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Development of Talent and Motivation
1. An Introduction to Positive Psychology .................................................................................. 3
Dimensions of Positive Psychology ..................................................................................................... 3
Basic Themes of Positive Psychology .................................................................................................. 3
A Short History of Well-Being in the Western World .......................................................................... 5
2. Foundations: Emotion, Motivation, And the Nature of Well-Being ......................................... 7
Basic Emotions .................................................................................................................................... 7
Components of Emotions .................................................................................................................... 8
Moods and Well-Being ...................................................................................................................... 12
Positive Psychology and Motivation ................................................................................................. 12
Well-Being and Positive Emotion ...................................................................................................... 15
Research Models of Happiness and Well-Being ................................................................................ 17
3. Subjective Well-Being ......................................................................................................... 20
Measurement of Subjective Well-Being............................................................................................ 20
Top-Down Predictors of Subjective Well-Being ................................................................................ 21
Bottom-Up Predictors of Subjective Well-Being ............................................................................... 25
Increasing Happiness and Life Satisfaction ....................................................................................... 27
Can You Be Too Happy? .................................................................................................................... 32
4. Leisure, Flow, Mindfulness, and Peak Performance .............................................................. 33
Leisure ............................................................................................................................................... 33
Flow and Optimal Experience............................................................................................................ 34
Mindfulness ....................................................................................................................................... 37
Savoring ............................................................................................................................................. 39
Peak Performance ............................................................................................................................. 40
5. Romantic Love and Positive Families ................................................................................... 41
Genes, Hormones, and Marriage ...................................................................................................... 41
The Varieties of Love ......................................................................................................................... 42
Finding Romance and Love................................................................................................................ 45
Relationship Satisfaction: What Makes Them Feel Good? ............................................................... 45
Relationship Stability: What Makes it Last? ...................................................................................... 47
Minding Relationships ....................................................................................................................... 48
Predictors of Breakup ........................................................................................................................ 51
Positive Families ................................................................................................................................ 51
What Hurts Relationships? ................................................................................................................ 53
How to Nurture Positive Relationships that Last .............................................................................. 54
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6. Excellence, Aesthetics, Creativity, and Genius ...................................................................... 55
Pursuit of Excellence ......................................................................................................................... 55
Aesthetics and the Good Life ............................................................................................................ 56
Creativity ........................................................................................................................................... 58
Genius ................................................................................................................................................ 61
7. Positive Health.................................................................................................................... 61
Wellness ............................................................................................................................................ 61
Positive Health................................................................................................................................... 61
Hardiness and Mindfulness Meditation ............................................................................................ 66
Positive Aging .................................................................................................................................... 67
Positive Coping .................................................................................................................................. 68
8. Well-Being Across the Life Span ........................................................................................... 69
Well-Being Over the Life Span ........................................................................................................... 70
Adjusting to Difficult Life Events ....................................................................................................... 75
9. Models of Optimal Well-Being ............................................................................................. 80
Wisdom ............................................................................................................................................. 80
Early Psychodynamic Ideas on Optimal Personality.......................................................................... 83
Existentialism and Authenticity ......................................................................................................... 84
Humanistic Perspectives ................................................................................................................... 87
Purpose in Life, the Quiet Ego, and Personal Growth ....................................................................... 91
The Optimal Personality: Common Themes...................................................................................... 92
10. Successful Aging.................................................................................................................. 93
Successful Aging and Theoretical Assumptions ................................................................................ 94
Longevity ........................................................................................................................................... 98
11. Positive Institutions and Cultural Well-Being ....................................................................... 99
Positive Institutions ........................................................................................................................... 99
Employee Engagement and Job Satisfaction..................................................................................... 99
Careers That Use Positive Psychology ............................................................................................. 104
Positive Communities ...................................................................................................................... 107
Cross-Cultural Subjective Well-Being .............................................................................................. 109
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1. An Introduction to Positive Psychology
In 1998, Seligman created the discipline positive psychology, which focuses the positive, adaptive,
creative, and emotionally fulfilling elements of human behavior. Positive psychology studies what
enables individuals and communities to thrive.
Dimensions of Positive Psychology
Positive psychology is the scientific study of positive human functioning and flourishing at a number
of levels, such as the biological, personal, relational, institutional, cultural, and global dimensions of
life. It focuses on three general areas of human experience:
1. Positive subjective states (= positive emotions)
2. Positive individual traits (= positive behavioral patterns)
3. Positive institutions (= group/ societal level)
Basic Themes of Positive Psychology
The Good Life
Positive psychology is concerned with the elements and predictors of the good life. The good refers
to the factors that contribute most to a well-lived and fulfilling life. Seligman defines the good life as
“using your signature strengths every day to produce authentic happiness and abundant
gratification”.
In positive psychology, the good life is seen as a combination of three elements:
1. Positive connections to others
2. Positive individual traits
3. Life regulation qualities
Positive Emotions Are Important
The study of positive emotions can help to fight social and psychological problems, that are central to
much past and current research – such as substance abuse or depression. The presence of
psychological strengths can help people recover from psychological problems and low positive well-
being can enable the development of psychological disorders later on. Furthermore, positive
therapies can be successful in treating these disorders.
Positive emotions and adaptive behavior also have an important influence on various positive
outcomes in life: People who experience more positive emotions tend to have greater success,
including areas such as life-satisfaction, relationship-satisfaction and job success. Additionally,
positive emotions are associated with successful striving for goals and with physical health.
People Can Flourish and Thrive
Contrary to previous psychological theories, positive psychology acknowledges that many people
adapt and adjust to life in highly creative ways that allow them to feel good about life. These
achievements should be celebrated rather than explained as nothing but biological urges.
Keyes and Lopez created the following classification system:
Low well-being High well-being
Low mental illness Languishing Flourishing
High mental illness Floundering Struggling
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Furthermore, they suggest that complete mental health is a
combination of high emotional well-being (= happy,
satisfied), high psychological well-being (= feelings of
competence, autonomy, self-acceptance and personal
growth; having a purpose in life), and high social well-being
(= positive attitudes toward others, part of community),
along with low mental illness. The complete model thus
consists of 12 classifications of well-being.
People Need Positive Social Relationships
People exist in social contexts and well-being is not just an
individual pursuit. Positive psychology embraces ideas about
positive social environments, such as social well-being and empowerment.
Even though the search for happiness appears to be a universal quest, there are various ideas across
the world about the specific nature of happiness. One distinction is that between cultures that view
happiness as an emotion that is achieved by individuals through their own efforts or whether it is a
more collective experience.
Strengths and Virtues Are Important
Any discussion of what constitutes the good life must inevitably include virtues, values, and character
development. But positive psychologists do not advocate certain virtues and values because science
cannot address what values a person must believe in or practice in their life. However, positive
psychology can investigate the consequences of living a life based on these values.
Compassion and Empathy Are Important
A distinct trend in much psychological research was toward a fairly negative view of why people
behave the way they do: Even positive behaviors, such as altruism, were viewed as essentially the
result of self-centered motives.
However, a newer perspective holds that the need to cooperate and the desire to help others may be
biologically based and innate. A greater capacity for empathy has been found to be associated with
higher life satisfaction and more positive relationships.
Independence of Positive and Negative Emotions
Positive and negative emotions are relatively independent. For example, they can have distinct
causes and even occur at the same time. Interventions to influence one type of emotionality may
thus have no effect or even an opposing impact on the other type of emotionality. Only to eliminate
one’s negative feelings does not automatically bestow human strengths, virtues, and the capacity to
thrive and flourish. Keyes’ two continua model recognizes that the predictors of mental health and
illness are often unique and somewhat independent.
The dynamic model of affect (DMA) proposes that the independence of positive and negative
emotions depends on the situation. Under normal circumstances, they are independent. But when
people are under stress or uncertainty, positive and negative emotions fuse and become dependent.
Negative Emotions Are Still Important
Positive psychologists only want to expand topics to include aspects of human flourishing. After all,
negative emotions can be necessary for survival and allow for self-understanding and personal
growth. Happiness may be necessary to the good life but not sufficient.
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A Short History of Well-Being in the Western World
Hedonism
Hedonism (Ancient Greece) is the belief that the pursuit of well-being is fundamentally the pursuit of
individual sensual pleasures and the avoidance of harm, pain, and suffering. It focuses on pleasure as
the basic component of the good life.
But nearly everyone realizes that sensual pleasures are short-lived and require a constant struggle to
be sustained. The simple proposition that we behave in order to increase physiological pleasure and
avoid physiological pain is violated frequently, so that it cannot serve as the ultimate basis for
psychological well-being.
The Early Hebrews
The religion and culture of the ancient Hebrews represents one of three pillars that have sustained
Western civilization, along with Greek civilization and Christianity. The Hebrews followed God’s rules,
which included prohibitions against self-centeredness, greed, and irrational anger.
According to this divine command theory of happiness, happiness can be found by living in accord
with the commands or rules set down by a Supreme Being.
The Greeks
Greek culture set the stage for developments in philosophy, science, art, and psychology. The
fundamental idea that the good life could be discerned through logic and rational analysis originated
in Ancient Greece. The general answer to the happiness question was that human beings could
decide for themselves which paths most reliably lead to well-being.
Aristotle believed in a golden mean that exists between the extremes of life: This state of balance
leads to a life lived in accordance with the principle of eudaimonia. Eudamonia is a condition of
meaning and self-realization, flourishing and completeness, as well as of enduring joy. His virtue
theory of happiness holds that the cultivation and development of certain virtues (which lie in the
golden mean) lead a person toward the greatest well-being.
Christianity
In Christianity, the way to find true happiness is believed to be found in the message and life of Jesus,
which is one of love and compassion. Conceptions of the good life were based on the religious
perspective of the time that true happiness was delayed until after death and the resurrection into
heaven.
The pleasures of the flesh and the spirit were seen as separate. The seven deadly sins were a list of
basic evils that destroy character and can lead to other sins: Anger, envy, greed, intemperance, lust,
pride, and sloth. This list condemns behaviors of self-indulgent hedonism and narcissism.
Additionally, there are the four cardinal virtues (fortitude, justice, prudence, and temperance) and
the three theological virtues (faith, hope, and charity).
The Renaissance to the Age of Enlightenment
During the Renaissance, there was an intellectual shift away from the Church dogma toward
humanism. Two notions contributed to this transformation: The idea that artists possess a special gift
and the rise of individualism. This had a big impact on the understanding of happiness.
The new scientific worldview that followed was based on two general ideas: (1) Rational persons can
decide for themselves what is true and of ultimate value, based on empiricism, and (2) that the
universe as a whole is one vast machine and that all its parts and processes are governed by laws of
mechanical causation (= mechanism).
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18th and 19th-century social reformers believed that the basic needs of people to seek pleasure and
avoid pain could be used to create a more stable and enlightened society. If you want to know
whether a certain behavior is right, then you have to show that it leads to the enhancement of
happiness for the greatest number of people – a doctrine known as utilitarianism.
Bentham invented the principle of the hedonic calculus, a way of quantifying happiness by examining
the ratio of positive and negative life experiences, where all positive experiences have the same
value. But Mill believed that there are crucial differences among pleasures in terms of their quality.
With the rise of democracy, the pursuit of happiness became a right as well as a personal choice.
Democracy was joined with utilitarianism to create a new system of government that, theoretically,
would result in the greatest happiness for the greatest number.
Romanticism and the 19th Century
In the 19th century, the period of Romanticism, the ability to feel emotions intensely was considered
important to living a full and significant life. The focus on personal emotional expression combined
with the idea that social environments could stifle individualism lead to the notion that a “true self”
exists beneath the social masks that people wear.
Another consequence of rising individualism was the idea that marriage should be based on affection
and emotional bonds between two people. Entering a marriage like that requires choice and a
certain degree of personal autonomy. This shows the movement toward romantic love being
regarded as essential for attaining true happiness.
The 20th Century
Willian James was interested in how to awaken human potential and believed that spiritual and
mystical experiences provide important clues to the heights of human personality. This influenced
Maslow and the founding of humanistic psychology.
Freud and his followers added another perspective to the search for well-being: It may be either
aided or hindered by unconscious forces such as defense mechanisms. Early attempts to heal mental
illness also led to the development of perspectives on optimal mental health.
Adler’s individual psychology says that traits such as compassion, friendliness, nurturance, and
altruism are innate in every child but are invariably affected by social support and discouragement.
One of his goals was to foster positive social skills in classroom and home environments. Jung’s
analytic psychology emphasized our capacity for personality growth in later life. He regarded the
healthy personality as one that integrates the different components of the self.
The mental hygiene movement focused on the promotion of mental health, as opposed to the curing
of mental illness.
The humanistic school of psychology has already focused on many of the same goals as positive
psychology. Even today humanistic psychologists study what is healthy, adaptive, and creative and
address the full range of human potential.
In positive psychology, however, there is a greater emphasis on investigations and traditional
empirical research. Humanistic researchers tend to be more comfortable with studies not based on
statistical analyses, such as case studies or introspective phenomenological analyses.
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2. Foundations: Emotion, Motivation, And the Nature of
Well-Being
Basic Emotions
Basic emotions are the innate emotions that provide the foundation for all other emotions. For
example, Paul Ekman identified seven basic emotions: Sadness, fear, anger, disgust, contempt,
surprise and happiness. Some contemporary researchers question the number of basic emotions and
the universality of emotional expression. However, all researchers seem to agree that happiness may
be basic emotion.
The basic emotions can also be combined in many ways to create more subtle variations in emotional
experience. This would indicate, however, that the total elimination of negative emotions from our
life would have the unintended consequence of eliminating the variety and subtlety of our emotional
experiences.
Research has indicated that positive and negative emotions are relatively independent: How often a
person feels positive emotions may have little to do with how often that person feels negative
emotions. Even though some evidence suggests that increases in positive affect are associated with
decreases in negative affect, growing research shows they do not necessarily co-occur. Some
research even suggests that this might be an individual difference: For some people, positive and
negative affect are relatively independent, for others less so. It seems that experiencing the two
independently from each other is good for your well-being. Additionally, positive emotions can buffe
the effects of negative emotions – so they should be studied separately.
According to the circumplex model of emotions, emotions can be differentiated on the basis of two
dimensions: Valence (i.e., positive/ negative) and arousal (i.e., low/ high).
Core affect is an elemental and primitive emotional reaction that is consistently experienced but
often not consciously acknowledged. It comprises our unique blend of the pleasant/ unpleasant and
the activated/deactivated dimensions that we carry with us. Variations in core affect among persons
can lead to identical situations being evaluated differently.
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Components of Emotions
Biology of Emotions
The left prefrontal cortex of the brain is more
activated when we are happy and has been
associated with greater ability to recover from
negative emotions and to suppress negative
emotions. Furthermore, people who score higher on
measures of happiness and life satisfaction show
more gray matter in the precuneus of the medial
parietal lobe.
The brain has a system for reward and pleasure, in
which craving is related to dopamine and pleasure
to regions of the brain that are associated with the neural pathways of craving.
Increased levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine have been implicated in the feelings of desire and
happiness. Endorphins act like the brain’s natural opiate system and increase pleasure and decrease
pain. Oxytocin is associated with social bonding, trust, and emotional support within couples and
during breastfeeding. Recent work suggests that the brain makes its own version of THC, to which
the “bliss molecule” anandamide, which produces a calming effect, is related.
As we learn new skills, develop new capacities or practice old ones, existing neural connections are
strengthened and new ones are created – this phenomenon is known as neuroplasticity. Studies
have found that the gray matter of the brain may slightly increase in size as a result of learning music
and practicing meditation.
Lykken and Tellegen suggested that up to 80% of a long-term sense of well-being is due to heredity.
Specifically, 40% of the variability among people in positive emotionality, 55% of the variability in
negative emotionality, and 48% of the variability in overall well-being stem from genetics. Shared
family environment or learning
account for only 22% of positive
emotionality and 2% of negative
emotionality. Thus, genetics largely
determine our base emotional
responsiveness to the world.
Related to this, the measure of a
happiness set point was proposed:
Hereditability indicates that most
people have an average level of
happiness after temporary highs
and lows in emotionality. This set
point is set by genetics. But recent
research has called the existence of
an unchanging set point for well-
being into question. Research even
indicates that the set point and life
satisfaction can change over time.
Scientific evidence for a genetic contribution to long-term well-being does not state that it is
completely determined by genetic inheritance. Furthermore, these conclusions are often based on
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group averages that do not reflect individual variations over time. Lastly, the studies do not specify
how people uniquely define their own happiness or life satisfaction.
We can influence our level of well-being by creating environments that are more conducive to
feelings of happiness and by working with our genetic makeup. Genes affect the mind indirectly, by
influencing the kinds of experiences people have and which environments they seek out. Within wide
limits, one can choose another direction. Because interventions to increase well-being can be
successful, genes do not completely determine happiness. In a recent meta-analysis, it was found
that the average heritability of life satisfaction was 32% and of well-being 36%.
Certain life goals are as associated with life satisfaction. Specifically, non-zero-sum goals (goals
consisting of commitment to family and friends, social or political and involvement, altruism) – in
contrast to zero-sum goals, which only benefit a single individual – promote life satisfaction.
The personality trait highly sensitive person (HSP) is an example of how genetics and well-being are
related. The HSP exhibits a greater depth of cognitive processing (D), is easily overstimulated (O), is
emotionally reactive and empathic (E), and is sensitive to subtle stimuli (S). The strength of the HSP is
genetically determined, with a prevalence of 20%.
If having the HSP trait is advantageous depends on the several environmental factors, such as the
home environment and culture in which the person grows up. The fact that genes can express
themselves differently in different environments is called differential susceptibility.
Cognition: How We Think Impacts How We Feel
Our thoughts determine our emotional state. According to the notion of learned optimism
(Seligman), people can unlearn negative styles of thinking and learn how to interpret events with
more realistic optimism. A more complex yet positive interpretation of events can help create a
sense of meaning and purpose in life.
Our thinking can also impact our well-being through our perspective on time. Zimbardo and Boys
created a system of five approaches to time. The Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI) is used
to measure these time perspectives, while the Transcendental-Future Time Perspective Inventory
(TFTPI) measures attitude surrounding life after death related to the additional sixth time
perspective.
Time perspective Description Well-being
Past-negative type One tends to focus on negative
past experiences that are still
upsetting.
Past-positive type One adopts a pleasant, nostalgic
view of the past
Present-hedonistic type One is dominated by pleasure- Finds satisfaction in
seeking impulses enjoying current pleasures
Present-fatalistic type One feels powerless to change but is less inclined to work
the present or future hard toward goals.
Future-oriented type One is ambitious but feels a Can better delay
nagging sense of urgency that gratification and work
can impact close relationships toward long-term goals.
(Transcendental-future type One focuses on how present life
will impact life after death)
A balanced time perspective may be the most advantageous for well-being: We should learn from
the past but maintain the ability to look toward goals. Additionally, we should be able to delay
gratification in order to reach goals while simultaneously giving ourselves time to have fun and enjoy
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present pleasures.
It was also found that imagining time as a scare quantity leads people to experience increased well-
being. Overall, a change in our perception of time may have a dramatic impact on how we think
about the nature of happiness.
Behavior: How We Act Influences How We Feel
Your behavior can provide a major influence on your emotions. One of the more significant
contributions of positive psychology is its focus on positive behaviors, which are viewed in terms of
strengths, virtues, and character.
How we conduct ourselves as members of a society is referred to as our character. The development
of character is essential because how we treat each other is the foundation of ethics, morality, civil
society, and well-being.
Virtues are acquired excellences in character traits, which contribute to a person’s completeness or
wholeness. They represent ideal states that facilitate adaptation to life and thus help a person to
grow psychologically toward optimal character development. Sandage and Hill argue that virtues (1)
integrate ethics and health, (2) are embodied traits of character, (3) are sources of human strengths
and resilience, (4) are embedded within a cultural context and community, (5) contribute to a sense
of meaningful life purpose, and (6) are grounded in the cognitive capacity for wisdom. Virtues and
core values usually produce effects through automatic cognition.
Strengths are unique positive qualities that we have and that we bring to our encounters with others
and ourselves. It was found that focusing on your strengths is more important than fixing your
weaknesses – for example, organizations work better when people are allowed to develop their
strengths.
Virtues and strengths can be cultivated and are morally valued across time and culture – they are
ends, not just means to other things. Additionally, they should not just be considered the opposite or
the lack of a negative trait.
Peterson and Seligman developed the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths, a classification
system and assessment tool for strengths and virtues, which consists of 24 strengths that define six
core virtues:
Wisdom and Knowledge Curiosity, interest in the world
Love of learning, knowledge, open-mindedness
Creativity, novel solutions
Perspective: provide wise counsel
Courage Authenticity, honesty, integrity
Bravery
Perseverance: finishing what one starts
Zest: excitement, energy
Humanity Kindness, generosity
Love: capacity to love, be loved
Social intelligence: aware of motives and
feelings of others
Justice Teamwork: working well as member of a group
Fairness
Leadership
Temperance Forgiveness
Prudence, caution, discretion
Modesty
Self-regulation
