Health and Optimism

“Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

-Preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization, 1946

Positive Mental Health

• Not simply the lack of mental illness• Result of the presence of PERMA

• Not “happiness is an illusion”– Sigmund Freud – Arthur Schopenhauer

Learned Helplessness

• You can learn that nothing you do will alter events

• “Triadic Design”– One group (Escapable) – One group (Inescapable) – A third group is the Control Group

Learned Helplessness

• Part 1 of the experiment – Escapable and Inescapable groups are exposed to

the same noxious event– Escapable group learn they can make a difference– Inescapable group learn they are helpless

Learned Helplessness

• Part 2 of the experiment – All three groups are exposed to the same noxious

event– Escapable & Control groups readily escape– Inescapable group typically do not

Learned Helplessness

• Triadic Design: allows bi-directional Inferences

• Comparison to the control group is important– Did the Escapable group learn mastery– Or did the Inescapable group learned helplessness

Triadic Design With Rats And Cancer

• Three groups of rats: all implanted with a cancer tumor known to be 50% lethal.

• Part 1, shocks given to Escapable and Inescapable group, none to Control group

• Part 2, see who got cancer– 50% of Control group died - expected– 75% of Inescapable(helplessness) group died – 25% of Escapable(Mastery) group died

Human not Animal

• Internal Validity – controlled repeated experiment reveals cause and effect

• Problem of External Validity – what does this tell us about human beings?

Humans are different

Animal Experiments

• The problems of external validity are small• The ethical problems of dealing with humans

are insuperable• The human benefits are large

The Problem?

• One-third of the subjects, both animal and human never became helpless!

• One-tenth were helpless to begin with!

Optimism/Pessimism

• Explained the anomalies

• Led to the exploration of Optimism/Pessimism and their relation to illness and recovery

Cardiovascular Disease (CVD)

• MR FIT (Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial)• Changing people from Type A (aggressive,

time urgent) to Type B (easygoing)• None of the usual risk factors were predictive– Blood Pressure– Cholesterol– Body Mass– Lifestyle

Cardiovascular Disease (CVD)

• Only Optimism/Pessimism predicted• N.B. Depression, highly correlated with

Pessimism, has been ruled out as the reason for higher incidence of CVD.

• Optimism protects• Pessimism harms

Infectious Illness

• The effect of Positive Emotions…

• External Validity• Ethics of experiments with human subjects

Psychological Experimentation

• Experimental Realism • Cover Stories

• Experimental Validation

Psychological Experimentation

• Conformity - Psychologist Solomon Asch

• Subjects judging line length• Accomplices give incorrect judgments• Subjects conform!

• Deception…

Three Ethical Problems: 1. Deception. It is simply unethical to lie to people. 2. Such deception often leads to an invasion of

privacy. Unable to give their informed consent. 3. Experimental procedures often entail some

unpleasant experiences, such as anxiety or boredom.

How will the subject feel when the true nature of the experiment is made known and they reflect on their performance?

Guidelines:1. Procedures causing severe levels of anxiety or

discomfort are avoided.2. Look for alternative procedures to deception.3. Subjects should have the real option of

quitting the experiment if their discomfort is too intense.

4. The experimenter should spend considerable time debriefing the subjects…

5. The results should be important; the goals should be well-defined.

The Common Cold And Emotions

• Sheldon Cohen’s experiments • People with a positive emotional style had

fewer colds• People with a negative emotional style had

more• Due to an inflammation producing protein

that correlates to emotional style.

Cancer and All-Cause Mortality

• Optimism and PERMA impact – CVD outcomes– Longevity– Perhaps Cancer

• People with high PERMA are at less risk from death from all causes.

Causal or simply correlated and the result of some third variable?

Third Variables • Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ)– Randomly assigned the most pessimistic Penn

freshman into two groups. – One group were put in a seminar to make them

more Optimistic.– Their optimism was raised markedly• Less depression and anxiety• fewer visits to the doctor or health center

This suggests that increasing optimism improved their health.

Optimistic People

1. Optimists take action; have healthier lifestyles

2. More social support3. Biological Mechanisms (Possibly)

a. Better immune systemsb. Common geneticsc. Reaction to repeated stressd. Higher heart rate variability (HRV)

Potential Health Assets

• Subjective Assets:– Optimism– Hope– A sense of good health– Zest– Vitality– Life satisfaction

Potential Health Assets

• Biological Assets:– Upper range HRV– The hormone oxytocin– Low levels of fibrinogen and interleukin-6– Longer repetitive strands of DNA

Potential Health Assets

• Functional Assets: – Excellent marriage– Rich friendships– Engaging pastimes– Flourishing work life

Fitness or Fatness

• Both obesity and inactivity are unhealthy• But inactivity is more damaging to health

• Exercise can be added to the list of functional assets to positive health

• Inactivity may be the major cause of obesity (Monism?)