In this research assignment, you are to review the
literature on Life Circumstances (Review Chapter 2) and present your position
on Bottom-up and Top-down theories of Happiness. Please remember that research
papers require 4 full pages of content and at least 3 supporting sources.
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Topics
1. A Brief History of Positive Psychology
2. Positive Emotions
3. Well-Being
4. Optimism
5. Flow and Goal Pursuit
6. Mindfulness and Savoring
7. Love and Relationships
8. Meaning and Purposeful Living
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A BRIEF HISTORY OF
POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
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A Brief History of Positive
Psychology
• Study of the “good life” goes back to ancient
times
• Ancient Greeks used logic and reason to find
the formula for the good life
• Positive psychology is a fairly recent field, but
has roots going back over 100 years
• Martin P. Seligman is credited with formally
creating the field
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POSITIVE EMOTIONS
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Positive Emotions
• Up until 1980’s, mostly only negative
emotions were investigated
• Eliminating negative emotions does not
automatically lead to feeling positive ones
• Positive affect and negative affect comprise
the basic dimensions of emotional experience
• Positive affect: approach-oriented, leads
person to experiences that yield pleasure
• Negative affect: withdrawal-oriented
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Fredrickson’s Broaden-and-Build
Model
• Negative emotions tend to limit our options,
positive emotions tend to broaden them
• Negative emotions can make a person act
quickly (i.e., fight or flight)
• Positive emotions broaden our thought-action
repertoires
• We think of things that bring us pleasure, then
pursue one
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Fredrickson’s Broaden-and-Build
Model (cont’d.)
• Undoing hypothesis: positive emotions help
us overcome detrimental effects of negative
emotions
• We look to other people and resources for
social support and resource sharing
• Experiencing negative emotions restricts
actions one feels like doing
• Positive emotions facilitate the undoing of
physiological effects from negative emotions
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WELL-BEING
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Well-Being
• There are two overlapping and sometimes
competing views of happiness and well-being:
subjective view and prescriptive view
• Subjective view states that happiness is
defined by subjective well-being
• Each person experiences happiness differently,
rely on their self-report
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Well-Being (cont’d.)
• Appraisal of subjective well-being based on
life satisfaction, domains such as relationships,
and generally feeling good
• The prescriptive view is less prevalent
• States that certain factors must be present for
a person to feel happiness and well-being
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Measurement of Subjective WellBeing
• Fordyce Emotions Questionnaire asks people
to rate their happiness on a 11-point scale
• Has strong correlations with daily affect and
life satisfaction
• Subjective Happiness Scale has four items and
uses a subjectivist approach
• Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWL) has five
items with reliability and good construct
validity
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Measurement of Subjective WellBeing (cont’d.)
• Two assumptions of self-report measures of
happiness: quantifiable and that similar scores
indicate similar levels of happiness
• Self-report measures find that people are
generally happy
• Biologically-based measures would also be
helpful to corroborate self-reports
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Happiness Set Point and Hedonic
Adaptation
• Happiness set point: when we are too happy
or unhappy, our internal biological regulators
try to bring happiness levels back to a
genetically determined set point
• There is a large heritability influence on
happiness
• Well-being generally stays constant across
one’s lifespan
• Personality is greater than circumstances
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Happiness Set Point and Hedonic
Adaptation (cont’d.)
• Hedonic adaptation: novelty of a new
stimulus (i.e., buying a new car) wears off and
happiness levels return to baseline
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Happiness Set Point and Hedonic
Adaptation (cont’d.)
Figure 2.2: Lucas’s (2007b) findings suggest that hedonic adaptation is more likely to
occur for marriage, widowhood, and divorce and is least likely to occur for disability and
severe disability.
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Happiness Set Point and Hedonic
Adaptation (cont’d.)
• Resilience: people not only cope with a
negative event, they are transformed by the
experience
• Some people show positive response patterns
and thrive
• Resilience trajectory seems to be the most
common way people respond to adversity
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Traits of Happy People
• Extraversion gives people a slightly higher
advantage toward feeling happy
• Extraversion pre-disposes a person to
experiencing positive affect
• Agreeableness can also boost happiness
• Conscientious people tend to have high life
satisfaction
• Happy people have high self-esteem
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Life Circumstances
• Bottom-up theories of happiness: life’s
circumstances influence happiness
• Top-down theories of happiness: happiness
levels begin in ourselves and they effect how
we view life’s circumstances
• Interactions of the two theories may occur
• Usually, the more unhealthy you are, the less
happy you are
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Figure 2.3: Sonja Lyubomirsky’s estimate of what determines happiness: Life
circumstances only account for 10% NOTE: Adapted from The How of Happiness: A
New Approach to Getting the Life You Want, p. 20, by S. Lyubomirsky, 2007. New York,
NY: Penguin Group. Copyright Sonja Lyubomirsky. Used with permission.
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Life Circumstances (cont’d.)
• As one’s income rises above the level of
meeting basic needs, hedonic adaptation
begins
• If the nation itself is wealthy, very little
difference in happiness among its rich and
poor
• Happy people are more likely to get married
than unhappy people
• Marriage itself does not cause happiness
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Figure 2.4: Income and Percent
of People Who Are Very Happy in
the United States Over the Years.
Even though income increased, the
percentage of people who report
they are very happy stayed the
same. NOTE: Income data from
U.S. Commerce Department,
Bureau of Census (1975) and
Economic Indicators; happiness
data from General Social Surveys,
National Opinion Research Center,
University of Chicago; data
compiled by David G. Myers. From
David Myers, Funds, Friends and
Faith of Happy People, American
Psychologist, 55(1), Figure 5, p. 61.
Copyright 2000 by the American
Psychological Association.
Reprinted with permission.
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Life Circumstances (cont’d.)
• Aging may cause decrease in health but
increase in life satisfaction
• Gender, intelligence, and education do not
appear to be related to happiness
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OPTIMISM
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Optimism
• Optimists see bad events as temporary and
specific to the situation
• Learned optimism: belief that one’s own
efforts lead to improvement and hope
• Realistic optimism: optimism that does not
involve deception, is the best form
• Optimists adjust to stress better than
pessimists
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FLOW AND GOAL
PURSUIT
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Flow and Goal Pursuit
• Flow: experience of complete absorption in
the present moment; being “in the zone”
• Most likely to occur in activities that challenge
the upper range of our capacities
• Flow usually occurs when people are at work;
happiness and flow do not always go together
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Hope Theory
• Hope is a combination of cognitive pathways
and agency
• Some adults are more disposed to experience
hope
• Hope acts as an emotion while optimism is a
cognitive process
• Hope is motivating, but can cause us to pursue
unrealistic goals
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MINDFULNESS AND
SAVORING
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Mindfulness and Savoring
• Mindfulness: heightened state of awareness
of what is occurring in the present
• People with high levels of trait mindfulness
have higher levels of psychological well-being
• Savoring: applying mindful awareness to
enjoyment experiences
• Savoring leads to more frequent and intense
feelings of happiness
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LOVE AND
RELATIONSHIPS
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Love and Relationships
• Two-factor theory of love states that love is
comprised of passionate and companionate
love
• Compassion, empathy, and altruism relate to
helping and identifying with others
• Forgiveness helps to restore relationships
• Agreeable people are more likely to forgive
• High levels of gratitude are a strong predictor
of well-being and life satisfaction
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MEANING AND
PURPOSEFUL LIVING
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Meaning and Purposeful Living
• Meaning in life reflects both a cognitive
component (comprehension) and a
motivational component (purpose)
• We gain a better understanding of our place in
the world and what we’re meant to do with
our lives
• Engagement in religious and spiritual
endeavors is associated with higher levels of
health and well-being
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Summary
• Positive psychology is the study of what
people do right
• Subjective well-being based on the individual’s
experience while eudaimonic well-being is
based on meeting particular needs
• Happiness set point determines approx. 50%
of our happiness, circumstances only 10%
• Extraversion, agreeability, conscientiousness,
and social relationships related to happiness
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Summary (cont’d.)
• Influence of happiness appears to be more
top-down
• Flow experience more likely when we
challenge our capabilities
• Mindfulness and savoring associated with
well-being and health
• Love, compassion, empathy, and altruism
strengthen relationships
• Meaning in life/purpose linked to happiness
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