Last month, in Part 1 of a Journey to Self-Regulation, the focus was on the influence of character on behavior, how people develop habits that help them control their urges. However, there is another interesting way to look at self-regulation that addresses the power of the environment, regardless of how virtuous a person might be.

I love books that begin with a question such as this one. Hostage at the Table is exciting, a clever tapestry of psychological insights woven into the complexity of human conflict behavior, all set against the dramatic backdrop of riveting insider stories of hostage negotiation.

To further elaborate on why the riches are not equivalent to happiness, I adopt the approach used by Daniel Kahneman, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, of looking at happiness as moment-to-moment experience instead of general well-being or flourishing. When we break down happiness into moment-to-moment experience, riches do not necessarily make people happier. Why not?

While employers would like to think that people leave their problems at home, the reality is that most people find it challenging to turn off stressors from their personal life when they get to work. Rather than ignore the home-life/work-performance connection, we argue that employers who encourage and support healthy home lives in their employees see a better return on their salary investment.

We like to think that we are in charge of our choices. But what if making a choice or decision is based on things that we don’t notice? A new article from Song and Schwarz at the University of Michigan looks at the consequences.

I over-think. A lot. And I bet many of you can relate.
 
My over-analysis rarely takes me to a higher state of being. In many cases, I get caught in spirals of “What if…?” and …

It was not an easy decision for his parents to let Blake leave high school and it continues to be a hard choice. They are attacked by critics —most of whom they’ve never met. If the Peebles had taken the expected path and insisted that their son stay in school, no one would be giving them flack – even if their son was bored, depressed or learning less. Many would tell them they were doing the right thing.

“You must retain faith that you can prevail to greatness in the end, while retaining the discipline to confront the brutal facts of your current reality.” The Stockdale Paradox – Jim Collins

Janet is about to interview for a new job. She wants to leave a toxic work environment. Janet took that job with high hopes that were soon dashed. … How does she avoid yet another? For this dilemma, Alan Foster suggested that she ask six questions in her interview to discover what the job environment would really be like. [...]

By Zak Maymin, Guest Author

I have read PPND articles for years, and recently several of the articles showed me the similarity between positive psychology and chess. There may be two analogies in chess that illustrate and bolster up a few positive psychology principles about change and happiness.