The following article presents further highlights from the 5^th European Conference on Positive Psychology in Copenhagen, Denmark for Friday, June 25, 2010.

Wilmar Schaufeli

Keynote 1:  Occupational Health Psychology: A European Perspective

Wilmar Schaufeli, Professor of Work and Organizational Psychology at Utrecht University in The Netherlands, described the deficit model as it currently plays out in the occupational health psychology field. Many times more journal articles are published that focus on the negative than those that focus on the positive. It’s time to change that, said Schaufeli, and create something called Positive Occupational Health Psychology. We need scientific research to answer the question, “Are the factors that allow individuals to thrive the same ones that allow organizations to thrive?”

In organizations, it is simply not enough to have employees who are OK; they need to be able and willing to go that extra mile — they need to be fully engaged. But what does employee engagement mean in practice? Is it really the case that highly-engaged employees are good for the organization? Schaufeli’s definition of employee engagement is “a positive motivational state characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption.”

• Vigor: high levels of energy and resilience, willingness to invest effort, persistence, not being easily fatigued
• Dedication: strong involvement characterized by  feelings of enthusiasm and significance and a sense of pride and inspiration
• Absorption: a pleasant state of total immersion in one’s job characterized by time passing quickly and being unable to detach oneself from the job

Engaged workers are motivated, present, and pay off

How does engagement differ from workaholism? Engaged workers actually like their jobs (approach motivation), whereas workaholics work to avoid the stress and feelings of guilt and uselessness which accompany not working (avoidance motivation).

Engagement is good for the organization, producing the following good business outcomes:

• Greater discretionary effort – engaged workers do more than their job requires
• Less sickness
• Lower staff turnover
• Increased profitability
• Increased productivity
• Increased sales
• Greater customer loyalty

Engagement is contagious. The level of engagement of the existing workforce can affect that of new employees, and teachers’ engagement can affect their pupils’ engagement (for better or worse).

Individual strategies to increase engagement in the workplace include
          

1. Self-assessment and regular monitoring, enabling employees to get regular feedback on engagement levels, for example through completing online questionnaires

            

2. Goal-setting and motivation e.g. coaching them to pursue challenging SMART goals which are also Inspiring, Exclusive, and Self-concordant (aka SMARTIES!)

          

3. Increasing positive emotions through acts of kindness, showing gratitude, sharing good news, savoring and so on.

Organizational strategies to increase engagement in the workplace include
              

 
1. Job redesign: creating challenging jobs which use skills effectively

           

2. Leadership e.g. developing trust, confidence and fairness, and fostering transformational leadership

            

3. Training: developing self-efficacy, and creating value fit

           

4. Career development: keeping the job challenging

Hans Henrik
Knoop

Keynote 2: Organizing for meaningful engagement: an open and skeptical view on Denmark

Hans Henrik Knoop, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Aarhus, Denmark, examined engagement at work from the wider context of organization and society, focusing on themes such as complexity and the need to balance competing external forces and internal drives within a systemic perspective. Living organisms are spontaneously self-organizing systems. Challenges from the external environment can either irritate or engage us, but we can choose our response. Thus well-being is linked to our ability to respond effectively when faced with unfavorable or threatening conditions.

While psychology generally may encourage us to focus on individual well-being, we operate within a wider system of society. Systems operate more efficiently if they are aligned. How does this idea play out if we take Denmark and the Danes as the example? The Danes are a very fortunate people in that they have very high levels of material wealth and access to information, and they live in a country which has a low level of corruption, a high level of social trust, a high level of economic equality, and a high level of happiness. Of course, this has not been achieved without a great deal of hard work from all Danish citizens, to say nothing of 55% income tax. According to Knoop, we need to ask ourselves how to use our knowledge of positive psychology and systems theory to find the right balance between freedom and equality such that we can continue to generate high, sustainable well-being for all.

There is a significant emphasis within Danish society on ensuring that every student, whatever age, has equal access to education. Teachers readily assume the responsibility of finding out what motivates each individual intrinsically, and encouraging the desire to learn throughout their lives. This is a very successful strategy – it is obvious when you talk to Danish citizens; children or adults exude confidence and self-efficacy. Danes are willing to go on learning, like a container which expands the more you put into it.

Danish education is not done for education’s sake. It is founded on the belief that the whole of society benefits if every individual member is motivated to learn, since in learning they will acquire the knowledge, skills, and experience to be able to meet external challenges. Knoop’s call to action is to use our knowledge of positive psychology to ensure that everyone is intrinsically motivated and meaningfully engaged at a level beyond the immediate self. The society-level benefits of doing this, such as high social trust and high well-being so evident in Denmark, can thus be created to benefit the citizens of other societies across the globe.  

Willibald Ruch

Invited Speech: The Seriousness and Fun about Humor

Willibald Ruch, Professor of Psychology at University of Zurich, Switzerland, researches the psychology of humor including comedy, amusement, laughter, nonsense, wit, and smiling. He presented a comprehensive history of the development of humor from its original meanings of ‘fluid’ and ‘temperament’ to more recent definitions of defense mechanism and personality trait, to the positive psychology-influenced definition of humor as a strength.

We know that humor as character strength is highly correlated with life satisfaction. The questions to consider are whether it is possible to increase one’s humor, for example through training, and if so, will it increase one’s life satisfaction? A study carried out by Ruch with colleagues Sandra Rusch and Heidi Stolz (in press) suggests that people can learn humor and that humor increases life satisfaction, rather than vice versa.

Writing a Humor Diary

In a double-blind placebo controlled internet study of 680 people (unpublished), one of the conditions was to write a humor diary modeled on the gratitude diary intervention. People were asked to write down the three funniest things which happened to them that day. This intervention increased life satisfaction and decreased depression and still had an effect three months later.

Part 3 will discuss talks by Professor Ruut Veenhoven  (The Netherlands) on Why the Danes are Happier than the Dutch, and by Professor Alex Linley (UK) on The Future of Positive Psychology: Promises and Perils.

References

Further information on employee engagement including a 49-page list of further literature on work engagement and links to Schaufeli’s research (at the latest count, 333 articles).

Website of Humor Research

Dr. Willibald Ruch’s Research site

Images

All speakers’ photos from their websites

Smarties: Heart Mapping courtesy of gadl
I am Here for the Learning Revolution courtesy of Wesley Fryer:

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

My dear friend, even though I do not write for Cosmo magazine, my advice truly could reignite passion and connection in your relationship. In my five years of post-divorce dating, I have gathered valuable information about men from men. They have described what led to their own divorces, as well as what they most value in a woman.

This anecdotal evidence, combined with positive psychology research findings, leads me to the following conclusions:

Secret #1: The goal of men is to reduce complexity in their lives.
Secret #2: What men want most from women is to feel truly appreciated.

It’s all about simplicity and appreciation.

Why Do We Make Things So Complicated? (See Secret #1)

Simplicity

There are exceptions to every rule, but most men would emphatically answer No! to all of the above. In fact, nearly every single man I have dated in the last 5 years has told me — almost verbatim — “I am just a simple guy, with simple needs.”

What are men trying to tell us when they say this? I wondered about this for a long time, until I recently had secret #1 plainly spelled out for me by a good male friend. Suddenly, it all made sense. Of course! When men slip into problem-solving mode with us, they are doing what they are hardwired to do: apply their ability to cut through the morass to arrive at the simplest possible solution.

We resist this, mistaking their efforts to help as oversimplification of very real concerns. We suspect that they’re hiding their real selves from us. We try every possible way to get them to reveal what they must really be thinking. We get offended when they don’t empathize with the intricate webs of complicating factors that we outline to them. I think Jerry Seinfeld summed it this way: “Women always want to know what men are thinking. You want to know what we’re thinking? Do you? Here’s what we’re thinking:…. Nuthin.”

The Power is in the Attitude (See Secret #2)

Many women are consumed with “getting things done.” We excel at coordinating schedules, making sure details are attended to, and succeeding simultaneously in business and domestic environments. I have frequently heard two women talking and sharing this sentiment: “It’s a good thing I’m paying attention to the details, because my husband would have no idea how to accomplish everything I attend to in a day.” While this may seem true, I want to offer an alternative (albeit controversial) viewpoint: How important are all those details and – more importantly – what is sacrificed to make sure it all happens, just so?

Think back to the early days, when you and your significant other were first dating. Would you have prioritized your every responsibility above time spent with him? Did you devoted time and energy on how you were going to dress the next time you saw him? Did you spend time talking (ad nauseum) to your friends about the wonderful qualities in your new beau?

In the first stages of courtship, your appreciation and acceptance of a man for who he is is what attracts a man, and with good reason. Put yourself in his position. Would you rather hang out with someone who openly thinks you are wonderful or someone who focuses on what you’re doing wrong? My guess is your husband would feel he’d died and gone to heaven if you were to bring that fresh, frisky, appreciative attitude to your long-term relationship.

From Languishing to Flourishing

I recently heard a man say that the worst thing possible is to have two mothers: one living with your father, and one in your own house. The nagging and hassling behavior women often feel reduced to is deadly to connection. Relationship researcher John Gottman describes this as “negative start-up by the wife,” and has found it to be severely detrimental to marital happiness.

Conflict in relationships is unavoidable. I’m not advocating that you keep quiet about things that need to be said, but consider how you are saying them. Curb the whining and the nagging. Also, don’t let yourself be consumed with the things you want him to improve upon.

Instead of giving in to irritation when he forgets to stop at the store, or doesn’t clean the bathroom as thoroughly as you would, why not take a deep breath and consider all the efforts he does make? Picture him through new eyes, ones that see all of his amazing qualities. Men want to be appreciated and accepted. They want to know that their efforts are noticed. They may be attracted to achievement in the professional arena, but in the wee small hours of the night they want to have a soft place to fall, where they know they will be accepted.

This may require that we women set aside our complex view of the world. We have to let our guard down and set aside our agendas, a challenge when attention to detail signals love to us. But the cost of maintaining unreasonably high expectations is disconnection that erodes the integrity of the relationship.

Gottman’s has also found that couples who maintain a 5:1 ratio of positive to negative interactions fare far better than those whose ratios tilt more in favor of negativity. I urge women to take this statistic seriously, since much of what I hear from men is a longing for more upbeat interactions with their partners. Humor and joy are critical to flourishing relationships, and you can choose to cultivate these positive emotions and experiences.

Remember back to the time when you knew that how you looked at a guy determined whether or not he returned your glance, and shoot that magic look your husband’s way. It’s subtle, but it matters. If you bring to your long-term relationship the engagement and flexibility, as well as the appreciation and playfulness that you brought to your dating relationships, the rewards will be well worth the investment. Your partner will notice, and I’m guessing you’ll have some fun, too.

References

Gottman, J.M. (1994). Why Marriages Succeed or Fail: And How You Can Make Yours Last. New York: Fireside.

Gottman, J.M., Coan, J., Carrere, S., & Swanson, C. (1998). Predicting marital happiness and stability from newlywed interactions. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 60, 5-22.

Gottman, J.M. & Krokoff, L.J. (1989). Marital interaction and satisfaction: a longitudinal view. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 57, 47-52.

Images:

Man and dog from tom.arthur’s photostream
For Daren – Simplicity courtesy of 1Happysnapper(photography)
Smiling woman nathalielaure’s photostream
Couple from pedrosimoes7’s photostream

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

For years, I have seen men roll their eyes and exclaim, “Women! I’ll never understand them!” I have always been at a loss for how to respond to this outburst, since I have always found myself and other women completely understandable. I’ve tried to find out just what it is that men can’t comprehend, but – either because they don’t know what to ask for clarification on, or because I am too steeped in my own female perspective to understand the source of the confusion – the conversation has never gotten off the ground.

But recently I’ve developed a better understanding of the male psyche, and I have some ideas about how to explain women to men. In particular, my women friends have emphasized and repeated two key needs and concepts also corroborated by research findings in positive psychology.

Secret #1: Women feel nurtured when men assist them with tasks.
Secret #2: Women long for their men to welcome their influence.

It’s all about assistance and openness.

It’s Astounding What Goes on Inside a Woman’s Head (See Secret #1)

Men, if you think it’s scary to watch a woman go into a cleaning frenzy, you would be wise to stay away from the inner workings of her brain. Hidden within the confines of her skull is a personal 12-ring circus, complete with dancing bears, trapeze artists, and raucous music.

This is how she is able to talk on the phone, do her nails, and oversee the kids’ homework all at the same time – and while she’s driving! Managing the many roles women embody is an intricate dance. We are amazingly adept at keeping many plates spinning at once. Most of us do this as a matter of course, and can forget that not everyone functions in the same way. When we occasionally hit overload — when there is one task too many on our to-do lists — we (sometimes emotionally) react in proportion to the entire load we are carrying. If we have reached the point of asking for help (even if it comes in the form of bursting into tears), it probably means that we have already maxed out our energy reserves.

At that point, what we want is for our partners to do one of two things: 1) Give us a hug and tell us he loves us, or 2) Offer to take on some of the work load that we have created for ourselves. Although option #2 might not seem fair – after all, you didn’t ask us to take on all the jobs we must complete, and it probably seems to you like many of those jobs are unnecessary (see Secret #1 from the article For Women Only) – but your offer signals love and support at a critical time.

Think of it this way — you know that comfortable home you live in, where sheets are clean and food is in the fridge? Well, the creation and management of that home, as well as the the complexities of modern family life, is largely thanks to the brilliant 12-ring circus inside your partner’s head.

Women Long to Feel That They Matter (See Secret #2)

Have you ever noticed this pattern in relationships between men and women? As the husband walks out the door, his wife says something like, “Honey, don’t forget your umbrella; it’s supposed to rain later today.” He may react in several ways, but one that leads to trouble is the sigh of exasperation followed by “It’s perfectly sunny out. What are you talking about?” Or worse, he completely ignores her.

Not being a man, I can’t really say what motivates a reaction like this. Perhaps it has to do with feeling controlled, or a desire to reduce complexity in life (see Secret #1 in For Women Only). Maybe he’s thinking, “I don’t want to have to carry an umbrella all day, and I’m already late for my meeting. If I get wet it’s not that big a deal anyway.”

But the man in this scenario is not acknowledging something important: his wife’s suggestion comes from a place of genuine care. When he rebuffs her, she feels shut out and hurt. Relationship researcher John Gottman has found that marriages in which the husband accepts influence from his wife are far less likely to end in divorce than marriages where he is closed to her suggestions.

Here is a more successful reaction to the scenario above: after the wife suggests her husband bring along an umbrella, he pauses. He thinks, “Hmmm… I don’t think I’m going to need this, but I can see that she is trying to help me.” He thanks his wife and takes the umbrella.

If it starts to rain later in the day, he pulls out the umbrella and feels nurtured by his wife. Or, if it doesn’t rain, he can appreciate his wife’s caring nature, rather than label the effort was a waste of time. If he gets home and makes the effort to thank his wife for her suggestion, their relationship is strengthened.

Men, we aren’t trying to control or nag you. This is our way of showing we care.

From Languishing to Flourishing

What is the smallest change you can make that will create the biggest difference in your relationship?

Small efforts can make a huge difference in showing your partner that you care about her. Next time your wife asks for help on a task that you don’t believe is important, consider the benefits of dropping what you’re doing for 10 minutes and pitching in. She will feel supported and cared for because what you’re really doing is helping her manage the 12-ring circus in her head. That’s huge! Or, if she dissolves into tears when a relatively small adversity strikes, rather than think she’s simply overreacting –and worse, then attempting to explain to her why it’s not that big a deal — try simply holding her and letting her cry. You will benefit in spades. The same goes for accepting her influence — take the umbrella to work. Try it and see.

References
Gottman, J.M. (1994). Why Marriages Succeed or Fail: And How You Can Make Yours Last. New York: Fireside.

Gottman, J.M., Coan, J., Carrere, S., & Swanson, C. (1998). Predicting marital happiness and stability from newlywed interactions. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 60, 5-22.

Gottman, J.M. & Krokoff, L.J. (1989). Marital interaction and satisfaction: a longitudinal view. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 57, 47-52.

Images:
Trapeze artists from hbp_pix’s photostream
Man and umbrella from mysz831’s photostream
Lovebirds from suneko’s photostream

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

It is my belief, you cannot deal with the serious things in the world unless you understand the most amusing. – Winston Churchill

Laughing Clown

Humor is Helpful

According to the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor www.aath.org , humor is “any intervention that promotes health and wellness by stimulating a playful discovery, expression or appreciation of the absurdity or incongruity of life’s situations.” Goldin and Bordan, leaders in the counseling field, indicate they both plan to use humor as well as use it spontaneously.

Pieces of Me?

• Strengthen the rapport between the client and counselor
• Facilitate communication, keep the client focused and make the counseling process more interesting
• Assess the client’s degree of psychological functioning
• Enable the client to change to a more useful perspective by seeing the world’s absurdities
• Offer the client a less painful perspective of a painful problem
• Add to the client’s social repertoire and coping tools
• Reduce stress and tension during the therapy session

Timing is Everything

“The only normal people are the ones you don’t know very well.” – Joe Ancis

Humor must be used properly to be most effective. If humor is used too soon, the counselor might be viewed as someone who is insensitive to the client’s concerns. Goldin and Bordan explain that humor can be inappropriate in counseling under certain conditions:

• When it is experienced as disrespectful or could offend the client
• When it makes a client feel they are not being taken seriously
• When it is used to frequently and becomes boring
• When the counselor uses it to avoid dealing with client anxieties
• When a client views it as irrelevant to his or her reasons for being in counseling
• When it is inappropriately timed

Ways To Use Humor with Clients

There are many ways to use humor in counseling without needing to be a comedian. One of the key ingredients for humor is the ability to be childlike (Godfrey, 2004). Specifically, a counselor, coach or other healing professional could:

Playfulness

• Ask your client, “How would an 8 year old see this situation?” to help your client reframe the issue into a less troublesome perspective
• Encourage your client to keep a humor journal every night or once a week recalling things that made them laugh or an amusing incident that happened that day
• Encourage your clients to watch funny films , read joke books and attend comedy shows
• Ask your clients to share an amusing anecdote or observation during the session
• Give the client a cartoon that touches on the problem in a more playful way
• Set up your office with humorous stimuli such as books, calendars, cartoons, props and posters to improve the wait and cheer up your clients
• Write a laughter prescription asking your client to read their favorite comic strip every morning with coffee
• Ask your client to develop a Humor First Aid Kit including things that make her laugh or bring a smile to her face
• Start a “smiles-to-go” jar filled with humorous quotes and anecdotes that clients can take when they arrive or leave your office

Frogs in Shoes

Humor can be powerful medicine but only if it is a regular part of one’s life.

In order to share the lighter side of life with others, it helps if you actively seek out things that make you laugh.

References:

Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor

Godfrey, J.R. (2004). Toward optimal health: The experts discuss therapeutic humor. Journal of Women’s Health, 13, 474-479.

Goldin, E. & Bordan, B. (1999). The use of humor in counseling: The laughing cure. Journal of Counseling & Development, 77, 405-410.

Goldin, E., Bordan, B., Araoz, D.L., Gladding, S.T., Kaplan, D., Krumboltz, J. & Lazarus, A. (2006). Humor in counseling: Leader perspectives. Journal of Counseling & Development, 84, 397-404.

McGuire, P. (1999). More psychologists are finding that discrete uses of humor promote healing in their patients. APA Monitor, 30 (3).

Reynes, R.L. & Allen, A. (1987). Humor in psychotherapy: A view. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 61, 260-270.

Images:
Funny Clown courtesy of Andrea Fregnani
Pieces of me courtesy of CarbonNYC
Playfulness courtesy of cliff1066
IF … a princess kisses both of us courtesy of kthypryn

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

When Did I Become Serious?

Laughing Baby

My client came into the office. He had a hard week and was feeling pretty depressed. As our coaching session began, his energy shifted, he got more centered and he started to feel a little better. In came Buddy, a 9.5 pound Domestic Short Hair Black Tuxedo Cat with an affinity for paper balls and slight repugnance for catnip.  Buddy planted his rump on my client’s lap and his paws on his chest. My client lightened up, and began to smile. The cuteness was hard to bear, and he burst into laughter as Buddy commenced his mid-afternoon cleaning, taking extra care between his toes.

Exploring Cat

Buddy enabled my client to laugh a little. He came in taking himself extremely seriously. Not to say that the state of his reality was not serious business, but as Barbara Fredrickson has taught us, it can be hard to be creative and think outside the box with regard to career changes when you are in a negative rut. Buddy helped jolt him out of his woes, long enough for us to come up with action steps to support him in his journey. The benefit of laughter has been well documented and is great news for people with pet allergies.

The touted health benefits of laughter have increased dramatically over the years: we’ve all heard “laughter is the best medicine.” Whether or not it is the “best” is questionable. It is difficult to isolate laughter as the sole originator of these benefits (Martin, 2001). However research shows laughter’s positive effect on:

 
1. Immune system function (McClelland & Cheriff, 1997)

 

2. Pain tolerance (Nevo, Keinan & Teshimovsky-Arditi, 1993)
3. Blood pressure (White & Camarena, 1989)

 

4. Longevity (Rotton, 1992)

  

5. Asthma and Allergies (Kimata, 2004 )

Am I Laughing Or Just Having a Great Time?

Martin (2002) points out that humor and laughter are different, and a few studies have showed contradictory correlations between humor and longevity and blood pressure.

A recent study showed that watching a funny film decreased cortisol, adrenaline and DOPAC, before, during and after watching the film. This means that simply anticipating something funny happening can decrease your experience of stress.

Two Top-10 Lists for Laughter and Play

Laughter Yoga

1. Laughter is a stress buster: it reduces epinephrine and cortisol levels
2. Laughter strengthens the immune system: it increases natural killer cells and antibody levels
3. Laughter is anti-aging: It tones facial muscles, increases blood supply to the face, nourishing tissues and making the skin glow
4. Laughter is aerobic exercise: It increases your heart rate and is equivalent to any other standard aerobic exercise. William Fry, MD, from Standford University claims that one minute of laughter is equal to 10 minutes of rowing
5. Laughter is internal jogging: Exercises abdominal muscles, improves facial muscle tone
6. Laughter is a natural pain killer: Increases endorphin production, reducing intensity of pain
7. Laughter helps control high blood pressure: Reduces release of stress-related hormones
8. Laughter reduces depression and anxiety
9. Laughter improves bronchitis and asthma: It increases lung capacity and oxygen levels.
10. LAUGHTER JUST MAKES YOU FEEL GOOD!!!

Laughter yoga started in 1995 and has since spread to over 6,000 laughter clubs in over 60 countries [2]. In laughter yoga, people don’t tell jokes. They don’t play reruns of I Love Lucy , but they sure have fun. They laugh and do laughter exercises. They make sounds like “Ho Ho Ha Ha Ha,” laugh like three-year-olds and eighty-year-olds. They pretend to be have hysterical conversations on their cell phones, and greet each other as long-lost friends with laughter. In essence, they are playing.

Here are 10 Benefits of Play for Adults by Marianne St. Clair:

1. Play inspires you to think differently
2. Brings more joy into your life
3. Reduces stress

 

4. Increases longevity

 

5. Reduces struggle, conflict and worry

 

6. Increases ones sense of lightness

  

7. Stimulates imagination, curiosity and creativity
8. Softens and eases the heart

  

9. Enhances energy levels

   

10. Provides the opportunity to take risks.

How Does Laughter Work?

It is unclear what the magic formula is for why laughter works the way it does. Rod Martin (2002), psychologist and laughter specialist from the University of Western Ontario, suggests four possibilities:

 
1. Laughter creates physiological changes in the body, such as exercising and relaxing the muscles which sets off a chain reaction of health benefits (improved breathing, which leads to improved circulation and production of endorphins, leading to decreased stress hormone and enhanced immunity.

  

2. Laugher induces a positive state and it’s the positive affect that has produces the benefit.

  

3. Laughter reduces stress which in turn causes all sorts of health benefits.

  

4. People with a good sense of humor may get more social support from others wanting to be around them.

There is no stronger recommendation I can make to adults in how to increase their happiness then learning to not take themselves so seriously. Adding more play, joy and laughter into one’s life doesn’t mean you can’t function, pay your bills, or care for your family.

Laughter is an expression of joy. It’s a universal and sacred expression that is the same in every language. My laughter yoga trainer challenged us to "laugh for no reason" everyday. I challenge you to do the same. You’re looking at this computer screen right now… laugh out loud. Your colleagues in the office will think you’re reading a funny e-mail. Go ahead give it a try! Bring some lightness into your life.

Images
Courtesy of Emiliya Zhivotovskaya

References

[1] Laughter Yoga Leader Manual
[2] http://laughteryoga.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&layout=blog&id=15&Itemid=265

Kimata, K (2004). Pediatric Asthma, Allergy & Immunology, 17(2): 131-135.

Martin, R.A. (2001). Humor, laughter, and physical health: Methodological issues and research findings. Psychological Bulletin , 127, 504-519.

Martin, R. A. (2002). Is laughter the best medicine?: Humor, laughter, and physical health. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11, 216-220.

McClelland, D.C., & Cheriff, A.D. (1997). The immunoenhancing effects of humor on secretory IgA and resistance to respiratory infections. Psychology and Health, 12, 329-344.

Nevo, O., Keinan, G., & Teshimovsky-Arditi, M. (1993). Humor and pain tolerance. Humor: Internation Journal of Humor Research, 6,71-88.

Rotton, J. (1992). Trait humor and longevity: Do comics have the last laugh? Health Psychology, 11, 262-266.

White, S., & Camarena, P. (1989). Laughter as a stress reducer in small groups. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research, 2, 73-79.

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

Angry Face

I was cruising around the web the other day and ran into a post by a blogger who had just gotten his millionth hit. He was giving advice on how to do the same — and since I’m on track to hit that point with my blog in about 2037, maybe I should listen. Then again, maybe not, because two of his key points were to make some enemies and to use enough "vitriolic ad hominem to make sure he never forgets it." Note the lack of an exclamation point on that quote — no excitement here, just sane, sensible advice!

Pro Wrestlers

Two words: Losada ratio . Marcial Losada’s research established that positivity has a tipping point. At approximately three positive emotions to one negative, individuals and groups begin to experience life in a new way. Patterns of positive relationships, creativity, collegiality, and forward motion emerge that could not have been predicted before. Goals coalesce, pathways appear, and efficacy surges. Further research shows that the highest levels of group performance require a ratio of 5:1.

Of course, some of the participants in political discourse, both on- and off-line, may be able maintain a positive emotional experience. But many are truly riled up or truly depressed, and they communicate those feelings online and induce the same feelings in those who read their work. And don’t get me started on the commenters; many of them are clearly in the grip of strong negative emotions!

Town Hall

What to do? I have two suggestions, one from my political experience and one from that great political philosopher, Walt Disney.

Protected

My second piece of advice comes from that classic Disney animated film, Lady and the Tramp. Early in the movie, Lady, the cocker-spaniel character, goes outside in the early morning, gets the paper, and tries to bring it in. As she pulls it through the doggie-door, she rips part of the outside sheet off. Then we see the husband, “Jim-dear”, sitting at the table looking at the paper and the front page has most of the headline and picture for the main, above-the-fold story torn off. We can see enough to know that the headline contains the word, “Catastrophe” He says, “Have you noticed Darling? Since we’ve had Lady, we see less and less of those disturbing headlines!”

My point? Why add to the denominator in your Losada ratio? Of course we need to be informed citizens, but to the extent the rider rather than the elephant makes those decisions, we can likely pick up the information we need by searching out sources of vitriol-free information. Sure, those trashy attack pieces feel good going down – nothing like a little righteous anger! – but they are killing the body politic and our mental well-being even as the modern diet with its overload of simple carbohydrates is killing our physical well-being. And, while you’re at it, if you know any practicing politicians, you might suggest they work on their Losada ratios!

Images and media
Lady and the Tramp scene: If you’d like to see the scene, try here at approximately 9:24.
Angry Chris courtesy dave_apple
img0849 (pro wrestlers) courtesy of static
Protected or Enclosed courtesy of on1stsite
Town hall Jamaica Vermont courtesy of redjar

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

When I show my students the slide of Steve Carell aka Michael Scott, the bumbling boss from The Office, most of them let out a big chuckle. In one episode he goes to corporate headquarters to interview for a higher position in the company. He evidently has the shadow strength of punctuality, as he shows up a day early for his meeting. However, on the next day, he enters the interview and is confronted with the first question: “What are your strengths, Michael?” With a pregnant pause, and then a wide-eyed grin, he answers, “I can tell you my weaknesses. Everybody in my office knows my weaknesses!”

Humor as a Strength and Pathway to Happiness
While Michael Scott is fodder for the humor of others, many young people use humor as a way of healthily engaging others. In a study we conducted with high school freshmen and seniors from the Midwest, we found that humor and playfulness, along with curiosity and humility, were predictors of pleasure as a pathway to happiness. This was consistent with research by Kahneman and his colleagues on laughing and smiling as part of the hedonic life.

In the study, we also found that humor was highly endorsed by students, along with kindness, love, integrity, and curiosity. This supports the claim by Nansook Park and Chris Peterson that humor, gratitude and love tend to be the most common traits among adolescents. We also found that male students endorsed humor more than female students. Research by Lampert and Ervin-Tripp shows that men tend to joke more than women.

Peterson suggests that there may be shadow sides to the way people exhibit their strengths. Humor can be both self-serving and other-directed, both highly inclusive and demeaning of others. The central question is, Who is the beneficiary of the humor?

The Shadow Side of Humor
The shadow side of a strength can occur because the strength is used to excess. Several years ago, one of my students, Jason, was dismissed from an athletic team for showing disrespect to other players and the head coach with constant, sarcastic humor. The young man was very upset with the coach’s decision and asked if he could speak with me. I knew full well that he was coming to see me for a “get out of jail card.” He hoped I’d advocate for him to be reinstated to the team.

What Jason had done was insensitive and selfish. I had to figure out a way to make the meeting as positive and productive as possible. When Jason entered my office, I asked him what his top strengths were, and he replied humor/playfulness, and leadership. This is consistent with feedback from his peers, who find him very likable and his sense of humor contagious. When properly motivated he was an exceptional leader. A smile came to his face when he spoke about how his humor comes alive at school – in the dorm, in the classroom, and on the football and lacrosse fields. He then grinned ear-to-ear about being “a funny guy,” and attracting others with his playfulness. However, in the recent athletic situation, his humor went to the dark side, and his leadership detracted from the ability of others to fulfill the team mission.

I paused, and with a very serious look on my face, asked Jason, “Then, why are we here right now having this conversation? What happened?” There was another pause, and Jason meekly said that he took both his leadership and his humor to excess, to the dark side. At that moment, Jason realized that he was in control of his actions, of how he saw himself, and how others saw him. We spoke about how much enjoyment he derives from focusing his humor in service to others He began to realize that the players look up to him. He went to the head coach and explained how his strengths, as he put it, “went south.” The coach allowed him back on the team, and he became an unofficial leader for the remainder of the season.

When humor is a strength, the result will typically be felt by both self and others. With the shadow side of humor, others experience it as disrespect. The instructive use of humor comes in finding the fine line that divides its strength from its shadow!

References
E. Kahneman, E. Diener and N. Schwartz (eds) (1999). Well-Being: The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology (pp.393-412). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

Lampert, M., & Ervin-Tripp, S. M. (1998). Exploring paradigms: The study of gender and sense of humor at the end of the 20th century. In W. Ruch (Ed.), The Sense of Humor: Explorations of a Personality Characteristic. Mouton de Gruyter; illustrated edition, July 1, 2007.

Peterson, C. (2006). A Primer in Positive Psychology. Oxford University Press.

Peterson, C. & Seligman, M. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Park, N. & Peterson, C. (2005). Moral competence and character strengths among adolescents: The development and validation of the Values In Action Inventory of Strengths for Youth. Journal of Adolescence.

Yeager, J. (2006). Character Strengths and Well-Being Among Adolescents. Capstone Study – in partial fulfillment for the Masters in Applied Positive Psychology – University of Pennsylvania. This capstone project will soon be uploaded to Penn’s Scholarly Commons for easier access.

Images
Michael Scott’s desk courtesy of watchwithkristin
Pie in face from Wikipedia article on Pieing
Lacrosse player courtesy of Hobart College vs Syracuse University – Mens Lacrosse (Set)

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

Recently, I led a workshop on motivation for a group of about 10 people at a small manufacturing company. They came from different shifts and different positions: non supervisory, supervisory, and executive. Before we got started, they were already laughing.

Laughometer?

If I wanted one indicator of the health of a workplace, it would be how much people laugh. In addition to smoke detectors, how great would it be if we could (invent) and install laugh-o-meters so we can celebrate laughter and realize when we are starting to take ourselves too seriously?

Humor Problems
Lack of humor at work is often attributable to fear. Fearful people don’t laugh. They also tend not to create, share, or willingly back each other up . They don’t pass along information that others need.

Of course all laughter isn’t created equal. It’s no fun to be the butt of a joke that everybody else feels is funny but you feel is humiliating. When some people are laughing and others aren’t, it can be a sign of a status fault line – only people in the in-crowd understand the joke. Humor based on language subtleties sometimes doesn’t translate well, so humor may totally evade non-native speakers.

But when everyone is laughing together in a warm, friendly way, humor can be magical.

What makes humor so effective?
First, humor is often based on the characteristics that make people unique. That awareness of the specific ways that people are different is the first step towards organizing work to use differences well.

Second, I can attest to the fact that being roasted is a great way to feel that people are really looking at you, really paying attention. At my Quarter Century party, my manager went through a presentation of fictitious inventions she had collected from many people who had worked with me. This celebrated my status as Master Inventor and made fun of my quirks:

• Invention of the algorithm which provides accurate pattern matching between your Myers Briggs profile and your bathroom stall selection. (This one was based on a hilarious moment in a panel I moderated.)
• Method and Apparatus for Pain Avoidance While Sitting and Trying to Manage Extremely Long Hair (This was from someone who’d seen me disentangle myself from many chairs.)
• System and Method for Conning Colleagues into Participating in Psychological Research (submitted by one of the people who contributed VIA and MBTI data to my MAPP capstone study),
• System and Method for Billiard Table and Electric Train Set Avoidance in Applications of Ballroom Dancing (My husband and I dance around the edges of our large playroom.)
• System and method for ensuring you have the last word in all technical conversations.

Third, humor is closely associated with positive emotion, which broadens people’s viewpoints and makes them more tolerant and inclusive.

Fourth, laughter feels good. It’s fun. Fluegge demonstrates in her dissertation that ““individuals having fun at work were also more likely to be more engaged in their work, and consequently exhibit greater creative performance. Overall, the findings of this study provide evidence to suggest that fun at work directly and indirectly affects job performance.”

Fifth, a really good laugh creates a shared memory that strengthens the bonds among people. That laugh that followed the INTJ lady saying she always used the same stall in the bathroom and the ESTP lady responding that she always picked different ones is a memory I share with more than 150 people.

Hold All Calls!

Laughing at Myself
I find that being able to laugh regularly at myself creates a great buffer. Hawkins defined self-enhancing humor as "having a humorous outlook on life, showing amusement to incongruities in life" and found that it was "was supported by this study as an effective coping mechanism."

So if you hear relaxed laughter in your workplace, rejoice! If you are considering a new workplace, try to hang around and observe whether people laugh often during the course of a day. If laughter is low, Lefcourt suggests the following as good starting points for increasing capacity for humor: "encouragement of flexible thinking, of learning to generate multiple responses to singular stimuli, and lessening the fear of rejection for attempts aat being comical or provoking laughter," (p. 628). I am not good at telling jokes or intentionally being funny, but my laughs are a joyful noise that sends the laugh-o-meter up.

References

Fluegge, E. R. (2009). Who put the fun in functional? Fun at work and its effects on job performance. Dissertation, University of Florida. Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences Vol 69(7-A), 2009, pp. 2781. (I’ve only read the abstract so far.)

Fry, P. S. (1995). Perfectionism, humor, and optimism as moderators of health outcomes and determinants of coping styles of women executives. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 121(2) , 211-245.

Hawkins, D. A. (2009). Comparing the use of humor to other coping mechanisms in relation to Maslach’s theory of burnout. Dissertation, University of Florida. Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences Vol 69(7-A), 2009, pp. 2543. (I’ve read only the abstract so far.)

Lefcourt, H. M. (2005). Humor. In Snyder, C. R., & Lopez, S. J. (Eds.), Handbook of Positive Psychology , pp. 619-631. New York: Oxford University Press.

Ryan, K. & Oestreich, D. (1998). Driving Fear Out of the Workplace: Creating the High-Trust, High-Performance Organization (The Jossey-Bass Business & Management Series) (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

From the abstract: High performance, creativity and trust is impossible when people are afraid to tell the truth. With this in mind, this new edition shows managers and executives how to eliminate fear, encourage top employee performance, and increase corporate competitiveness. … They tell us why fearful workers lose pride and motivation, increase defensive behavior, seek revenge, and hide failure. … The authors believe that supporting certain behaviors–respect, honest, constructive feedback, and humor, for instance–is a start.

Talbot, A. & Lumden, D. B. (2000). On the association between humor and burnout. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research, 13(4) , 419-428.

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

Playing in the Surf Together

Please feel free to submit questions related to Fun, Play, and Humor that you would like our incredible authors to address this month.

Here are some past articles written on humor:

• Laugh It Off! by Aren Cohen May 11th, 2009
• Eustress, I stress, We all stress! What happens when we are in-the-grip? by Fiona Parashar May 10th, 2009
• From Ho Hum Holidays to a Whole Lot of Fun by Louis Alloro March 29th, 2009
• The Top Five Factors for Happiness at Work by Timothy Sharp March 13th, 2009
• Love is … (according to Fredrickson!) by Dave Shearon February 17th, 2009
• Me, and Six Billion Others by Sean Doyle November 30th, 2008
• Living with Cockroaches by Sean Doyle October 31st, 2008

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

I watch “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” religiously. Instead of CNN, Fox or MSNBC, my news source of choice is Comedy Central. Why, you may ask? Don’t I want to be a well-informed citizen? Shouldn’t I be reading the New York Times and taking things seriously. Maybe. But in today’s environment, I desperately need a laugh.

Reports of a failing economy, swine flu and threats from the Taliban in Pakistan could make anyone feel stressed out. Add to that family and work responsibilities, a never-ending stream of email, texts and phone calls and it is amazing that we aren’t all just pulling our hair out. How do we manage?

Stress is a biological phenomenon, correlated to our ancient “fight or flight” psychology. When we encounter a stressor, be it FOX News or an aggressive driver, it sets off a complex series of hormones which surge through our bodies. Our sympathetic nervous system and limbic brain kick into overdrive. We either want to flee, or we prepare to fight. Our muscles tighten; we are ready for physical action. However, this is not good for our bodies or our brains. Reports say that stress causes added heart attacks in men and added reproductive troubles in women. In our brain, our parasympathetic nervous system takes a back seat and we become less receptive to new ideas. We narrow focus and prepare for the worst.

When I watch the regular news, I become my most horrible self—an anxious zombie: Swine Flu? “I am never leaving my house again.” The economy? “How will I survive the next great depression?” Pakistan? “Uh oh, it’s World War III!” And this is just the outside world. In my private life, the things that stress me out also receive the same catastrophic assessment and I shut down. I presume we all do, at least initially.

Yet to survive we must find ways to be resilient and resourceful enough to turn things on their head.

That’s why I enjoy The Daily Show. Just when I am headed into “Great Depression” territory, Jon Stewart reminds me that there are reasons to smile. When he announces that he, and we, the American public, just bought ourselves a car company named GM, I grin. By the time he renames the Swine Flu “piggy flu” I am laughing out loud. (How could piggies hurt you?) Somehow things don’t seem so bad. In fact, they’re downright funny (or at least absurd).

We all know the importance of positive emotions. Barbara Fredrickson’s, “broaden and build,” theory has taught us that joy and amusement allows us to expand our thinking.

It also prevents that constricted feeling that manifests in our bodies when we are stressed. Equally, Valliant, Peterson, and Seligman tell us that humor is both a coping mechanism and a strength. Finding humor in the midst of a stressful situation often diffuses the conflict and allows us to return to a healthier state both mentally and physically. (Just think of that moment when you were fighting with your spouse/parent/sibling and then all of the sudden you looked at each other, realized the fight was ridiculous, and dissolved into peals of laughter.)

It can be difficult, in a moment of stress to find the thing to laugh about. Comedians make it their stock and trade, and it is part of what makes them so beloved. Yet I suggest to you, when you are feeling overwhelmed by stress, try and turn it upside-down. Find something to make the situation comic. Call a friend and say, “I am really stressed-out. Help me find something funny in this situation.” If that fails, try laughing. Really, just start laughing. Some people call it laughing yoga. I admit that at first it might feel false, but keep trying. As they say, “fake it ‘til you make it,” and then all of the sudden the belly laughs will just come rolling out of you.

There are many benefits of laughter, all of which combat stress. First, laughter boosts immunity, lowers stress hormones and relaxes your muscles. Laughter reduces fear and anxiety and enhances resilience. Even better, if you laugh with someone, you form a connection, and as good positive psychologists we all know social connectivity is good for us.

If stress can take years off your life, laughter adds them back on and lifts your mood. Like the old adage says, when it comes to stress, “laugh it off!”

P.S. For more on laughing yoga, check out this video, Benefits of Laughter Yoga with John Cleese.

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

Martin, R. A. (2004). Sense of humor and physical health: Theoretical issues, recent findings, and future directions. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research, 17(1-2), 1-19.

Peterson, C. & Seligman, M. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Vaillant, G. (1998). Adaptation to Life. New York, NY: Harvard University Press.

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