Detailed Contents

Preface xxi Remembering C. R. Snyder’s Legacy of Hope xxiv Acknowledgments xxvi

PART I. LOOKING AT PSYCHOLOGY FROM A POSITIVE PERSPECTIVE 1 1. Welcome to 3 Building Human Strength: Psychology’s Forgotten Mission 4 Martin E. P. Seligman Going From the Negative to the Positive 6 A Positive Newspaper Story 6 Reactions to This Positive Story 7 Positive Psychology Seeks a Balanced, More Complete View of Human Functioning 8 Views of Reality That Include Both the Positive and the Negative 9 Where We Are Now and What We Will Ask 10 Personal Mini-Experiments: What You Want to Experience 11 A Guide to This Book 12 Personal Mini-Experiments 13 Life Enhancement Strategies 14 The Big Picture 14 Appendix: Movies for Review 15 Key Terms 18 2. Eastern and Western Perspectives on Positive Psychology 19 Contributions From Phil McKnight Included A Matter of Perspective 19 Historical and Philosophical Traditions 20 Western Influences: Athenian and Judeo- Christian Traditions 20 Athenian Views 20 Judeo-Christianity 21 Eastern Influences: Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and Hinduism 23 Confucianism 23 Taoism 23 Buddhism 24 Hinduism 25 Summary of Eastern and Western Philosophies 26 East Meets West 26 Value Systems 26 Orientation to Time 28 Thought Processes 28 East and West: Is One Best? 29 Different Ways to Positive Outcomes 30 The “Rugged Individualist” and the Construct of Hope 30 Eastern Values: Compassion and Harmony 31 Final Thoughts 34 Key Terms 35 3. Classifications and Measures of Strengths and Positive Outcomes 37 Classifications and Measures of Strengths 39 Gallup’s Clifton StrengthsFinder 39 The VIA Classification of Strengths 46 The Search Institute’s 40 Developmental Assets 49 Distinguishing Among the Measures of Psychological Strength 54 Identifying Your Personal Strengths 55 Personal Mini-Experiments: Discovering and Capitalizing on Your Strengths 55 The Case of Shane 56 Positive Outcomes for All 58 Dimensions of Well-Being 58 Toward a Better Understanding of Positive Outcomes 63 Identifying Strengths and Moving Toward a Vital Balance 66 Note 66 Key Terms 66

PART II. POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY IN CONTEXT 69 4. Developing Strengths and Living Well in a Cultural Context 71 Culture and Psychology 71 Main Message: Culture Counts 72 David Satcher Understanding Culture: A Matter of Perspective 74 Positive Psychology: Culture Free or Culturally Embedded? 76 Personal Mini-Experiments: Culture-Free or Culturally Embedded Daily Practice 77 Culture-Free Positive Psychology Research and Practice 78 Culturally Embedded Positive Psychology Research and Practice 78 Culture Free Versus Culturally Embedded: An Ongoing Debate? 79

Situating Positive Psychology 80 John Chambers Christopher Putting Positive Psychology in a Cultural Context 82 Examining the Equivalence of the “Positives” to Determine What Works 82 Determining the Foundations of the Good Life 85 The Wise Man of the Gulf 85 Multicultural Mindset as a Strength 87 Final Thoughts on the Complexity of Cultural Influences 87 Key Terms 88 5. Living Well at Every Stage of Life 91 Resilience in Childhood 93 The Case of Jackson 93 What Is Resilience? 94 The Roots of Resilience Research 96 Resilience Resources 97

An Excerpt From Finding Strength: How to Overcome Anything 100 Deborah Blum Positive Youth Development 101 What Is Positive Youth Development? 101 Positive Youth Development Programs That Work 103 The Life Tasks of Adulthood 105 The Trajectories of Precocious Children 105 What Are the Primary Tasks of Adulthood? 106 The Case of Sarah 107 Successful Aging 108 What Is Successful Aging? 109 The MacArthur Foundation Study of Successful Aging 109 The Adult Development Study 110 One Man’s View of Aging 111 A More Developmental Focus in Positive Psychology 112 Personal Mini-Experiments: Finding Amazing People of All Ages 112 Key Terms 113

PART III. POSITIVE EMOTIONAL STATES AND PROCESSES 115 6. The Principles of Pleasure: Understanding Positive Affect, Positive Emotions, , and Well-Being 117 Defining Emotional Terms 118 Affect 118 Emotion 118 Happiness 118 Subjective Well-Being 119 Distinguishing the Positive and the Negative 119 The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule 120 Positive Emotions: Expanding the Repertoire of Pleasure 121 Personal Mini-Experiments: In Search of Joy and Lasting Happiness 122 Positive Emotion Styles Linked to the Common Cold 126 A. Palmer Happiness and Subjective Well-Being: Living a Pleasurable Life 128 Age-Old Definitions of Happiness 128 Subjective Well-Being as a Synonym for Happiness 130 The Satisfaction With Life Scale 130 Determinants of Subjective Well-Being 131 Happiness + Meaning = Well-Being 132 21st-Century Definitions of Happiness 132 Excerpts From Authentic Happiness 132 Martin E. P. Seligman

Beach Man Named Nation’s Happiest 133 Jason Skog Complete Mental Health: Emotional, Social, and Psychological Well-Being 135 Increasing Happiness in Your Life 136 Life Enhancement Strategies 138 Moving Toward the Positive 139 Key Terms 139 7. Making the Most of Emotional Experiences: Emotion-Focused Coping, Emotional Intelligence, Socioemotional Selectivity, and Emotional Storytelling 141 Emotion-Focused Coping: Discovering the Adaptive Potential of Emotional Approach 141 The Case of a Hurricane Survivor 145 Emotional Intelligence: Learning the Skills That Make a Difference 146 Who Is Emotionally Intelligent—And Does It Matter? 150 Jack Mayer Socioemotional Selectivity: Focusing in Later Life on Positive Emotions and Emotion-Related Goals 153 Emotional Storytelling: The Pennebaker Paradigm as a Means of Processing Intense Negative Emotions 155 Emotional Storytelling After a Traumatic Event 156 Emotions and Context 158 Working With Emotions to Bring About Positive Change 158 Personal Mini-Experiments: Making the Most of Emotions in Everyday Life 159 Life Enhancement Strategies 160 An Emotional Balancing Act 160 Key Terms 161

PART IV. POSITIVE COGNITIVE STATES AND PROCESSES 163 8. Seeing Our Futures Through Self-Efficacy, Optimism, and Hope 165 Contributions From Phil McKnight Included Fascination With the Future 165 Being Busy Not an End in Itself 166 Ellen Goodman Self-Efficacy 167 I Think I Can, I Think I Can ... 167 A Definition 168 Childhood Antecedents: Where Does Self-Efficacy Come From? 168 The Neurobiology of Self-Efficacy 169 Scales: Can Self-Efficacy Be Measured? 170 Self-Efficacy’s Influence in Life Arenas 171 The Latest Frontier: Collective Self-Efficacy 173 Changing Behavior Through TV Heroes 174 Melissa Dittmann Optimism 175 Learned Optimism—Seligman and Colleagues 175 The CAVE and Predicting Baseball Outcomes 179 Optimism—Scheier and Carver 180 Hope 183 A Definition 184 Childhood Antecedents of Hope 187 The Neurobiology of Hope 187 Scales: Can Hope Be Measured? 188 What Hope Predicts 189 The Latest Frontier—Collective Hope 190 Hope in Our Current Times 190 Life Enhancement Strategies 191 Putting Temporal Futures in Perspective 192 Personal Mini-Experiments: Balancing Your Perspective on Time 194 Cultural Caveats About Temporal Perspective 196 Appendix A: A Summary of Hope Theories 199 Appendix B: Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory Items 200 Key Terms 203

9. Wisdom and Courage: Two Universal Virtues 205 Wisdom and Courage: Two of a Kind 205 Theories of Wisdom 206 Wisdom Difficult to Define, Attain 207 Roger Martin Implicit Theories of Wisdom 209 Explicit Theories of Wisdom 210 Becoming and Being Wise 214 Developing Wisdom 214 Wise People and Their Characteristics 215 The Measurement of Wisdom 217 Relationships Between Wisdom and Intelligence 218 Theories of Courage 218 Implicit Theories of Courage 221 Amputee Parry Honored as Most Courageous 226 Bernard Fernandez Becoming and Being Courageous 231 United States Senator John McCain’s View on Strengthening Courage—April 2004 233 Courage Research 235 The Measurement of Courage 235 Relationships Between Fear and Courage 236 Finding Wisdom and Courage in Daily Life 237 Can Courage Be Learned? 237 Vic Conant

Personal Mini-Experiments: In Search of the Wisdom and Courage of Everyday People ...Including Yourself 239 Life Enhancement Strategies 240 The Value of Wisdom and Courage 241 Key Terms 241

10. Mindfulness, Flow, and Spirituality: In Search of Optimal Experiences 243 Moment-to-Moment Searches 244 Mindfulness: In Search of Novelty 245 Mindfulness as a State of Mind 246 Living With Mindfulness 250 The Women’s Heart Foundation The Benefits of Mindfulness 251 Flow: In Search of Absorption 253 Personal Mini-Experiments: In Search of Optimal Experiences 254 The Flow State 255 The Autotelic Personality 257 Longitudinal Flow Research 258 Cultural Comparisons and Considerations in the Flow Experience 259 Fostering Flow and Its Benefits 259 Life Enhancement Strategies 260 Spirituality: In Search of the Sacred 261 The True Benefits of Spirituality? 263 The Search Continues 263 Key Terms 264

PART V. PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR 265 11. Empathy and Egotism: Portals to Altruism, Gratitude, and Forgiveness 267 Altruism 268 Defining Altruism 268 The Egotism Motive 269 Forms of Egotism-Motivated Altruism 270 The Empathy Motive and the Empathy–Altruism Hypothesis 270 The Genetic and Neural Foundations of Empathy 271 Cultivating Altruism 272 Personal Mini-Experiments: Exercises in Altruism, Gratitude, and Forgiveness 274 Measuring Altruism 275 Gratitude 275 Defining Gratitude 276 Cultivating Gratitude 277 Thanking Your Heroes 278 Rick Snyder Measuring Gratitude 279 The Psychophysiological Underpinnings of Gratitude 280 Forgiveness 281 Defining Forgiveness 282 Cultivating Forgiveness 284 Measuring Forgiveness 287 The Evolutionary and Neurobiological Bases of Forgiveness 288 The Societal Implications of Altruism, Gratitude, and Forgiveness 288 Empathy/Egotism and Altruism 289 Empathy/Egotism and Gratitude 291 Empathy/Egotism and Forgiveness 291 Moral Imperatives: Altruism, Gratitude, and Forgiveness 292 “I Have a Dream”: Toward a Kinder, Gentler Humankind 294 Life Enhancement Strategies 294 Appendix A: The Helping Attitude Scale 295 Appendix B: The Gratitude Questionnaire—Six Items From GQ-6 297 Appendix C: The Heartland Forgiveness Scale (HFS) 297 Appendix D: The Transgression-Related Interpersonal Motivations Scale (TRIM) 299 Key Terms 300

12. Attachment, Love, and Flourishing Relationships 301 Infant Attachment 302 Personal Mini-Experiments: In Search of Love and Flourishing Relationships 305 Adult Attachment Security 308 Love 309 Passionate and Companionate Aspects of Romantic Love 310 The Triangular Theory of Love 311 The Self-Expansion Theory of Romantic Love 311 Comments on Love Research 312 Flourishing Relationships: A Series of Purposeful Positive Relationship Behaviors 313 Building a Mindful Relationship Connection 314 Life Enhancement Strategies 315 Creating a Culture of Appreciation 316 A Lot of Love in the Lovemaking: Avoiding Chaos, Relationshipwise 317 Mark D. Fefer Capitalizing on Positive Events 320 Praise: Encouraging Signs 321 Willow Lawson The Neurobiology of Interpersonal Connection 322 More on Flourishing Relationships 323 Building a Positive Psychology of Close Relationships 325 Key Terms 325

PART VI. UNDERSTANDING AND CHANGING HUMAN BEHAVIOR 327 13. Balanced Conceptualizations of Mental Health and Behavior 329 Moving Toward Balanced Conceptualizations 330 Our Fascination With Abnormal Behavior 331 Neglect of the Environment and of the Positive 333 Asking Questions: The Four-Front Approach 334 The Case of Michael 335 The Lack of a Developmental Emphasis 336 Normalizing Negative and Positive Behavior 337 The Case of Michael 338 Difficulties Understanding Behavior in a Cultural Context 340 Determining How “Culture Counts” 342 The Case of Michael 342 The Limits of the Categorical Diagnostic System 343 Considering New Personality Dimensions 345 The Case of Michael 348 Going Beyond the DSM-IV Framework 349 Attending to All Behavior 350 Key Terms 350 14. Interceding to Prevent the Bad and Enhance the Good 353 In the Words of a Psychotherapy Client ... 353 Primary Prevention: “Stop the Bad Before It Happens” 353 Definition 353 Is Primary Prevention Effective? 355 Components of Effective Primary Preventions 355 Head Start: An Example of Primary Prevention 356 Primary Preventions for Racial and Ethnic Minorities 357 Primary Preventions for Children 357 Primary Preventions for the Elderly 358 Caveats About Primary Preventions 358 Secondary Prevention (Psychotherapy): “Fix the Problem” 359 Definition 359 Is Secondary Prevention Effective? 360 Common Components of Secondary Preventions 361 Secondary Prevention Programs for Adults 361 Secondary Preventions for Racial and Ethnic Minorities 365 Secondary Preventions for Children 366 Secondary Preventions for the Elderly 366 A Caveat About Secondary Preventions 367 Primary Enhancement: “Make Life Good” 368 Primary Enhancement: Psychological Health 369 Primary Enhancement: Physical Health 374 A Caveat About Primary Enhancement 374 Secondary Enhancement: “Make Life the Best Possible” 375 Secondary Enhancement: Psychological Health 375 Personal Mini-Experiments: Enhancing Your Daily Life 377 Secondary Enhancement: Physical Health 378 Caveats About Secondary Enhancement 378 The Balance of Prevention and Enhancement Systems 378 Appendix A: Effective Secondary Preventions (Psychotherapies) for Adult Problems 379 Appendix B: Hope Therapy Worksheet 381 Key Terms 382

PART VII. POSITIVE ENVIRONMENTS 383 15. Positive Schooling 385 “Teachers Can’t Get in the Real World!” 385 Negative Psychology: “Those Who Can’t, Shouldn’t Be Teaching” 386 “No Child Left Behind” and Beyond 387 Personal Mini-Experiments: The Power of Positive (and Negative) Teachers 388 The Components of Positive Schooling 390 Care, Trust, and Respect for Diversity 391 Goals (Content) 396 Plans 397 Motivation (Plus Enlivening the Course Contents for Students) 398 Hope 399 Societal Contributions 400 One Example of Positive Schooling: The StrengthsQuest Program 403 The Baylor University StrengthsQuest Program 405 Teaching as a Calling 406 Dr. Brewer Has Passion for Art of Teaching 407 David Shi Giving Back to Teachers 408 Appendix A: Assessing Educational Success 410 Bridget Murray Appendix B: Teaching Tips From Two “Wills”—James and McKeachie 412 Wilbert McKeachie Key Terms 415

16. Good Work: The Psychology of Gainful Employment 417 Gainful Employment 418 “We Have an Opening”: Jenny Loses a and Finds a 418 Take-Home Messages From Jenny’s Story 420 Gainful Employment: Happiness, Satisfaction, and Beyond 420 Performing Well and Meeting Goals 422 Deriving Purpose by Providing a Product or Service 423 Engagement and Involvement 423 Variety in Job Duties 424 Income for Family and Self 425 Companionship and Loyalty to Coworkers and Bosses: Friends at Work 426 Safe Work Environments 426 Respect and Appreciation for Diversity in the Workplace 427 Measuring Gainful Employment 428 Your Job 428 Back to the Case of Jenny 429 The Assistant Professor Who Didn’t Get Tenure 431 Having or Being a Good Boss 433 The Strengths-Based Approach to Work 435 Match People, Don’t Fix Them 435 The Stages of This Approach 435 Does It Work? 436 The Assets Exercise 437 Capital at Work 438 Traditional Economic Capital 438 Human Capital 439 Social Capital 440 Positive Psychological Capital 440 Hope: A Prime Psychological Capital 442 The High-Hope Companies 442 High-Hope Employees 443 Putting Hope Together at Work 444 Can Hope Be Increased at Work? 444 The Dark Side: Workaholics, Burnouts, and Jobs Lost 445 Workaholics 445 Burnout 445 Losing Your Job 446 What Can Be Done to Improve Your Work? 447 Making the Job Better 447 Personal Mini-Experiments: Becoming Gainfully Employed 449 Applying for a New Job 452 The Power to Change 454 When Work Becomes a Calling: The Tale of a Hospital Orderly 454 A New Accounting: An Eye Toward People Rather Than Money 456 Key Terms 457

17. The Me/We Balance: Building Better Communities 459 Where We Are Going: From ME to WE to US 459 Individualism: The Psychology of ME 459 A Brief History of American Individualism 459 Emphases in Individualism 460 Personal Examples of Individualism 463 Personal Mini-Experiments: Getting and Giving Help 464 A Summary of Individualism 466 The Need for Uniqueness 466 Collectivism: The Psychology of WE 476 A Historical Comment on Collectivism: We Came Together Out of Necessity 476 Emphases in Collectivism 477 Demographics Related to Collectivism 479 ME/WE Balance: The Positive Psychology of US 479 Both the Individualistic and the Collectivistic Perspectives Are Viable 479 Thinking About Your Own Life 481 Suggestions for WE People (Collectivists) 482 Suggestions for ME People (Individualists) 482 Closing Thoughts 483 Appendix: The Need for Uniqueness Scale 484 Key Terms 486

PART VIII. A POSITIVE LOOK AT THE FUTURE OF PSYCHOLOGY 487 18. Going Positive 489 Trading the Bad for Some Good: The Case of Molly 489 Tackling a Fundamental Dilemma: Bad Is Stronger Than Good 490 For the Many, Not Just the Few 492 Experts’ Views on 21st-Century Positive Psychology 494 Imagine Our World If Positive Psychology Succeeds 494 Ed Diener Embracing Positive Psychology Tenets as Crucial Advice for Clinical Psychology 494 James Maddux Spirituality and Positive Psychology 495 Kenneth I. Pargament Joining Other Scientists in Search of the Spiritual 495 Robert Emmons Building on the “Third Pillar”: Positive Communities 496 David Myers The Role of Positive Psychology in Maintaining Hope and Balance 496 The late Michael Mahoney Learning From the 2005 Hurricanes 497 Nancy G. Westburg Toward a Positive Psychology of the Whole Person 497 Christine Robitschek A Positive Psychology of Reaching Out and Bridging 498 P. Alex Linley Proactive Coping 498 Ralf Schwarzer The Role of Positive Psychology in Urban Migration and Increased Life Spans 499 Everett L. Worthington, Jr. Health and Care for All: The Challenges for the 21st Century 499 Corey L. M. Keyes The Need for Greater Commitment to a Broader Sense of Community 500 Charles Carver Happiness Is the Best Medicine 500 Ellen Langer Acknowledging the Good With the Bad 500 Jamie Pennebaker Mainstreaming Positive Psychology Ideas 501 Shelley Taylor On Partnering and Getting Our Message Out 501 Susan Hendrick Maintain Scientific Integrity in the Quest for Relevance and Application 502 Timothy R. Elliott Building a Universal Positive Psychology 502 Samuel Ho Giving Positive Psychology Away 503 Tal Ben-Shachar Appendix: Positive Social Science 503 Martin E. P. Seligman, PhD References 507 Author Index 555 Subject Index 573 About the Authors 587