most precious moments of my life. Whether those experiences involve conversing on ski lifts or hitting golf balls at a driving range late at night, the intimacy I feel with those friends is profound.

I have a feeling our recent attempt at beer may end up tasting like sweaty gym socks. But we’ll drink it anyway, and we’ll laugh. Because in the end, that’s what friendship is all about.

Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117, 497-529.

McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L., & Brashears, M. E. (2006). Social isolation in America: changes in core discussion Networks over two decades. American Sociological Review, 71, 353-375.

Putnam, Robert D. (2000). Bowling Alone : The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Seligman, M. E. P. (2000), “Positive Psychology”, in J. E. Gillham (Ed.), The Science of Optimism and Hope: Research Essays in Honor of Martin E.P. Seligman (Laws of Life Symposia Series, V. 2), pp.415-42. Philadelphia, PA: Templeton Foundation Press.

Sternberg, Robert J. (1988). The Triangle of Love: Intimacy, Passion, Commitment. New York: Basic Books.

Sternberg, Robert J. (1999). Love Is a Story: A New Theory of Relationships. Oxford University Press.

Sternberg, Robert J. & Weis, K. Eds. (2008). The New Psychology of Love. Yale University Press, reprint edition.

Zimbardo, P. & Formica, R. (1963). Emotional comparison and self-esteem as determinants of affiliation. Journal of Personality, 31(2), 142 -162.

Images
The beer brewing on the stove top and the loaded bicycle are photos taken by Derrick Carpenter.
Men friends, photo from Imagebase
Starry Night of Yuzhu courtesy of livepine

This article first appeared on Positive Psychology News. To see the original article, click here. To comment on this article, click here.

By Derrick Carpenter -

A Promise of Change

With an eye on our January theme of change and this week’s inaugural address of America’s new President—a man who campaigned on the promise of change—I feel it is necessary to offer a positive psychology perspective on the way in which we handle our expectations for change. As the United States ushers in a new political leader, many people across the world have high hopes for change, whether that be in an improved state of the world economy, substantial progress towards global peace, or a greater sense of purpose to get them out of bed tomorrow morning. Whatever the desired change may be, many people are wondering whether their high expectations can possibly be met.

Affective forecasting research suggests that our expectations related to emotional outcomes (i.e. changes that make us happier) are often too lofty. Paul Eastwick of Northwestern University and his colleagues have found that people overestimate their emotional reaction to a breakup with a romantic partner. Although they assume they will be unable to get out of bed, to eat, or to survive the day, when faced with the reality of a breakup, most people are able to continue on with life, albeit less happily. Eastwick and his team attribute this effect to an initial intensity bias, a tendency to exaggerate how strong our emotions will feel immediately following a change.

Harvard’s Daniel Gilbert finds that we also overestimate how long our emotional reactions to events will last. Studies by Gilbert and researchers at the Universities of Texas and Virginia find this duration neglect in response to rejection by a prospective employer and the defeat of one’s preferred candidate in an election. We tend not to be upset for as long as we expected. These are good rules of thumb to keep in mind whenever we have high hopes for change.

The Limitations of External Change

I believe that some of these findings are a result of our inability to accurately assess the effect of external changes on our internal condition. External changes refer to changes beyond the self. If your favorite sports team loses the big game or you find yourself rejected for a new position at work, you will expect to be devastated, but what you feel as you survive the disappointment will be more manageable than you imagined because the change was external, related to your environment and circumstances, but not to your character or identity.

Writing from the chilly Northeast as I daydream about sunny beaches, I am reminded of what the UC San Diego Rady School of Managment’s David Schkade and Princeton’s Daniel Kahneman found about expectations for well-being based on location. Study participants predicted that individuals living in Southern California are happier than those living in the Midwest, but the actual happiness data is the same. Anyone who has spent a morning scraping ice of her windshield has been jealous of bikini-clad beach dwellers. But moving to sunny California won’t make you significantly happier than you are now. Unless, that is, you leverage your newfound advantages.

Leveraging External Change

If we know that a new political administration or a move to a tropical location won’t live up to our expectations, should we all just become cynical about change and accept the mediocre status quo? Absolutely not! We know that expecting change can have great positive outcomes and positive psychology is grounded by the fundamental ability of humans to create change in their lives. The problem comes when we place too much of the responsibility for expected change in the hands of an external agent like California. However, if we leverage the external changes to help us initiate internal change—taking personal responsibility for the outcome—we can come much closer to meeting our expectations.

Imagine a grumpy lawyer named Susan who, after scraping the ice off her windshield one cold morning in Chicago, decides in a fit of frustration to transfer to her firm’s San Diego office in the hope of a better life. It should be obvious—now that we’re experts in affective forecasting—that a grump from Chicago who moves to San Diego will simply be a grump with a better suntan. But what if Susan uses the move to reinvigorate herself and begins taking up more outdoor activities like jogging and tennis. Perhaps she joins some local recreational teams, and makes wonderful friends. Susan could have made similar changes while in Chicago (perhaps substituting bowling for tennis), but the move to California inspired her to take advantage of her new surroundings. External changes can mean big differences when we use the shift as a source of inspiration and momentum for internal transformation. Then our expectations of change can be transformed into tremendous opportunities.

Taking Personal Responsibility

Let’s not kid ourselves. This is hard work. Grumpy Susan won’t make many friends unless she is committed to changing her attitude as well. But the hard work of internal change is where the real payoffs begin. President Obama stated in his Inaugural Address on Tuesday:  “What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility—a recognition on the part of every American that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world; duties that we do not grudgingly accept, but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character than giving our all to a difficult task.”

The President understands that he can only do so much and that the greatest change will be experienced by those who help create it. Those who idly sit back waiting for change should expect disappointment.

Draw your inspiration from your expectations for the external changes around you and use that to leverage your personal power for internal change. “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Mahatma Ghandi’s often-quoted suggestion reads so simply that it can be easily overlooked. Go back and read it again.

Acknowledgements: My humble gratitude to Alison Wood and Jason Zellner for their help with this month’s contribution.

References

Eastwick, P. W., Finkel, E. J., Krishnamurti, T., & Loewenstein, G. (2007). Mispredicting distress following romantic breakup: Revealing the time course of the affective forecasting error. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. doi: 101016/j.jesp.2007.07.001

Gilbert, D. T., Wilson, D. W., Pinel, E. C., Blumberg, S. J., & Wheatley, T. P. (1998). Immune neglect: A source of durability bias in affective forecasting. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75(3), 617-638.

Schkade, D. A., & Kahneman, D. (1998). Does Living in California Make People Happy? A focusing illusion in judgments of life satisfaction. Psychological Science, 9(5), 340-347.

This article first appeared on Positive Psychology News. To see the original article, click here. To comment on this article, click here.

By Derrick Carpenter -

Does Altruism Come in Various Types?

A few weeks back, I overheard a friend bemoan the lack of pure altruism in the world. Pure altruism is the act of doing something good to increase another person’s well-being for which the giver receives no benefit. As many of us prepare for holiday season highlighted by traditions of giving, I felt it might be a good time to give the old philosophical search for pure altruism a closer look.

Evolutionary theorists have used a divide-and-conquer approach to tackle the foundations for altruism. Some of the biggest altruistic moves we make are for our children. Under a model of evolution in which individuals are invested in the survival of their genes, helping a relative – who shares some of your own genes – will accomplish this, so altruism towards relatives makes sense. But we often do good deeds for friends and acquaintances as well. Some of these deeds are explained by the notion of reciprocal altruism, which operates via reciprocity. I will do a good deed for you now knowing that in the future, when I need help, you will return the favor. It’s sort of a social insurance policy. But how can we account the altruistic things we do without expectation of return or, for that matter, the help we offer to complete strangers including people across the world who we will never see?

Is There Pure Altruism?

A recent study at the University of Oregon used functional MRI machines to observe changes in brain patterns of participants in different giving conditions. Participants were given $100 and some were given the option to donate a portion of the money to a charity while others were levied a mandatory tax that was given to the charity. For the subjects in the optional giving condition, the researchers attempted to remove any standard rewards for giving to charity, like enjoying the “warm glow” effect of others admiring your charitable deeds or avoiding the social shame of not giving. The subjects made their choice in privacy, without anyone involved in study knowing how much, if any, money was donated. Some people have claimed the study as evidence of pure altruism since many participants still donated.

I feel this conclusion raises two interesting points that positive psychology must defend. First, even if the research participants received no public benefits and faced no public coercion to donate, that does not imply that they received no benefits. Perhaps doing a seemingly selfless deed simply gives us pleasure, a sense that we are meaningfully contributing to the world and making a difference. Psychological benefits should be considered as good as any other benefits. Secondly, and more broadly, why are some researchers and my friend so intent on unveiling an act of pure, selfless altruism? Such kindness would be accompanied by real pain and sacrifice, without any benefits, psychological or otherwise to the giver. I cannot understand why this type of giving is something of which we should be proud, if it does exist.

Perhaps the topic of pure altruism demands a paradigm shift. Professor and positive psychology bigwig Chris Peterson has noted that humans can get so caught up in human inability that we take for granted human abilities. Car accidents reported on the evening news inevitably capture our attention and force us to question what could have gone wrong. We infrequently consider that millions of drivers successfully and safely navigate roadways at lethal speeds coming just a few feet from unforgiving obstacles every day. A change of perspective can highlight how truly remarkable and amazing a human ability this is. Rather than groaning about the lack of pure altruism in the world, perhaps we need to change perspective and celebrate the grand human experience of feeling good when we commit a truly altruistic act. Our recipient benefits, but so do we. This seems part of the magic of the human experience.  Perhaps even a human ability?

Psychological Benefits of Altruism

On a whim, I decided to volunteer at the Philadelphia Marathon in mid-November hoping exposure to so many runners might inspire me to begin training myself. Since I was late to sign up, I was assigned to the race’s bag check group, where runners could drop off personal items like wallets and clothing right before the race in a series of empty school buses and pick them up as soon as they finished. This also meant I had to report to duty at 4:30am on Sunday. I braved the darkness and below-freezing weather with an unconvincing grin that morning, waiting to view some feats of great human achievement as I watched runners finish the 26.2 mile trek.

Philadelphia Marathoners

As it turned out, the bag check station was completely closed off from the race and we could see nothing. Dismayed, I worked with my fellow volunteers to organize bags for the group of runners assigned to our bus. The race began and a within a few hours, runners were pouring back in to retrieve their things. We handed back everything to our runners as fast as we could, knowing that they were freezing and desperate for their sweatpants and jackets.

The bus next to us, however, had had trouble organizing their bags and a frustrated mob of cold runners was forming behind it. Watching them shiver in their shorts, I joined them to help however I could. I asked one or two dour-faced marathoners for their bib numbers and hopped on the bus to track them down. I was only able to help seven or eight runners, but the grateful look on their faces when I returned their precious bags gave me a serious warm glow. While helping to relieve the tired and cold brave bodies of these runners, I completely forgot about how tired and cold I was.

The lack of pure altruism among humans is a truly beautiful thing, a consequence of our innate predispositions to help our fellow neighbor. Would any of us prefer to live in a dark world in which good deeds required pain and suffering? The seemingly paradoxical connection of selflessness and selfishness makes me smile with a sense of hope about the human condition. As you give gifts of various sorts this holiday season, I encourage you to be extra mindful of the happiness you experience as a result.

Images
Hands proffering pennies, from The Power of Giving
School buses from Roland the Jailer via Flickr
Marathon runners from Go Philly
Psychological benefit smile

References

Harbaugh, W. T., Mayer, U., & Burghart, D. R. (2007). Neural responses to taxation and voluntary giving reveal motives for charitable donations. Science, 316, 1622-1625.

More about altruism is included in:
Wright, R. (2001). Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny. New York: Vintage.

Wright, R. (1995). The Moral Animal: Why We Are, the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology. New York: Vintage.

This article first appeared on Positive Psychology News. To see the original article, click here. To comment on this article, click here.

By Derrick Carpenter -

Is That Me, Excited about My Country?

On the night of the presidential election, I lounged and chatted on a cozy couch with friends in a Philadelphia apartment near the University of Pennsylvania as the state-by-state results were reported. We pondered the implications of the Harold Zullow and Martin Seligman study that linked winning presidential elections to optimism. Within moments of the official announcement of Barack Obama’s victory, the street outside – a main campus artery – was overcome by a crowd of supporters. There were hundreds of people joyfully and peacefully making their way down the middle of the road. We immediately gave up watching the television and stood by the window to take in the spectacle. “Where were they all going, and from where did they all come?” we pondered. We had no idea, but just watching them, hugging as they went, and listening to the buzz of energy audible through the closed window sent chills down my spine.

An hour or so later, I had to feed the meter where my car was parked, so I headed to street level, curious to get closer to the action. The crowds had thinned a bit, but as I walked down the sidewalk, two young men whom I assume were local college students, ran down the street carrying a huge American flag over their heads. It was the kind of sight one would expect to see at an animated World Cup match featuring fan-favorite South American super-teams, not here in the United States and never for something so dull as an election. The best part was that they did not seem to be celebrating a victory over something or someone, but rather an unadulterated pride in their country. They smiled unabashedly to everyone they passed, and I noticed another young woman watching them, who then looked at me and smiled. I felt a sudden rush of feeling connected and warm to everyone around me. These flag-bearing students were creating a wave of positive emotions that spread quickly among the nearby pedestrians. It is an image I will never forget.

I want to be clear: this was not an Obama thing, and this was not a McCain thing. This was a human thing. And it is a phenomenon that should be of great interest to positive psychology. Although one can assume most of the people experiencing joy that night had voted on the Democratic ticket earlier that day, the experience I had on the streets of Philadelphia had very little to do with party platforms and candidate preferences. There was simply an air of happiness and it spread like wildfire among people, and did so intensely. Barbara Frederickson recently wrote an op-ed relating the post-election emotional highs to her Broaden-and-Build Theory of positive emotions, but I think there was more involved that night than positive emotions. There was a profound sense of human connection. But what does positive psychology have to say about such moments of subjectively meaningful human connection?

What is the Human Connection?

In Authentic Happiness, Martin Seligman originally divided positive psychology into the study of three distinct domains: positive emotion, engagement or flow, and meaning. He defines the third domain, meaning, as a connection to something larger than the self, which encompasses many types of self-transcendence but certainly includes moments of deep human connection. In an attempt to describe the overly social tendencies of humans, Jonathan Haidt in The Happiness Hypothesis likens human groups in our evolutionary history to hives, where strong interpersonal bonds and commitment to other people allowed us to survive trying adversity. In fact, there exists an entire sub-theory of evolution known as multi-level selection theory that claims human evolution operated not only on the traditional Darwinian level of individual fitness but also on the level of group fitness. According to these theorists, human groups that possessed traits allowing them to work and bond together more than others would outlast groups lacking those traits (see David Sloan Wilson’s Evolution for Everyone).

As an example, let’s consider two primal human tribes living on nearby plains in northern Africa. We’ll call them the Jabi and the Kulu. The Jabi tribe has consistently developed individuals with extraordinary hunting expertise by taking young boys out to hunt for long excursions at an early age. The Kulu tribe, on the other hand, spends less time training their boys to hunt but devotes more time to building community bonds of love, affection, and loyalty. The Jabi consists of more evolutionarily-advantaged individuals, who typically outlast less skilled individuals like the Kulu in traditional evolutionary models. Imagine, however, that the plains undergo a serious drought and the safety of each tribe is jeopardized by a sudden fire. Each tribe has one member who had been out retrieving water by the river and returns to find his tribesman encircled by flames. These tribesman have an opportunity to put their lives at serious risk to rescue all the others. The Kulu tribesman, having developed stronger bonds for his clan, is more likely to take the risk and rescue his tribe, even if it means risking his own life. Modern humans evolved from tribes that increasingly resembled the Kulu.

Emotions Synchronized and a Greater Community

In our evolutionary history, many mechanisms have supported the development of strong group bonding. McGill professor Daniel Levitin recently published a book about the evolutionary importance of music and dance in shaping the social human brain, in which he describes how inclusive and participatory music was in our developmental history. Ancient tribes training for battle against rivals created bonds similar to those of modern-day militaries. Describing his emotions during synchronized marching drills with hundreds of other recruits in the US Army’s basic training, William McNeill states:

“A sense of pervasive well-being is what I recall; more specifically, a strange sense of personal enlargement; a sort of swelling out, becoming bigger than life, thanks to participation in collective ritual” (p. 2, 1995).

Artistic expression, storytelling, and even religion—according to some theorists—all developed to encourage the strength of hive emotion bonds between people.

In modern society, we’ve come a long way from our tribal ancestors. Segways. iPhones. DVR. We can only imagine what’s next. But for all the ways that technology and our futuristic mores are connecting us with others, we’re also becoming a society of individuals. We can pass hundreds of people on our way to work and acknowledge none of them. We praise those who rise above the pack to achieve greatness, even if it is lonely at the top. And we often focus much more on our slight individual differences than our vast interpersonal commonalities. We have to go out of our way to connect with others and find meaning. The tragic events of September 11th brought us together for a while as we mourned together, but it was short-lived and the negative tone was far from ideal. It’s one of the reasons people volunteer for many months to partake in a political campaign in which they believe. The feeling of being a part of a greater community, of something larger than oneself, is irresistible. We thirst for it. It’s part of our very nature.

Sharing

Amidst the economy, the wars, and the environment, I believe the continual growth of meaningful human connections is one of the biggest challenges we currently face. And don’t expect it to be resolved in Washington. This is a grassroots campaign that will take place on your sidewalk, one genuine smile at a time.

A few days after the election, I called my mom. In addition to our typical talking points (Yes, mom, I’ll be driving home for Thanksgiving. Yes, I’ll watch out for all the crazy folks on the road…), we discussed the implications of an Obama-run White House and the significance that this election will have in history. She had her share of stories of friends from election night and the following morning. Some stories revolved around disappointment, but many followed the uplifting theme of human connection. I began to describe to her the flag bearers I saw in Philadelphia the previous night and the feelings that it evoked in me, and I began to cry. Because not only had I experienced a great moment of human connection the night before, but by sharing the story I was creating another one at that very instant with my mom, who I knew understood. For a moment we snapped out of our traditional mother-son roles and became complete equals, recognizing each other’s hopes and vulnerabilities, and sharing our emotional selves freely. I had never been prouder to be both an American and a son. It was human connection at its greatest.

Images: Philadelphia street 1, Philadelphia street 2, flag, multi-level selection theory, tribe, human connection

References

Fredrickson, B. L. (1998). What good are positive emotions? Review of General Psychology, 2(3), 300-319.

Haidt, J. (2006). The happiness hypothesis: Finding modern truth in ancient wisdom. New York: Basic Books.

Levitin, D. J. (2008). The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature. New York: Dutton.

McNeill, W. H. (1995). Keeping together in time: Dance and drill in human history. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Seligman, M. E. P. (2002). Authentic happiness: Using the new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment. New York: Free Press.

Wilson, D. S. (2007). Evolution for everyone: How Darwin’s theory can change the way we think about our lives. New York: Delacorte Press.

Zullow, H., & Seligman, M. E. P. (1990). Pessimistic rumination predicts defeat of presidential candidates, 1900 to 1984. Psychological Inquiry, 1, 52-61.

This article first appeared on Positive Psychology News. To see the original article, click here. To comment on this article, click here.

By Derrick Carpenter -

I often find there are certain themes or ideas that – although previously unexplored – all of a sudden come to my attention over and over again until they cannot be ignored. During the course of my positive psychology education, many such ideas crossed my path. And among them was the film Groundhog Day. I had never seen the film, but I kept hearing that the 1993 classic was an exemplar of positive psychology tenets. So a few weeks back I decided to give in to my curiosity. Bill Murray’s character, a sarcastic and surly local weatherman, keeps waking up to live the same day over again. As the film progresses and Murray’s character learns that he has ultimate control over how happy he will be in his never-ending purgatory, he transforms his attitude and eventually becomes the kind-hearted town hero. I loved the film so much I watched it again the next night.

BOOK REVIEW: Positive Psychology at the Movies by Ryan M. Niemiec and Danny Wedding (Hogrefe & Huber, 2008)

Besides eliciting positive emotions in the viewer, Groundhog Day is a fantastic visual display of the character strength of gratitude. Films, which intrinsically revolve around the study and exploration of character, are a terrific medium for a journey through the VIA character strengths. A new book published this summer, Positive Psychology at the Movies: Using Films to Build Virtues and Character Strengths, by psychologists Ryan M. Niemiec and Danny Wedding perfectly lays the landscape for this wonderful journey of positive psychology in film. The well-structured text provides an endless selection of films with character strengths and virtues as dominant themes. It becomes clear at first glance that the authors have a thorough fundamental understanding of positive psychology, extensive experience in critiquing and evaluating films, and a true passion for uniting the two.

With an introductory chapter on the foundations and history of positive psychology, the book is appropriate for positive psychology novices, but the added perspective of film keeps everything fresh for experts. The bulk of the book is structured around the 24 VIA strengths. For each strength Niemiec and Wedding first discuss the key concepts and relevant research. While the authors inject opinion from time to time, these sections are great stand-alone summaries on the strengths. Each strength is then discussed in the context of relevant films and film characters, including a section on portrayals of the opposite of each strength and a section focusing solely on international film.

The major highlights of the book, besides the writing itself, which is both entertaining and academically rigorous, are found in special sections. Each section on a given strength includes a set of Practical Applications. While these lists of recommendations on how to cultivate a strength occasionally involve film references, they encompass a very general set of guidelines and interventions. Anyone who followed all of the suggestions for a given strength would certainly notice improvements. These lists are fantastic resources for positive psychology practitioners. Additionally, the set of appendices is a must read. The authors have cited a single best exemplar film for each of the 24 strengths, as well as fuller list of movies, ranging from 11 to 131 per strength, rated on a scale from good to excellent. These lists could fill your film-watching agenda for years. Suggested discussion questions for classrooms or therapy, a brief selection of suggested clips for presentations or lectures, and an example of a positive psychology syllabus incorporating film are all nice bonuses.

Niemiec and Wedding have put so much care and attention into their research and choices that I believe this book is a must for positive psychology instructors who intend to integrate film into their lectures. Anyone working as a coach, consultant, or professional using positive psychology can both use the book as a resource to incorporate film as necessary into their work and to refresh and revitalize their perspective on positive psychology through film. And for the casual PPND subscriber, Positive Psychology at the Movies can help guide you to films that will encourage discussion among family and friends about the presence of character strengths in your own lives.

As I thoughtfully added Groundhog Day to my select list of favorite films, Niemiec and Wedding’s wonderful volume has me adding new films to my must-see list by the dozens. I found it ironical that among their well-crafted practical applications, one of their recommendations for increasing vitality is to “spend less time watching television or in front of a computer monitor” (p. 78). I figure if we have any chance of succeeding, we ought to fill the television time we do have with substance that matters and encourages character evaluation. Positive Psychology at the Movies will immediately take you to the great films you should be watching.

References
Niemiec, R. M. & Wedding, D. (2008). Positive psychology at the movies. Hogrefe & Huber.

This article first appeared on Positive Psychology News. To see the original article, click here. To comment on this article, click here.

By Derrick Carpenter -

Holidays, such as Thanksgiving, are times for tradition. The idiosyncrasies that make up my family’s holiday traditions are precisely the reasons I look forward to the holiday season all year. What would this fourth week in November be in America without turkey, football, and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade? My personal Thanksgiving favorites include enjoying my mom’s indulgent chocolate cream pie and our family game of Trivial Pursuit after dinner.

While most of the traditions in which I take part bring me closer to the important people in my life, it occurred to me recently that these traditions are gross misinterpretations of what the holidays were originally designated to celebrate. Thanksgiving was first observed by European settlers in the United States as both a harvest festival and a religious observance. In its earliest forms, it was often a day of fasting. When the holiday was celebrated with a feast—which only happened in years when the harvest was generous—the meal consisted of foods native to America that were new to the European settlers. Given the New England climate and the technology of the mid-17th Century, these early Thanksgiving traditions were truly about giving thanks for things that couldn’t be counted on. We say grace before our meal, and I do feel grateful for the food, but it is quite a different kind of thanks knowing that grocery stores are open 24-hours throughout the holiday weekend. Something has been lacking from my holiday traditions. My Thanksgiving was in need of repair.

As any fan of this website would do, I turned to positive psychology for an answer. Gratitude is one of the most researched and most lauded strengths investigated by the field (e.g., Gratitude – The Secret to Getting Back Up, Taking Positive Psychology to Work: The Role of Gratitude, The Energy of Gratitude), and it has no better place in American culture than today; Thanksgiving is Gratitude Day! My set of Thanksgiving traditions, albeit cosy and harmless, was missing meaningful and personal gratitude. So this year I set out to establish a new Gratitude Day tradition: to compile a list of one hundred things I am sincerely grateful for within the past year.

In order to maintain some authenticity, I required that each list item be something personal (I couldn’t be grateful that puppies exist) and non-obvious (I couldn’t be grateful for the air I breathe). I was quite intimidated to start the list, fearing that I may have a very difficult time getting through it. About a dozen or so came right out, as things that I had been thinking about while conceiving the list idea in the first place, including a handful of poignant conversations with close friends and the gorgeous night sky I saw in Oregon earlier this fall (www.goodliferide.com). And then I felt stuck for a minute or two. But once I got into a stride, points of gratitude came from every direction: the people I’ve met, the places I’ve been, the experiences from which I learned and grown! By the time I jotted down the hundredth thing, I sat back in amazement over how full this year has been. A daily gratitude journal can be very fulfilling, but looking back on much larger time scales—like a year, or a decade—can be incredibly powerful and might give you, as it gave me, some meaningful perspective on life.

I intend to uphold the creation of this list as an annual tradition on Gratitude Day. Now that I am more aware of how fortunate I am, I feel better prepared to face the coming weeks of Christmas insanity with a clear head. I highly recommend this exercise for anyone seeking a positive-psychology-inspired way to reconnect with the deeper meanings and older traditions of the holiday season.

Happy Gratitude Day!

This article first appeared on Positive Psychology News. To see the original article, click here. To comment on this article, click here.