Table of Contents
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Preface
Chapter 1 -What is Positive Psychology?
- Traditional Psychology
- Why the Negative Focus?
- Negatives Aspects Perceived as More Authentic & ‘Real”
- Negatives as More Important
- The Disease Model
-Positive Psychology
- Health Psychology
- Focus on Research: The Nun Study: Living Longer Through
Positive Emotions
- Clinical Psychology
- Developmental Psychology
- Survey Research and Subjective Well-Being
- Social/Personality Psychology and the Psychology of Religion
- Positive Psychology: Assumptions, Goals and Definitions
- Life Above Zero
- Culture and the Meaning of a Good Life
- Why Now?
-Two Final Notes
- Positive Psychology is Not Opposed to Psychology
- Positive Psychology and the Status Quo
Chapter 2 — The Meaning and Measure of Happiness
- Why a Psychology of Well-Being?
- Objective versus Subjective Measures
- Negative versus Positive Functioning
- What is Happiness? Two Traditions
- Hedonic Happiness
- Eudaimonic Happiness
- Focus on Research: Positive Affect and a Meaningful Life
- Subjective Well-Being: The Hedonic Basis of Happiness
- Measuring Subjective Well-Being
- Life Satisfaction
- Positive Affect and Negative Affect
- Focus on Research: Is Your Future Revealed in Your Smile?
- Issues in the Study of Affect
- Global Measures of Happiness
- Reliability and Validity of SWB Measures
- Experience Sampling Method
- Focus on Method: How Do We Spend Our Time? The Day
Reconstruction Method
- On-Line versus Global Measures of SWB
- Self-Realization: The Eudaimonic Basis of Happiness
-Psychological Well-Being and Positive Functioning
- Emotional Well-Being
- Psychological Well-Being
- Social Well-Being
- Need Fulfillment and Self-Determination Theory
- Focus on Research: What Makes a “Good” Day?
- Comparing Hedonic and Eudaimonic Views of Happiness
Chapter 3 - Positive Emotions and Well-Being
- What are Positive Emotions?
- Focus on Theory: The Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive
Emotions
- Positive Emotions and Health Resources
- Physical Resources
- Psychological Resources
- Positive Emotions and Coping with Stress
-Focus on application: Finding the Positive in the Negative
- Positive Traits and Health
- Social Resources
- The Limits of Positive Emotions
- Positive Emotions and Well-Being
- Happiness and Positive Behaviors
- Positive Emotions and Success
- Positive Emotions and Flourishing
- A General Theory of Positivity?
- Cultivating Positive Emotions
- Flow Experiences
- Savoring
Chapter 4 - Resilience
-What is Resilience?
- Developmental Perspectives
- Clinical Perspectives
- Resilience Research
- Sources of Resilience
- The Dangers of Blaming the Victim
- Sources of Resilience in Childhood
- Focus on Research: Resilience among Disadvantaged Youth
- Sources of Resilience in Adulthood and Later Life
- Successful Aging
- Growth Through Trauma
- Negative Effects of Trauma
- Positive Effects of Trauma
- Changes in Perception
- Changes in Relationships
- Changes in Life Priorities
- Explanations for Growth through Trauma
- Focus on Research: In their Own Words — Coping With Loss
Chapter 5 - Happiness and the Facts of Life
- Happiness Across the Life-Span
- Focus on Research: Happiness and Where we Live
- Stability in Well-Being Despite Life Changes
- Temperament and Subjective Well-Being
- Frequency, Intensity and Balance of Positive and
- Negative Emotions
- Measurement and Definitional Issues
-The Shifting Basis of Life Satisfaction
- Gender and Happiness
- Gender differences in Emotional Experience
- Negative Emotions
- Positive Moods and Behaviors
- Explaining the Paradox of Gender
- Marriage and Happiness
- Benefits of Marriage
- Selection Effects
- Focus on Research: Are We Still Happy After the
Honeymoon?
- Gender Differences in the Benefits of Marraige
- Other Facts of Life
- Physical and Mental Health
- Work and Unemployment
- Intelligence and Education
- Religion
- Race, Ethnicity and Stigma
Chapter 6 — Money, Happiness and Culture
- The Paradox of Affluence
- Well-Being Across Nations
- Between-Nations Comparisons
- Within-Nation Comparisons
- Interpreting National Differences
- Understanding Money and Happiness
- Focus on Research: Do Happy People Make More Money?
- Why Doesn’t Money Matter More?
- Genetics and Personality
- Adaptation and the Hedonic Treadmill
- Focus on Research: Lottery Winners and Accident Victims
- Rising Expectations and The “Tyranny of the Unnecessary”
- Social Comparisons
- Excessive Materialism
- The Meaning of Happiness: Universal or Relative?
- The Culture and Well-being
- The Self in Individualistic and Collectivist Cultures
- Culture and the Meaning of Happiness
- The American-Individualistic Style of Happiness
- The Asian-Collectivist Style of Happiness
- Cultural Ideals
- Moderation in Emotional Expression
- Group Pride and Sensitivity
- Self-Critical Attitudes
- False Humility or Social Sensitivity?
Chapter 7 - Personal Goals as Windows to Well
Being
- Goals Connect “Having” and “Doing”
- What are Personal Goals?
- Defining Personal Goals
- Goals and Related Motivational Concepts
- Measuring Personal Goals
- Goal Organization
- The Search for Universal Human Motives
- Goals and the Fulfillment of Basic Human Needs
- Focus on Research: An Empirical Method for Assessing Universal Needs
- Goals Expressing Fundamental Values
- Personal Goals Across Cultures
- Intrinsic versus Extrinsic Goals
- Physical versus Self-Transcendent Goals
- The Personalization of Goals in Self-Concept
- What Goals Contribute Most to Well-Being?
- Goal Progress, Achievement and Importance
-The Matching Hypothesis
- What Explains the Matching Hypothesis?
-Personal Goals and Self-Realization
- Intrinsic versus Extrinsic Goals
- Autonomous versus Controlled Motivation
- Focus on Research: Happiness and Success in College
- Materialism and Its Discontents
- Why are Materialists Unhappy?
- The Content of Materialistic Goals
-The What and Why of Materialistic Goals
- Compensation for Insecurity
- Why Do People Adopt Materialistic Values?
- Consumer Culture
- Psychological Insecurity
- Materialism and Death
- Affluence and Materialism
- Are We All Materialists?
Chapter 8 - Self-Regulation and Control
-The Value of Self-Control
- Personal Goals and Self-Regulation
- Self-Discrepancy Theory
- Control Theory
- Planning for Self-Regulation Success
- Focus on Research: Planning Makes a Difference
- Why Planning Helps
- Automatic Activation of Goal Behaviors
- Conserving Self-Control Resources
- Commitment and Confidence
- Goals That Create Self-Regulation Problems
- Approach versus Avoidance Goals
- Why Avoidance Goals are Difficult to Regulate
- Goal Conflict
-Trivial Pursuits and Magnificent Obsessions
-Focus on theory: Thinking About the Meaning of Our Actions
- Individual differences in Goal Level Identification
- Goal Difficulty
- Ironic Effects of Mental Control
-Mental Load and the Paradoxes of Control
- Everyday Explanations for Self-Control Failure
- Excuses
- What Makes a Good Excuse?
- Advantages of Excuses
- Disadvantages of Excuses
- Irresistible Impulses
- Beliefs About Control
- Activation of Impulsive and Reflective Control Systems
- Individual Differences in Self-Control
- Resisting Temptations
- Focus on Research: The Costs and Benefits of Procrastination
- Giving Up
Chapter 9 — Positive Traits
- What Makes a Trait Positive?
- Personality, Emotions and Biology
- Positive and Negative Affectivity
- Genetics and Temperament
- Personality and Happiness: “The Big Five”
-Teasing Out Cause and Effect
- Personality and Eudaimonic Well-Being
- Neurobiology and Approach/Avoidance Motives
- Genetics and Change
- Positive Beliefs
-The World Through Happy and Unhappy Eyes
- Self Esteem
- Self-Esteem and Happiness
- Is Self-Esteem All You Need?
- Self-Esteem’s Darker Side
- Personal Control
- Optimism
- Optimism as a Disposition
- Optimism as Explanatory Style
- How Optimism Works
- Varieties of Optimism and Pessimism
- Focus on Research and Theory: Unresolved Issues in the Study of Optimism
- Positive Illusions
Chapter 10 — Virtue and Strengths of Character
- Developing a Classification of Human Virtues
- Virtues and Character Strengths
- Measuring Strengths of Character
- Wisdom as a Foundational Strength and Virtue
- What is Wisdom?
- Theories of Wisdom
- Balance Theory
- Wisdom as Expert Knowledge in the Conduct of Life
- Wisdom in Action: The SOC Model of Effective Life Management
-Focus on Theory: Wisdom or Self-control as Master
Virtues?
-Transcendence: Religion and Spirituality
- The Search for Meaning
- Religion and Spirituality: The Diversity of Views
- Defining Religion and Spirituality
- Religion/Spirituality and Well-Being
- Religious Orientation
- Intrinsic and Extrinsic Religious Orientation
- Quest Religious Orientation
- Attachment Theory and Relationship to God
- Styles of Religious Coping
- Explaining Religion versus Explaining Religion Away
-Religion and Virtue
- Forgiveness
- Gratitude
- Focus on Research: Increasing Well-Being by Counting Your Blessings
Chapter 11 — Close Relationships and Well-Being
- Defining Close Relationships
- Characteristics
- Exchange and Communal Relationships
- On the Lighter Side
- Humor and Teasing
- Focus on Research: Sharing What Goes Right in Life
- Friendship and Romantic Love
- Varieties of Love
- Passionate versus Companionate Love
- Triangular Theory of Love
- Cultural Context of Love, Marriage and Divorce
- Why Don’t Marriages Last?
- Increased Freedom and Decreased Constraints
- Getting Married and Staying Married: Is Love the Answer?
- Realism or Idealism?
- Satisfaction and Conflict
- What People Bring to Romantic Relationships
- Attachment Styles
- Conflict and Communication
- Focus on Research: The Power of the “Bad”
- Attributions
- Implicit Theories & Expectations
- Food for Thought: Contours of a Happy Marriage
- What Can Happy Couples Tell Us?
- Humor and Compatibility
Chapter 12 — Life Above Zero
- Positive Psychology Revisited
- Interconnection of the “Good” and the “ Bad”
- Contours of a Positive Life: Meaning and Means
- Meaning
- Pleasant Life
- Engaged Life
- Meaningful Life
- Means
- Intentional Activities and Goals
- Developing and Expressing Virtue
- Using Positive Psychology to Treat Depression
- Increasing Psychological well-being
- “Minding” Close Relationships
- Mindfulness and Well-Being
- What is Mindfulness?
- Mindfulness as an Antidote for Mindlessness
- Mindfulness as Present Centered Attention &Awareness
-Focus on Research: Getting to Life’s bottom Line
- Mindfulness Meditation
- Attributes of Mindful Awareness
- Mindfulness and Positive Psychology Research
- Mindfulness and Psychotherapy
- East-West and Positive Psychology
