Thriving is...

Perseverance

Optimism is...

Always believing that something wonderful is about to happen.

Optimistic explanatory style

Explanatory style is a psychological attribute that indicates how people explain to themselves why they experience a particular event - either positive or negative.

Researchers have identified three components that make up an explanatory style:

When a person encounters a negative event do they
(1) explain where the cause of the event arises - internally or externally? That is have they internalised the cause of the event or see the cause as being outside of themselves
(2)see the extent of the event as stable or unstable? That is, is the situation seen as unchangeable or something that will change in the near future?
(3) see the extent of the event affecting their lives globally or locally/specifically. That is "I can't do anything right" as opposed to "my co-worker doesn't like what I do but I have many other friends and co-workers who appreciate me".

A pessimistic explanatory style is said to be adopted by people who generally tend to blame themselves for negative events, believe that such events will continue indefinitely and let such events affect many aspects of their lives.

On the flip side, people who generally tend to blame others for negative events,  believe that such events will end soon, and do not let such events affect too many aspects of their lives display what is called an optimistic explanatory style.

A person does not necessarily show a uniform explanatory style in all aspects of their life, but may be more pessimistic or optimistic responding to different types of events.

Importantly, there is evidence that an optimistic explanatory style can be taught and adopted when it is low or absent. Watch this space for more research and interventions in this area.

Thriving is....

Overcoming procrastination. Or as Richard Branson summed it up "Screw it. Just get on and do it".

'Dare. Dream. Do' Part One

A book review - 'Dare. Dream. Do'. by Whitney Johnson.

I love books. I always have. Ever since I read my first Enid Blyton book.

My tastes have changed since then. Once my cherubs came along my concentration span has become shorter at night.  I only seem to get one chapter read (max) before I fall asleep.

Yesterday I took the cherubs to the library and on the front display shelf was 'Dare. Dream. Do'.

Traditionally I have devoured 'self-help' classics like an ice-cream on a hot day. But lately my desire to read them has become jaded. For some reason however I decided to give it one more try and quickly checked-out Whitney's new book.

Admittedly I am only a few chapters in, which seems a little early to write a review, BUT I have  picked up on a really strong idea that I have never thought of before.

You need to develop your own voice.

I think this is especially easy for men to do. And sometimes especially hard for women to do.

Having a voice, to me, means expressing your honest and open view about something. To know where you stand, and to voice that stance. To learn, listen and really take the time to think about your response, your view, and how it really effects you. To not put others' views before yours, or adopt something because you are too busy looking after everyone else to take the time to think about it for yourself, to sense deep-down how right it feels for you.

Thanks Whitney, you have really given me something to think about.

Quick find from the research files...

Did you know....

Among youth, the use of signature strengths in novel ways along with personally meaningful goal-setting led to increases in student engagement and hope.

Madden, W., Green, S., & Grant, A. M. (2011). A pilot study evaluating strengths-based coaching for primary school students: Enhancing engagement and hope. International Coaching Psychology Review, 6(1), 71-83.
And thanks to: http://viapros.org/www/en-us/signaturestrengths.aspx

And we're back....

Yes there has been a few drinks between posts (well not entirely literally) but this has been due to (yes here comes the excuse..) my allocation of time to my studies. I am currently in my final undergraduate year and time really has flown...

But now back to my beloved blog.

The positive psychology movement is rapidly progressing (thank goodness) and I am amazed at the  changes in the field that have taken place in just one year.

One of the key components of this science is studying the components and correlates of wellbeing. To date, there are five well examined interventions that can be used to enhance wellbeing. These are taken from an article written by Dr Dianne A Vella-Brodrick MAPS taken from the InPsych magazine.

1. Three good things - before going to bed, write about three good things that happened that day and explain why you think these good things occurred.
2. Identify and use character strengths - visit viacharacter.org to complete the strengths survey, and then use one of your strengths in a new way, every day for a week
3. Savouring through capitalising - share a positive experience of yours with someone else. In doing so, provide specific detail about the event and how you felt with the aim of generating and re-living that positive experience
4. Best possible self - visualise and write down what it would be like in the future once all your dreams and goals are fulfilled
5. Counting acts of kindness - note how many times you have observed others being kind to you or others

Now, before you think to dismiss these interventions as a bit "Pollyanna", all have been backed by rigorous scientific exploration. Something to remember in the chance that you find yourself drawn to one to start practicing.

Personally, I use the character strength intervention on an (almost) daily basis and I have found it to be useful in gaining perspective on myself and increasing my resilience in particularly challenging times....

So what about you? Have you tried any of the above interventions? If so, have they worked? If not, what do you think about them? Please leave your comments below..

Mothers and happiness!

Today, another video from Marcus Buckingham. Marcus Buckingham is a British-American New York Times bestselling author, researcher, motivational speaker and business consultant best known for promoting what he calls "Strengths." Basing most of his writing on extensive survey data from interviews with workers in countries around the world, he promotes the idea that people will get the best results by making the most of their strengths rather than by putting too much emphasis on weaknesses or perceived deficiencies.


In this clip Marcus is on the Joy Behar show, and my favourite quote of the segment is when Joy describes his new book as "how Mothers can be happy without Prozac".

Enjoy and make sure you take some time today to "catch and cradle".  Thanks Marcus.

What do strengths have to do with it? Part Two

What do strengths have to do with it? Part One

Here is a great video from Marcus Buckingham about how strengths can facilitate wellbeing in your career and personal life. It is a little long but I highly recommend you taking the time to view it if you are intrigued by the notion of YOUR strengths.

Quote of the day....

Thought of the day.....

Thought of the day....

From dailypositivequotes.com

Quote of the day...

Whether you think you can or think you can't - you're right - Henry Ford

Coaching Psychology

The area of coaching psychology is of personal interest, but I have always struggled with understanding how a qualified coaching psychologist differs from a "life coach".

The following link from the Australian Psychological Society (APS) helps to clarify this....

Coaching Psychology: How did we get here?

Book of the week....

My book of the week is Wellbeing by Tom Rath and Jim Harter and published by Gallup Press (first published 2010).

 

 

Gallup scientists have been studying the life well-lived for over fifty years, across more than 150 countries and have asked questions relating to  health, wealth, relationships, jobs and communities providing a snapshot  of more than 98% of the world's population.

 

Upon completion of their research, five distinct statistical factors emerged making up the universal pillars of wellbeing. Rath and Harter believe that "these elements are the currency of the life that matters" and are essential to most people (1).

 

The first element is Career Wellbeing, or how you occupy your time or like what you do every day.

 

The second element is Social Wellbeing, or having strong relationships and love in your life.

 

The third element is Financial Wellbeing, or how effectively you manage your economic life.

 

The fourth element is Physical Wellbeing, or your level of good health and enough energy to get things done on a daily basis.

 

The fifth and final element is Community Wellbeing, or the sense of engagement you have with the area you live in.

 

Gallup ascertained that only 7% of their sample were thriving  in all five, with 66% doing well in at least one of these areas. Rath and Harter suggest that we're not getting the most out of life unless we are living effectively in all of the five above areas.They also continue with suggestions on how to improve your wellbeing within the five areas, recommendations that are based on real-life actions taken by the highest scorers of wellbeing within their sample. For example, to increase career wellbeing, focus on using your strengths daily, buy experiences rather than 'things' to increase financial wellbeing and opt in to community groups or events to boost your community wellbeing.

 

This book makes an interesting read for anyone who is curious about boosting their wellbeing. It also includes a technical report section for the psychology buffs who want to view their research methods and metric components.

 

Personally, I loved this book and I will be blogging about specific areas of this wellbeing theory soon. But for today I wanted to leave you with a question. What particular area of wellbeing are you thriving in?

 

Have a great day!

Nina

 

References:

(1) Rath, T and Harter, J. (2010). Wellbeing. The Five Essential Elements. Gallup Press, New York.

A thought on thinking.....

Habits of thinking need not be forever. One of the most significant findings in psychology in the last twenty years is that individuals can choose the way they think.

~ Martin Seligman Quotes from Learned Optimism

Post #2. What is Positive Psychology?

Here is a great little clip that helps to explain Positive Psychology in a nutshell.

Post #1. Happy 2013!

"If you are reluctant to do something, force yourself to do it. It will be less difficult next time....."

Welcome to my new blog! This is a place where I will write about my passion - human behaviour. It is not blog where I give advice, but more of a place to hone my writing skills and write about areas of psychology that I personally find fascinating. I would love to hear your thoughts too so please join in the discussion in the comments section below...

2013 is officially underway and at this time of year there is much said about resolutions. My personal resolution, or I like to refer to them more as goals, is to develop this blog. So tick to that. My next goal is to actually write and post daily, mmmmm not sure how I'll go with that but here goes....

One thing that did spring to mind when I thought about goals is self-efficacy, a well-researched and prominent part of psychology, particularly within the school of personality psychology.

According to the Oxford Dictionary of Psychology (2009) self-efficacy is defined as "the ability to achieve desired results" and is a concept that became popular during the 1980's and 90's thanks to Bandura's cognitive social-learning theory.

Bandura defined self-efficacy as the 'belief that one can perform adequately in a particular situation" and demonstrated that  "your sense of self-efficacy influences your perceptions, motivation and performance in many ways" (1).

Essentially, high perceived self-efficacy means you take chances and you expect to be effective at what you do - and if the going gets tough, self-efficacy is the belief you have what it takes and makes you persist until the task is complete. So all-in-all, it appears high levels of perceived self-efficacy will more than likely contribute to keeping new year's resolutions on the straight and narrow.

So how does self-efficacy come about and how do you maintain it?

Bandura suggests that beyond actual accomplishments, there are three ways individuals make self-efficacy judgements:
- vicariously ie by watching other people perform
- by persuasion ie other people may convince you of your ability or you may convince yourself
- by tuning into your emotional responses ie anxiety may suggest low levels of self-efficacy  and excitement may suggest an expectation of success. (2)

Self-efficacy judgements based on these three areas influence how much effort you put into something and your resilience when faced with overcoming obstacles standing between you and your goals. In addition, Bandura also acknowledged that environment impacts on judgements - if you perceive your environment as supportive your expectation of success will be greater as will your perseverance.

So, what do the experts say?

Rresearch suggests that Bandura was 'on the money' so to speak, with self-efficacy being shown to increase both motivation and performance. Evidently increasing efficacy expectations is a useful approach (3).

And how do you do it?

Bandura himself had a simple method to increasing efficacy - a method that was later adopted by an advertising firm. "Just do it". If you are reluctant to do something (ie you are struggling with low self-efficacy), force yourself to do it. It will be less daunting and hard next time! (4).

So here's to a long, well-written, and successful blog. Maybe!!

Nina.

References:

 (1) and (2): Gerrig, Zimbardo, Campbell, Cumming and Wilkes (2009). Psychology and Life. Pearson Education Australia.

(3) and (4): Funder, D.C. The Personality Puzzle, 5th Ed (2010). W.W. Norton and Company.