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 Positive Psychology 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, Happiness, 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