confidence and well-being eight years on: the centre’s ‘integral’ perspective
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Confidence and Well-being Eight Years on: The Centre’s ‘Integral’ perspective. Psychology THE SCIENCE OF MENTAL LIFE. Psychology had 3 aims: Understand genius How to lead a better and more meaningful life Understand and cure mental illness. Focused - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Confidence and Well-being Eight Years on:The Centre’s ‘Integral’ perspective
PsychologyTHE SCIENCE OF MENTAL LIFE
Psychology had 3 aims:
Understand genius
How to lead a better and moremeaningful life
Understand and cure mental
illness
Focused ON UNDERSTANDING AND CURING MENTAL ILLNESS
• World War II veterans• Investment in research
Result PSYCHOLOGY DEVELOPED A DISEASE FOCUS
Psychological abstracts 1887 – 2000
* Totals reflect total studies on negative and positive emotions during this period
Result PSYCHOLOGY DEVELOPED A DISEASE FOCUS
Psychological abstracts 1887 – 2000
* Totals reflect total studies on negative and positive emotions during this period
Ratio of imbalance
21 : 1
Deficit Model
Focus on the individualFocus on faults | deficits | weaknessessFixing peopleGetting from -5 to 0
Affects everyday lifelanguage | neurotic | ego | paranoia | schizorotten to the core | bad apple
Concentration on negativity
Deficit ModelPSYCHOLOGY – DOES IT REALLY MATTER
PsychologyWHAT HAS IT IGNORED OR PLAYED DOWN
positive emotionsWhy they matterHow they affect usInfectious nature
positive human characteristicsStrengths and virtuesWhat does it mean to be:kind | wise | self controlled
Professor Martin Seligman
People want more than just to correcttheir weaknesses. They want livesimbued with meaning and to learn howto go from plus two to plus seven in lifeand not just to go from minus five backto minus three.
Positive PsychologyTHE SCIENCE OF LIFE GOING WELL
“
”
Positive Perspective
What is right with people
Virtues and strengths
Focus on flourishing and optimal experiences
Focus on the individual and the collective
In contrastTO THE DEFICIT APPROACH TO CHILDREN GOING INTO CARE
Look at strengths
Focus on coping
mechanisms and building resilience
In contrast TO THE DEFICIT APPROACH IN COMMUNITIES
Identify assets and capacitiesFind out what’s going well and can be built onLook at positive indicators such as happiness and well-being
In contrastTO THE DEFICIT APPROACH IN ORGANISATIONS
Identify what’s going well
Do more of the positive
Think in terms of trust |
loyalty | motivation
Negativity bias
Evolution dictates
The dangers in life
encourage
negative thinking
Fight or flight
Constant danger
Avoid danger
We’re hard-wired to respond to fear
The negativity bias in everyday life Tendency to remember
negative actions rather thanpositive actions
People care more
about losingthan winning
More aware of threats
than
opportunities
The negativity bias in everyday life
Bad news makes more of an impactthan good news
Pay more attention to
criticism than praise
Individual differencesMARY POPPINS | GRUMPY OLD MEN
Some people are happy-go-lucky
Others are more fearful and pessimistic
Negative emotions are part of humanexperience
Why positive psychology
Positive emotions are just as important
The importance of positive emotionsTHE BROADEN AND BUILD THEORY OF POSITIVE EMOTION
Unlike negative emotions whichnarrow attention, positive emotionsbroaden our attention encouragingus to see the whole picture
Barbara Fredrickson
“
”
The importance of positive emotionTHE BROADEN AND BUILD THEORY OF POSITIVE EMOTIONEnhance learning and
development
Encourages exploration
Aids creative problem
solving
Helps relationships e.g.
can read body language,
encourages
empathy
The importance of positive emotionHEALTH
The Nun Study
A lifetime study of nuns
who
expressed positive
emotion in their
diaries, lived longer
than nuns who
expressed less positive
emotion
The importance of positive emotionAGING Young men who displayed:
physical healthjoy in livinghigh income
30 years later
93% could still chop woodwalk 2 milesclimb 2 flights of stairs without tiringonly 53% of men who did not do thiswhen young could perform in old age
The importance of positive emotionOPTIMISM
People with a positive outlook livelonger than those who are miserable
A survey measured
optimism in 1000people between 1962 and 1965 andagain 30 years later
Optimists lived 19%
longerOptimists have 50% lower risk ofdeath from all causes
23% had a lower risk of
heart failure
The importance of positive emotionRELEVANCE TO SCOTLAND?Lowest life expectancy in
Europe formen – women not far behind
Scottish effect and
Glasgow effect
Negative trumps positiveExperiencing positive emotion iscentral to people’s lives
Natural for people to be
in a positivemood but negative trumps positive
Equal amounts of postive
and negative- atmosphere will be negative
Ratio of 3:1
Negative emotions are important
If they are supressed they will have an adverseeffect
We need to learn to control the ancient reptilian brain...
...or it will control us
Learning from other cultures
Buddhismacceptance | mindfulness | meditation
The role of Christianity
New testament - religion of
love
Forgiveness
Compassion
Gratitude
Kindness
Learning from the Amish communityChristian sect in the USA
Live separately from the
rest of the world
Have 10 times less
depression
than the rest of the
world
Cognitive tasks
reduce activation
in the emotional areas
of the brain
Richer but not happier
$20000
$18000
$16000
$14000
$12000
$10000
$8000
$6000
$4000
$2000
$0
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
1956 1963 1970 1977 1984 1991 1998
Personal Income(in 1995 dollars)
Percentage Very Happy
While income has risen - self reported happiness has not
Richard Layard
Our ability to adaptWe are not as affected by external events as we think
Human beings have an
incredible capacity to adapt
This is a very positive
feature but it
does have problems
Adapting also means that..Pleasure diminishes as we get used to things
They just become our
life
Hedonic treadmill
Social comparison
Keeping up with the
Joneses
Researchers have asked people what they would prefer£50,000 a year while
other peopleget on average of £25,000
or
£100.000 on average
while otherpeople get £250,000
People would rather earn less but more than others
Some choice is good but more is not better Time consuming
Dissatisfying
Feeling you’ve made the
wrong choice
Paralysing (often we
don’t choose)
Decreased confidence and increased doubt
Less is more
Happiness buildersINTERNATIONAL RESEARCH SHOWS
Marriage
Social
relationships
Work |
employment
Exercise
The pleasurable life
Presentsavouringspending time with peopledoing pleasurable things
Pastsatisfactioncontentmentforgiveness
Futurehopeoptimism
The engaged life
Flowbecoming engrossed in challenging,interesting activities (home | work | hobbies)
Finding your signature strengths
The meaningful life
Serving a goal larger than selfparticularly using your signature strengths to serve this larger goal
Interior Exterior
Individual I (intentional)Psychology, art, spirituality
IT (behavioural)Physiology, neuroscience, nature, the built environment
Collective WE (cultural)Beliefs, history, religion
ITS(social)Social/economic/political factors and systems
Ken Wilber’s Four Quadrants
A richer and healthier inner life
Increased feelings of hope and optimism about the possibility of change
More positive emotions More people participating in spiritual
experiences such as meditation Heightened feelings of transcendence,
connection and purpose More beauty in people’s lives through
contact with nature, music or art
Improvements to health care and infrastructure
Better care for under 5s to improve physical, emotional and cognitive health
Enhanced opportunities for physical activity Improved neighbourhoods-more green spaces Better maintenance of social housing Housing developments encompassing a greater
range of social classes
Cultural/relationship changes
More values placed on relationships particularly committed relationships between men and women
More emphasis on the importance of family life and child rearing
More positive and appreciative interactions between individuals and groups
More willingness to embrace change and development
More tolerance of others who are different
Genuine respect for everyone irrespective of background
Socio-economic changes
Getting people into work Tackling inequality (particularly reducing gap
between rich and poor through measures such as ‘maximum’ not just minimum wage and tackling poverty
Reducing alcohol consumption through availability and pricing
More diversionary activities and youth work Enhanced gender inequality so that women play a
more visible role in decision making
Outline of an ‘Integral Approach’ to Glasgow’s problems