Difference between revisions of "Tem"

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===Savoring===
+
==September 4, 2012==
  
====Bryant & Veroff, Chapters 1 & 8, and other notes====
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====Haidt, Happiness Hypothesis, ch. 5====
  
Chapter 1
+
:*Major theme -- happiness as internal or external pursuit.
  
:*Savoring: capacity to attend to, appreciate and enhance positive experiences.
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::*Buddha and Epictetus take a relatively "internal" path. Haidt suggests research shows this to be somewhat extreme -- there are things to strive for outside of yourself, happiness in the journey ("progress principle") "Things won are done; joy's soul lies in the doing."
:*Distinguishing savoring from pleasure -- reflective dimension to savoring.
 
:*Need to suppress "social and esteem needs" for savoring.
 
  
:*Savoring distinguished from other processes.  In relation to:
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:*Haidt's list of happiness makers and unmakers(correlates and major causes)
::*Mindfulness -- savoring narrower
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::*Adaptation, hedonic treadmill, set point theory, Bob and Mary comparison (87): relationship, meaningfulness.  Bob's list more susceptible to adaptation. 
::*Meditation
 
::*Flow
 
  
From Chapter 3
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:*Happiness Formula
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::*H = Set point + Conditions + Voluntary action
 +
::*understanding lack of adaptation for cosmetic surgery.  what's shallow vs. what matters.
 +
::*from 92f: Noise, Commuting, Lack of Control, Shame, Relationships,
 +
::*"It is vain to say that human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquility: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it." (Charlotte Bronte, 1847)
  
:*Factors affecting the intensity of enjoyment experienced.
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:*Complicating factors
::*Duration -- case of two positive events simultaneously vs. over time.
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::*Flow and Seligman's strengths test www.authentichappiness.org
::*Reduction of Stress --
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::*Comparisons and biases.  Conspicuous consumption.
::*Complexity -- in the pleasures themselves vs. in web of relationships
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::*Schwartz maximizers and satisficers.
::*Attentional Focus --
 
::*Balanced Self-Monitoring
 
::*Interactive Consequences
 
  
Types of Savoring -- see handout  from Chapter 5
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====Schimmack, "The Structure of SWB"====
  
Chapter 8
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:*Problem:  How to explain independence of PA and NA?
 +
:*Review basic diagram on p. 98.
 +
::*bottom up vs. top down  -- see conclusion at
 +
::*problems of measurement -- "shared method variance"
 +
::*more sophisticated model  -- domain importance
  
:*Factors connecting Coping and Savoring: Social Support, Writing about life experiences, Downward hedonic contrast, Humor, Spirituality & Religion
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:*Research Question: What could explain variance in LS besides DS?
 +
::*Positive illusions
 +
::*Money
 +
::*"direct evidence" of bottom up theory -- if people are thinking of important domains while assessing LS, then. ... 107
  
:*Essential Pre-conditions for Savoring
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:*Research Question on Structure of Affect: What explains independence of PA and NA? Are they really independent?
::*Freedom from Social and Esteem Concerns
+
::*structural - imp. research by Diener, Smith, and Fujita (p. 109) verify independence, crit. Bradburn.  ""The more items assess pure valence and focus on pervasive moods rather than emotional episodes, the more negative is the correlation between PA and NA."
::*Present Focus
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::*causal - maybe neuroticism drives NA and extraversion drives PANote Conclusion.
::*Attentional Focus
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::*momentary - 114: "PA and NA can be independent over extended time periods, even if they are fully dependent at each moment. "It. For example, even if love and hate were mutuallyexclusive at one moment in time, some individuals could experience more loveand more hate over extended periods of time than others (Bradbum, 1969;Schimmack & Diener, 1997).
:*Exercises
 
::*Vacation in Daily Life
 
::*Life Review -- "chaining"
 
::*Camera Exercise
 
 
 
Additional Suggested Exercises for Happiness Practicum on Savoring:
 
 
 
1. Simple Savoring Exercise --  You and an orange. 
 
2. Complex Savoring Exercise -- Cooking dinner for a friend. 
 
 
 
===Gratitude===
 
 
 
Watkins, "Gratitude and Subjective Well-Being"
 
 
 
:*Focus on emotional benefits of expressing gratitude.
 
:*Distinguishes gratitude as a practice vs. trait.  Latter is habituated.
 
:*Researching the direction of causation -- p. 172ff: if it's possible to manipulate gratitude conditions and see a quasi-functional relationship on mood.  Seems to have been weakly confirmed.  Still possible to have bidirectional causation.
 
:*Series of studies on emotional benefits, p. 174ff -- "Participants in the grateful condition felt better about their lives as a whole and were more optimistic about the future than students in both of the other comparison conditions." 174.  Second study tested specific technique of downward comparison and compared it to control and "hassles" condition.
 
 
 
:*How does gratitude contribute to happiness?
 
::*1:  emotional boost from "gift" character of gratitude experiences.
 
::*2:  counteracting hedonic habituation
 
::*3:  focusing attention away from upward comparisons toward downward comparisons.
 
::*4:  coping  -- evidence from p. 178ff.
 
::*5:  increasing accessibility and recollection of pleasant life events -- note, this follows from memory bias studies (p. 179)
 
 
 
Emmons, "Gratitude, SWB, and the Brain"
 
 
 
:*Broad range of gratitude:  from specific feeling about a particular event or circumstance to a general attitude toward life. Life as a gift.
 
:*Definitions: pleasant feeling from received benefit.  "undeserved merit" From Fitzgerald (470):  appreciation, goodwill, disposition that follows from appreciation and goodwill.
 
:*Gratitude can be a "virtue" if understood as a cultivated disposition to recognize undeserved merit.
 
:*Gratitude response is stronger if the beneficiary intends the benefit.
 
 
 
:*Evolutionary Perspective
 
::*"as a cognitive—emotional supplement serving to sustain reciprocal obligations.  -Simmel (471)  "Thus, during exchange of benefits, gratitude  prompts one person (a beneficiary) to be bound to another (a benefactor) during "exchange of benefits, thereby reminding beneficiaries of their reciprocity obligations."
 
::*"Trivers viewed gratitude as an evolutionary adaptation that regulates people's responses to altruistic acts. Gratitude for altruistic acts is a reward for adherence to the universal norm of reciprocity and is a mediating mechanism that links the receipt of a favor to the giving of a return favor."  
 
 
 
:*Gratitude and SWB
 
::*Strong claim for long term effects of gratitude as a trait:  p. 476 -- participants show SWB boost 6 months later.
 
 
 
:*Gratitude and the Brain
 
::*Cognitive-affective neuroscience construct (What's happening to your brain when you experience gratitude?)
 
::*General hypothesis: we have structures for both perceiving gratitude in others and expressing it.
 
::*Specific hypothesis:  Limbic prefontal networks involved: "; (1) the fusiform face-processing areas near the temporal—occipital junctions, (2) the amygdala and Limbic emotional processing systems that support emotional states, and (3) interactions between these two subcortical centers with the prefrontal regions that control executive and evaluative processes." 483.   Like other prosocial emotions.
 
::Specific hypothesis tested with studies of gratitude and mood induction in Parkinson's Disease patients.
 
 
 
 
 
:*Psychological attitudes at odds with gratitude:  "' A number of personal burdens and external obstacles block grateful thoughts. A number of attitudes are incompatible with a grateful outlook on Hfe, including perceptions of victimhood, an in ability to admit one's shortcomings, a sense of entitlement, and an inability to admit that one is not self-sufficient. InIn a culture that celebrates self-aggrandizement and perceptions of deservingness, gratitude can be crowded out.
 

Revision as of 16:02, 4 September 2012

September 4, 2012

Haidt, Happiness Hypothesis, ch. 5

  • Major theme -- happiness as internal or external pursuit.
  • Buddha and Epictetus take a relatively "internal" path. Haidt suggests research shows this to be somewhat extreme -- there are things to strive for outside of yourself, happiness in the journey ("progress principle") "Things won are done; joy's soul lies in the doing."
  • Haidt's list of happiness makers and unmakers(correlates and major causes)
  • Adaptation, hedonic treadmill, set point theory, Bob and Mary comparison (87): relationship, meaningfulness. Bob's list more susceptible to adaptation.
  • Happiness Formula
  • H = Set point + Conditions + Voluntary action
  • understanding lack of adaptation for cosmetic surgery. what's shallow vs. what matters.
  • from 92f: Noise, Commuting, Lack of Control, Shame, Relationships,
  • "It is vain to say that human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquility: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it." (Charlotte Bronte, 1847)
  • Complicating factors
  • Flow and Seligman's strengths test www.authentichappiness.org
  • Comparisons and biases. Conspicuous consumption.
  • Schwartz maximizers and satisficers.

Schimmack, "The Structure of SWB"

  • Problem: How to explain independence of PA and NA?
  • Review basic diagram on p. 98.
  • bottom up vs. top down -- see conclusion at
  • problems of measurement -- "shared method variance"
  • more sophisticated model -- domain importance
  • Research Question: What could explain variance in LS besides DS?
  • Positive illusions
  • Money
  • "direct evidence" of bottom up theory -- if people are thinking of important domains while assessing LS, then. ... 107
  • Research Question on Structure of Affect: What explains independence of PA and NA? Are they really independent?
  • structural - imp. research by Diener, Smith, and Fujita (p. 109) verify independence, crit. Bradburn. ""The more items assess pure valence and focus on pervasive moods rather than emotional episodes, the more negative is the correlation between PA and NA."
  • causal - maybe neuroticism drives NA and extraversion drives PA? Note Conclusion.
  • momentary - 114: "PA and NA can be independent over extended time periods, even if they are fully dependent at each moment. "It. For example, even if love and hate were mutuallyexclusive at one moment in time, some individuals could experience more loveand more hate over extended periods of time than others (Bradbum, 1969;Schimmack & Diener, 1997).