international coaching psychology...

The British Psychological SocietySpecial Group in Coaching Psychology

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The Australian Psychological Society LtdInterest Group in Coaching Psychology

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InternationalCoaching Psychology Review

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Volume 2 No. 1 March 2007

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Contents

3 Co-Editors Editorial – Special Issue: Positive PsychologyMichael Cavanagh & Stephen Palmer

5 Guest Editors Editorial – Special Issue: Positive coaching psychology: Integrating thescience of positive psychology with the practice of coaching psychologyP. Alex Linley & Carol Kauffman

9 Character strengths and type: Exploration of covariationSulynn Choong & Kathryn Britton

24 Evidence-based life coaching for senior high school students: Building hardiness and hopeSuzy Green, Anthony Grant & Jo Rynsaardt

33 Flow theory – its application to coaching psychologyKaren Wesson & Ilona Boniwell

44 An intervention for fostering hope, athletic and academic performance in universitystudent-athletesCristina Rolo & Daniel Gould

62 Enhancing goal self-concordance through coachingDaniel Burke & P. Alex Linley

70 Positive intervention self-selection: Developing models of what works for whomJordan Silberman

78 Optimistic managers and their influence on productivity and employee engagement ina technology organisation: Implications for coaching psychologistsDana Arakawa & Margaret Greenberg

90 The meeting of the minds: Positive psychology and coaching psychologyCarol Kauffman & P. Alex Linley

97 A pragmatic perspective: Putting positive coaching psychology into actionCarol Kauffman & P. Alex Linley

103 Book Reviews

2 International Coaching Psychology Review ● Vol. 2 No. 1 March 2007

International Coaching Psychology Review ● Vol. 2 No. 1 March 2007 3© The British Psychological Society – ISSN: 1750-2764

Co-Editors Editorial –Special Issue: Positive PsychologyMichael Cavanagh & Stephen Palmer

WELCOME TO THE LATEST ISSUEof the ICPR and to our first specialissue! It seems very fitting that the

first special issue should deal with the inter-face between coaching psychology and posi-tive psychology. As Drs Alex Linley and CarolKauffman have pointed out in their edito-rial, coaching psychology and positivepsychology share similar roots. Bothbranches of psychology are committed tohelping people lead more productive andfulfilling lives, and both seek to nurture thedevelopment of strengths, and arecommitted to the development of theoryand practice in ways which extend beyondthe remediation of deficit. It is little wonderthat this edition is such a bumper edition.

Speaking of the development of strengths,the contributions from around the globeclearly show something of the depth ofstrength available in the areas of positive andcoaching psychology. This is perhaps not sosurprising as for many psychologists thelanguage of positive psychology articulates adirection and emphasis which has always beenin their practice, at least in a nascent form. Inthis sense, as Stephen Joseph points out in hisinterview, the boundaries between differentareas of applied psychology are quite blurred.The remediation of deficit and the develop-ment of positive function are often two sidesof the same coin. As psychology developsmore and more toward a cohesive vision ofthe human person, the distinctions betweenareas of applied psychology are likely tobecome more blurred rather than distinct.

Alex Linley and Carol Kaufman havedone a marvellous job as guest editors forthis special issue. They have selected articu-late researchers and writers and havebrought those contributions together neatly.Kauffman and Linley’s final paper (titled, A pragmatic perspective, putting positive coachingpsychology into practice), nicely draws out somepractical implication of each of the paperspresented.

We hope to make at least one of theissues of the ICPR a special issue each year.To this end we are looking for suggestions ofwhat you would like to see as focus topics. Ifyou have an area of passion in coachingpsychology, and/or would like to act as aspecial editor, please drop us a line.

Michael CavanaghCoaching Psychology Unit,Department of Psychology,Sydney University,Sydney, Australia.E-mail: [email protected]

Stephen PalmerCoaching Psychology Unit,Department of Psychology,City University,Northampton Square,London, UK.E-mail: [email protected]

THE SPECIAL GROUP IN COACHING PSYCHOLOGY

3rd

National Coaching Psychology Conference17th and 18th December 2007

To be held at City University, London, UK

Keynote Speakers will include:

Dr Tony Grant, Coaching Psychology Unit, Sydney

Dr Carol Kauffman, Harvard Medical School, Harvard

Sir John Whitmore, Performance Consultants International, UK

Building on our previous successes, we are putting together an exciting and topical conference examining the latest theory and practice in Coaching Psychology with keynote

papers, full-day masterclasses, research and case study presentations, skills-based sessions and round-table discussions.

The programme will be delivered by national and international leaders in the field.

Conference Themes and Call for Papers:

Capitalising on emerging research and practices relevant in today’s context, our conference themes include: • Transpersonal Coaching • Multicultural Coaching • Health Coaching • The Coaching Relationship • Coaching Psychology and Return on Investment • The Evidence base for Coaching Psychology

For further information about the conference and information about submitting a paper or workshop, please see the ‘News Page’ of the SGCP

website on: http://www.sgcp.org.uk/coachingpsy/news or email [email protected]

The 2007 membership fee to join SGCP is £3.50. SGCP membership benefits include membership rates at our events and free copies of the ‘International Coaching

Psychology Review’ and ‘The Coaching Psychologist’. BPS members can join now and obtain the discounted conference fee.

POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY ANDcoaching psychology are often recog-nised as complementary bedfellows,

but to date there have not been many system-atic attempts to explore how each caninform the other. This special issue of theInternational Coaching Psychology Review wasconceptualised as a way of beginning thisintegrative process, and seeks to providecoaching psychologists with some perspec-tives from empirical and theoretical work atthe intersection of these areas. Additionallythe special issue includes interviews fromleading positive psychologists, and four posi-tive psychology book reviews, the intentionof which are to introduce some of thebreadth and excitement of this field to thecoaching psychologist who may not befamiliar with it.

So, to begin, what is positive psychology,and how did it come about? The advent of‘positive psychology’ as we know it today canbe traced back to Martin E.P. Seligman’s1998 Presidential Address to the AmericanPsychological Association (Seligman, 1999).Seligman realised that psychology hadlargely neglected the latter two of its threepre-World War II missions: curing mentalillness, helping all people to lead moreproductive and fulfilling lives, and identi-fying and nurturing high talent. The adventof the Veterans Administration (in 1946)and the National Institute of Mental Health(in 1947) had largely rendered psychology ahealing discipline based upon a diseasemodel and illness ideology (see alsoMaddux, 2002; Maddux, Snyder & Lopez,

2004). With this realisation, Seligmanresolved to use his APA Presidency to initiatea shift in psychology’s focus toward a morepositive psychology (Seligman, 1999).

However, it is also eminently clear from acursory examination of the research litera-ture that positive psychology did not ‘begin’in 1997, or 1998, or 1999, or 2000 (see alsoMcCullough & Snyder, 2000). More than 50years ago, Abraham Maslow – who also calledfor a ‘positive psychology,’ but one thatwould study the extreme positive ends of thedistribution – also lamented psychology’spreoccupation with disorder and dysfunc-tion:

‘The science of psychology has been farmore successful on the negative than onthe positive side. It has revealed to usmuch about man’s shortcomings, hisillness, his sins, but little about hispotentialities, his virtues, his achievableaspirations, or his full psychologicalheight. It is as if psychology hasvoluntarily restricted itself to only half itsrightful jurisdiction, and that, the darker,meaner half’ (Maslow, 1954, p.354).

We would argue that positive psychology hasalways been with us. We are equally sure thatmany coaching psychologists reading thisspecial issue will proclaim, if only to them-selves – ‘but this is what I have believed – andpracticed – all along.’ This is a commonrefrain that we hear often. Yet we alsosuggest that it is only with the advent of thepositive psychology movement as we know ittoday that we have developed a sharedlanguage and acknowledged heritage that


Guest Editors Editorial – Positive coachingpsychology: Integrating the science ofpositive psychology with the practice ofcoaching psychologyP. Alex Linley & Carol Kauffman


allows us to lift up and celebrate what we doknow about what makes life worth living, aswell as carefully delineating the areas wherewe need to do more. If nothing else, positivepsychology has served to give a voice andidentity to the things that many of us alwaysdid, but that often went unrecognised (seeLinley & Joseph, 2004).

How might one define positivepsychology? A simple definition that is oftenused is ‘the scientific study of optimalhuman functioning,’ but here are someother ways of understanding this approach:

‘The field of positive psychology at thesubjective level is about valued subjectiveexperiences: well-being, contentment,and satisfaction (in the past); hope andoptimism (for the future); and flow andhappiness (in the present). At theindividual level, it is about positiveindividual traits: the capacity for love andvocation, courage, interpersonal skill,aesthetic sensibility, perseverance,forgiveness, originality, futuremindedness, spirituality, high talent, andwisdom. At the group level, it is about thecivic virtues and the institutions thatmove individuals toward bettercitizenship: responsibility, nurturance,altruism, civility, moderation, tolerance,and work ethic.’ (Seligman &Csikszentmihalyi, 2000, p.5).‘What is positive psychology? It is nothingmore than the scientific study of ordinaryhuman strengths and virtues. Positivepsychology revisits ‘the average person,’with an interest in finding out whatworks, what is right, and what isimproving…positive psychology is simplypsychology.’ (Sheldon & King, 2001,p.216).‘Positive psychology is the study of theconditions and processes that contributeto the flourishing or optimal functioningof people, groups, and institutions.’(Gable & Haidt, 2005, p.104).

There is much in these definitions thatresonates with what we do – and what webelieve – as coaching psychologists. Writing

about perspectives on the integration ofpositive psychology and coachingpsychology, Linley and Harrington (2005)identified three primary reasons as to whypositive psychology and coaching psychology‘fit.’ First, they are both concerned with theenhancement of performance and well-being. Second, they focus on the plus side ofhuman nature, and thus to an extent at least,have challenged practitioners to think abouttheir fundamental assumptions abouthuman nature. And third, they both attendto people’s strengths and what they do well(see also Linley & Harrington, 2006).

At a superficial level, the view has oftenbeen expressed that positive psychology canprovide the research backbone for thepractice of coaching psychology. We see thisrelationship as much more symbiotic thanthis view may suggest. There are undoubt-edly instances, and probably many instances,where positive psychology research findingscan inform the practice of coachingpsychology. But we do not need to claim, oreven suggest in any way, that positivepsychology has the monopoly on theresearch underpinning coaching psycho-logy. Indeed, a stark differentiator betweencoaching and coaching psychology is thepsychological base from which coachingpsychology explicitly draws its principles.That said, there are of course areas wherepositive psychology has a lot that it mightoffer the practicing coaching psychologist.One example could be the positive interven-tions work reported by Seligman, Steen, Parkand Peterson (2005) who demonstrated thathaving people use their strengths in new anddifferent ways each day, and writing downthree good things that had happened tothem each day, both produced significantincreases in happiness at a six-month follow-up. This research, rigorously conducted,lends itself easily to applications within thecoaching psychology engagement. But theinformation-flow needs to go both ways:academic researchers are often quitedetached from the practical applications oftheir work, and as practicing coaching

P. Alex Linley & Carol Kauffman

psychologists we should ensure that part ofour agenda should be about influencing thenature and direction of academic researchto make it more applied and relevant to realworld, everyday issues. One of the mostpowerful ways of doing so is at the grassrootslevel through collaboration betweenacademic researchers and applied practi-tioners tackling questions of mutual interesttogether. The academic brings a wealth ofbackground knowledge and theory, whilethe practitioner has a handle on what canreally be used in practice. Any readerslooking for a template of how to understandthe different drivers of academic researchand applied research are recommended toconsider the pragmatic-pedantic-populist-puerile matrix provided by Anderson,Herriot and Hodgkinson (2001). While thiswas developed in relation to organisationalpsychology, it is readily applicable to anyother researcher-practitioner interface.

Our aim for this special issue of the International Coaching Psychology Review was tocollate a series of contributions that speak tothe positive psychology – coachingpsychology interface, and thereby to providecoaching psychologists with a first foray intothe different ways in which positivepsychology can be applied in coachingpsychology practice. In the first article,Sulynn Choong and Kathryn Britton explorehow the MBTI and the VIA Inventory ofStrengths relate to each other. Manycoaching psychologists will be familiar withthe MBTI, but perhaps less so with the VIAInventory of Strengths, and this article showshow using them both can add real value tounderstanding the preferences and strengthsof your clients. Suzy Green, Anthony Grantand Jo Rynsaardt then explore the use ofevidence-based life coaching for senior highschool students as a means to build hardinessand hope. High school can be a time of tran-sition and turmoil for many students, sobuilding their psychological resources to dealwith this through coaching is a valuableactivity. Karen Wesson and Ilona Boniwellexplore the implications of flow theory for

coaching psychology, and demonstrate howflow as a positive psychological concept canbe both created and harnessed through thecoaching psychology engagement. Buildingon this theme of peak performance, CristinaRolo and Daniel Gould report on an inter-vention study that was designed to enhancehope in student athletes. Clearly, enhancingathletic performance is an area wherecoaches (in the traditional sense of the word)and psychologists have been very active, andtheir article shows how work is now begin-ning to apply some core positive psychologytenets and theories to real world settings.Daniel Burke and Alex Linley continue thistheme of application of theory to coaching,with a study that examines the effects ofcoaching on self-concordance. They showthat even short coaching interventions canincrease goal self-concordance, which inother work has also been related to goalattainment and well-being (Sheldon & Elliot,1999: Sheldon & Houser-Marko, 2001). Assuch, this linkage may be one through whichcoaching has its positive effects. Taking avariant on the question of ‘what works forwhom?’ Jordan Silberman examines if peoplecan accurately self-select the interventionsthat may be most appropriate for them. Hisdata indicate ‘no,’ which suggests an impor-tant role for the informed expert coachingpsychologist, who can make recommenda-tions based on the state of the empirical liter-ature. Moving the perspective slightly wider,the last empirical article is from DanaArakawa and Margaret Greenberg whoexplored the role of optimism and positivityin managers and the implications forperformance. They found that optimisticmanagers who operated from a strengthsfocus achieved better results, and examinethe implications of this work for coachingpsychologists who are working with execu-tives and within organisations. The specialissue then includes a series of short interviewswith leading positive psychology figures(Ilona Boniwell, Chris Peterson, ShaneLopez, Robert Biswas-Diener, StephenJoseph), exploring their perspectives on the

International Coaching Psychology Review ● Vol. 2 No. 1 March 2007 7

Editorial

further integration of positive psychologyand coaching psychology. Our concludingarticle then reviews the contributions to thisspecial issue and in the spirit of researcher-practitioner integration, draws out some ofthe pragmatic applications of the studies thathave been presented. The special issue closeswith three positive psychology book reviewsthat are designed to further introduce thereader to positive psychology, and especiallythe applications of positive psychology tocoaching psychology. We hope that thespecial issue inspires you with the possibilitiesthat positive psychology research andpractice offers for coaching psychology, aswell as enthusing you as coaching psycholo-gists to engage with academics in positivepsychology and more broadly to shape theresearch agenda so that the research beingconducted is more aligned with, andsupportive of the directions for our practice,both now and into the future.

P. Alex LinleyCentre for Applied Positive Psychology,Barclays Venture Centre,University of Warwick Science Park,Coventry CV4 7EZ, UK.

E-mail: [email protected]

Carol KauffmanCoaching Psychology Institute:Positive Psychology in Action.

Harvard Medical School,22 Mill Street, Suite 405,Arlington, Massachusetts, 02476, USA.

E-mail:Carol@PositivePsychologyCoaches.comwww.positivepsychologycoaches.com


P. Alex Linley & Carol Kauffman

ReferencesAnderson, N., Herriot, P. & Hodgkinson, G.P.

(2001). The practitioner-researcher divide inindustrial, work and organizational (IWO)psychology: Where are we now, and where do wego from here? Journal of Occupational and Organi-zational Psychology, 74, 391–411.

Gable, S.L. & Haidt, J. (2005). What (and why) ispositive psychology? Review of General Psychology,9, 103–110.

Linley, P.A. & Harrington, S. (2005). Positivepsychology and coaching psychology: Perspec-tives on integration. The Coaching Psychologist,1(1), 13–14.

Linley, P.A. & Harrington, S. (2006). Strengthscoaching: A potential-guided approach tocoaching psychology. International CoachingPsychology Review, 1(1), 37–46.

Maddux, J.E. (2002). Stopping the madness: Positivepsychology and the deconstruction of the illnessideology and the DSM. In C.R. Snyder & S.J.Lopez (Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology(pp.13–25). New York: Oxford University Press.

Maddux, J.E., Snyder, C.R. & Lopez, S.J. (2004).Toward a positive clinical psychology: Decon-structing the illness ideology and constructing anideology of human strengths and potential. In P.A. Linley & S. Joseph (Eds.), Positivepsychology in practice (pp.320–334). Hoboken, NJ:Wiley.

Maslow, A.H. (1954). Motivation and personality. NewYork: Harper.

McCullough, M.E. & Snyder, C.R. (2000). Classicalsources of human strength: Revisiting an oldhome and building a new one. Journal of Socialand Clinical Psychology, 19, 1–10.

Seligman, M.E.P. (1999). The President’s Address.American Psychologist, 54, 559–562.

Seligman, M.E.P. & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000).Positive psychology: An introduction. AmericanPsychologist, 55, 5–14.

Seligman, M.E.P., Steen, T.A., Park, N. & Peterson, C.(2005). Positive psychology progress: Empiricalvalidation of interventions. American Psychologist,60, 410–421.

Sheldon, K.M. & Elliot, A.J. (1999). Goal striving,need satisfaction and longitudinal well-being:The Self-Concordance Model. Journal of Person-ality and Social Psychology, 76, 482–497.

Sheldon, K.M. & Houser-Marko, L. (2001). Self-concordance, goal attainment, and the pursuit ofhappiness: Can there be an upward spiral ?Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80,152–165.

Sheldon, K.M. & King, L. (2001). Why positivepsychology is necessary. American Psychologist, 56,216–217.


Character strengths and type

P SYCHOLOGISTS HAVE LONGsearched for possible explanations ofhow a person thinks, feels, and

behaves. Positive psychology emphasises theexperience of human flourishing andfocuses much attention on the three path-ways to happiness, namely subjective well-being, engagement of strengths, and pursuitof meaning (Seligman, 2002). Under-standing how happy individuals think, feel,and behave provides a basis for helping indi-viduals and institutions perceive and actupon factors within their control that fosterlife satisfaction and improve humanperformance. Coaching, as one of theprimary applications of positive psychology,places a strong emphasis on self-awareness,particularly awareness of positive factorssuch as strengths and preferences.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)and the Values-in-Action Inventory ofStrengths (VIA-IS) are widely used forincreasing self-awareness of positive factors.These instruments are built on different

theoretical platforms but both provide infor-mation that coaches can use to help individ-uals increase life satisfaction (Myers & Myers,1995; Seligman, 2002). The MBTI helpspeople understand the implications of theirpreferences in mental functioning, while theVIA-IS ranks character strengths in the orderthat people tend to express them. The onesthat are most often and naturally used aresignature strengths. Using the MBTI, coachescan help people understand their ownmental preferences and accept that otherpeople may prefer to think and so behavedifferently. Using the VIA-IS results, coachescan help people build on their strengths asfoundations of successful change.

Character strengths and virtuesAccording to Seligman (2002), people canenhance happiness by discovering theirsignature strengths, owning them, andchoosing to use them in the main realms oflife. Peterson and Seligman (2004) studiedcharacter strengths and values and defined24 character strengths that seem to be valued

Character strengths and type:Exploration of covariationSulynn Choong & Kathryn Britton

Objective: To explore covariation between character strengths and psychological types as per the MBTI®. Design: Using a survey design, the study collected data on the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths andthe MBTI®.Method: 98 adult volunteers participated in this exploratory study of potential links between psychologicaltype as determined by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® and signature strengths as identified by the Valuesin Action Inventory of Strengths.Results: The results show significant covariations between nine signature strengths and single typedimensions namely, creativity (intuition), open-mindedness (thinking), love of learning (introversion),integrity (sensing and thinking), persistence (judging), vitality (extraversion), love (extraversion andfeeling), fairness (sensing), and gratitude (extraversion). Love, integrity, and gratitude also covary withmultiple paired type combinations. Curiosity covaries only with a single paired type combination(introverted intuition). Conclusion: There is meaningful covariation between psychological type and character strengths. The discussion addresses the applicability of the results to coaching psychology.Keywords: MBTI®; character strengths; covariation.

by virtually every culture and hold trueacross time and geographic borders. Thesestrengths are grouped under six virtue cate-gories, namely, wisdom, courage, humanity,justice, temperance and transcendence.According to the criteria set by Peterson andSeligman (2004), a character strength isfulfilling and morally valued in itself, doesnot diminish others, is pervasive and trait-like, is distinct from other strengths, isembodied by paragons and prodigies, and issupported by rituals within the larger society.Table 1 shows a summary of the 24 characterstrengths in the VIA classification.

Seligman (2002) says that the highestsuccess in life comes from enhancing andusing our character strengths rather thanfocusing on our weaknesses. Coaches canuse the VIA-IS to help people shift focusfrom weaknesses to strengths. Furthermore,coaches can use awareness of signaturestrengths to tailor client action requests andpositive interventions for specific individ-uals, improving the probability of significantimpact.

Psychological typeMyers and Briggs extended Jungian psycho-logical type theory (Jung, 1927/1971) toform a discipline for helping people under-stand and use natural preferences of mentalfunctioning (Myers & Myers, 1995). TheMBTI embodies the practical application oftype theory, enabling people to understandtheir own and others’ psychological typesand to integrate such understanding intoeveryday life (Myers, McCauley, Quenk &Hammer, 1998).

MBTI indicates preferences on four typedichotomies, each consisting of two oppositepoles representing the natural ways thatpeople use their minds differently (Myers,1998). The four type dichotomies vary inde-pendently and result in 16 psychologicaltypes. Psychological type is ‘an underlyingpersonality pattern resulting from thedynamic interaction of our four preferences,environmental influences, and our ownchoices’ (Myers, 1998, p.5).

Two of the dichotomies represent func-tions, that is, the basic mental processes thattake in information (perceiving) and act uponit (judging). The opposite poles of theperceiving function are sensing (S) and intu-ition (N), and those of the judging functionare thinking (T) and feeling (F). The othertwo dichotomies, known as orientations, affectthe expression of the perceiving and judgingfunctions. The two opposite poles of theorientation of energy are extraversion (E) andintroversion (I). Orientation to the externalworld indicates that a person prefers to dealwith the external world by using either thejudging (J) function or the perceiving (P)function.

The perceiving (S-N) function representsthe way information is taken in forprocessing without evaluation. Ss (sensingtypes) attend to information that is observ-able and discernible through the five senses,and Ns (intuitive types) attend to meanings,relationships or possibilities that come byway of insight or have been ‘worked outbeyond the reach of conscious mind’ (Myerset al., 1998, p.6). The judging (T-F) functionrepresents the way perceived information isevaluated and decisions are made. Ts(thinking types) tend to make impersonaldecisions on the basis of logical conse-quences whereas Fs (feeling types) decideprimarily on the basis of personal and groupvalues.

The orientation of energy (extraversion-introversion) refers to the direction to whichenergy is directed and from which energy isdrawn. Es (extraverted types) focus energyon the outer world of people and activity,and receive ‘energy from interaction withpeople and from taking action’, while Is(introverted types) direct energy inward intotheir ‘inner world of ideas and experience”,and receive energy “from reflecting on theirthoughts, memories, and feelings’ (Myers,1998, p.6).

The fourth dichotomy, the orientation tothe external world, represents how a personprefers to deal with the outer world. Js (judging types) typically use thinking or


Sulynn Choong & Kathryn Britton

Wisdom: Cognitive strengths involving acquisition and use of knowledge.Creativity: Thinking of novel and productive ways to do things.Curiosity: Exploring, discovering, taking an interest in all ongoing experience.Open-mindedness (Judgment): Examining things from all sides, thinking things through.Love of learning: Mastering skills or topics, adding systematically to bodies of knowledge.Perspective: Providing wise counsel to others.

Courage: Emotional strengths that exercise the will to accomplish goals in the face of obstacles.Bravery: Acting on convictions without shrinking from threat or difficulty.Persistence: Finishing what gets started, continuing in the face of obstacles. Integrity: Acting according to personal values, taking responsibility for one’s self and actions. Vitality: Approaching life with energy and excitement.

Humanity: Interpersonal strengths.Love: Valuing and fostering close reciprocal relationships with others. Kindness: Helping others, doing good deeds and favours. Social Intelligence: Understanding motives and feelings of self and others, fitting in socially.

Justice: Civic strengths that underlie healthy community life.Citizenship: Working well as a member of a group, doing one’s share, being loyal.Fairness: Giving everyone a fair chance, treating people the same according to a sense of justice.Leadership: Organising group activities and seeing that they happen.

Temperance: Strengths that protect against excess.Forgiveness and mercy: Forgiving those who have done wrong, giving second chances.Humility and modesty: Letting accomplishments speak for themselves, not seeking limelight.Prudence: Being careful, refraining from saying or doing what would later be regretted.Self-regulation: Being disciplined, controlling appetites and emotions.

Transcendence: Strengths of connection to the larger universe that provide meaning.Appreciation of beauty and excellence: Awe for excellence in art, nature, all domains of life.Gratitude: Being thankful for the good things that happen.Hope: Expecting the best and believing one can work to achieve it.Humour: Seeing the light side, bringing smiles and laughter.Spirituality: Having beliefs about the meaning of life that shape conduct and provide comfort.



Table 1: VIA Classification of Character Strengths.

Note: These are excerpts from Table 27.1 (Park & Peterson, 2004), reproduced with permission.



feeling (the judging processes) and prefer tolive in a planned, orderly manner, seeking toregulate, structure, and organise the outerworld in pursuit of closure (Myers, 1998). Ps (perceiving types) use sensing or intuition(the perceiving processes) when dealingwith the outer world and prefer to live in aflexible and spontaneous way, remainingopen to experience and understanding,rather than controlling life (Myers).

These eight mental processes are avail-able to and used by everyone, but eachperson has a natural preference for one ofthe two opposing poles in each dichotomy.These natural preferences cause individualsto develop habits of behaviour and person-ality patterns characteristic of the preferredprocesses (Jung, 1927/1971; Myers et al.,1998). Myers et al. observed that somepeople are able to use their type differencesmore effectively than others. Type psycholo-gists encourage building on natural prefer-ences before dealing with less preferredfunctions or orientations.

Coaches can help people explore howwell they capitalise on their natural prefer-ences both in everyday behaviour and inperiods of stress. Unlike most personalitymeasurements, MBTI directly addressesinteractions between people, both those whoshare the same preferences and those whodo not. Using MBTI information, coachescan help clients raise energy and optimismby reframing the way they interpret difficul-ties arising from their differences withothers. They can then adapt behaviour andcommunication styles (Myers et al., 1998) tointeract with others more effectively.

Covariation between type and signaturestrengthsThis study explores the value of looking atpeople from the two perspectives of psycho-logical type and signature strengths. TheVIA-IS and MBTI instruments both provideinformation about the uniqueness of an indi-vidual, and both have been completed exten-sively by thousands of individuals worldwide.However, there is to date no published

research of which we are aware that exam-ines the associations between these twowidely used instruments. This study beginsan exploration of using type and strengthstogether by posing the basic question ofwhether there are covariations between typepreferences and particular signaturestrengths.

MethodParticipantsNinety-eight adults between the ages of 20and 65, 70 female and 28 male, participatedin this study by submitting to the researchersa list of their top five VIA character strengthsand their MBTI type. The sample populationwas gathered by the snowball samplingmethod. Proficiency in the English languagewas required for participation because thematerials used were in English. All partici-pants signed informed consent formsallowing their data to be used in this study.Further demographic information was notcollected.

Measures and materialsPsychological type was determined usingMBTI Form G, a proprietary self-reportinstrument owned by Consulting Psycholo-gists Press. Form G, the research version, isan inventory of 126 forced-choice phrasequestions and word pairs (Myers et al., 1998).Respondents mark their answers to the ques-tions on custom Form G answer sheets.Answer sheets are scored by the Center forApplication of Psychological Type (CAPT),and respondents receive the results throughthe administrator.

Character strengths were determinedusing the Values in Action Inventory ofStrengths (VIA-IS) web-based self-reportquestionnaire (Values-in-Action Institute,n.d.). The VIA-IS comprises 240 five-pointLikert scale items relating to the 24 char-acter strengths in the VIA classification(Peterson & Seligman, 2004). Participantsindicate the degree to which they endorsestatements presented in the questionnaire.The VIA-IS responses are computer-scored


using ipsative rank scoring. A list of the topfive strengths is made instantly available tothe respondent.

ProcedureWe administered the MBTI Form G to 75participants in small groups. Completedanswer sheets were sent to the CAPT forbatch processing. Each participant receivednotification of his/her MBTI results andgeneral information on characteristicsfrequently associated with the 16 typeprofiles. The remaining 23 participantsprovided type information they hadobtained previously in work or schoolsettings.

All participants completed the web-basedVIA-IS questionnaire and submitted theirlists of top five signature strengths to theresearchers through electronic mail.

ResultsThe frequency of occurrence of individualcharacter strengths ranged from a count of 3 for self-control to 45 for curiosity. The covari-ation of MBTI types with character strengthswas explored using chi-square analysis onactual and expected frequency measures foreach MBTI preference or paired combina-tion against each of the 24 VIA characterstrengths. Identification of significant covari-ation was based on computed exact two-sided significance levels. Some of thecharacter strengths did not occur frequentlyenough in the sample for the results to beconclusive, given they had chi-square scoreswith one or more cells with an expectedcount less than five. In the spirit of explo-ration, these inconclusive results, which areclearly marked, are included for discussionas they may indicate interesting possibilitiesfor research with larger samples.

Table 2 shows the results for each of thefour individual type dichotomies. In

summary, the character strengths of vitality(p<.005) and love (p<.05) are more likelyamong Es than Is, and love of learning(p<.005) and humility (p<.05) are more likelyamong Is than Es although there were toofew occurrences of humility in the samplefor the results to be conclusive. Ss are morelikely to have integrity (p<.005) and fairness(p<.05), while Ns are more likely to havecreativity (p<.05). Inconclusive results werefound for prudence among Ss (p<.05), andvitality (p<.05) and social intelligence (p<.05)among Ns. Ts are more likely to have open-mindedness (p<.05), while Fs are more likelyto have love (p<.05), and gratitude (p<.005).Persistence is more likely among Js (p<.05); norelationship was found to be significant forPs.

Tables 3, 4, and 5 show the chi-square testscores on covariation of character strengthswith paired type combinations such as EI xTF, which stands for Extraversion/Introver-sion combined with Thinking/Feeling,resulting in the paired combinations of ET,EF, IT, IF.

Table 3 shows that curiosity covaries signif-icantly with the IN paired combination(p<.05) in contrast to Table 2 that shows nosignificant covariation of curiosity with anyindividual type dichotomy. It also showssignificant covariation between the EFpaired combination and the characterstrengths love (p<.01) and gratitude (p<.005).The other significant covariations in thistable are suggestive but inconclusive.

Table 4 shows that integrity covaries signif-icantly with both ST and SF (p<.05), whilelove (p<.01) and gratitude (p<.005) covarywith EF.

Table 5 shows that gratitude covariessignificantly (p<.005) with both FP and FJ.

The paired combinations of IF, IP, NJ, TJ,and TP do not show significant covariancewith any character strength.




Tabl

e 2:

Inci

denc

e of

indi

vidu

al M

BTI t

ype

pref

eren

ces

wit

h pa

rtic

ular

cha

ract

er s

tren

gths

(N=9

8).

Stre

ngth

sE

Iχ2

pS

Nχ2

pT

Fχ2

pJ

Pχ2

p49

49df

=139

59df

=154

44df

=165

33df

=1

Crea

tivi

ty17

102.

51.1

75

227.

04.0

119

83.

51.0

715

121.

94.2

3Cu

riosi

ty21

240.

37.3

413

324.

13.0

6a27

180.

81.4

230

150.

001.

00O

pen-

min

dedn

ess

1218

1.73

.27

1614

3.31

.08a

228

5.81

.03

237

2.07

.17

Love

to

lear

n5

189.

60.0

07

161.

10.3

415

81.

24.1

915

80.

021.

00Pe

rspe

ctiv

e10

34.

35.0

74

90.

51.5

610

32.

89.1

38

50.

15.7

6a

Brav

ery

37

1.78

.51a

55

0.48

.75a

55

0.12

.75a

73

0.07

1.00

a

Pers

iste

nce

714

2.97

.14

912

0.11

.80

138

0.50

.62

183

4.50

.04

Inte

grit

y12

202.

97.1

320

1210

.22

.00

1913

0.35

.67

239

0.66

.50

Vita

lity

120

13.6

7.0

01

115.

65.0

3a6

60.

14.7

67

50.

39.7

5a

Love

2512

7.34

.01

1225

1.35

.29

1423

7.16

.01

2512

0.04

1.00

Kind

ness

1413

0.05

1.00

1215

0.34

.65

1314

0.73

.50

1710

0.19

.81

Soci

al In

telli

genc

e7

14.

90.0

6a0

85.

76.0

2a5

30.

19.7

34

41.

04.4

4Ci

tize

nshi

p9

80.

071.

0010

7

3.11

.10

98

0.04

1.00

116

0.02

1.00

Fairn

ess

1420

1.62

.29

1915

5.62

.03

1915

0.01

1.00

2014

1.31

.27

Lead

ersh

ip5

70.

38.7

64

80.

24.7

6a8

40.

74.5

49

30.

46.5

4Fo

rgiv

enes

s11

100.

061.

008

130.

031.

0011

100.

08.8

113

80.

23.8

0H

umili

ty1

86.

00.0

3a3

60.

17.7

46

30.

54.5

1a6

30.

001.

00a

Prud

ence

16

3.85

.11a

61

6.63

.02a

61

2.86

.13a

43

0.29

.69

Self

-Con

trol

12

0.34

1.00

a0

32.

05.2

7a3

02.

52.2

5a3

01.

57.3

2a

Beau

ty9

90.

001.

004

142.

84.1

19

90.

23.7

910

81.

15.4

1G

rati

tude

1813

1.18

.39

1417

0.55

.51

823

15.7

3.0

021

100.

041.

00H

ope

95

1.33

.39

59

0.11

.78

77

0.17

.78

77

1.95

.22

Hum

our

137

2.26

.21

713

0.24

.30

911

1.04

.33

155

0.85

.43

Spiri

tual

ity

910

0.07

1.00

118

3.22

.12

712

3.18

.12

145

0.57

.59

aRe

sult

s ar

e in

conc

lusi

ve b

ecau

se o

ne o

r m

ore

cells

hav

e co

unts

less

tha

n fi

ve.



Tabl

e 3:

Fre

quen

cy o

f pa

ired

type

com

bina

tion

s fo

r ch

arac

ter

stre

ngth

s:EI

x S

N a

nd E

I x T

F (N

=98)

.

EI x

SN

EI x

TF

Stre

ngth

sES

ENIS

INχ2

pET

EFIT

IFχ2

p12

3727

22df

=322

2732

17df

=3

Crea

tivi

ty1

164

68.

98.0

3a11

68

28.

17.0

4a

Curio

sity

516

816

9.45

.02

129

159

2.73

.44

Ope

n-m

inde

dnes

s4

812

64.

00.2

77

515

37.

20.0

7Lo

ve o

f le

arni

ng0

57

1114

.43

.00a

23

135

10.4

1.0

1a

Pers

pect

ive

28

21

4.63

.22a

73

30

9.71

.02a

Brav

ery

03

52

3.61

.33a

03

52

3.60

.32a

Pers

iste

nce

16

86

3.34

.36a

34

104

3.37

.35a

Inte

grit

y6

614

611

.00

.01a

57

146

3.39

.35

Vita

lity

111

00

17.5

4.0

0a6

60

013

.96

.00a

Love

620

75

7.98

.05a

916

57

12.1

6.0

1Ki

ndne

ss5

97

61.

43.7

3a7

76

73.

06.3

9a

Soci

al In

telli

genc

e 0

70

19.

56.0

2a4

31

05.

85.1

1a

Citi

zens

hip

45

62

4.01

.28a

36

62

1.07

.76a

Fairn

ess

410

155

7.55

.06a

68

137

1.65

.65

Lead

ersh

ip1

43

41.

00.8

1a3

25

20.

97.8

4a

Forg

iven

ess

38

55

0.25

.97a

74

46

5.57

.14a

Hum

ility

01

35

8.04

.04a

01

62

6.84

.07a

Prud

ence

10

51

8.36

.03a

01

60

9.98

.02a

Self

-Con

trol

01

02

3.94

.26a

10

20

2.65

.55a

Beau

ty2

72

74.

85.1

9a4

55

40.

46.9

5a

Gra

titu

de6

128

52.

74.4

4a3

155

816

.10

.00

Hop

e1

84

13.

68.3

1a3

64

12.

46.4

9a

Hum

our

49

34

3.09

.37a

67

34

3.64

.32a

Spiri

tual

ity

45

73

3.51

.34a

18

64

5.11

.17a

aRe

sult

s ar

e in

conc

lusi

ve b

ecau

se o

ne o

r m

ore

cells

hav

e co

unts

less

tha

n fi

ve.


Sulynn Choong & Kathryn BrittonTa

ble

4: F

requ

ency

of

paire

d ty

pe c

ombi

nati

ons

for

char

acte

r st

reng

ths:

EI x

JP

and

SN x

TF

(N=9

8).

EI x

JP

SN x

TF

Stre

ngth

sEJ

EPIJ

IPχ2

pST

SFN

TN

Fχ2

p30

1935

14df

=323

1631

28df

=3

Crea

tivi

ty7

108

27.

88.0

5a4

115

711

.66

.01a

Curio

sity

138

177

0.39

.94

85

1913

5.49

.14

Ope

n-m

inde

dnes

s9

314

43.

45.3

3a12

410

48.

83.0

3a

Love

of

lear

ning

14

144

12.3

6.0

1a4

311

53.

65.3

3a

Pers

pect

ive

64

21

4.38

.23a

31

72

3.94

.28a

Brav

ery

21

52

1.81

.65a

50

05

10.4

7.0

1a

Pers

iste

nce

52

131

8.58

.03a

63

75

0.60

.91a

Inte

grit

y9

314

64.

08.2

7a12

87

510

.39

.02

Vita

lity

75

00

13.7

7.0

0a1

05

56.

20.1

0a

Love

178

84

8.53

.04

57

916

8.24

.04

Kind

ness

95

85

1.00

.82a

59

2321

2.63

.46a

Soci

al In

telli

genc

e4

30

15.

70.1

2a0

05

36.

33.0

8a

Citi

zens

hip

54

62

0.28

.96a

55

43

3.75

.31a

Fairn

ess

95

119

6.46

.09a

127

78

6.15

.11

Lead

ersh

ip4

15

21.

09.8

1a3

15

31.

05.8

3a

Forg

iven

ess

65

73

0.35

.97a

44

76

0.37

.95a

Hum

ility

01

62

6.48

.09a

30

33

2.12

.61a

Prud

ence

10

33

6.53

.09a

51

10

10.2

8.0

2a

Self

-Con

trol

10

20

1.88

.77a

00

30

6.69

.09a

Beau

ty4

56

31.

43.7

2a2

27

72.

99.4

1a

Gra

titu

de13

58

53.

50.3

2a4

104

1317

.07

.00

Hop

e3

64

15.

91.1

2a3

24

50.

41.9

4a

Hum

our

103

52

4.47

.22a

43

58

1.65

.66a

Spiri

tual

ity

54

91

2.42

.50a

56

26

6.83

.08a

aRe

sult

s ar

e in

conc

lusi

ve b

ecau

se o

ne o

r m

ore

cells

hav

e co

unts

less

tha

n fi

ve.



Tabl

e 5:

Fre

quen

cy o

f pa

ired

type

com

bina

tion

s fo

r ch

arac

ter

stre

ngth

s:SN

x J

P an

d TF

x J

P (N

=98)

.

SN x

JP

TF x

JP

Stre

ngth

sSJ

SPN

JN

Pχ2

pTJ

TPFJ

FPχ2

p31

834

25df

=338

1627

17df

=3

Crea

tivi

ty4

111

118.

02.0

4a11

84

46.

41.1

0a

Curio

sity

94

2111

7.09

.07a

207

108

1.59

.67

Ope

n-m

inde

dnes

s14

29

54.

81.2

0a17

56

27.

31.0

6a

Love

of

lear

ning

52

106

1.61

.66

105

53

1.40

.72a

Pers

pect

ive

31

54

0.58

.92a

64

21

3.74

.29a

Brav

ery

41

32

0.50

.93a

41

32

0.35

1.00

a

Pers

iste

nce

90

93

5.08

.17a

112

71

4.80

.19a

Inte

grit

y15

58

411

.17

.01a

127

112

5.09

.17

Vita

lity

10

65

5.80

.12a

42

33

0.60

.94

Love

111

1411

2.82

.45a

104

158

7.49

.06a

Kind

ness

93

87

0.71

.83a

85

95

1.30

.70a

Soci

al In

telli

genc

e 0

04

46.

10.1

0a2

32

12.

96.4

2a

Citi

zens

hip

82

34

3.63

.31a

63

53

0.11

1.00

a

Fairn

ess

136

78

9.52

.02a

118

96

2.23

.52

Lead

ersh

ip4

05

31.

32.8

2a7

12

22.

48.5

4a

Forg

iven

ess

71

67

1.33

.74a

83

55

0.85

.87a

Hum

ility

30

33

1.06

.86a

42

21

0.62

.86a

Prud

ence

42

01

8.39

.04a

33

10

5.07

.15a

Self

-Con

trol

00

30

5.83

.12a

30

00

4.89

.22a

Beau

ty3

17

73.

40.3

4a7

23

64.

56.2

3a

Gra

titu

de11

310

70.

57.8

8a7

114

916

.51

.00

Hop

e3

24

52.

13.5

5a6

11

69.

51.0

2a

Hum

our

52

103

3.24

.36a

72

83

2.20

.55a

Spiri

tual

ity

101

44

4.98

.17a

61

84

4.08

.25a

aRe

sult

s ar

e in

conc

lusi

ve b

ecau

se o

ne o

r m

ore

cells

hav

e co

unts

less

tha

n fi

ve.



DiscussionWe now discuss the meaningful and inter-pretable patterns of covariation in theresults.

From a type perspectiveSixteen of the 24 VIA character strengthscovary with one or more of the MBTI typedichotomies or paired combinations,although the test results on six of theseremain inconclusive. Eight of the nine mostprevalent strengths in this sample (curiosity,love, fairness, integrity, gratitude, love of learning,creativity and open-mindedness) have significantcovariation(s) with one or more of the MBTItype dichotomies or paired combinations. Ofnote is the strong covariation between vitalityand extraversion (p<.005). It is also inter-esting that curiosity, the most frequentlyoccurring strength in the sample, covarieswith the paired combination of introversionand intuition (IN) but not with any particulartype dichotomy. Love is the only strength thatcovaries with more than one individual typedichotomy, namely, with E and F.

It seems that that paired combinationsmight have a carryover effect from one of thedichotomies in the pair. For example, SFcovaries with both integrity and gratitude,whereas integrity only covaries with S but notF, and gratitude covaries with F but not S. Inthe four cases where there is no likelihood ofcarryover effect, namely curiosity, perspective,bravery and hope, it may be that the combina-tion of individual types produce a dynami-cally unique type profile that is more thanjust the sum of the parts.

Curiosity is such a strength that onlycovaries with IN but not I or N. What is itabout the pairing of I and N that creates anassociation that does not show up with I or Nindependently? Table 1 describes curiosity asdiscovery, exploration, and taking aninterest in all ongoing experience, whileMyers describes the IN combination asfinding ‘greatest value in the interpretationof life and the promotion of understanding’(1998, p.81). Perspective covaries with ETwithout covarying with either E or T sepa-

rately. This strength is characterised bygiving wise counsel to others, so anextraverted thinker who tends to have abroad experience of what life presents and abent toward ‘enlargement of human know-ledge and understanding’ (1998, p.68)could be expected to have more worldlywisdom to share with the outer world. Hope, described in Table 1 as expecting thebest, covaries inconclusively with FP. It isunderstandable how the F focus on happyendings influenced by the P tendency to stayopen to whatever life hands outs, eagerlyexpecting new experiences and loathe toforeclose any situation with irrevocable judg-ment, might be the same as being hopeful.Bravery covaries with SN and TF pairs ratherinconclusively since only 10 participantsincluded bravery as a signature strength andhalf of them were STs and half were NFs.This may be a sampling anomaly worthexploring in a larger sample.

From a strengths perspectiveWisdom strengths are cognitive strengths (seeTable 1) that are logical and rational innature (Peterson & Seligman, 2004), whichmay explain the covariation of the logical andimpersonal T types with all but one of thewisdom strengths. Curiosity is the exception.Wisdom types are clustered around the EIand SN dichotomies with creativity and perspec-tive more common among Es and curiosity andlove of learning more common among Is.Creativity, curiosity, and love of learning allcovary with Ns who crave inspiration andprefer the joy and enterprise of opportunitiesand possibilities (Myers, 1998). In contrast, wenote that open-mindedness is more commonamong Ss who are practical, factual anddetail-oriented (Myers, 1998), reflecting theindividual’s search and evaluation of evidenceand opinions different from those heldpersonally (Peterson & Seligman, 2004). Anearlier finding of a correlation between N andthe character strength of perspective (Stone,2005) was not seen in the results of our study.

Curiosity and love of learning both covarywith IN, a type combination that tends to


value knowledge for its own sake (Myers,1998). The covariation with IN indicates thatboth love of learning and curiosity are more ofan internal state than an activity. Cognitiveprocess theory indicates that curiosity isfuelled by the anxiety-provoking nature ofinner conceptual conflicts (Hebb, 1949;Beswick, 1971, as cited in Peterson &Seligman, 2004), which corresponds to anIN’s drive to make sense of amassed infor-mation through internal pattern recognitionand concept formation (Myers et al., 1998).The covariation of love of learning with J whilecuriosity has no other covariations provides ahelpful insight into the difference betweenthe two. The J covariation represents theaction orientation and need for organisationinvolved in love of learning described in Table1 as systematic accrual of knowledge. This isconsistent with the view that love of learningmay be conceptualised as ‘effectance motiva-tion: the drive to interact competently withthe world’ (Peterson & Seligman, 2004,p.103), thus necessitating more decisivenessthan curiosity (White, 1959 as cited inPeterson & Seligman, 2004; Myers, 1998).

The VIA-IS does not include sensation-seeking as a construct for curiosity, whichhelps explain the association of curiositywith I types. Introverts delight in novel,unanticipated, and affect–arousing experi-ences but not the sensation-producingaspects of experiences, according to a studywhich examined correlations between typeand Zuckerman’s Sensation Seeking Scale(Thorne & Gough, 1991). In terms of the EIorientation, past research had shown that Estend to be sensation-seekers whereas I typesprefer to reduce the sensation-producingaspects of their experience (Thorne &Gough, 1991).

The strengths with an EN covariation,namely, creativity, love, vitality and social intel-ligence, are strengths that involve otherpeople and the external world. This supportsobservations of ENs who tend to be enthusi-astic about living well, find meaning in lifethrough shared values and successful inter-personal relationships, and use their ‘intu-

itive and global thought processes’ (Berens& Nardi, 1999, p.36) to change the reality ofthe world around them (Myers, 1998).

That creativity also covaries with EN, ET,EP, NT, and NP type pairs seems to add upto ENTP, a type profile that matches the defi-nition of creativity being both original andadaptive (Peterson & Seligman, 2004).Berens and Nardi describe the ENTP as animaginative and clever explorer inventor whoenjoys the creative process, sees the worldfrom ‘multiple perspectives using multiplemodels’ and trusts instincts to find ‘creative,unusual and efficient’ solutions to resolveproblems (1999, p.32).

Type studies indicate that Ns respondfavourably to ‘open, fluid, task-linked envi-ronments’ (Thorne & Gough, 1991, p.73),and Ss prefer friction-free, defined, andregularised environments where they canfocus on practical and realistic problem-solving. Introverted Sensing (IS) types tendto be ‘thoughtful realists’ (Myers, 1998,p.30), and this is perhaps well-reflected in itscovariation with the signature strengths ofintegrity, fairness and prudence, all of which areconcerned with what is true, proper andright. Persistence covaries with IJ, the introvertwho deals with the world using the judgingfunction, marching to a personal drum beatas it were, seemingly adamant and inflexibleuntil convinced by compelling reason tochange course or timing (Myers et al., 1998).

The VIA description of prudence and theISTJ profile are very close. The prudentperson according to the VIA classification isvery careful and avoids potentiallydangerous situations by thinking throughconsequences (Peterson & Seligman, 2004).This is a very close match for ISTJ types, thedependable, sensible and risk adverseplanner inspectors whose theme is planningahead meticulously, monitoring and regu-lating, and ensuring predictable quality andconservation of resources or culture (Berens& Nardi, 1999).

Love covaries with E, F, EF, EJ and NFtypes. Putting the various type combinationstogether suggests that the ENFJ type may




characterise the signature strength of‘capacity to love and be loved’ (Steen,Kachorek & Peterson, 2003). For ENFJs,meaning and purpose in life comes fromnurturing relationships and empathicconnections that foster mutual growththrough communication and sharing values,‘drawing the best out of others’ (Berens &Nardi, 1999, p.36). These results mirror theVIA definition of love being ‘within a recip-rocated relationship with another … markedby the sharing of aid, comfort and accept-ance … (involving) strong positive feelings,commitment, and even sacrifice’ (Peterson& Seligman, 2004, p.293). Comparing typetendencies to the VIA constructs of love, wefind that the EF combination may accountfor the outpouring of care and affection aswell as the concern for harmony and accept-ance. NF’s profound insights into humanrelationships may support the willingness totake risks in building relationships, and thetendency of EJs to cause things to happenmakes them active and effective in caring forothers (Myers et al., 1998).

Gratitude covaries very significantly with Falone (p<.005) and in EF, SF, FJ/ FP combi-nations (p<.01). Grateful people are promptand profuse in appreciating the goodaround them and in others (Peterson &Seligman, 2004). This may be observed inSFs who exude warmth and concern forothers based on personal values andempathy and EFs who reach out to peopleand expect mutual appreciation of who theyare and their contributions. Both the FJswho express support and encourage others’growth and FPs who are ‘adaptable, affilia-tive harmony seekers’ (Myers et al., 1998,p.54), add to the grateful caricature. All said,for the ESFJ/ESFP, being happy and livingharmoniously means that life is a process ofacceptance and giving on a day-to-day basis(Berens & Nardi, 1999).

This study highlighted several areas ofsignificant covariation between signaturestrengths and type. Some are inconclusivedue to cell count deficiency. The findings ofthis study imply that observations of type

(Myers et al., 1998, Berens & Nardi, 1999)and several constructs of character strength(Peterson & Seligman, 2004) are mutuallysupportive. Further study is warranted to vali-date these findings and to explore the impli-cations of these covariations for coachingand other positive psychology applications.

Improvements to method and procedureThe external validity of data and findings ina study like this may be threatened by theeffect of social desirability on participantresponses or by individuals who second-guess the intention of the survey/question-naire and respond to perceived demandcharacteristics (Bordens & Abbott, 2002). Inorder to mitigate the threat to externalvalidity, we adhered to a written script in theadministration of the MBTI to ensureproper framing of the situational context forthe self-report. A better alternative to eradi-cate the effect of social desirability andnarcissism would be the use of non-trans-parent self-report instruments (Peterson &Seligman, 2004).

The sample size for this study was also alimiting factor which might have led to 34out of 55 of the significant test results beinginconclusive. To validate the results of thisstudy, a replication with a considerablylarger sample size of 500 to 1000 people,would be ideal.

The findings in this study may be skewedas a result of the data that we used in theanalysis. We had only asked for the partici-pants’ five VIA signature strengths and the 4-letter type, instead of the full score details. Itseems that the VIA-IS ranking of signaturestrengths is processed by sorting thestrengths by score size and where the scoresare identical, the strengths are arrangedalphabetically. Without access to the raw VIAscores, we were unable to determine theextent of variability across the 24 characterstrengths. Similarly, we did not use the MBTIpreference scores which could have yieldedinformation about the clarity of the prefer-ence in each dichotomy instead of theassumed extreme choice. As a result, we


lacked the ability to determine how muchany covariation depended on the intensity ofa strength or the clarity of a type preference.To enhance the understanding of the rela-tionship between type preference and char-acter strength, future researchers shouldconsider using the actual scores on both theMBTI and VIA-IS, which are available uponrequest from their respective owners.

The sample diversity in this study washandicapped by the snowball samplingmethod used, given that participants tend torecruit others like themselves demographi-cally. Using sample recruitment methodsthat are more random could yield a morerepresentative sample in terms of gender,age, education, and ethnicity, thus makingthe results more generally applicable.

Implications for coachingJungian psychology tells us that the sixteenpsychological types are merely indicative ofmental preferences and that there are multi-tudes of variations in behaviour due to otherinfluences. We suggest character strengths asdefined by the VIA are important amongthese influences.

Coaches and clients use personalitymeasures like MBTI and VIA independentlyto increase client self-awareness and to tailoraction requests to enhance client success.This study provides a very preliminary indi-cation that using the MBTI and VIAmeasures in combination (strength-type combi-nations) may become a means for skillfulcoaches ‘to forward the action and deepenthe learning’ (Whitworth, Kimsey-House &Sandahl, 1998, p.11).

An informed coach can use awareness ofthe covariations between type and characterstrength as the basis for asking a client to payattention to the way strengths are affected bymental preferences or vice versa. This offersinsight both when the client’s strength-typecombination is in line with the researchresults, but even more so when it is not. Forinstance, our study shows that vitalitycovaries with extraversion. How is vitalitymanifested by an introvert? Does the char-

acter strength create impulses so strong thatthe preference for introversion is overcome?Are there ways that introversion affects theway vitality is expressed, and can these beuseful for achieving particular goals? How isvitality in an extraverted client distinguish-able from vitality in an introverted indi-vidual? Understanding the dynamics ofstrength-type covariation may provide cluesto the action triggers that are prerequisitesto behavioural change.

Client and coach can explore the inter-action between their own two strength-typecombinations as a way to enhance thecoaching relationship by promoting betterrapport and communication. Similarly, theclient’s ability to interact with others may beboosted by awareness of strength-type combi-nations.

Eventually knowledge of strength-typecombinations may help coaches pick positiveinterventions more effectively for specificclients (see also Silberman, this issue). Prac-titioners of positive psychology are activelybuilding a collection of positive interven-tions to help people work on resilience, opti-mism, gratitude, intrinsic motivation,self-efficacy, and other characteristics thatcontribute to subjective well-being andhappiness (Seligman, 2002; Peterson &Seligman, 2004; Peterson, 2006). Not allpositive interventions are equally helpful forall people. There is not a great deal ofresearch evidence to help people select posi-tive interventions for particular people, soselection is usually done by trial and error.Over time, empirical research on theoutcomes of certain positive interventionscould include evaluation of how they workfor certain strength-type combinations. Forexample, our results indicate that love issignificantly linked to extraverted types withfeeling. A coaching assignment forimproving expressions of the love strengthmay yield different outcomes amongextraverted feelers than among introvertedthinkers. Similarly, gratitude is one of thefactors most highly correlated with happi-ness (Peterson, 2006), and there are specific




positive interventions such as the three goodthings exercise (Seligman, 2002; Peterson,2006) and the gratitude visit (Seligman,2002) that aim to increase use of thisstrength. Our data shows that gratitudecovaries with the feeling type. Are therespecial challenges for helping people withthe thinking type increase the gratitudestrength?

Further research on strength-type covari-ation may highlight certain combinationsthat support or impede behavioural change,thereby providing valuable information tocoaches in the design of strength buildingassignments as well as guidance in the evalu-ation of learning and developmentoutcomes. This is a very early stage ofexploratory research, and these are earlysketches of ways that this data can impact thecoaching profession.

Going forwardFurther research into this area could takeseveral directions. Going beyond under-standing the covariation of the two instru-ments, we would like to study the synergisticeffect of different combinations of signaturestrengths and type on individual behaviour.Longitudinal studies into the stability andvulnerability of strength-type combinationsacross individual life spans may yield usefulinsights for application in the developmentof character education initiatives. The studyof the two measures of strengths and typestogether might highlight informational gapsthat could influence the design of theconstructs of the instruments.

Understanding the influences ofstrength-type combination on behaviourthrough empirical research mightcontribute richly to applications of positivepsychology. For example, how do strength-type combinations affect explanatory styles?Given that optimism can be learned(Seligman, 1990), it would be interesting tofind out how different strength-type combi-nations enable or inhibit such learning.Such understanding of behaviour might alsobe useful to coaches and consultants in the

design or selection of highly individualisedinterventions for clients, particularly inreducing the costs associated with trial anderror and improving the sustainability ofpersonal change effects. Resiliency trainingprograms would also benefit from researchin this area.

The study of synergistic applications ofpersonality profiling instruments could beextended to research using other instru-ments such as the Gallup Strengthsfindersurvey (Buckingham & Clifton, 2001) or theHermann Brain Dominance Inventory(Hermann International, n.d.). Instead oftaking an either-or approach to the selectionof personality tools, studies like these couldimprove the attractiveness of using multipleinstruments to add perspective and soenhance the effectiveness of change inter-ventions where self-awareness is a key factor.

This study affirms the need for researchthat examines, by simple comparison ormore complex analyses, the synergistic valueof the tools and instruments designed bypsychologists in their respective fields tomeasure specific factors of personality orcharacter. Such research findings wouldaugment and enhance the impact and valueof the separate contributions of suchmeasures to the understanding and manage-ment of human behaviour, and allowcoaches greater insight into the strengthsand preferences that guide people to act andrespond in the ways they do.

Author noteSulynn (Soo Lin) Choong, Master of AppliedPositive Psychology Program, University ofPennsylvania; Kathryn H. Britton, Master ofApplied Positive Psychology Program,University of Pennsylvania.

Sulynn Choong is now the lead positiveorganisation consultant and coach atHuman Capital Perspectives, Petaling Jaya,Selangor, Malaysia. She also advises oninternal communications with PerspectiveStrategies (http://www.perspective.com.my)and on behavioural change in organisationswith Mindspring Group (http://www.mind-


springgroup.com). Kathryn Britton is now aprofessional coach at Theano Coaching(http://theano-coaching.com). She is also apositive organisation advisor at IBM Corpo-ration, Research Triangle Park, NorthCarolina.

This article is based on the capstoneresearch carried out in compliance with therequirements of the Master of Applied Posi-tive Psychology Program at the University ofPennsylvania. We thank our advisor, Christo-pher Peterson, for his unstinting and wiseguidance, and our project administrator,Michael Maniaci, for help with analysis andinterpretation of results. We also thank the98 participants who generously supportedthis study without any compensation otherthan interest in the topic.

CorrespondenceCorrespondence concerning this articlefrom the Americas and Europe should beaddressed to:Kathryn BrittonTheano Coaching,613 Caswell Road, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 27514, USA.E-mail: [email protected]

Correspondence concerning this articlefrom Asia, Australia, and elsewhere shouldbe addressed to: Sulynn ChoongHuman Capital Perspectives Sdn Bhd, E09-12 Menara Melawangi, 18 Persiaran Barat, 46050 Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.E-mail: [email protected]


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types: Descriptions for self-discovery. HuntingdonBeach, CA: Telos Publications.

Bordens, K.S. & Abbott, B.B. (2002). Research designand methods: A process approach (5th ed.). NewYork: McGraw-Hill.

Buckingham, M. & Clifton, D. (2001). Now, discoveryour strengths. New York: Free Press.

Hermann International (n.d.). Hermann InternationalResources: Research. Retrieved 17 July, 2006, from:http://www.hbdi.com/Resources/Research/index.cfm

Jung, C.G. (1927/1971). Psychological Type: Vol. 6.Collected works of C.G. Jung. London: Routledge &Kegan Paul.

Myers, I. (1998). Introduction to Type: A guide to under-standing your results on the Myers-Briggs Type Indi-cator (6th ed. revised by L. Kirby & K. Myers).Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.

Myers, I. & Myers, P. (1995). Gifts differing. MountainView, CA: Davies-Black Publishing.

Myers, I., McCauley, M.H., Quenk, N.L. & Hammer,A.L. (1998). MBTI® manual: A guide to the develop-ment and use of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®

(3rd ed.). Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psycholo-gists Press.

Park, N. & Peterson, C. (2004). Classification andmeasurement of character strengths: Implica-tions for practice. In P.A. Linley & S. Joseph(Eds.), Positive psychology in practice (pp.433–446).Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Peterson, C. (2006). A primer in positive psychology.Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Peterson, C. & Seligman, M.E.P. (2004). Characterstrengths and virtues: A handbook and classification.New York: Oxford University Press.

Seligman, M. (2002). Authentic happiness. New York:Free Press.

Seligman, M.E.P. (1990). Learned optimism. New York:Knopf.

Steen, T.A, Kachorek, L.V. & Peterson, C. (2003).Character strengths among youth. Journal ofYouth and Adolescence, 32, 5–16.

Stone, P. (2005, October). Comparing results of CliftonStrengthsFinder (CSF), Myers-Briggs Type Indicator(MBTI) and Values-In-Action (VIA). Paperpresented at the Positive Psychology Summit,Washington, DC.

Thorne, A. & Gough, H. (1991). Portraits of type: An MBTI research compendium. Palo Alto, CA:Consulting Psychologists Press.

Values-in-Action Institute. (n.d.). Authentic happiness:VIA signature strengths questionnaire. Retrieved 10 July, 2006, from:http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/

Whitworth, L., Kimsey-House, H. & Sandahl, P.(1998). Co-active coaching: New skills for coachingpeople toward success in work and life. MountainView, CA: Davies-Black Publishing.

LIFE (OR PERSONAL) COACHINGcan be understood as a collaborative,solution-focused, results-orientated

systematic process, in which the coach facili-tates the enhancement of the coachee’s lifeexperience, goal attainment and well-beingand fosters the self-directed learning andpersonal growth of the people from normal(i.e. non-clinical) populations.

Recent studies have provided preliminaryevidence for the efficacy of evidence-basedlife coaching. These studies, from theemerging field of coaching psychology, haveindicated that an evidence-based lifecoaching intervention can enhance goalstriving, well-being and hope (Green, Oades& Grant, 2006), increase goal attainmentand satisfaction with life, increase perceivedcontrol over environmental factors andresult in greater openness towards new lifeexperiences (Spence & Grant, 2005). Inaddition, life coaching can increase qualityof life, and reduce depression anxiety and

stress (Grant, 2003). To date, such lifecoaching research has focused on adult,community populations.

Within the life coaching industry, varyingniche applications have developed, such asretirement coaching, relationship coaching,and financial coaching. One emergingspecialised area lies within the educationalsetting. Life coaching within educationalsettings is distinct from educationalcoaching (or tutoring) which is specificallyaimed at improving academic performance.

A pilot life coaching study conducted byCampbell and Gardner (2005) in an educa-tional setting examined the effects of lifecoaching on high school students’ personaland academic development (Year 12). Theirfindings indicated that life coaching mayhave the potential to build resilience andwell-being in young people, and helpstudents cope with the stresses of highschool. In the Campbell and Gardner (2005)pilot study, only 12 students took part in the

24 International Coaching Psychology Review ● Vol. 2 No. 1 March 2007© The British Psychological Society – ISSN: 1750-2764

Evidence-based life coaching for seniorhigh school students: Building hardinessand hopeSuzy Green, Anthony Grant & Jo Rynsaardt

Objective: To extend the knowledge base on the use of life coaching as an applied positive psychology.Studies to date have utilised community samples with participants of varying ages and most research hasused adult community samples. The present study is unusual in that it examined the efficacy of anevidence-based (cognitive-behavioural, solution-focused) life coaching programme in enhancing cognitivehardiness and hope in senior female high school students. Design: In a randomised controlled experimental design, 56 female senior high school students (mean age16 years) were randomly allocated to an individual life coach (N=28) or to a wait-list control group(N=28). Method: 10 teachers were trained in theories and techniques of coaching psychology through a manualised‘Teacher as Coach’ workshop. Participants were randomly allocated to a Teacher-Coach with whom they metindividually for 10 sessions over two school terms. Results: Life coaching was associated with significant increases in levels of cognitive hardiness and hope,and significant decreases in levels of depression.Conclusions: Life coaching may be an effective intervention for high school students.Keywords: Evidence-based life coaching, hope theory, cognitive hardiness, resilience.

life coaching programme, and the coachingwas delivered by the school counsellor. Thepresent study sought to extend the work ofCampbell and Gardner (2005) by trainingteachers to be the life coaches and by usinga larger sample size.

The challenge of senior high schoolSenior high school (15 to 18 years) is a diffi-cult time for many students. Studentsfrequently feel under considerable pressureto perform well academically, as perform-ance at high school impacts on universityentry and future career prospects. A large-scale study in Sydney, Australia, involvingover 400 high school students showed thatover 50 per cent of respondents had levels ofanxiety, depression and stress that wereabove the ‘normal’ range (Smith & Sinclair,2000). High school students typically worryabout a range of issues including academicperformance, relationships, family, andfriends and peers (Amen & Reglin, 1992).

Interventions that have attempted tohelp students deal with the challenges ofhigh school typically focused on identifyingstudents with problems (Tait & Entwistle,1996) and delivering study skills training(Zimmerman, Bonner & Kovach, 1996).However, with the rise of the positivepsychology movement, there is interest indeveloping interventions that build highstudents’ resilience and well-being, ratherthan merely treating symptoms of dysfunc-tionality. Resilience has been described as anindividual’s capacity for maintenance,recovery or improvement in mental healthfollowing life challenges (Ryff, Singer, Dien-berg Love & Essex, 1998).

Cognitive hardinessCognitive hardiness is an important dimen-sion of resilience (Bonanno, 2004).

Hardiness, originally described byKobasa and Maddi (1977), comprises anindividual’s commitment to their life goals, asense of control or belief that they can controllife events, and a perception of change as achallenge. Thus hardiness assists individuals

to face stressful situations and providesprotection from possible damaging effects(Maddi, 2002).

Indeed, it has been shown that hardinessprovides a buffering effect to stress and assuch protects mental health (Oullete, 1993).College students high in hardiness tend tohave more effective coping strategies, lowerlevels of stress and better academic grades(McHenry, 1993). Furthermore theyperceive potential future stressors as beingmore controllable (Gerson, 1998). However,much resilience and hardiness research instudent populations has focused on collegeor university students (e.g. Mathis & Lecci,1999; Lindberg, 2002) or young elementarystudents (Borman & Overman, 2004), andsuch work has tended to focus on dysfunc-tional or at-risk populations (e.g. Nettles,Mucherah & Jones, 2000).

There has been little work in looking atthe enhancement of hardiness in ‘normal’high school students, although the hardinessconstruct seems useful in assisting highschool students in dealing with both school-related stressors such as exams and the morepersonal issues associated with adolescence.The present study sought to address this gapin the literature.

HopeHope is defined as ‘the process of thinkingabout one’s goals, along with the motivationto move toward those goals (agency) and theways to achieve those goals (pathways)’(Snyder, 1995, p.355). Hope as a cross-situa-tional construct has been shown to correlatepositively with self-esteem, perceivedproblem-solving capabilities, perceptions ofcontrol, optimism, positive affectivity, andpositive outcome expectancies (Synder et al.,1991).

Hope has predicted problem-focusedcoping and mental health outcomes (Snyderet al., 1991). Additionally Hope Scale scoreshave correlated positively with perceivedscholastic competence (Onwuegbuzie &Daley, 1999), greater academic satisfaction(Chang, 1998), and hope has been shown to


Life coaching for students

predict better overall grade point averages(Snyder et al., 2002).

It has been found that thinking aboutgoals immediately triggers the agentic andpathways thoughts that are both necessaryfor goal-directed behaviour. Thus helpingindividuals to articulate their goals, as isrequired in an evidence-based life coachingintervention, may enhance hope (Snyder,1999). Snyder (2000) argues that hopeenhancement is best achieved by integrationof solution-focused, narrative and cognitive-behavioural interventions with hope therapydesigned to ‘help clients in conceptualisingclearer goals, producing numerous pathwaysto attainment, summoning the mentalenergy to maintain the goal pursuit andreframing insurmountable obstacles as chal-lenges to be overcome’ (p.123). These arethe key features of the evidence-basedapproach to life coaching used in thepresent study.

Aims of the researchThe present study sought to investigate theimpact of an evidence-based life coachingprogramme, in an educational setting utilising a randomised, wait-list controldesign with a sample of high school studentswho were not dysfunctional or at-risk. It wasanticipated that the life coachingprogramme would be associated withincreases in cognitive hardiness, hope anddecreases in depression, anxiety and stress.

MethodParticipants Participants were 56 adolescent females (16to 17 years, mean age=16.09) from a normal(non-clinical) population. Their scores onthe Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale(DASS-21, Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995) allfell within the normal range ofpsychopathology. Participants were all seniorhigh school students in Year 11 attending aprivate girls’ high school in Sydney,Australia. The 56 participants were randomlyassigned to Group 1 (Coaching Group,N=28) or Group 2, a Wait-list Control Group

(Control Group, N=28) and completed self-report measures at Time 1 (pre-interven-tion) and Time 2 (post-intervention). Of the56 participants assigned to take part in thestudy, seven participants (four control, threeexperimental) withdrew from the study priorto completion of the intervention (beforeTime 2). It should be noted that participantswere volunteers and thus self-selected.Sample size was sufficient to detect amedium to large effect size (Cohen, 1977).

Experimental designA between-subjects design was utilised.Hope, cognitive hardiness, depression,anxiety and stress of both groups wereassessed at Time 1 and Time 2. Academicperformance and goal attainment measureswere not taken.

ProcedureThe life coaching programme was advertisedthrough an information session held duringschool hours with all Year 11 girls in atten-dance. Additionally, the programme wasadvertised in the school newsletter and at aninformation evening for parents of Year 11students held at the beginning of the year.Interested students were provided with aParticipant Information Sheet and aConsent Form for both themselves and theirparents to sign if they wished to participatein the study.

Participants were assigned to enter theCoaching Group or the Control Group util-ising a wait-list control, randomisation proce-dure with 28 participants in each group.Participants assigned to the Coaching Groupcompleted a 10-session life coachingprogramme while those participants randomlyassigned to the Control Group completed a10-week waiting period concurrently.

Participants in Group 1 were randomlyassigned to a Teacher-Coach. Ten teacherswere trained as coaches. The Teacher-Coaches had been trained in the theories ofCoaching Psychology through two half-dayworkshops conducted by the School Coun-sellor who has a Masters in Applied Science


Suzy Green, Anthony Grant & Jo Rynsaardt

(Coaching Psychology). The workshop wasbased on a manualised programme (avail-able from the authors).

The coaching programmeThe life coaching programme consisted often individual face-to-face coaching sessionswith the allocated Teacher-Coach, and wasconducted over a period of two school terms(28 weeks including a two-week semesterbreak). The life coaching programmeinvolved participants holistically examiningaspects of their lives and identifying twoissues that they wished to be coached on; oneschool-related and one personal. Theprogramme was based on a solution-focusedcognitive-behavioural framework that hasbeen utilised in two previous randomised,controlled studies on evidence-based lifecoaching (for details see Green, Oades &Grant, 2006; Spence & Grant, 2005). Eachcoaching session involved the setting ofsession goals, followed by a discussion ofwhat was going on in the coachee’s life. Theaim of the coaching was to raise thecoachee’s personal awareness of theircurrent situation. Participants were thencoached to identify personal resources thatcould be utilised in moving towards theirgoals, and to develop self-generated solu-tions and specific action steps, systematicallyworking through the self-regulation cycle ofsetting goals, developing action plans, moni-toring and evaluating progress.

MeasuresParticipants of both groups completed all ofthe following questionnaires at Time 1 andTime 2.

The Trait Hope Scale (Snyder et al.,1991) is a 12-item measure of the two dimen-sions of hope ranging from 1 (definitelyfalse) to 4 (definitely true). It consists of fouragency items (i.e. items that tap the belief inone’s ability to initiate and maintain move-ment towards goals); four pathways items(i.e. items that tap the ability to conceptu-alise routes to a goal and four filler items). A total score is used as a measurement of the

global concept of hope and is calculated asthe sum of the eight agency and pathwaysitems (range=8 to 32). Test retest reliabilitiesfor the Hope Scale suggest temporal stability(.83 over a three-week interval, .73 over aneight-week period) (Synder et al., 1991).Alpha coefficients for the two subscales areacceptable (agency=.71 to .77; pathway=.63to .80) (Snyder et al., 1991). The alpha coef-ficients in this study were .79 for agency and.80 for pathways. This instrument demon-strates both internal and temporal reliability,with two separate and yet related factors, aswell as an overarching hope factor (Babyak,Snyder & Yoshinobu, 1993). Several studieshave confirmed its convergent and discrimi-nant validity (Snyder, 2000).

The Cognitive Hardiness Scale (Nowack,1990) was utilised to measure cognitivehardiness, based on Kobasa’s (1979) conceptof hardiness comprising the dimension ofCommitment, Control and Challenge. Thismeasure consists of 30 items on a five-pointLikert-type scale assessing personal beliefsabout life. Nowack (1990) reported aninternal consistency of .83. The alpha coeffi-cient in the present study was .78.

The Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale(DASS-21; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995) wasutilised as a measure of psychopathology. TheDASS-21 is designed to be used with bothclinical (Brown, Chorpita, Korotitsch &Barlow, 1997) and community populations(Antony, Bieling, Cox, Enns & Swinson, 1998),uses a dimensional rather than categoricalapproach to mental health assessment, andviews the differences between normal andclinical populations in depression, anxiety,and stress as being essentially differences ofdegree. As such it is a useful tool in lifecoaching research for screening participantsin order to detect mental health issues thatrequire referral, and for monitoring levels ofdepression, anxiety and stress that fall withinboth the normal and clinical ranges. Internalconsistency (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995) andtest-retest reliability has been found to begood (r=.71 to .81; Brown et al., 1997). Theinternal reliability in this study was .91.



ResultsBefore the analyses were conducted, the datawas checked for violations of normality.Violations were detected on the variables ofDepression and Anxiety and the appropriatenon-parametric tests were utilised. Means forthe Coaching Group and the Control Groupon the major variables for Time 1 and Time2 for are shown in Table 1 (alongside).

HopeA repeated measures ANOVA revealed asignificant treatment by time interactioneffect for Hope, F(1,35)=6.65, p<.05. Follow-up tests revealed significant increases inHope, t(17)=–4.076, p<.001, for theCoaching Group whereas participants in theControl Group showed no such changes.

A repeated measures ANOVA revealedsignificant treatment by time interactioneffect for Agency, F(1,36)=4.622, p<.05.Follow-up tests revealed significant increasesin Agency, t(18)=–4.776, p<.001 for theCoaching Group whereas participants in theControl Group showed no such changes. A repeated measures ANOVA revealed asignificant treatment by time interactioneffect for Pathways, F(1,35)=4.98, p<.05.Follow-up t -tests revealed significantincreases in Pathways, t(17)=–2.601, p<.05 forthe Coaching group whereas participants inthe Control Group showed no such changes.

Cognitive hardinessA repeated measures ANOVA revealed asignificant treatment by time interactioneffect for Cognitive Hardiness,F(1,33)=7.631, p<.05. Follow-up testsrevealed significant increases in CognitiveHardiness, t(17)=–8.401, p<.001, for theCoaching Group whereas participants in theControl Group showed no such changes.

Depression, anxiety and ctressThe Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test wasperformed to examine changes within eachgroup over time for the variables Depressionand Anxiety. Results revealed significantdecreases from Time 1 to Time 2 on the vari-

able Depression (T=–1.968, p<.05) for theCoaching Group, whereas the Control Groupshowed no significant change in these scoresover the same period. There were no signifi-cant changes for either group from Time 1 toTime 2 for Anxiety. A repeated measuresANOVA on Stress revealed no significanttreatment by time interaction. It is importantto note that all participants fell within the‘normal’ range of psychopathology, and thusin this respect were not an ‘at-risk’ or dysfunc-tional population.

DiscussionIt has been argued that it is important toinvestigate holistic salutogenic approachesto health and well-being rather thanfocusing on issues related to overcomingdysfunction or adverse life events in at-riskpopulations (Linley & Joseph, 2005). Thepresent study represents a small step in thatdirection by showing that a holistic lifecoaching intervention in a ‘normal’ highschool population is associated withincreased hope and cognitive hardiness andsignificant decreases in depression.

Past research has investigated theenhancement of hardiness through trainingprogrammes specifically designed to targethardiness (e.g. Khoshaba & Maddi, 2001).Maddi, Kahn and Maddi (1998) describe afour-part training programme incorpo-rating: (i) a structured psycho-educationalcomponent; (ii) cognitive behavioural tech-niques such as situational reconstructing(stretching the imagination to develop abroader understanding of the stressor),focusing on bodily sensations in order todevelop emotionally based insights; (iii)developing of action plans to deal with stres-sors; and (iv) a relapse prevention phase.Such programmes are associated withimprovement in self-reported hardiness(Maddi et al., 1998), improvements incollege grade and retention rates, job satis-faction and health (Maddi, 2002).

Hardiness training tends to focus specifi-cally on enhancing hardiness and over-coming stressors through a diagnostic



Variable Coaching Group Control GroupTime 1 Time 2 Time 1 Time 2

Agency N=19 N=19M 21.17 24.84 20.92 18.68SD 5.43 5.55 5.31 6.86

Pathways N=25 N=24M 22.79 24.79 23.03 21.05SD 4.68 4.28 4.22 7.63

Total Hope N=25 N=24M 43.86 49.63 43.96 39.74SD 9.35 9.36 8.70 14.27

Cognitive Hardiness N=18 N=17M 88.00 108.89 88.00 99.41SD 7.96 10.79 8.53 10.62

Depression N=25 N=22M 14.87 8.63 9.36 8.33SD 11.33 11.86 6.80 7.77

Anxiety N=25 N=24M 11.07 11.00 6.82 6.22SD 9.11 10.63 6.16 5.82

Stress N=16 N= 18M 15.25 13.86 13.33 9.22SD 7.44 10.29 8.00 7.52



Table 1: Means and Standard Deviations for Major Study Variables for Times 1 and 2.

psycho-educational process (Maddi, 1987).Although similar to hardiness training insome respects, the life coaching programmeused in the present study differed in that itinvolved participants holistically examiningtheir lives, looking for ways to enhance theirlife experience, rather than merelyaddressing issues related to distress. Partici-pants then set goals, identified personalresources and developed goal-focused actionsteps. Despite the differences in emphasis,the current life coaching programmeappeared to be an effective hardiness-enhancing intervention.

In regard to hope, it was found that partic-ipants who had completed the life coachingintervention reported significant increases inagency, pathways and total hope. These resultsare consistent with hope theory which suggests

the articulation of goals stimulates hope(Snyder, 1999). In the present study, in addi-tion to talking about their goals and actionplans, cognitive-behavioural techniques wereused to help participants identify positive self-talk that would help them in the goal strivingprocess, and in this way were encouraged toincrease their agentic thoughts. The use ofsolution-focused techniques helped partici-pants determine possible routes to their goal,thereby increasing pathways thinking. As such,a cognitive-behavioural, solution-focusedcoaching intervention, such as the one utilisedin this study becomes a hope-enhancing inter-vention. These results are consistent withGreen et al.’s (2006) study, which also foundsignificant increases in agency, pathways andtotal hope as a result of an evidence-based lifecoaching intervention.



Given the correlation between depres-sion, anxiety and stress (Lovibond & Lovi-bond, 1995), it is interesting that this studyfound that only depression (not anxiety orstress) was reduced. The reason for this isnot immediately clear. It may be that theitems on the DASS that measure depressioninclude questions related to pessimism aboutthe future and being unable to be interestedor involved in life, whereas the anxiety andstress scales refer to being panicky, beingaware of a dry mouth, breathing difficulties,and pounding of the heart. This study specif-ically focused on helping participants findways to enhance their life experience andbuild hope and resilience, rather thanreducing stress or anxiety, thus the primaryimpact on psychopathology may have been areduction in depression (which can beviewed as the opposite of hope) rather thana reduction in anxiety or stress.

A limitation in the current study is thatparticipants were self-selected members of aspecific community (all females attending aprivate high school), who may not be repre-sentative of the general population. Studentsvolunteered and as such may have beenhighly motivated. Further, academicperformance measures were not taken. Thiswas because the participants were studying awide range of different subjects, at varyinglevels of difficulty, and there was no valid orreliable means of making comparisons. Inaddition, no longitudinal measures weretaken, thus it is not known if these resultswere maintained over time. However, itshould be noted that in a longitudinal study,Green et al. (2006) found that gains from asimilar life coaching programme were main-tained at a 30-week follow-up.

Whereas many high school-based inter-ventions are aimed at teaching skills targetedat enhancing academic performance, orcounselling for bullying or other distressingfactors, life coaching programmes have thepotential to be an effective holistic mentalhealth promotion strategy for high schoolstudents. Such positively-framed pro-grammes, with a lack of the stigma often

associated with remedial counselling, mayassist in increasing long-term social andemotional well-being, provide a preventativefunction and potentially achieve significantsavings in mental health costs. The findingsof the present study suggest that meetinglife’s challenges with a positive and confi-dent attitude regarding one’s ability orcompetence to survive life challengesappears to insulate against depression. Thisis particularly relevant during major life tran-sitions such as those experienced by seniorhigh school students.

By utilising a wait-list control and anexperimental design, the present study hasdemonstrated that life coaching can be effec-tive for female high school students.However, it may be that the attention of acaring supportive adult alone would be suffi-cient to enhance hope and resilience in highschool students. It is noteworthy, however,that recent research (Spence & Grant, inpress; Sue-Chan & Latham (2004) has foundthat, in an adult sample, peer coaching wasnot as effective as a professionally-trainedcoach. Emphasising the importance ofexpertise in coaching, Spence and Grant (inpress) argued that the presence of asupportive person was a necessary but insuf-ficient condition for enhancing well-beingand goal attainment. Future studies usinghigh school students should extend this lineof research and compare the effect of asupportive adult with participation in a lifecoaching programme.

Future research should also use othereducational samples (e.g. students inprimary and junior high school, and bothmales and females) and also measureacademic performance. Life coaching inter-ventions that utilised participants from onespecific educational cohort would allow theaccurate and meaningful comparison ofacademic performance. Further, studies thatcompared life coaching interventions witheducational tutoring or positive parentalinvolvement would provide additional infor-mation about the effectiveness of lifecoaching for students. In addition, it would


be useful to conduct longitudinal studies toexamine if such life coaching interventionshave a long-term prophylactic effect, and afollow-up study of the present intervention isplanned.

SummaryThis study is the first controlled study of anevidence-based life-coaching interventionfor senior high school students. It providespreliminary evidence that a cognitive-behav-ioural, solution-focused life coaching groupprogramme can be effective in increasinghope and cognitive hardiness, and indecreasing self-reported symptoms ofdepression. This study provides encouragingempirical support for the usefulness ofevidence-based life coaching interventionsin an educational setting. An evidence-basedlife coaching programme implemented inschools may provide a platform for anapplied positive psychology, delivering amultitude of benefits that impact positivelyon students’ overall health and well-being.

CorrespondenceDr Suzy GreenCoaching Psychology Unit,School of Psychology, University of Sydney,NSW 2006, Australia.E-mail: [email protected]: 61 2 9328 3253 Fax: 61 2 9238 2536

Dr Anthony GrantCoaching Psychology Unit,School of Psychology,University of Sydney,NSW 2006, Australia.E-mail: [email protected]: 61 2 9351 6792 Fax: 61 2 9351 2603

Ms Jo RynsaardtCoaching Psychology Unit,School of Psychology,University of Sydney,NSW 2006, Australia.


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F LOW IS A SUBJECTIVE STATE related to an intense engagement in anactivity. It is characterised by a person

experiencing a loss of self-consciousness toan extent that action and awareness becomemerged, a sense of control over what they aredoing and an altered sense of time (Csik-szentmihalyi, Abuhamdeh & Nakamura,2005). Most activities can be flow-conducive,irrespective of whether they are work orleisure based. Thus, for example, flow maybe found when people undertake hobbiessuch as reading, mountain climbing andamateur astronomy. It might occur in activi-ties at work one perceives as stretching - forinstance, when creating a script for a soft-ware package, producing a piece of art work,performing surgery or being on stage.Coaching psychologists may feel in flowwhilst they are working with clients, under-taking research or writing an academicpaper. At a physiological level changes mayoccur in the brain which elicit increasedfocusing on specific activities (Durstewitz,Kelc & Gunturkun, 1999) and result in feel-ings of pleasure, happiness and satisfaction(Ashby, Isen & Turken, 1999).

Flow may have significance from an evolu-tionary point of view in that natural selectioncould have favoured those individuals whoenjoyed learning how to master and control ahostile and changing environment (Csik-szentmihalyi, Abuhamdeh & Nakamura,2005). These individuals would have becomethe best hunters and home builders as theyused the resources around them to shieldtheir families from adversity. These familieswould have prospered and grew in theirnumber, whilst others declined. Optimal effi-ciency requires that various physiologicalneeds are met and that during our lifetimewe are able to engage in a changing array ofactivities. The requirement to sleep and recu-perate after activity will result in propensity tofind flow varying with time.

Over the last 30 years much research hasbeen undertaken by the originator of theconcept, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, andothers to elucidate the situations in whichflow is experienced, its characteristics andconditions leading to its occurrence (e.g.Csikszentmihalyi, 1975; Csikszentmihalyi,1992; Nakamura & Csikszentmihalyi, 2002).It has been established that flow is most commonly experienced when the level of


Flow theory – its application to coaching psychologyKaren Wesson & Ilona Boniwell

Purpose: Being ‘in flow’ or ‘in the zone’ enables individuals to focus on tasks more fully and to maximiseperformance. As this phenomenon results in pleasure being experienced whilst mastery is gained, it can bea natural aid to goal-oriented activities such as coaching. This paper explores the applications of flowtheory to coaching psychology.Method: Various conditions are thought to influence the acquisition and maintenance of psychologicalflow. These are reviewed and linked to the work of coaches and coaching psychologists.Results: The literature and models reviewed indicate that flow theory has a number of applications tocoaching psychology, and that it can provide a useful framework for coaching psychology practice.Conclusions: This paper suggests how these factors may be captured by coaching methodology thereby: (i) helping the client and coach to find focus and fulfilment during sessions; and (ii) encouraging the clientto remain ‘on task’ whilst engaging in goal actioning activities afterwards.Keywords: Coaching, flow, strengths, flow-favouring methodology, flow-enhancing model.

challenge encountered is high and skills aretested to the full (Csikszentmihalyi, 1992). Ifthe task in hand is too difficult, activity slowsdown or stops because the person becomesanxious and if the activity is too easy, one islikely to become bored.

With regard to factors which help toencourage flow, a number of researcherssuggest that identification and use of one’sstrengths may play a role in this process.According to Linley and Harrington(2006a), a strength is a natural capacity forbehaving, thinking, or feeling in a way thatallows optimal functioning and performancein the pursuit of valued outcomes. Linleyand Harrington (2006b, p.45) propose that a‘strengths coaching approach’ leads toincreased engagement, energy and motiva-tion resulting in positive emotions, greatercreativity, mental flexibility, resilience andenhanced performance. Seligman (2003)advocates that identification and use of‘signature strengths’ directly contribute toliving a ‘good life’, which he sees inobtaining gratifications (which are activitieswe like doing, akin to flow).

Over the years Csikszentmihalyi hassuggested a number of elements of flow (e.g.Csikszentmihalyi, 1992), without alwaysnecessarily distinguishing between its char-acteristics and conditions. However, in arecent publication Csikszentmihalyi,Abuhamdeh and Nakamura (2005) drew aclear distinction between these two cate-gories. In addition to the characteristicsintroduced in the opening paragraph of thispaper, they propose three conditions thatare important in encouraging flow. Theyinclude: having a clear set of goals, a balancebetween perceived challenges and perceivedskills, and clear and immediate feedback.The authors add that two further factorsaffect how much a person commits to a task.These relate to the importance the indi-vidual places on doing well in the activity andthe perceived congruence between higherand lower level goals. The authors also notethat flow experience appears to be positivelyrelated to individual differences, such as

autonomy orientation (the amount aperson’s behaviour emanates from one’sself) and absorption. Even though no causalrelationships have been established, it isreasonable to assume that developing bothautonomy and the capacity for absorptionmay contribute to experiencing and main-taining flow.

Although Csikszentmihalyi, Abuhamdehand Nakamura (2005) do not mention signa-ture strengths in their account, it is possibleto see how using a strengths model maysupport the flow favouring conditions whichthey do include. When clients use theirstrengths, it is likely that their perception oftheir skills in relation to the perceived chal-lenge will remain at a high level which wouldhelp to facilitate flow. They might also beable to work with greater autonomy and bemore mindful and appreciative of issuesinvolved in their strength areas, so will applythemselves to a task with greater ease.

Given the benefits of flow and the qualityof experience associated with it, it is possibleto argue that enhancing a client’s sense offlow can be seen as a worthwhile objective ofcoaching. This paper aims to apply theconditions of flow identified by Csikszentmi-halyi, Abuhamdeh and Nakamura (2005)outlined above to the processes involved incoaching, thereby proposing a flow-enhancing model of coaching. It is believedthat application of this model may result in ahigher likelihood of flow being experiencedboth within and outside sessions.

The processes of coachingCoaching generally refers to an activity wherea client is assisted in achieving well-definedgoals. These goals may be either those of anorganisation, as in work-based and executivecoaching, or of an individual, as in lifecoaching. In addition to facilitating specificachievement, successful coaching may alsoresult in increased insight (Anderson &Anderson, 2005), self-direction, self-esteemand efficacy (Cox & Ledgerwood, 2003).Green, Oades and Grant (2006) suggest thatgoal striving, well-being and hope may be


Karen Wesson & Ilona Boniwell

enhanced by the use of a cognitive-behav-ioural solution-focused coaching approach.

Before proposing our flow-enhancingmodel we will consider the processesinvolved in coaching. Generally this activitycan be presented as consisting of a series ofprocesses, each of which can utilise differenttools and interventions. Typically theseinclude communicating a framework,contracting and possibly assessment, goal-setting, modifying goals, actioning goals andclosure.

However, our experience as coaches indi-cates that the processes of coaching cannotbe reduced to a ‘goal-setting progression’ asdescribed above. A whole range of life situa-tions surround each client in terms of theirlife experience, valuing systems and thecontext in which they live. These factors willaffect a client’s level of self-efficacy,autonomy and awareness with respect togoal-orientated tasks. Whilst goals are setand actioned a coach is therefore ‘identi-fying and addressing additional issues’, someof which may emerge during the contractingsession and others later in a coachingprogramme.

Our model will, therefore, refer to thesetwo coaching areas and will consider howflow-favouring methodology may be utilisedin each. We would like to propose a flow-enhancing model that:1. Looks to maximise opportunities for

finding flow during the activities ofcoaching.

2. Transforms the patterns of everydayexperience, enabling the client topinpoint times of optimal experience.

3. Helps the client to identify competitionfor attention that comes from externalsources, thus equipping them to makemore informed decisions in the future inrespect to how they choose to use theirtime and energy.

As previously discussed, Csikszentmihalyi,Abuhamdeh and Nakamura (2005) list sevenconditions thought to promote engagement

in activities conducive to flow. A coach whowished to facilitate flow could look tomaximise the inclusion of these seven factorsduring a coaching programme. It isproposed that some of these conditions maybe more important during the ‘goal-settingprogression’ and others whilst ‘identifyingand addressing additional issues’. Theseconditions are listed below.

Conditions which are important during the‘goal setting progression’● Having clear goals.● Balancing challenges and skills.● Maintaining a high level of goal

congruence.● Importance placed on doing well.● Having clear and immediate feedback.Various factors, including commitment totask, feedback, task complexity and the prox-imity of goals, have been shown to be impor-tant in enhancing performance (Locke,Shaw, Saari & Latham 1981). These factors,which will be addressed later, appear toencompass the conditions listed by Csik-szentmihalyi, Abuhamdeh and Nakamura(2005) which we see as being significantduring the ‘goal-setting progression’.

Conditions which are important whilst ‘identifying and addressing additional issues’● Increasing autonomy.● Increasing absorption.Superimposing these seven conditions ontothe coaching framework described earlierresults in the flow-enhancing model ofcoaching that can be found in Figure 1(overleaf). The star-like shapes indicatestages during a coaching programme wheneach of the above conditions is particularlyrelevant.

The paper will now elaborate on howthese seven conditions may be incorporatedinto coaching. We will also discuss howcertain coaching tools may be used to satisfyeach of these factors. These tools are alsosummarised in Table 1.


Flow theory – its application to coaching psychology

Communicating acoaching framework

Contracting andassessment

Goal setting

Modifying goals

Actioning goals

Closure

Having cleargoals

Having clearand

immediatefeedback

Importanceplaced ondoing well

Balancingchallenge and

skill

Coaching area2

Identifying andaddressing additional

issues

Increasingabsorption

Increasingautonomy

Maintaininggoal

congruence

Coaching area 1The goal setting progression



Figure 1: The flow-enhancing model of coaching.



1. Having clear goalsAccording to our model, clarification ofgoals can start during the contracting andassessment session and be continued in themeetings that follow. Csikszentmihalyi,Abuhamdeh and Nakamura (2005, p.601)suggest that ‘goals serve to add direction andpurpose to behaviour’ and their value ‘lies intheir capacity to structure experience.’ Goalsetting is an integral part of coaching and anumber of different models can be used toassist this process, including SMART (Lockeand Latham, 1990) and Graham Alexander’sGROW model (Whitmore, 2002).

The role of a coach involves encouragingdivergent thinking by asking questions suchas ‘How will you achieve this goal?’, ‘Whatwill you need?’ and ‘When will you completethis?’. This helps to provide a clearer pictureof what is entailed. Once goals are set it iseasier for a client to conceptualise and facethe challenge, committing themselves to thetask as best they can. Without this structureof goals it is difficult for them to know whereto apply their effort and this uncertainty canlead to a reduction in the capacity for flow.

2. Balancing challenge and skill Csikszentmihalyi, Abuhamdeh and Naka-mura (2005) contend that flow is dependenton maintaining a balance between perceivedchallenge and perceived skill. Figure 1 showsthis condition as initially having importanceat the time when goals are set although itthen needs to be sustained throughout thecoaching programme. Flow theory impliesthat clients are happiest setting goals whichthey feel are just slightly beyond their capa-bilities. This stretches an individual andencourages then to develop new skills. Ifchallenges begin to exceed skills by toomuch, a person becomes anxious, and ifskills begin to exceed challenges, theybecome bored. The role of the coachincludes encouraging the client to pace achallenge, to break down goals so they areachievable or encourage greater levels ofchallenge at each point. At the same timeopportunities for skill enhancement are

provided, thereby helping the client to workwithin new areas. These may includeacquiring new skills or developing existingskills that would help the client to achieve hisor her goals.

The levels of perceived challenge andperceived skill also have relevance to thecoaching session itself. If a client comes to asession feeling anxious, a sensitive practi-tioner will be able to work on increasing theclient’s confidence in handling the session.If the client comes to the session bored, apractitioner can attempt to increase the chal-lenge provided. The best possible scenariowould be a session where both client andcoach felt they were experiencing flow mostof the time.

Seligman (2003) proposes that flow ismore likely if a person concentrates on usingtheir ‘signature strengths’. During the initialstages of coaching, emphasising the use of aclient’s strengths might help to improve thematch between perceived skill and perceivedchallenge. Flow-favouring methodologywould also suggest that at a later stage, asconfidence increases and greater challengeis sought, a coach might find opportunitiesto work with a client on improving strengthswhich are less strong.

3. Importance placed on doing wellAn individual’s application to task might beaffected by the importance they place ondoing well in that activity. By an early agechildren are able to differentiate betweenthe relative importance of effort and abilityin achievement. They realise that if they haveability in a subject, it is possible to outshinetheir classmates with relatively little effort,but that keeping up in other areas requiresworking harder (Elliot, 2005). They maydiscern that recognition is given to thosewho perform well and this may affect theirapplication to different tasks. This percep-tion, when carried on into adult life, mightnot always lead to individuals engaging inactivities most conducive to their growth.

According to the ‘Flow-enhancing modelof coaching’ the ‘importance placed on doing

well’ first has significance when goals are set.If a coach can help a client see why compe-tence in a particular activity is important thismight enable the client to give more time tothat endeavour. A client who is initially indif-ferent or bored by an activity might thenexperience flow when they discover they canmaster it successfully (Csikszentmihalyi,Abuhamdeh & Nakamura, 2005).

At a later stage it might become apparentthat there are substantial barriers to progressand that a client’s interest in achieving theirgoals is limited. It might then be necessary toexplore the reasons for this and realign thegoals so that they are more significant to theclient. Careful pacing of activity andincreased feedback may enable the client toexperience satisfaction as they work in areaswhich previously they had not tried.

4. Maintaining goal congruenceAt any time a person has a particular set ofconcerns that are important to them whichwill determine the goals they set (Smith &Spurling, 2001). According to Figure 1,maintaining goal congruence has particularrelevance when goals are modified. Ascoaches we recognise that clients areunlikely to discuss goals which are mostimportant to them until rapport is built upand trust established. A client might come tothe first session listing a set of goals they wishto achieve. However, after a couple ofsessions it might become apparent thatanother set of interests more accuratelyrepresents the client’s aspirations.

Goal congruence is to some extentaffected by perceived choice. Research usingflow questionnaires suggests that disabledpeople are often better able to discover newopportunities for optimal experiencedespite only being able to invest their atten-tion in a subset of activities, relationshipsand values (Delle Fave & Massimini, 2003).One could envisage this narrowing down ofoptions as possibly improving the congru-ence of remaining goals, encouragingactivity to be focused in areas where moresatisfaction will be found.

Rogers (2004) outlines the scope ofcoaching and describes techniques andapproaches coaches may use. This handbookprovides an array of activities which can helpclients to establish goal congruence, forexample, the priorities and balance wheel,drawing life now and in the future, andwriting a personal mission statement.Although some of these techniques mayappear simplistic at first sight, they are widelyused in coaching practice.

5. Having clear and immediate feedbackAccording to our model ‘having clear andimmediate feedback’ has most relevancewhen goals are being actioned. During asession a practitioner may prompt the clientto think divergently to deepen their self-knowledge. Additional awareness couldcome through reflective practice; thoughtsthat come to mind during the course of anactivity could be noted down in a logbookand assimilated at a later stage. Thinkingtools such as Mind mapping (Buzan &Buzan, 2003) and Ishikawa fishbonediagrams (Cameron, 2001) might also behelpful. By reflecting on activities in this wayit is possible to consolidate emerging ideasand consider new ways forward.

Csikszentmihalyi, Abuhamdeh and Naka-mura (2005) suggest that because flow takesplace at a high level of challenge, an indi-vidual is likely, at stages, to receive negativefeedback. As long as the person perceivesthat they have adequate skill to take on thechallenge this feedback will help in estab-lishing corrective action without the flowexperience being diminished.

Whilst experiencing flow, attention isfocused and a person is usually well aware ofhow they are performing. It is importanttherefore that any feedback given by thecoach is accurate, and can be challenged,otherwise it might confuse the client’s ownassessment. Having correct feedback helpsthe client to stay on task by reinforcing theirown awareness of how different activities areprogressing. Clutterbuck (1998) stresses theimportance of a client’s ‘intrinsic feedback’



and says that a practitioner’s feedbackshould be timely and as close as possible tothe observed behaviour, any extrinsic feed-back from a coach matching the intrinsicobservations of the client. Flow during acoaching programme may be helped if thereis substantial feedback from the client withregard to the usefulness of activities. This hasimportance to the practitioner who isconcerned to know whether or not theirmethodology is working.

6. Increasing autonomy A lack of autonomy may be an importantelement in constraining flow (Csikszentmi-halyi, 2003). Ryan and Deci (2000, p.65)compare ‘behaviours that are volitional andaccompanied by freedom and autonomy –those that emanate from one’s sense of self –and those that are accompanied by the expe-rience of pressure and control and are notrepresentative of one’s self.’ A coach canwork to help a client differentiate betweenbehaviours that show autonomy and thosethat do not. In doing so the client mayappreciate more fully the significance ofexternal demands on their time and energy.

In Figure 1 the process of ‘increasingautonomy’ has importance throughout acoaching programme. The acquisition ofautonomy perhaps becoming more evidentlater on when a person has gained greaterinsight into the challenges they face. It maybe possible to pinpoint particular timesduring a series of sessions when a client takessignificant steps in establishing their inde-pendence and more fully directing their owndevelopment.

A coach can help a client to develop inde-pendence by encouraging them to exploreand extend their own interests. One may usethe balance wheel exercise (Rogers, 2004),Ishikawa fishbone diagrams (Cameron,2001) and Force field analysis (Lewin, 1951)to help clients identify external factors thatimpact adversely on their lifestyle, and toplan situations where they will have greaterautonomy. Activities such as ‘An ideal day’,and ‘A week without going to work’ (Rogers,

2004) encourage a client to conceptualiseand to experiment with new possibilities.The ‘Personal Synthesis’ approach that aimsto enhance a person’s independence andsense of control over their life might also beuseful (Popovic, 2005).

7. Increasing absorptionA capacity for absorption may be one factorexplaining individual differences withregard to the likelihood of experiencing flow(Csikszentmihalyi, Abuhamdeh & Naka-mura, 2005). In order for a person to find anactivity absorbing they need to find thesubject of interest and possible to focus on.Therefore, other factors relating to aperson’s openness may also be important inestablishing flow, for example a person’sawareness and value structure. Nakamuraand Csikszentmihalyi (2002) consider theimportance of the capacity to direct andregulate one’s attention. In our model‘increasing absorption’ has importancethroughout a coaching programme. At allstages it is helpful for the coach and client tobe open to new possibilities and to be awareof emerging issues and opportunities. It isalso important that together they are able toexplore these new issues in depth.

Sometimes autobiographical work hasparticular relevance in that it allows delayedreflection on events that occurred earlier onin life and might help a person to becomemore aware of options available to them andof aspects that might have hindered them inthe past. This may allow a client to viewsimilar up and coming challenges in a morepositive light, seeing them as opportunitiesfor growth.

At some stage during the coachingprogramme it may be worth explaining theconcept of flow to the client. They may thenexplore for themselves times of optimalexperience and become more mindful ofwhen flow occurs and in which kind of situa-tions. We suggest that a modified version ofan ‘experience sampling diary’ could bekept for a few days outside of the coachingsessions (Hektner, Schmidt & Csikszentmi-



halyi, 2007). It can be designed to enable theclient to record: (a) the date and time; (b)their current affective state (for exampleanxiety, apathy, boredom and flow); (c) theactivity being undertaken at that time; (d) anexplanation for feeling the way they did; and(e) a consideration of how they could influ-ence a similar situation in the future, whichcould perhaps be discussed with their coachat their next meeting.

Potential setbacks of flowAlthough flow can be useful and lead toincreased learning there can also bedangers. It would be misleading to think thatall activities that result in flow are beneficial.Taking up a new sport such as golf may affecta person’s use of time as they work onimproving the finer points of their game;this might affect time spent with their familyand on activities at home. A similar situationmight occur in the workplace if a directortakes an interest in a new area of businessthat takes her away from dealing with prob-lems that are faced by her staff in the office.Gambling and some anti-social behaviourmight also provide flow experience. Asresponsible coaching psychologists we mightwish to discuss both the pros and cons ofseeking optimal experience through flow:‘The question regarding flow is not only howwe can make it happen, but also how we canmanage it; using it to enhance life, yet beingable to let go when necessary’ (Boniwell,2006, p.29).

Implications and conclusionsNowadays, at least in the affluent world,people are often faced with too much choice(Schwartz, 2000) and there is less pressureon individuals to work on areas conducive topersonal growth. It is easy to spend timewatching television, shopping or shallowsocialising rather than engaging in chal-lenging activities where new skills may belearnt. The increased demand for personalas well as professional coaching may be dueto people realising that they have potentialfor development that remains untapped.

The greatest benefit of flow would seemto be that it enables people to be challengedwithin their capabilities. If these challengesituations are being used to good effect, tobring about personal growth and develop-ment, then finding flow can be as advanta-geous for us now, as it was for our earlyancestors.

We have considered seven conditionsthat are thought to be important in assistingflow and have suggested how flow-favouringmethodology can be incorporated intocoaching. The flow-enhancing modelproposed in this paper works at three levels.Firstly, it helps to establish flow duringsessions, enabling the client and coach tofind focus and fulfilment in their work.Secondly, it works to increase the likelihoodof a client staying on task between sessionsand recognising times of optimal experi-ence. Thirdly, it helps to increase awarenessof the constraints which reduce opportuni-ties for individuals to find flow. This mighthave a long-term positive effect in enablingthe client to differentiate between activitieswhich are conducive to growth and thosewhich are not.

There are many implications for furtherresearch. Bakker (2005) has investigated thetransfer of the state of flow from musicteachers to their students, and indicated thatemotional contagion may play a role in thesecases. There may be benefits to coaches inenhancing their own flow if this helps theclient to achieve a similar state. Furthermore,in a dynamic coaching relationship eachparty may affect the level of perceived chal-lenge and perceived skill that the other feels,thereby influencing whether or not the otherexperiences flow. Once one party has foundflow, the other by emotional contagion mayenter the same experience. One can envisagesituations where both parties help to sustaineach other’s flow for the duration of acoaching session. Using ExperienceSampling Methodology (Hektner, Schmidt &Csikszentmihalyi, 2007), it should be possibleto establish if one of the parties acts as atrigger for the flow experience of the other.





Flow favouring condition Interventions that may help to facilitate flow

1. Having clear goals ● SMART● GROW● Clear action points

2. Balancing challenge and skill ● Using preferred strengths● Developing new skills● Introducing different learning styles

3. Importance placed on doing well ● Considering the wider implicationsin an activity of success

● Writing resolutions● Celebrating small steps

4. Maintaining goal congruence ● Priorities and balance wheel● Drawing life now and in future● Writing a personal mission statement

5. Receiving clear and immediate feedback ● Log book● Structured reflection● Use of thinking tools, e.g. mind mapping

and fishbone diagrams● Minuting meetings● Touching base with client between sessions

6. Increasing autonomy ● Personal Synthesis model ● Priorities and balance wheel● Drawing life now and in future● Autobiographical work● Considering life chapters● Reflecting on values

7. Increasing absorption ● Six thinking hats● Ishikawa fishbone diagrams● Lewin force field analysis● ABCDE● Jo-Hari window● Social and cultural context reading

Table 1: Tools that may help to facilitate flow.

Source: Adapted from Csikszentmihalyi, Abuhamdeh & Nakamura (2005, pp.601–602).



It is well known that human interactionand communication is one of the best waysto induce flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1992).Given that coaching frequently makes use ofless traditional means of interaction, such astelephone and internet, it would be inter-esting to study to what extent the new mediahas an effect on flow experience in thesession. In other words, does the lack of thephysical presence have a reverse effect onflow experience?

Survey methods can be used to evaluatecoaching programmes in terms of their effec-tiveness in enabling clients to find flow inareas conducive to growth. The ExperienceSampling Method (Hektner, Schmidt & Csik-szentmihalyi, 2007) offers opportunities toestablish the levels of flow achieved andsustained whilst undertaking differentcoaching activities. As there exists a potentialdanger that the data collection would distractfrom the work of the alliance, both partiesneed to be aware of these implications andhappy to record and comment on their expe-rience. In fact, this method may be of partic-ular interest to coaches involved in peercoaching arrangements who wish to monitorand reflect on their own practice as part oftheir training and personal development.

The consolidation of ideas around thesignificance of flow theory for coaching isprobably now a real possibility. It is inter-esting that the tools already used by coachesseem to provide the prerequisites for flow. Isthis pure coincidence, or is coaching reallyjust about enabling clients, once again, touse flow for the purpose it was intended for,that is to interact as best they can with theirenvironment and to grow?

CorrespondenceKaren WessonOxford Brookes University,Harcourt Hill,Oxford, OX2 9AT,United Kingdom.Tel: 01235 520778E-mail: [email protected]

Dr Ilona Boniwell Department of Psychology,University of East London,Stratford Campus,Romford Road, London, E15 4LZ,United Kingdom.Tel: 07901 555902E-mail: [email protected]

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THE AUTHORS WOULD LIKE THEreader to keep in mind, as they readthrough this article, that diverse

methodologies and techniques imple-mented in the present intervention studywith student-athletes have been successfullyused to enhance performance and well-being in diverse coaching contexts (e.g.business, education, sports) and in differentcountries such as United States of America(US) and Portugal. Although this articlefocus on coaching US university student-athletes to enhance their hope and perform-ance, as you read this article, the authorssuggest thinking about how this informationcould be adapted and used in your owncoaching endeavours.

Although differences between student-athletes and other college students mayseem subtle, playing an intercollegiate sportoften adds an unexpectedly complex layer tostudent-athletes’ lives (Watt & Moore, 2001).In addition to the challenges experienced bynon-athletes, such as social adjustment,career exploration, and keeping up withone’s daily student routine, student-athletesalso have their sport-related activities:practice and competitions, injury treatment,travelling, or studying team plays (Street,1999). This fact contributes to increasedstress and sometimes leads to sport oracademic dropouts. Therefore, many univer-sity educators and athletic department stafffeel that something has to be done in orderto help college student-athletes balance


An intervention for fostering hope,athletic and academic performance inuniversity student-athletesCristina Rolo & Daniel Gould

Objective: To examine the effectiveness of an intervention programme in fostering hope (Snyder, 1994), athleticand academic performance in university student-athletes participating in a mandatory structured study.Design: A two-group (hope facilitation intervention vs. no intervention control) pre- vs. post-test design wasemployed. Between pre-test and post-test the intervention group was exposed to a six-week (12 session)intervention to foster hope.Method: Division I NCAA-member institution University varsity athletic team members were administeredmeasures on the key dependent variables (dispositional and state hope, academic and athletic domain hope,and perceived athletic and academic performance). Using stratified random sampling, 44 student-athleteswere selected. Intervention and control groups were each composed of 22 student-athletes (nine female, 13male; 10 female, 12 male, respectively), with a mean age of 19 years. Results: Repeated measures ANOVA results showed that the intervention programme participants did notdiffer significantly from the control participants at Time 1 on hope (dispositional, state, athletic andacademic), athletic and academic performance. However, after taking part in the six-week hope buildingprogramme the intervention group student-athletes’ state hope total scores significantly increased. Conclusions: The study hypothesis was partially supported; the intervention programme was effective infostering university student-athletes’ state hope. Support was not found for the effectiveness of theintervention programme in fostering dispositional hope, academic and athletic domain hope or perceptionsof athletic and academic performance.Keywords: Hope theory, student-athletes hope development, academic and athleticperformance enhancement, coaching.

these two life domains and foster theirathletic and academic performance.

Positive psychology and hopeCoaches and other athletic staff membersoften tell their student-athletes: ‘stay posi-tive’, ‘focus on your goals’, ‘keep your headup’, or ‘view adversity as a challenge’. Indoing so, they assume that staying goaldirected and positive will lead to higherlevels of motivation and enhanced perform-ance. Their beliefs are not without scientificsupport. For example, in a study of Olympicchampions, Gould, Dieffenbach and Moffett(2002) identified these individuals as beingcharacterised as high on dispositional hope.

Given the focus practitioners andresearchers place on optimistically pursuinggoals, it is surprising that the relationshipbetween hope, athletic and academicperformance has not been more extensivelystudied in sport psychology (Gould et al.,2002; Curry et al., 1997). Moreover, evenfewer intervention studies have beenconducted in sport psychology to determineif athletes’ hope and performance can beenhanced (Curry & Maniar, 2003). Measure-ment issues relative to measuring goal drivenbehaviour, as well as issues relative to meas-uring athletic performance may have inhib-ited research in this area. Psychology’s focuson deficits and problems may have alsocontributed. However, a paradigmatic shifthas taken place in psychology. As a conse-quence, it was created the Positive Psycho-logy movement with a renewed focus onmaking people’s lives more productive andfulfilling (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi,2000). Positive Psychology focuses on valuedsubjective experiences such as well-being,contentment, satisfaction, flow, happiness,optimism and hope.

Snyder (1992) defined the hopeconstruct within the context of goal settingbehaviour, as a thinking process about one’sgoals, in which a person has the perceived path-ways and agency to achieve their goals. Specifi-cally, hope is a goal-related thinking processin which individuals have well-defined goals,

knowledge of how to achieve those goals andthe determination and energy to act(Snyder, 1994; Snyder, 1995; Snyder, 1997;Snyder, Cheavens & Michael, 1999). Hope iscomposed of agency (the will; the perceivedability to begin as well as to continue along aselected pathway to a goal) and pathway’sthinking (the way; the perceptions of beingable to produce one or more workableroutes to goals). These two components havea reciprocal, additive, and positive correlatedrelationship with one another, but are notsynonymous (Snyder, 1995). Snyder furthercontends that difficulties in one or more ofthe hope components (agency, pathways)may undermine hopeful thinking, whileimprovements in any of these may foster it.Furthermore, having information regardingour clients’ pathways and agency levelscontributes to develop meaningful interven-tions based on the clients’ needs.

Snyder et al. (1991, 1996, 1999), havedeveloped several psychometrically soundmeasures of hope. Research has shown thathigh levels of hope are associated with betterpsychological adjustment, achievement,problem solving and health in a variety ofpopulations and life domains (Snyder &McDermott, 1999; Scheier & Carver, 1992;Schneider, 2001; Seligman, 1990; Snyder,Irving & Anderson, 1991). Additionally, highhope people have an advantage in a varietyof goal pursuit activities such as academicsand sports, and are at lower risk of droppingout of sport and school (Curry & Snyder,2000; Curry, Snyder, Cook, Ruby & Rehm,1997). Research in general psychology(Irving, Cheavens, Snyder, Gravel, Hanke,Hilbert & Nelson, in press) has also shownthat hope can be fostered with training.Furthermore, Curry and Maniar (2003)found that an academic course combiningpsychological skills training and life skillseducation enhanced hope, sports andacademic achievement, and contributed tostudents, and student-athlete’s well-being.Likewise, Rolo and Kamphoff (2003) foundthat an eight-week programme combiningpsychological skills with life skills


Hope coaching for student-athletes

contributed to foster university academicprobation students’ levels of hope and had apositive impact on academic performancemeasured by semester Grade Point Average(GPA).

Purposes, rationale and predictionsTaking into consideration that no studies todate have examined the impact of a short-term intervention programme to foster hopeand in turn improve academic and athleticperformance, the purpose of this study wasto do so. It was predicted that from pre-testto post-test the intervention group wouldincrease more than the control group on allhope measures (dispositional, state,academic, and athletic), as well as onacademic and athletic performance.

The present intervention study wasconceived to assist student-athletes usemandatory structured study hours moreeffectively. Specifically, the interventionfocused on fostering student-athletes’ hope(pathways and agency) with the purpose ofenhancing their academic and athleticperformance.

MethodDesign overviewTo examine the effectiveness of the short-term intervention programme in fosteringhope, athletic and academic performance,university varsity athletic team membersparticipating in mandatory structured studyduring the Spring semester (N=55) wereadministered measures on the keydependent variables (dispositional and statehope, academic and athletic domain hope,and perceptions of athletic and academicperformance). In addition, semester andcumulative GPA information were collected.

A two-group (hope facilitation interven-tion vs. control) pre- vs. post-test design wasemployed. Primarily, the pre-test includedstudent-athlete baseline data on hope,perceptions of academic and athleticperformance. Between pre-test and post-testthe intervention group was exposed to a six-week/12-session intervention to foster hope,

while the control group participated inregular structured study and did not haveaccess to the intervention. Post-test measureswere the same taken at pre-test. Informationon intervention group student-athletes’perception relative to the interventionprogramme effectiveness was also gathered.

Participants Using stratified random sampling based ongender, males and females were selected foreach group. Participants were drawn fromthe initial 55 student-athletes in a mandatorystructured study at a Division I NCAA-member institution. Intervention andcontrol groups were each composed of 22student-athletes (nine female, 13 male; 10female, 12 male, respectively). Participants’age ranged from 18 to 21, with a mean age of19 years. Ninety-three per cent (41) of thestudent-athletes were US Citizens, while 47per cent (3) were foreign student-athletesfrom Iceland, South Africa and Venezuela.The majority of participating student-athletes were White (25), 14 African-Amer-ican, three Hispanic, and the remaining twowere included in the ‘Other’ category.Participants represented the followingsports: basketball, cross country, golf, soccer,softball, tennis, track and field, baseball, andwrestling. The groups also included cheer-leading and dance team members.

MeasuresAdult Trait Hope ScaleThe Adult Trait Hope Scale (Snyder, Harris,Anderson, Hollerand, Irving, Sigmon, Yoshi-nobu, Gibb, Langelle & Harney, 1991) is a12-item measure of hope and includes twosubscales: agency and pathways. It compriseseight items, with four additional unscoreditems (3, 5, 7, and 11) to disguise the natureof the test. Respondents are asked to use aneight-point Likert scale to indicate how falseor true each of 12 statements is for him orher (e.g. ‘I energetically pursue my goals’,1=definitely false to 8=definitely true). A total hope score is calculated by summingthe four pathways and four agency items.


Cristina Rolo & Daniel Gould

Overall hope scores range from 8 to 64. A series of studies have demonstrated accept-able internal consistency, test-retest relia-bility and temporal stability for thedispositional hope scale (Snyder et al., 1991;Snyder et al., 2001). The Adult Trait HopeScale items are internally consistent, withalpha coefficients ranging from .71 to .76 forthe agency subscale, .63 to .80 for pathwayssubscale, and .74 to .84 for the overall scale.

Adult State Hope ScaleThe Adult State Hope Scale (Snyder et al.,1996) is a six-item self-report that assessesgoal-directed thinking in a given moment.Respondents are asked to use an eight-pointLikert scale to indicate how false or trueeach of six statements is for him or her (e.g.‘at the present time I am energeticallypursuing my goals’, 1=definitely false to8=definitely true). Even numbers are agencyitems while odd-numbered items reflectpathway thinking. The total hope score isobtained by summing all six-item responses.Snyder (2000) has demonstrated the validityand internal consistency reliability of theAdult State Hope Scale. The state hope scaleitems are internally consistent, with alphacoefficients ranging from .79 to .95 for theagency subscale, .76 to .95 for pathwayssubscale, and .59 to .93 for the overall scale.

Domain Hope Scale-RevisedMcDermott and Snyder (1999) developed adomain specific measure of hope, which theauthors suggest could be used instead of thegeneral hope measure to provide more accu-rate hope scores for each life domain.Snyder, Shorey and Sympson (2003) devel-oped and validated a revised version of theoriginal domain specific measure of hope,named Domain Hope Scale-Revised. Thisscale comprises nine areas or life domains:academics, family life, leisure activities,physical health, psychological health,romantic relationships, social relationships,religion/ spiritual life, and work. Due to therelevance of the academic and athleticdomains in the present study, the existing

academic domain hope scale was used. Sinceno athletic domain specific hope scale wasavailable, Rolo (2003) developed and usedone athletic domain hope scale adaptedfrom Snyder, Shorey and Sympson (2003).Both scales (academic and athletic hope) askrespondents to use an eight-point Likertscale to indicate how false or true each of sixstatements is for him or her (e.g. ‘I activelypursue my school work’; ‘I actively pursuemy athletic preparation’; 1=definitely false to8=definitely true). Pathways and agencysubscale scores are obtained by summing thethree odd- and the three even-numbereditems, respectively. The total score isobtained by adding the six item responses(range=6 to 48). To the researchers’ know-ledge no articles to date have beenpublished reporting the use of the domainhope scale or the scale psychometrics.

Athletic performanceAthletic performance was measured byhaving student-athletes fill out a modifiedversion of the athletic performance report(Coach Evaluation Rating Scale) developedby Curry and Maniar (2003). Student-athletes were asked to rate on an eight-pointLikert scale (1=superior to 8=poor) a seriesof eight questions (e.g. ‘When healthy, theactual level of athletic performance achievedby me to date’). Although Curry and Maniar(2003) looked at each of the eight as a sepa-rate predictive outcome to assess interven-tion effectiveness, in the present study, atotal score relative to the sum of the eightquestions was used as a marker of student-athletes’ perceived athletic performance(range=8 to 64).

Academic performanceAcademic performance baseline data wascollected using student-athletes’ academicself-reports, as well as cumulative andsemester GPA. Specifically, the student-athletes’ academic performance report formwas conceived to match the athletic perform-ance report form and included eight ques-tions (e.g. ‘The actual level of academic



performance achieved by me to date’). A total score relative to the sum of the eightquestions was used as a marker of perceivedacademic performance (range=8 to 64).

In addition to the measures mentionedabove, information relative to student-athletes’ perceptions of the interventioncontent, methods, duration, if and how theybenefited from it, as well as suggestions forimproving the intervention were alsocollected and analysed.

InterventionThe intervention programme called ‘FirstSteps to Athletic and Academic Success’focused on changing student-athletes’perceptions and thought processes relativeto hope, in order to assist them change theiractions and behaviour. The ultimate goal wasto provide tools to assist student-athletesreach their athletic and academic potential.Specifically, the intervention group wasexposed to the learning, practicing andmonitoring of effective goal setting princi-ples and strategies (as well as other mentaland life skills) to foster both pathways andthe agency component of hope. Hope was inturn predicted to have a positive impact onacademic and athletic performance (seeFigure 1).

Duration, organisation and methodsThe intervention programme lasted sixweeks and was composed of 12 sessions. Itincluded 10 group sessions and 2 individualconferences, with an approximate durationof 60 minutes (Terry, Mayer & Howe, 1998;Manzo, 2003; Jaycox, Reivich, Guillham &Seligman, 1994). Two individual confer-ences were held with each student-athleteparticipating in the programme. The first toget to know the student-athletes, and guidedby hope theory, assist them develop acomprehensive and specific goal achieve-ment strategic plan, which included settingpersonal, meaningful, and effective athleticand academic goals. The second focused onre-evaluating, re-adjust or change the goalachievement strategic plans. Interventionprogramme group size was limited to amaximum of nine student-athletes to facili-tate the interaction between participants,and to contribute to the effectiveness ofsmall group activities and respective debrief-ings (Shatté, Guillham & Reivich, 2000).Throughout the intervention, diversemethodologies were used to facilitatestudent-athletes’ understanding and applica-tion of the concepts. These included: groupactivities, games, discussions, stories,metaphors, quotes, pictures, and worksheets.



Figure 1: Intervention Model.

HOPE

Pathways

AcademicPerformance

AthleticPerformance

Agency

INTERVENTION

Content The intervention focused mainly on cogni-tive-behavioural interventions, with strongemphases placed upon goal-setting, strategygeneration, and modification of negativethoughts and beliefs regarding goal attain-ment (Curry & Maniar, 2003; Snyder, Ilardi,Cheavens et al., 2000; Shatté, Guillham &Reivich, 2000). The intervention pro-gramme content is based upon one maintheory: hope (Snyder, 1991) and it wasselected with the purpose of: (1) increasingstudent-athletes’ awareness and under-standing of hope (pathways and agency), aswell as how these constructs influence theirbehaviours and performance; and (2) assiststudent-athletes develop the necessary skillsto foster hope and in turn improve theirathletic and academic performances. Inter-vention content by session is presented inTable 1, which contains also a reference tothe purpose of each activity.

ProtocolTwenty-two student-athletes participated inthe intervention programme while 22 werepart of the control group. The later groupparticipated in the mandatory academicstructured study only and did not have accessto the intervention programme sessions. Itwas emphasised to the intervention groupparticipants that the programme was aprocess of experiential learning opportuni-ties, which could not be fully acquired bysimply conveying the missed content. There-fore, the student-athletes who accepted toparticipate in the intervention programmewere asked to fill out a six-week commitmentform. Intervention sessions were scheduledaccording to student-athletes schedules andpreferences and participating student-athletes were asked to keep the content ofthe intervention programme confidential.

At the end of the 12-session intervention,student-athletes who went through theprogramme answered a series of questionsevaluating the intervention programmecontent, process, duration, and outcomes.Furthermore, each participant received a

certificate of successful completion of the‘First Steps to Athletic and AcademicSuccess’ programme.

ProceduresA meeting was held with the UniversityDirector of Intercollegiate Athletics, theAssociate Director of Athletics for StudentWelfare and the Academic EnhancementProgramme Director, in which the charac-teristics of the intervention study and thebenefits to the student athletes wereexplained. As a result, full support wasobtained and a letter of agreement toconduct the intervention study wasproduced and signed.

At the beginning of the semester, afterreceiving approval by the University IRB, theresearcher participated in a meetingconducted by the Academic EnhancementProgramme Director. During this meeting,mandatory structured study procedures,rules, and regulations were explained to allstudent-athletes and the ‘First Steps toAthletic and Academic Success’ interventionprogramme was introduced. Study purposesand participation criteria were explainedand confidentiality was assured. Afterconveying the voluntary nature as well as therandom selection of potential interventionprogramme participants, written consentforms were distributed and baseline data wascollected. The initial survey completionlasted 15 minutes. Student-athletes providedalso information about days/times theywould be at study hall and available to partic-ipate in the intervention programme.Student-athletes were informed that thesetwo hours would count towards the weeklyeight hours of mandatory study time require-ment.

At the end of the study, a final reportsummary of the results as well as a thank younote was given to the student-athletes,coaches and staff involved in the study. Addi-tionally, each student-athlete (interventionand control group) received a clean copy ofthe First Steps to Athletic and Academic Successworkbook.



Session Content and Activities PurposesNo.

1 Introduce programme purpose, a, b, c & d. Illustrate goal setting importancecontent and methods. and introduce effective goal-setting principles.Request student-athletes to keep c. Positive goals & positive thinking/thoughtprogramme content confidential replacement.until the end of the six-week period.a. ‘Toss a goal’ activity.b. Goal Setting ‘Maize’ activity.c. ‘Soccer ball’ activity.d. Goal setting principles, SMART goalsand common problems in goal-setting.

2 a. Perception of control game. a. Perceived control and awareness of b. Goal setting group activity (Puzzle). possibilities: control over what they chose toc. Power 4 W Success System. focus on (obstacle or solution).(wish, wants, ways and will) b. Goal-setting principles; using availabled. ‘Sand’ activity. resources; asking for help.

c. Introduce 4Power W Success System.d. Time management.

3 a. Power 4 W Success System a. Power 4 W Success System review and(quotes, metaphors, written exercises: written exercises (practice).‘Dan’s story’). b. Apply the Power 4 W Success System to b. Self Power 4 W Success System for themselves; discuss how each componentacademics and athletics. influences each other, and performance.

4 a. GPA calculation worksheet. a. Calculate academic semester GPA goal.b. Academic Strategic Plan. b. & c. Fill out the academic and athletic c. Athletic Strategic Plan. strategic plans.Schedule Individual Conferences andremind student-athletes to bring their Strategic Plans next session.

5 Individual Conference. Get to know reason why student came to theuniversity and why he/she is in study hall.Discuss academic and athletic strategic plans.

6 a. ‘Car’ Metaphor. a. Increase awareness of having direct control b. ‘Control Circles’ exercise. over thoughts and behaviours, and indirect c. ‘Backpack with rocks’ Metaphor. control over emotions and physiology.d. ‘Wall’ Metaphor and Quotes. b. Focus on things that are under our control.

c. Organisation; prioritising; avoid procrastination; asking for help.d. 4 Power Ws (wish, want, will, and ways).

7 a. ‘To Do List’. a. Time management/goal-setting.b. Fill out semester planner b & c. Time management.(tests, deadlines, competition, etc.). c & d. Goal-setting.c. Fill out weekly schedule (classes, e. Explain the benefits of temporary explanations practice, competition, and study hall). for failure and permanent for success

(foster agency).



Table 1: Intervention content, activities and purposes.

Session Content and Activities PurposesNo.

d. Weekly academic and athletic goal setting worksheet.e. Exercises on explanatory style(permanent/temporary).

8 a. ‘Being in the Moment’ exercise a. Direct control over the present b. ‘Brain conflict strategy’ activity (not past or future).c. ‘Concentration grid’ activity b & c. Focus, block out distractions or find(while playing distracting tape, quiet environment.and without tape playing).

9 a. Previous week academic and a. Goal-setting monitoring.athletic goal-setting evaluation. b. Effective goal-setting.b. Weekly academic and athletic c. Explain the benefits of permanent, global, goal-setting. and internal, explanations for success, and c. Exercises on explanatory style temporary, specific, and external for failure(global/specific; internal/external). (foster agency).

10 a. 4 Power W Success System exercise. a. Remember successful experiences: b. ‘Major goal of the week’ exercise. how they overcame obstacles (ways) and Schedule Individual Conferences and what motivated them (agency).remind student-athletes to bring their b. 4 Power Ws and Use study hall time wisely.Strategic Plans.

11 Individual Conference. Evaluate/readjust academic and athletic strategic plans.Verify programme workbook and classes’ notebook organisation.

12 a. Previous week academic and athletic a. Goal-setting monitoring.goal-setting evaluation. b. Effective goal-setting.b. Weekly academic and athletic Programme review and evaluation.goal-setting. c. Goal setting (three types of goals: safety goal, Review of the programme. realistic/challenging goal, barrier braking goal).Fill out hope questionnaires, academic and athletic report forms.Fill out the programme evaluation form.c. Goal-setting closing game.




ResultsThe results presented here assess the effec-tiveness of the short-term interventionprogramme in fostering hope, athletic andacademic performance in university student-athletes participating in mandatory struc-tured study. Using the data collected on allforty-four student-athletes who participatedin the study, descriptive statistics and alphareliability coefficients were calculated foreach of the hope scales (dispositional, state ,academic, and athletic) and for theacademic and athletic performance reportforms (see Tables 2 and 3).

Repeated measures ANOVA wereconducted to determine if there were anydifferences on hope and performancebetween the groups (intervention andcontrol) and over time (pre- to post-inter-vention). Specifically, six repeated measuresANOVAs were conducted with group andtime used as independent variables (Within:Time 1, Time 2 and Between: Intervention

and Control Groups) for each dependentmeasure used in the present study: disposi-tional hope, state hope, athletic hope,academic hope, athletic performance andacademic performance. These results arepresented here.

State HopeRepeated measures ANOVA results showed asignificant Time (pre-post intervention) byGroup (intervention and control) interac-tion effect F(1,42)=7.20, p=.01, revealing asignificant increase in intervention groupstudent-athletes’ state hope scores at Time 2,after taking part in the six-week hopebuilding programme. Specifically, Time 2state hope mean (M=40.0) was significantlygreater than the Time 1 state hope mean(M=37.1). Furthermore, intervention groupstate hope scores at Time 2 (M=41.5, SD=4.5)were significantly greater than the state hopescores obtained at Time 1 (M=36.3, SD=6.9).


N M SD SK KU a

Assessment Time 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 Range

Dispositional Hope total 8-64Intervention Group 22 22 49.18 54.27 5.65 5.14 -.29 -.86 -.35 .75 .80 .83Control Group 22 22 49.09 51.23 9.29 5.30 -1.95 .13 6.04 -.52 .92 .74Total Sample 44 44 49.14 52.75 7.60 5.38 -1.72 -.32 6.20 -.56 .89 .80

State Hope total 6-48Intervention Group 22 22 36.27 41.50 6.87 4.50 .17 -1.57 -1.03 2.38 .92 .91Control Group 22 22 38.00 38.55 6.58 5.55 -.22 -.01 -.95 -1.45 .88 .87Total Sample 44 44 37.14 40.02 6.71 5.21 -.029 -.64 -1.08 -.81 .90 .89

Athletic Hope total 6-48Intervention Group 22 22 41.73 42.68 3.67 6.84 .41 -3.08 -.94 11.48 .80 .93Control Group 21 22 40.52 41.91 8.10 3.99 -2.80 .16 10.35 -1.34 .95 .83Total Sample 43 44 41.14 42.30 6.19 5.55 -3.00 -2.55 14.73 10.77 .92 .91

Academic Hope total 6-48Intervention Group 22 22 37.27 40.68 6.48 5.30 -.44 -1.26 -.66 1.91 .91 .90Control Group 22 22 37.14 38.82 8.86 4.77 -1.77 -.76 4.58 -.58 .96 .83Total Sample 44 44 37.20 39.75 7.67 5.07 -1.40 -.91 3.48 .37 .94 .87

Table 2: Dispositional Hope, State Hope, Athletic Hope and Academic Hopedescriptive statistics and reliabilities.

** p<.01 level (2-tailed). * p=.01 level (2-tailed).


The significant increase in interventiongroup student-athletes’ state hope scoresbetween pre- and post-intervention may havebeen due to the fact that although the inter-vention programme focused on developingathletic and academic hope, hope relatedthinking as applied to other life domainssuch as work or personal relationships mayhave also increased. The development ofhope related thinking is illustrated in thefollowing student-athletes’ quotes: ‘I learneda lot about goal setting, organising andprioritising my time, ways to achieve goalsand overcome obstacles in my way’; ‘helpedme become a person with discipline in life’;‘I can use these in my life to become a betterperson and perform better’.

Dispositional, Athletic and Academic HopeRepeated measures ANOVA results revealedthat the intervention programme partici-pants did not differ significantly from thecontrol group participants (at Time 1 andTime 2) on any of the other dependent vari-ables examined in this study: dispositionalhope, athletic hope, academic hope, athleticperformance and academic performance.Although most scores improved from pre- topost-intervention, especially for the interven-tion group, no statistical significant differ-ences were found between the two groups.There was a significant time effect for all keymeasures in the study (except for athletichope), but no significant differences werefound in the overall means for the interven-


N M SD SK KU a

Assessment Time 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 Range

Athletic Performance 8-64Intervention Group 22 22 45.91 50.95 8.15 8.73 .24 -.63 -.18 -.09 .91 .92Control Group 22 21 46.77 48.00 9.83 8.25 .06 -.11 -1.2 -.09 .94 .91Total Sample 44 43 46.34 49.51 8.93 8.53 .15 -.34 -.85 -.40 .93 .92

Academic Performance 8-64Intervention Group 22 22 38.41 43.27 5.96 8.89 .20 -.55 .21 -.07 .81 .92Control Group 22 22 38.77 41.41 11.66 10.50 .11 .14 -.48 -1.37 .95 .95Total Sample 44 44 38.59 42.34 9.15 9.66 .17 -.17 .40 -1.00 .92 .94

Table 3: Student-athletes’ perceptions of Athletic and Academic Performancedescriptive statistics and reliabilities.


Source SS df MS F η2 φ

Between SubjectsGroup 8.28 1 8.28 .15 .00 .06Error 2271.66 42 54.08

Within SubjectsTime 183.28 1 183.28 10.94** .21 .90Time by Group 120.56 1 120.56 7.20* .15 .75Error 703.66 42 16.75

Table 4: Repeated measures ANOVA using State Hope total as the dependent variable.



tion and control groups. Likewise, the groupby time interaction was not significant.Specifically, repeated measures ANOVAresults using the dispositional hope scores asthe dependent variable indicated a signifi-cant time main effect F(1,42)=2.50, p<.001.That is, when the intervention and thecontrol groups were combined, the overallmeans at Time 1 (37.1) and Time 2 (40.0)were significantly different. Whencomparing the dispositional hope scoresobtained in the present study with the onesobtained by Snyder et al. (2002), pre-scoresfor both groups (intervention and controlrespectively, M=49.2; M=49.1) were consid-ered to be at moderate levels. Dispositionalhope post-scores for the control group(M=51.2) were considered moderate,whereas post-scores for the interventiongroup (M=54.3) tended to approach Snyderet al. (2003) high-hope mean score of refer-ence (M=58.8). Moreover, the interventiongroup post-intervention dispositional hopemean score was just slightly below the dispo-sitional hope mean score obtained in Gouldet al.’s (2002) study for US Olympic athletes(M=55.9, SD=3.48). Therefore, it appearsthat intervention group’s dispositional hopelevel at Time 2 was relatively high.

The results of the repeated measuresANOVA conducted with athletic hope scoresas the dependent variable revealed that thetime and group main effects as well as theinteraction effect were not significant. Afactor that may help explain the interventionand the control groups not showing a signif-icant increase on the athletic hope scores, isthe fact that their mean score was alreadyrelatively high (41.7 and 40.5 out of 48,respectively) at the outset of the study. Addi-tionally, the fact that throughout the inter-vention programme the majority of theintervention group student-athletesappeared to focus more on the academicdomain (area they needed to improve tomaintain their athletic eligibility and to bereleased from study hall) may also helpexplain not finding significant differences.

Repeated measures ANOVA results usingthe academic hope scores as the dependentvariable showed a significant time maineffect F(1,42)=4.94, p<.05, with overallmeans at Time 1 (37.2) and Time 2 (39.8)being significantly different.

Athletic and academic performanceA Repeated Measures ANOVA wasconducted with athletic performance as thedependent variable indicated a significanttime main effect F(1,41)=7.11, p<.01. Whenthe intervention and the control groupscores were combined, the overall means atTime 1 (46.3) and Time 2 (49.5) were signif-icantly different. The repeated measuresANOVA conducted with academic perform-ance as the dependent variable showed asignificant time main effect F(1,42)=7.71,p<.01. The overall means at Time 1 (37.1)and Time 2 (40.0) were significantlydifferent. For all the repeated measuresANOVA, conducted in this study there wasno significant difference in the overall meansfor the intervention and control groups(except for state hope). Likewise, the groupby time interaction was not significant.

Hope and Academic performanceTo examine the relationships among hope andperformance, Pearson correlation coefficientswere calculated using the total sample. Resultsrevealed that the hope measures (disposi-tional, state and academic) were significantlyand positively related with GPA. However, onlystate hope (r42=.47, p<.01, r42=.39, p<.05), andacademic hope (r42=.34, p<.05, r42=.35, p<.05)were significantly related respectively withcumulative and semester GPA.

A one-way ANOVA conducted withsemester GPA as a dependent variable andthe dispositional hope groups (high,medium and low) as the independent vari-able did not show significant differencesbetween the groups. However, significantdifferences were found when a one-wayANOVA was conducted with academic hope(low, medium, and high) as the independentvariable and the dependent variable being



semester GPA. Results indicated that thehigh and low hope groups significantlydiffered on semester GPA scores F(2,37)=1.6,p<.01, h2=21. Specifically, semester GPAmeans for high-hope (M=55.4) student-athletes was 2.5, while for the low-hope group(M=41.5) was 1.94. It is interesting to notethat student-athletes with high academichope had semester and cumulative GPAmean scores of 2.5, the minimum requiredfor student-athletes to be released frommandatory structured study. Based on theprevious results, it seems that academic hopescores may be a useful indicator of how wellstudent-athletes are doing academically (andvice versa). This finding is consistent withSnyder et al. (1999; Curry et al., 1997; Snyderet al., 2002) in which hope correlated highlywith superior academic performances.

Overtime the intervention group didimprove on academic hope and perceptionsof academic performance, but so did thecontrol group. Some of these results may bedue to the fact that throughout the interven-tion programme, 10 control group students-athletes participated in mandatory weeklymeetings with the structured study graduateassistants. These control group student-athletes received a great deal of personalattention, tools and support, which may havecontributed to foster their academic hopelevels and their perceptions of academicperformance. This parallel interventiongoing on at the same time the interventionprogramme was taking place, may in partexplain not finding significant differenceson academic hope and perceptions ofacademic performance between the inter-vention (confounding variable) and controlgroup.

Intervention programme evaluation Considering that student-athletes are bynature very active, the methodologies (e.g.activities, games and metaphors) used in theintervention programme were considered tobe very effective. It appeared that theylearned better by participating in the activi-ties and taking part in the debriefings, rather

than just listening to the programmeinstructor explain the hope related keyconcepts. Furthermore, the individualisednature of the programme contributed to theeffectiveness of the intervention pro-gramme. It allowed the instructor and thestudent-athlete to get to know each otherbetter, and helped student-athletes improvetheir strategic plans. The weekly goal settingalso made it more meaningful as it directedthe programme towards student-athletesindividual needs.

Information regarding student-athletesperceptions of the intervention programmecontent, methods and effectiveness indicatedthat the majority of the student-athletes ratedthe time management activities, as well as thegoal setting activities (e.g. weekly goal setting,and strategic plans) as being the most benefi-cial. Curry and Maniar (2003) found similarresults. Specifically, the authors found thatfor course-taking student-athletes whoperceived positive behaviour change on theirapproach to performance, goal-settingassignments/ interventions were the onesthey mentioned the most. This fact mayguide the development of future interven-tions aimed at fostering hope, which shoulddefinitely include a major goal setting relatedcomponent. Other factors such as thestudent-athletes received considerable atten-tion from the programme instructor, mayhave also contributed to the results found inthe present study. As illustrated by student-athletes’ written programme evaluation, theyperceived that the programme instructorreally cared about them, which may have hada positive impact on the results obtained.This is similar to Curry et al. (2003) belief hisprogramme implementation could not besolely attributed to the programme contentand methods, as these were also greatly influ-enced by the characteristics of the personthat delivers it.

Overall, the results of the present studysuggest that the six-week interventionprogramme was successful in fostering statehope. However, there were no statisticallysignificant improvements on dispositional,



academic and athletic hope, as well as onperceptions of athletic and academicperformance.

Study strengths and limitationsThe study strengths include stratifiedrandom assignment of participants to groupsfrom the available pool of student-athletesparticipating in mandatory structured study,as well as the use of a control group (oftennon existent in intervention studies of thisnature). To the knowledge of theresearchers, the present study was the first touse specific domain (academic and athletic)measures of hope, with results revealing thathope may significantly vary across domains.

The researchers’ knowledge of thecontext as well as the trust built over theyears working with the student-athletes,athletic and academic staff was a majorfactor contributing to the success of thisintervention. The student-athletes werehighly involved and considered theprogramme to have helped foster theiracademic and athletic performances. Specif-ically, the student-athletes mentioned thatlittle changes they made in their dailyroutine, as the result of their participation inthe programme made them manage theirtime more efficiently helped them set andachieve goals, and made them change somehabits (e.g. being more disciplined, eatingproperly). These in turn allowed them to getmore rest and be more energised to study,practice and compete.

There are also several limitations of thepresent study. First, athletic and academicperformance measures used in this studywere based on perceptions of performanceand not based on actual performance behav-iours statistics. However, this was the bestoption available at the time to measureperformance across different sports. AsCurry and Maniar (2003) also recommend,the results obtained by using such athleticperformance measures should be inter-preted with caution because they are notmarkers of behaviours, but rather opinionsbased on perceptions of behaviour. The fact

that several sports were included is alsoconsidered a limitation. Because not allsports were in season, performancemeasures did not have the same meaningacross sports. Having injured athletes in thesample may also have affected the studyresults, as they were not able to perform.

Another limitation of the present studywas the fact that two Academic Enhance-ment Programme graduate assistants hadweekly individual meetings with ten controlgroup student-athletes. This parallel inter-vention going on at the same time the inter-vention programme was taking place, may inpart explain not finding significant differ-ences between the intervention and controlgroup on the academic variables. Althoughthe present study found that the interven-tion programme had a positive impact onstate hope, cause-effect relationship cannotbe verified. Caution, then, must be made ingeneralising the findings.

Practical implications and futureresearch directionsThe present study attempts to contribute toadvancing the field in this area, by providinginsight on how hope may differ within thesame individuals across domains, and howthese relate to performance. No studies todate have simultaneously used a generalhope questionnaire as well as domainspecific (academic and athletic) hope ques-tionnaires. Specifically, it was found thatalthough student-athletes had moderatestate hope and moderate academic hopescores at baseline, athletic hope scores werehigh. If the researcher had only used thestate hope measure, these differences inacademic and athletic hope would not havebeen found. It appears that both measuresprovide meaningful information to assistpractitioners define areas for intervention.

Practically, this intervention studyassisted student-athletes develop skills tofoster hope. Furthermore, the fact thatstudent-athletes with high academic hopehad significantly higher semester GPA (2.5)as compared to the student athletes low on



academic hope (semester GPA <2.0) illus-trates the usefulness of fostering academichope. The results obtained in the presentstudy suggest that individual differences inhope scores may help counsellors andcoaches identify student-athletes who are atrisk of having low performances, which inturn may lead to dropping out of school orsport (Curry & Snyder, 2000). Interventionprogrammes implemented to foster student-athletes hope are greatly recommended asthey may contribute to enhance perform-ance as well as increase sport and academicadherence. Future studies should empiri-cally explore this relationship.

In order to improve the quality of fieldresearch related to athletic performance,there is a need to develop objective markersof performance across sports. It is alsorecommended to examine the relationshipbetween these makers and hope. Althoughthis study attempted to explore the relation-ship between hope and performance acrosssports, more research is needed to furtherexplore this relationship with more accuratemeasures of performance.

In designing the present study, a model(see Figure 1) was developed to guide theintervention programme. The study resultssuggest that there may be a reciprocal rela-tionship between performance and hope.Specifically, hope seems to simultaneouslyinfluence performance and be influenced byperformance levels. Based on these results,the model should be revised and tested inthe future.

Furthermore, if hope can be enhancedthrough an intervention (as preliminaryfindings tend to indicate), then it is neces-sary to continue examining what modalitiesare the most effective in initiating thischange. Cognitive-behavioural interven-tions, with strong emphases placed upongoal-setting, strategy generation, and modifi-cation of negative beliefs regarding goalattainment have been well suited to gener-ating hope (Snyder et al., 2000; Curry &Maniar 2003). Therefore, these strategiesare greatly recommended. Moreover, to

contribute to develop more adapted inter-vention programmes and increase the prob-ability of having positive results, theprogramme instructor should have goodunderstanding of the context, rules andgroup dynamics. Additionally, to maximisethe intervention effectiveness it is recom-mended to identify and work with low-hopeclients. The development of interventions toraise their levels of hopeful thinking mayenhance their performance and foster theirwell-being and adherence.

The authors trust that this interventionstudy will inspire coaches to develop, imple-ment and evaluate similar programmes inthe future. As a result of the ‘First Steps forAcademic Success’ intervention programmesuccess, while working with universitystudent-athletes in the US, the programmewas later adapted and implemented inPortugal. For two consecutive years theprogramme named ‘Academic Success’ wasconducted in a high-school setting withsignificant positive impact on students’academic performance and well-being. As aresult, two academic success handbooks(student manual and instructor guide) arecurrently being written for the PortugueseMinistry of Education.

ConclusionsThe purpose of the present study was toexamine the effectiveness of a short-termintervention programme in fostering hope,athletic and academic performance in USuniversity student-athletes participating inmandatory structured study. Although moreresearch is needed to further explore thisstudy’s findings, the researchers consider itimportant to emphasise that the short-term(six-week/12-sessions) intervention pro-gramme was effective in fostering student-athletes’ state hope. Furthermore, althoughin this study statistically significant differ-ences were not found relative to student-athletes performance, qualitative resultsrevealed that the programme had a positiveimpact on student-athletes behaviours.According to student-athletes written feed-


back, the intervention contributed to facili-tate their performances and fostered theirwell-being.

Student-athletes mentioned that, whatthey gained by being in the programme canbe applied not only in academics andathletics, but also in other life domains. Thisis consistent with Snyder et al. (2002) whenthe authors say that fostering hopefulthinking has the potential to improvestudent-athletes’ goal pursuits in all domainsof their lives. These results providedevidence that supports existing research ingeneral psychology (Snyder et al., 1999;Snyder et al., 2002) and sport psychologyliterature (Curry et al., 1997; Curry & Maniar,2003), in which intervention programmessuccessfully developed hope, increasedperformance and well-being in differentcontexts.

Measuring hopeful thinking can be agreat tool for coaches, support staff andcounsellors working with student-athletes, toidentify individuals who are low in hope andwhom may benefit from special assistance.The development, implementation and eval-uation of programmes to develop hope arenecessary as they may have a positive impacton performance, well-being and adherence.

While the intervention and researchdescribed here focuses on the student-athletes, we trust that readers can adapt themethodologies and techniques presented inthis study and use them to coach executivesor other high performers. Assessing anddeveloping hopeful thinking is a great toolfor coaching in general, as it may contributeto clients improved performance and well-being, the most often desired outcomes.

AcknowledgementsThis study was a doctoral dissertation carriedout by the first author under the supervisionof the second author in the Department ofExercise and Sport Science at the Universityof North Carolina, Greensboro, US.

A special thank you to the Sport Psycho-logist Dave de Haan for his assistance inediting this article.

CorrespondenceCristina RoloAmato Lusitano de Castelo Branco.High-School Physical Education TenuredProfessor. European Network for Young Specialists inSport Psychology Applied Department Coordinator. Sport Psychology Professor and Performance Enhancement Consultant.Rua Medico Henrique de Paiva N4 R/C,6000-249 Castelo Branco,Portugal.E-mail: [email protected]

Daniel GouldPerformance Enhancement Consultant.Professor and Director of the Institute forthe Study of Youth Sports, Michigan StateUniversity, East Lansing, Michigan. College of Education/Department of Kinesiology.IM Sports Circle,East Lansing, MI 48824-1049,USA.E-mail: [email protected]



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POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY (SELIGMAN,1999), aims to apply rigorous psycho-logical science to the study of optimal

functioning and positive characteristic inindividuals and organisations – as opposedto dysfunction and pathology. Since itsinception, research into positive psychologyhas grown rapidly with the publication ofhundreds of research papers, journal specialissues, and books dedicated to the topic(Linley, Joseph, Harrington & Wood, 2006).Like positive psychology, coaching is also anarea enjoying rapid growth. Yet this is occur-ring without any substantial research basis –at least to date. This project was designed toprovide one small step towards an under-standing of the processes through whichcoaching may be effective.

Coaching may be defined as ‘a solution-focused, result-oriented systematic process inwhich the coach facilitates the enhancementof work performance and the self-directedlearning and personal growth of the coachee’(Grant, 2001). Kauffman and Scoular (2004)reviewed coaching from a positive psychologyperspective and found that many coachingmethods could be traced to underlying

psychological theory, (e.g. behaviouralapproaches, cognitive behavioural therapy,brief solution-focused therapy, etc.), but thatdespite the popularity and rapid growth ofcoaching, there was very little evidence of itsefficacy. Grant (2001) examined peer-reviewed journals in psychology and found1435 citations to coaching, but of these only17 represented actual scientific studies ofadult coaching, and many of these 17 weresingle-participant studies.

While evidence is beginning to emergethat coaching is effective (e.g. Green, Oades& Grant, 2006; Spence & Grant, in press), lessis known about the mechanisms or processesthrough which coaching may have its effects.The possible link between self-concordanceand coaching has been postulated (Linley,2004) but has to date not been empiricallytested. When people change their goals, theytypically do so towards goals which are moreself-concordant, and consequently experi-ence increases in well-being and goal attain-ment (Sheldon, Arndt & Houser-Marko,2003). Joseph and Linley (2004, pp.356–357)suggested that this evidence is part of agrowing body of evidence for the actualising


Enhancing goal self-concordance throughcoachingDaniel Burke & P. Alex Linley

Objectives: Research shows that self-concordant goals are more readily pursued, better achieved, and theirattainment can lead to increases in well-being. This study assesses whether executive coaching in turnaffects self-concordance. Design: We hypothesised that the heightened awareness produced by coaching leads to changes in self-concordance (type of motivation) and commitment (a measure of the amount of motivation). A single groupdesign with repeated measures was used. Method: 26 participants – all senior managers in business – identified three goals and then received a one-to-one coaching session focused on one goal, but received no coaching on the remaining goals. Results: The hypothesis was supported, with significant changes (increases) in self-concordance andcommitment for the coached goal. There were also significant increases in self-concordance and commitmentfor some of the other non-coached goals. Conclusion: These results are discussed with reference to the goal attainment and coaching literature, andsuggestions made for further research.

tendency, and for the organismic valuingprocess (OVP) (Rogers, 1964). The actual-ising tendency implies that people can betrusted to know their own best directions inlife, and the OVP refers to people’s innateability to know what is important to them andwhat is essential for a fulfilling life. Fromthese premises, people are considered to beacting self-concordantly when they arepursuing the directions in life that are rightand fulfilling for them. On the basis of thegoal change literature (e.g. Sheldon et al.,2003; Sheldon & Kasser, 1995), we hypothe-sised that one of the directions throughwhich coaching may be effective is byenhancing intrinsic motivation and enablingpeople to follow more self-concordant goals.

The Self-Concordance Model of healthy goalstriving and internalised motivation(Sheldon & Elliot, 1999) describes self-concordant goals as those that are ‘consis-tent with our developing interests and corevalues’. The self-concordance model positsthat when pursuing self-concordant goals,success is achieved through the greatersustained effort put into achieving them, andthe greater well-being which follows when weachieve them (enabled by the satisfaction ofbasic needs for autonomy, competence, andrelatedness). In a series of studies, Sheldonand Elliot (1999) showed that their modelprovided a satisfactory fit to three longitu-dinal data sets and was independent of theeffects of self-efficacy, implementation inten-tions, avoidance framing, and life skills.Hence, the self-concordance model wouldsuggest that the more self-concordant a goalis, the more readily it will be pursued andachieved, and the more well-being will beexperienced as a result. Given theseapparent beneficial effects of (greater) self-concordance, and since coaching iscommonly applied to assist individuals inworking towards and achieving their goals,the question arises as to how coaching mightaffect self-concordance.

Sheldon and Elliot (1999) concluded intheir studies of self-concordance: ‘… alongwith Rogers (1961), we believe that individ-

uals have innate developmental trends andpropensities that may be given voice by anorganismic valuing process occurring withinthem. This voice can be very difficult to hear,but the current research suggests that theability to hear it is of crucial importance forthe pusuit of happiness’ (p.495). In otherwords, if people can be helped to hear theirinner voice, they will be better able to makemore concordant goal choices, or toincrease their degree of concordance forexisting choices – with the beneficial conse-quences alluded to above. A primary focus ofthis study is to ask whether coaching mightlead to changes in self-concordance throughallowing this inner voice to be heard.

This study brings together the recentpositive psychology approaches noted above,and coaching. The specific one-to-onecoaching approach used was the GROWmodel (Whitmore, 2002), in which the firstauthor has extensive experience. Thisapproach assumes the existence of an actual-ising tendency that the coach calls forth.Whitmore (2002) suggests that ‘we are likean acorn, which contains within it all thepotential to be a magnificent oak tree. Weneed nourishment, encouragement, and thelight to reach toward, but the oaktreeness isalready within’ (p.9). This fundamentalassumption of the GROW model is consis-tent with the central premises of the self-concordance model and the actualisingtendency view of human nature.

Within the context of an overall objectiveto raise awareness and reponsibility in themind of a coachee, GROW is an acronym forthe stages of the process: setting a clear Goalfor the session; considering the current Reality;considering the Options thoroughly; and iden-tifying what the coachee Will do. This process,which is also characterised by following theinterest of the coachee (and so allowing theinner voice to be heard), is intended to lead toa heightened level of awareness about the goalsand their meaning and importance to thecoachee, and specific actions to pursue them.This heightened awareness may lead to goalsbeing changed or abandoned.


Coaching and motivation

This study focuses on the extent to whichcoaching changes certain aspects of motiva-tion: our hypothesis is that the heightenedawareness produced by coaching (usingGROW) will result in changes in self-concor-dance (type of motivation). In addition,given the nature of the GROW process, it isexpected that there will also be changes incommitment (a measure of the amount ofmotivation). The study covers new ground inexamining the effects of coaching on self-concordance. Drawing together these twopromising new fields of research – self-concordance and coaching – may enablemore options in the coach’s repertoire.

We hypothesised that there would be asignificant change (either positive or nega-tive) in self-concordance measures andcommitment measures in the coachingcondition. A positive change would beindicative of increases in self-concordanceand commitment (becoming more intrinsi-cally engaged with a goal) and a negativechange would be indicative of decreases inself-concordance and commitment (ulti-mately to the point of withdrawing from thegoal). The direction of this change was notconsidered fundamental to the currentresearch question, because our focus was onthe change itself (i.e. shifts in self-concor-dance and commitment facilitated bycoaching), rather than the use of coachingto increase self-concordance.

We did not specify directional hypothesesfor the non-coached goals, because therewere two equally plausible scenarios that wewished to test. First, the non-coached goalsmay not show any significant shifts in self-concordance and commitment, thus demon-strating the specific efficacy of coachingintervention. Second, the non-coached goalsmay show significant shifts in self-concor-dance and commitment, through the‘spillover’ or practice effects of participantsapplying the coaching lessons from thecoached goal to other goals in their lives.

MethodParticipantsParticipants were a convenience sampledrawn from the business and personalnetwork of the first author. Twenty-six indi-viduals took part, all graduates or postgradu-ates, and all were senior managers inorganisations of varying sizes. There werenine males and 17 females, with an agerange of 27 to 84 years, with a mean age of47.9 years for males and 39.3 years forfemales. (The 84-year-old was a male retiredChief Executive still with a number of activeinterests; the next oldest participant wasaged 58 years.) Participants did not receiveany incentive for participation other thancontributing to research and gaining a one-to-one coaching session free of charge.

MeasuresSelf-concordance was measured using thePerceived Locus of Causality (PLOC) (Sheldon &Elliot, 1999, following Ryan & Connell, 1989).This enabled participants to rate (using aseven-point scale anchored by 1=‘not at all’and 7=‘extremely’) their reasons for pursuingeach goal in terms of each of four reasons:external, introjected, identified, and intrinsic.The external reason was ‘because somebody elsewants you to or because the situation demands it’.The introjected reason was ‘because you wouldfeel ashamed, guilty, or anxious if you didn’t’. Theidentified reason was ‘because you really believeit’s an important goal to have’. The intrinsicreason was ‘because of the fun and enjoyment thatit provides you’. Following Sheldon and Elliot(1999), a composite self-concordance variablewas created by summing the identified andintrinsic scores, and subtracting the intro-jected and external scores.

Alignment with Personal Values was assessedusing the same seven-point scale with thequestion ‘To what extent do you think this goalreflects your personal values?’. This measure wasincluded to give an additional perspective onself-concordance.Commitment was assessed using the seven-point scale with the question ‘How committedare you to this goal?’.


Daniel Burke & P. Alex Linley

DesignA single group pre-post design with repeatedmeasures was used. The independent vari-able was the coaching condition which hadtwo levels (A: one-to-one coaching, B: no-coaching). Participants identified threegoals and then received a single one-to-onecoaching session focused on one of the goalsselected at random (condition A); butreceived no coaching on the other two goals(condition B). There was no specific inter-vention in respect of the two non-coachedgoals (apart from the fact that they belong tothe same participant who was coached onthe other goal). This raised the possibility ofsome spillover (or practice) effect onto thenon-coached goals, which formed the focusof our second research question. Allcoaching sessions were conducted by thefirst author, who is a senior qualified coach.

Three dependent variables were meas-ured before and immediately after thecoaching session, for all three goals (i.e. forboth conditions A & B): type of motivation(or self-concordance), alignment with personalvalues, and commitment.

ProcedurePreliminary testing. A trial run of the studywith draft questionnaires was conducted bythe first author, with a trained counsellor asa participant. This led to a number of refine-ments to the documentation and procedure.In particular, the number of goals wasreduced from four to three, so that thecoaching would be focused on one goal only(rather than two). This new format had thedual advantage of reducing the time spenton form filling for the participants, and alsomaking the coaching process more realistic.In (real life) practice, coaching sessions areusually focused on a single goal.

Preparation for coaching (participants).Participants were invited by a standardised e-mail to take part in a study designed toexamine the way in which executivecoaching affects various aspects of motiva-tion. The invitation offered a free one-to-onecoaching session with a professional business

coach, and also explained that the studywould involve participants in setting goals,receiving coaching on one of them, andanswering a few questions in connectionwith the goals at the session and on threeoccasions afterwards.

For the purposes of the study, a goal wasdescribed as being ‘Something you think about,plan for, carry out, and sometimes (though notalways) complete or succeed at’ (Little, 1993).The guidance note also explained that thegoals selected should be not long-term ormajor life-changing endeavours, but ‘the sortof thing you would normally expect to worktowards over a period of two months or so’. Theguidance also contained examples of thesorts of goal that people might choose, andspace to make an initial brainstorm list ofpossible goals. Participants were instructedto then select the goals that were mostimportant to them, and for which they wouldpotentially like to receive a coaching session.The coach then reviewed these goals toensure that as far as possible they met thecriteria for the study. This included a checkto ensure that the goals were not simplyrestatements of each other.

The participant selected one of theirthree goals at random by selecting one ofthree folded Post-It notes on which werewritten (and hidden by the folding) the threenumbers 1, 2, and 3 respectively, relating totheir three goals. The coaching sessionfollowed, using the GROW model as a struc-ture for the coaching, that is, employing asensitive, considerate and client-centredethos and checking with the participant on acouple of occasions that they were comfort-able with the process and procedure so far,and that they were happy to continue.

The actual coaching sessions (all on aone-to-one basis) took place in a variety oflocations including the offices of the partici-pants, the office of the coach, and the homesof the participants. In all cases, the environ-ment was appropriate for a confidentialcoaching discussion.

Ethical considerations. From an early stageof the study design, due consideration was



given to the relevant ethical considerations,and in particular the need to minimise thepotential risk inherent in coaching, namelythat depending on the nature of the goal,thinking and talking about a goal might leadto distress. For example, the coaching mightlead to a realisation that the motivation for,perceived ability for, or opportunity topursue, a particular goal is low, which mightlead to the goal being abandoned, possiblyresulting in distress. (On the other hand,such realisations might also, depending onthe goal, lead to relief and gratitude in theparticipant.) Accordingly, suitable guidanceto ensure that as far as possible only suitablegoals were chosen was provided. All of therelevant ethical guidelines per the BritishPsychological Society were observed appro-priately. This included participants beingasked for, and giving, their fully informedconsent to be involved in the study.

ResultsDoes coaching influence self-concordance?Table 1 shows the summary statistics forparticipants both before and after thecoaching intervention, and also for thedifference score (‘after’ minus ‘before’), foreach of goals 1, 2, and 3. For goal 1, the goalfor which the participant received coaching,the mean scores for self-concordance, align-ment with personal values, and commit-ment, all showed an increase following thecoaching intervention. The same patternemerged for goal 2 and goal 3. Of furthernote is that the difference scores for goal 1(the coached goal) are greater than thosefor goals 2 and 3 (the non-coached goals).

Using a series of Wilcoxon Signed RankTests we examined the statistical significanceof these differences. This conservativeapproach (rather than t -tests) was followedsince scrutiny of the data suggested they didnot fully meet the criteria required to useparametric tests. For self-concordance scores asmeasured before and after the coachingintervention: for goal 1, there was a signifi-cant increase (Z=–2.38, p<0.05, two-tailedtest); for goal 2, there was also a significant

increase (Z=–2.27, p<0.05, two-tailed test);but for goal 3, the increase was not signifi-cant at the five per cent level (Z=–0.31,p>0.05, two-tailed test).

For alignment with personal values scores asmeasured before and after the coachingintervention: for goal 1, there was a signifi-cant increase (Z=–2.65, p<0.01, two-tailedtest); for goal 3, there was also a significantincrease (Z=–2.14, p<0.05, two-tailed test);but for goal 2, the increase was not signifi-cant at the five per cent level (Z=–1.79,p>0.05, two-tailed test).

For commitment scores as measured beforeand after the coaching intervention: for goal1, there was a significant increase (Z=–3.58,p<0.001, two-tailed test); for goal 2, there wasalso a significant increase (Z=–2.01, p<0.05,two-tailed test); but for goal 3, the increasewas not significant at the five per cent level(Z=–1.80, p>0.05, two-tailed test).

Does coaching influence self-concordance? Qualitative responsesParticipants provided comments as to whythey thought their self-concordance scoreshad changed after coaching. The followingqualitative comments provide insights intohow coaching served to influence self-concor-dance: ‘I now ‘own’ the goal – note change ofdescription. I’m choosing it, before I felt it was some-thing worthwhile to do’; ‘I have realised that it[achieving the goal] would make me happier, ratherthan be a chore – it really will help’; and ‘I am nowexcited about this goal and realise how much fun itis going to be to do.’ However, as we hadexpected, not all shifts in self-concordancewere in a positive direction. One personnoted that they ‘Realised the goal was wrong. Notabout doing it more, but about doing it better andas natural part of my work.’

Correlations between measuresIn order to assess whether the effects for thedependent variables were simply a reflectionof the variables measuring the same under-lying construct, we conducted Pearson’scorrelations. For measures taken before thecoaching intervention, self-concordance



correlated at r=.37, p<.01 with alignmentwith personal values and at r=.35, p<.01, withcommitment. Alignment with personalvalues and commitment correlated at r=.27,p<.05. For measures taken after the coachingintervention, self-concordance correlated atr=.37, p<.01 with alignment with personalvalues and at r=.34, p<.01, with commitment.Alignment with personal values and commit-ment correlated at r=.41, p<.01. These find-ings indicate, first, that the variables wererelated but not substantially overlapping,and second, that the associations betweenvariables were stable and consistent bothpre- and post- the coaching intervention.

Gender differencesGender differences were not a focus of thestudy design. However, analysis of the self-concordance scores (nine males, 17 females)revealed that the mean self-concordancescore across all three goals, measured beforethe coaching intervention, was 3.29(SD=4.54) for females and 1.78 (SD=4.76) formales. Although based on a small sample,these findings perhaps point to gender differ-ences being a focus for future investigation.

DiscussionOur findings suggest that one of the mecha-nisms through which coaching may be effec-tive as a goal attainment support process is

through raising people’s levels of self-concordance with their goals. Previousresearch has shown that self-concordantgoals are more likely to be achieved and leadto better outcomes when they are achieved(Sheldon & Elliot, 1999; Sheldon et al.,2003); these findings suggest that this maybe at least one of the mechanisms of actionof successful executive coaching.

Following a single one-to-one coachingsession with a trained and experience execu-tive coach, participants demonstrated signif-icant overall increases in each of goalself-concordance, alignment with personalvalues, and commitment to the goal, in rela-tion to the goal on which they were coached.

There were also spillover or learningeffects that influenced the second and thirdnon-coached goals. Scores for alignment withpersonal values increased for the third goalbut not the second goal, and scores forcommitment increased for the second goalbut not the third goal. Given that the goalswere randomly selected (in terms of whichgoal was coached), this pattern of findings isnot meaningful, but does suggest that thereare some spillover or practice effects of beingcoached even on a single goal, that thentranslate into effects on other, non-coachedgoals. However, we do note that the goalsmay not all have been fully independent ofeach other, which may to a degree mitigate



Table 1: Self-assessment scores for participants both before and after thecoaching intervention.

Condition A – Condition B – Chosen Goal Condition Alternate Goal Condition

Goal 1 Goal 2 Goal 3

Variable M (SD) Before After Diff Before After Diff Before After Diff

Self-concordance 2.58 4.15 1.58* 1.62 3.00 1.38* 3.58 3.81 0.23(4.37) (3.95) (2.97) (5.25) (4.72) (2.28) (4.37) (3.71) (4.24)

Personal values 5.19 5.65 0.46** 4.77 5.15 0.38 5.42 5.85 0.42*(1.70) (1.20) (0.76) (1.45) (1.32) (1.06) (0.90) (0.78) (0.95)

Commitment 5.23 6.35 1.12*** 5.15 5.73 0.58* 5.77 6.12 0.35(1.21) (0.85) (1.18) (1.43) (1.25) (1.27) (1.07) (0.95) (0.94)

Note: Difference scores computed by subtracting ‘before’ scores from ‘after’ scores. *p<.05 **p<.01 ***p<.001

the extent of these spillover effects. Thisfinding, although preliminary and in need ofreplication, suggests that there is a potentialgeneralisability effect for coaching; that is,the positive effects of coaching may extendbeyond the specific foci of the coachingsession. Qualitative participant commentssuggest the possibility of this effect, forexample: ‘Might be slightly more motivated allround as a result of working successfully on otherissue’ (case 12).

Another potential explanation for theseeffects is that the three goals were in some waylinked to each other. The qualitativecomments obtained from a number of partic-ipants made this point explicitly, for example:‘Being able to see that all three goals were linked’(case 11); ‘Realisation that all three goals that Iidentified were interlinked and that by clearlydefining what I want to achieve I can deliver on allthree’ (case 18).

Turning to limitations and futureresearch directions, there are a number ofways in which the current study can beimproved upon. The current sample size isrelatively small for traditional social psycho-logical research, but equally more thanrespectable when compared to much extantcoaching research. The fact that we wereable to detect significant effects with thissmall sample size is indicative of potentiallylarge effect sizes in the population (Cohen,1992), which is encouraging for futurecoaching and motivation research.

The present study used only onecoaching session, and did not use a controlgroup, whereas coaching is more typicallycarried out in a number of sessionsconducted over a period. However, withsignificant findings as a result of a singlecoaching intervention, it is possible thatmore extended coaching interventionswould demonstrate even stronger effects.This should be a focus of future research,especially in relation to the stability of self-concordance over time. More fine-grainedindividual-level analyses of changes in self-

concordance that lead to either enhanced ordecreased goal commitment and goal attain-ment are also warranted, since although ouroverall findings demonstrated that coachingenhanced self-concordance on the meanlevel, there was individual variability in thisbetween participants. Research into theeffects of coaching on less self-concordantgoals (e.g. goals imposed by organisationalemployers rather than selected by partici-pants themselves) are also warranted. Thereis also scope for exploring the effect ofcoaching on other aspects of concordance –for example, Sheldon and Houser-Marko(2001) found an ‘upward spiral’ effect ofincreased well-being. Future research maywish to consider how this effect may beaccentuated through coaching, both in rela-tion to executive coaching and to lifecoaching (e.g. Green et al., 2006).

The results of this study provide prelimi-nary support for the view that coaching usingthe GROW model can lead to changes in goalself-concordance, alignment with personalvalues, and goal commitment. These findingssuggest that one of the mechanisms orprocesses through which coaching may beeffective is through enhancing self-concor-dance of the goals that people are striving toachieve. These findings add to the small butgrowing body of research into the processesthat may underlie coaching, and indicatefruitful avenues for further research.

AcknowledgementWe thank Sarah Johnson for her assistanceand input during this research. Part of thisresearch was reported as a paper presenta-tion at the Third European Conference onPositive Psychology, Portugal, 3–6 July, 2006.

CorrespondenceDaniel BurkeMeyler Campbell,5 Wigmore Place,London, W1U 2LR, England. E-mail: [email protected]



Cohen, J. (1992). A power primer. PsychologicalBulletin, 112, 155–159.

Grant, A.M. (2001). Towards a psychology of coaching.Unpublished manuscript. Coaching PsychologyUnit, University of Sydney, Australia. Retrievedfrom: www.psychcoach.org.

Green, L.S., Oades, L.G. & Grant, A.M. (2006). Cogni-tive-behavioural, solution-focused life coaching:Enhancing goal striving, well-being, and hope.Journal of Positive Psychology, 1, 142–149.

Joseph, S. & Linley, P.A. (2004). Positive therapy: A positive psychological theory of therapeuticpractice. In P.A. Linley & S. Joseph (Eds.), Positive psychology in practice (pp.354–368).Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Kauffman, C. & Scoular, A. (2004). Toward a positivepsychology of executive coaching. In P.A. Linley& S. Joseph (Eds.), Positive psychology in practice(pp.287–302). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Linley, P.A. (2004). Business and executive coaching: A positive psychology perspective. Paper presented atMeyler Campbell Business Coach AlumniSeminar, London.

Linley, P.A., Joseph, S., Harrington, S. & Wood, A. M.(2006). Positive psychology: Past, present, and(possible) future. The Journal of Positive Psychology,1, 3–16.

Little, B.R. (1993). Personal projects and the distrib-uted self: Aspects of a conative psychology. In J.M. Suls (Ed.), The self in social perspective:Psychological perspectives on the self (Vol. 4,pp.157–185). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Rogers, C.R. (1961). On becoming a person. London:Constable.

Rogers, C.R. (1964). Toward a modern approach tovalues: The valuing process in the matureperson. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology,68, 160–167.

Ryan, R.M., & Connell, J.P. (1989). Perceived locus ofcausality and internalisation: Examining reasonsfor acting in two domains. Journal of Personalityand Social Psychology, 57, 749–761.

Seligman, M.E.P. (1999). The President’s Address.American Psychologist, 54, 559–562.

Sheldon, K.M. & Elliot, A.J. (1999). Goal striving,need satisfaction, and longitudinal well-being:The Self-Concordance Model. Journal of Person-ality and Social Psychology, 76, 482–497.

Sheldon, K.M. & Houser-Marko, L. (2001). Self-concordance, goal attainment and the pursuit ofhappiness: Can there be an upward spiral ?Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80,152–165.

Sheldon, K.M., Arndt, J. & Houser-Marko, L. (2003).In search of the organismic valuing process: The human tendency to move toward beneficialgoal choices. Journal of Personality, 71, 835–869.

Sheldon, K.M. & Kasser, T. (1995). Coherence andcongruence: Two aspects of personality integra-tion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68,531–543.

Spence, G.B. & Grant, A.M. (in press). Professionaland peer life coaching and the enhancement ofgoal striving and well-being: An exploratorystudy. Journal of Positive Psychology.

Whitmore, J. (2002). Coaching for performance(3rd ed.). London: Nicholas Brealey.



References

SELIGMAN, STEEN, PARK ANDPETERSON (2005) have suggested thatthere are at least 100 strategies for

increasing happiness, a class of PositivePsychology (PP) students identified morethan 1000 happiness-increasing strategies,and an Amazon.com™ search for booksabout happiness yields more than 4000 hits.There is no shortage of advice on how to behappy. There is, however, a shortage of adviceon choosing a strategy for being happy.Seligman et al. (2005) have begun an impor-tant step toward narrowing the list:randomised controlled trials of PositivePsychology interventions (also referred to as‘positive interventions’ or ‘PIs’). Determininghow to best match PIs to unique individualsmay be an important next step.

The processes through which coachesand clients select PIs are complex. Cognitive,affective, and behavioural patterns; environ-ment; and socioeconomic status are a few ofmany variables that may inform the selectionprocess. Considering issues addressed orgoals sought through coaching may alsohelp coaches select PIs. Unfortunately, very

little research is available to guide thecomplex PI selection process. Some havespeculated that person-activity fit may affectthe relationship between activities andhappiness changes (Lyubomirsky, Sheldon& Schkade, 2005), and evidence suggeststhat goal-person fit may affect relationshipsbetween goal achievement and happiness(e.g. Brunstein, Schultheiss & Grassman,1998; Sheldon & Elliot, 1999). Researchershave also identified many traits thatmoderate the efficacy of traditionalpsychotherapeutic interventions (e.g.Beutler, 1991; Garfield & Bergen, 1986;Kiesler, 1996), though not of PIs. Person-PIfit has yet to be studied empirically.

It should not be assumed that people canidentify the PI from which they will benefitmost. Expected psychological effects ofmajor life events often drastically differ fromactual effects (e.g. Biswas-Diener & Diener,2001; Brickman, Coates & Janoff-Bulman,1978; Gilbert et al., 1998). If people cannotaccurately predict the effects of significantlife events, we should not assume that theycan accurately predict effects of PIs. This


Positive intervention self-selection:Developing models of what works forwhomJordan Silberman

Objective: To determine if self-selection is an effective way to match positive interventions to individuals. Design: Each time a participant in the choice group selected one of four positive interventions, a depression-matched yoked control participant was assigned the same intervention.Method: Positive interventions and surveys were administered online. Happiness and depression wereassessed at baseline, one week, and two weeks. Results: If participants could identify the positive intervention that was most suitable for them, theninterventions should have been more effective for the choice group than for the yoked control group. Thiswas not observed. Both groups experienced significantly increased happiness and decreased depression, butthe magnitudes of these changes did not significantly differ between groups.Conclusions: These data suggest that self-selection may not be a good way to identify well-suited positiveinterventions, and that other selection approaches should be investigated. Keywords: Positive psychology, gratitude, happiness, depression, strengths.

work is a preliminary study to determine ifpeople can identify the PIs from which theywill benefit most.

The importance of careful PI selection There are several reasons that it is importantfor coaches to carefully consider which inter-ventions they recommend to clients. Inter-ventions that are generally inefficacious dowork for some. The opposite is also true;generally efficacious interventions do notwork for everyone. Without knowledge ofperson-PI fit, attempts to match people withPIs are constrained by overgeneralisation.Some may avoid generally inefficacious PIs,even if the PIs are well-suited for uniqueindividuals. People may also use poorly-suited though generally efficacious PIs.Knowledge of person-PI fit may reveal whengenerally inefficacious PIs are likely to work,and when generally efficacious PIs may not.

Knowledge of person-PI fit may also moti-vate PI use. Tailoring all sorts of things maymotivate people to utilise them. Yogaprograms have been designed for pregnantwomen, diets are tailored to different bloodtypes, shampoos are designed for differenthair types, and many other products arecustomised for consumers’ unique traits.This marketing strategy motivatespurchasing behaviour by tailoring productsto clients. The strategy may also apply to PIs;people may ‘buy’ tailored PIs more readilythan generic PIs. This motivation is particu-larly important within PP because it does notfocus on the psychological pain that oftenprompts people to seek mental healthservices.

The desire to use tailored interventions,of course, is not unwarranted. PIs that arecarefully selected may work better than thosethat are not. Different interventions resonatewith different individuals. More importantly,some interventions may have physical orpsychological requirements that some donot meet. Atheists, for example, are unlikelyto benefit from faith-based PIs that requirebelief in a God. Tailored PI selection mayensure that people are matched to well-

suited PIs and prevent people from usingunhelpful or inappropriate PIs. Starting withpoorly-suited PIs may cause several prob-lems. Some may waste time that might other-wise be spent on PIs that suit them better.Others may try many PIs, preventingprogression or depth within any oneapproach to happiness. Initially using apoorly-suited PI may also discourage peoplefrom trying other PIs, or even promptpeople to abandon PIs altogether.

Approaches to PI selectionSeveral PI selection approaches may beuseful for coaches when they are consideringdifferent ways of working with differentclients. People may try different PIs untilthey find one that works or is maximallybeneficial (the ‘test-drive’ approach).Personality or other traits may also be usedto select PIs (the trait-based approach).Some may benefit from the skill of a coachwho, as previously mentioned, may use theknowledge they construct about the client toselect interventions (the coach-selectionapproach). Others may simply select theirown PIs (the self-selection approach). Theseapproaches may of course be combined. Forexample, a coach and a client may workcooperatively, and may both consider traits,when selecting a positive intervention.

Each approach has pros and cons. Thetest-drive approach may be useful becauseearly subjective experience with interven-tions may predict long-term effectiveness(Frisch, 2005, p.346). This approach,however, may also cause the aforementionedproblems: wasted time, cursory engagementin many PIs rather than in-depth use of fewerPIs, and the ‘PI attrition’ that may occurwhen people cannot find a PI that works.The trait-based approach can be standard-ised, but is constrained by the countlessnumber of trait-PI combinations. Even ifmany trait efficacy moderators are identi-fied, there may always be unanticipated butselection-relevant considerations. Fortu-nately, skilled coaches can consider poten-tially significant traits, as well as many other


Positive intervention self-selection

potentially important factors, that have notbeen empirically investigated. Unfortu-nately, coaches can also sometimes bewrong. It is not yet clear which of these cost-to-benefit ratios is most desirable. A combi-nation of approaches, and the use ofdifferent approaches in different circum-stances, may ultimately prove most effective.

The self-selection approach was chosenas a starting place for several reasons. Self-selection is probably the most practicalapproach. It does not require experimenta-tion with many PIs, nor does it requireconsultation with an expert. If effective,moreover, the self-selection approach mayprevent the need to investigate otherapproaches. Complex selection proceduresmay not be necessary if the simplest approachis effective. Selecting one’s own PI may alsopromote perceived autonomy, which itselfenhances psychological well-being (e.g. Ryan& Deci, 2000). If people can effectively selecttheir own PIs, finally, then this may allowpositive psychologists to be descriptive.Seligman (2003) and others have suggestedthat PP should be descriptive rather thanprescriptive. Positive psychologists shouldrigorously study happiness and character,and let others decide whether or not to usethis information. If people can identify themost beneficial PIs for themselves, then posi-tive psychologists may be more justified in adescriptive approach; they can encouragepeople to choose their own PIs, rather than‘prescribing’ specific PIs.

MethodSeventy-two undergraduates were recruitedfrom psychology courses through lectureannouncements and an electronic subjectrecruitment system. Forty-one per cent weremale, and all were given course credit.Accounting for the attrition of two partici-pants, the study had 87 per cent power todetect a moderate difference betweenchoice and yoked groups at p=.05.

Participants completed the 20-itemCenter for Epidemiological Studies –Depression Scale (CES-D) symptom survey

(Radloff, 1977) and the 24-item AuthenticHappiness Inventory (AHI). CES-D itemsincluded ‘I felt depressed,’ and ‘I talked lessthan usual,’ and responses ranged from 0(rarely or none of the time) to 3 (most or all of thetime). AHI items required respondents tochoose one of several statements on a scalefrom 1 (an extremely negative statementsuch as ‘most of the time I am bored’) to 5 (anextremely positive statement such as ‘most ofthe time I am fascinated by what I am doing’).The AHI is an updated version of the SteenHappiness Index that was first presented bySeligman et al. (2005). Cronbach’s alphas forthe three administrations of the CES-D were.73, .81, and .73; and those of the AHI were.93, .94, and .95. Surveys were administeredonline, a method that is probably no lessrigorous than the traditional paper-and-pencil approach (Gosling, Vazire, Srivastava& John, 2004; Seligman et al., 2005).

Students were matched based on CES-Dscores (the better validated of the twoadministered instruments). The pair-wisematching procedure involved randomlyselecting a ‘target participant,’ identifying allparticipants with the same CES-D score, andrandomly selecting one of these identically-scoring participants (if there were more thanone) as a ‘matched participant.’ If no partic-ipants had the same CES-D score as thetarget participant, the participants with theclosest CES-D scores were identified, andone of them was randomly selected (again, ifthere were more than one) as the matchedparticipant. This process was repeated untilall participants had been assigned to a dyad.Finally, one participant per dyad wasrandomly selected to be in the choice group,and the other was assigned to the yokedgroup.

The mean CES-D scores of the choiceand yoked groups were 14.1 (SD=8.9) and15.0 (SD=9.9), respectively. Mean ages of thechoice and yoked groups were 19.7 (SD=1.2)and 19.6 (SD=1.1). The choice group was 42per cent male, and the yoked group was 40per cent male. AHI-measured happiness wasthe only variable assessed that significantly


Jordan Silberman

differed between choice and yoked groups atbaseline, F(1,68)=3.97, p=.05, with the choicegroup reporting lower baseline happiness(M=69.47, SD=12.21) than the yoked group(M=75.41, SD=12.74). This difference wascontrolled for in subsequent analyses.

Choice participants were given brief PIdescriptions (see Appendix 1), and asked toselect the activity that they expected to bringthe most pleasure, engagement, andmeaning into their lives. When a choiceparticipant selected one of four PIs, adepression-matched yoked control partici-pant was assigned the same PI (see Figure 1).If a choice participant with a CES-D score of10 selected the Gratitude Visit, for example,a yoked participant with the same or asimilar CES-D score would be assigned theGratitude Visit.

Participants were then given moredetailed PI instructions.* They were encour-aged to print instructions and store them inan accessible location. Participants got two e-mail reminders early in the first week of thestudy. These e-mails described the PI theyhad chosen or been assigned, encouragedadherence, and asked that they contact thestudy co-ordinator (JS) if they had questions.Participants also got e-mails reminding themabout follow-up assessments. These messageswere sent on the day before and the day offollow-up assessments. After completing final

follow-ups and being assured that they wouldget extra credit regardless of involvementlevel, participants were asked if they hadcarried out the PI instructions.

ResultsSeventy of 72 participants completed allfollow-ups, and all 70 of these participantsreported carrying out the PI instructions.Forty-four per cent of choice group partici-pants completed the ‘Three Good Things’PI, 25 per cent completed the ‘GratitudeVisit’ PI, 17 per cent completed the ‘You atyour Best’ PI, and 14 per cent completed the‘Using your Signature Strengths’ PI. Becausea yoked participant was assigned a PI eachtime a choice participant chose that PI, thesepercentages are nearly identical for theyoked group. The slight between-groupsdifference in percentages of participantswho did the Gratitude Visit was due to theattrition of a yoked participant. One yokedThree Good Things participant alsodropped out of the study.

It was essential to verify that, as had beenpreviously reported (Seligman et al., 2005),the interventions were efficacious. If theywere not, PI self-selection could not havebeen evaluated; between-groups differencesin intervention efficacy could not have beenassessed had PIs not worked for eithergroup. Fortunately, this was not the case.



* Detailed PI descriptions are available upon request.

Figure 1: Participant cohorts.

Participant Pool

Choice Yoked

Three Good Things (44%)

Using Sig. Strengths (14%) Using Sig. Strengths (14%)

Three Good Things (44%)You at your Best (17%)

Gratitude Visit (25%) Gratitude Visit (24%)

You at your Best (17%)

Repeated measures ANOVAs usingcombined data from choice and yokedgroups showed main effects of time for bothhappiness scores, F(1,69)=28.34, p<.01, anddepression scores, F(1,68)=4.04, p<.05 (seeFigure 2). LSD comparisons (a statisticalprocedure used to determine which meanssignificantly differed from which othermeans) revealed that depression droppedsignificantly between baseline (M=14.43,SD=9.40) and two weeks (M=12.00, SD=8.83),though depression at one week (M=12.77,SD=8.55) had not decreased sufficiently toreach significance. The depression decreasebetween one week and two weeks was alsonot significant. Happiness was significantlygreater at one week (M=76.01, SD=12.63)than at baseline (M=72.36, SD=12.74), andsignificantly greater at two weeks (M=78.86,SD=13.98) than at one week. The percent-

ages of participants who experiencedincreased happiness and decreased depres-sion are shown in Tables 1 and 2.

Choice did not have significant effects onhappiness or depression changes. ANCOVAsfor happiness changes, with choice condi-tion as a fixed factor and happiness as thedependent variable, revealed no significanteffects of choice at one week, F(1,68)=.97,p>.05, or two weeks, F(1,68)=.40, p>.05.Again, the baseline happiness differencebetween choice and yoked groups wascontrolled for. ANOVAs for depressionchanges were conducted in the samemanner (without any need to control forbaseline differences), and also showed nosignificant effects of choice at one week,F(1,68)=.11, p>.05, or two weeks,F(1,67)=3.36, p>.05 (see Figure 3).


Jordan Silberman

Figure 2: Overall efficacy of positive interventions. Significantly increased happinessand decreased depression were observed.

Figure 3: Between-groups comparisons of intervention efficacy. There were nosignificant differences in the amounts that happiness increased or depression decreasedbetween the choice and yoked groups; interventions appeared to be equally efficacious

regardless of which choice condition participants were in.



Table 1. Number of participants who experienced increased happiness.

Number of participants who experienced increased happiness between:Baseline and 1 week 1 week and 2 weeks Baseline and 2 weeks

Three Good Things 22/31 24/31 25/31(71.0%) (77.4%) (80.6%)

Gratitude Visit 8/17 10/17 10/17(47.1%) (58.8%) (58.8%)

You at your Best 11/12 8/12 10/12(91.7%) (66.7%) (83.3%)

Using Signature Strengths 6/10 7/10 9/10(60.0%) (70.0%) (90.0%)

All Choice 26/36 22/36 28/36(72.2%) (61.1%) (77.8%)

All Yoked 21/34 27/34 26/34(61.8%) (79.4%) (76.5%)

Total 47/70 49/70 54/70(67.1%) (70.0%) (77.1%)

Table 2. Number of participants who experienced decreased depression.

Number of participants who experienced decreased depression between:Baseline and 1 week 1 week and 2 weeks Baseline and 2 weeks

Three Good Things 17/31 16/31 23/31(54.8%) (51.6%) (71.0%)

Gratitude Visit 11/17 8/17 11/17(64.7%) (47.1%) (64.7%)

You at your Best 8/12 7/12 8/12(66.7%) (58.3%) (66.7%)

Using Signature Strengths 7/10 6/10 7/10(70.0%) (60.0%) (70.0%)

All Choice 20/36 14/36 19/36(55.6%) (38.9%) (52.8%)

All Yoked 23/34 23/34 29/34(67.6%) (67.6%) (85.3%)

Total 41/70 37/70 48/70(61.4%) (52.9%) (68.6%)

DiscussionData suggest that those who chose PIs bene-fited no more than depression-matchedparticipants who were assigned the same PIs.While both groups experienced significantlyincreased happiness and decreased depres-sion, there were no significant between-groups differences in the magnitudes ofthese changes. If people could identify thePI from which they would benefit most, thenthe choice group would have benefited more

than the yoked group. This was notobserved, suggesting that participants wereunable to select the best-suited PI.

Although participants appeared unableto choose the PI that they would derivegreatest benefit from, they tended toimprove psychologically regardless of whichPI they utilised. This suggests that randomlyselecting an intervention of empirically-vali-dated efficacy may not be a bad strategy.However, to match a person to the PI that

will be most beneficial, it may be necessary togo one step further. A different approach toPI selection, perhaps involving the assistanceof a skilled coach, may help achieve moreoptimal person-PI fit.

Study limitations Assessments were relatively short-term. Theundergraduates studied, moreover, are notrepresentative of other populations. Self-knowledge gained as people age, forexample, may help older people choose PIsmore effectively. Confounds, of course, arealso possible. Like baseline AHI scores, vari-ables that were not assessed may have beenunevenly distributed across groups. Finally, atype II error is possible; the 87 per centpower may not have been sufficient to detectthe effects of the choice variable.

Future directions and conclusion More research is needed to understand thelong-term effects of PI self-selection, and tostudy PI self-selection in other populations.This study investigated just one of several PIselection approaches, and future researchmight also explore other approaches. Thetest-drive, trait-based, or coach selectionapproaches may be more effective than self-selection.

It is also noteworthy that all PIs investi-gated are generally efficacious (Seligman etal., 2005), and that results may have differedhad participants chosen from a group thatincluded both efficacious and inefficaciousPIs. People may be better at distinguishing‘good from bad’ as opposed to ‘good frombetter.’ Future research might explore thispossibility.

As more PIs are empirically studied, itwill be useful to simultaneously investigatetraits that may moderate intervention effi-cacy. This component of PI trials might bestandardised just as pharmaceutical trialsroutinely investigate side effect moderators(e.g. analysing alcoholism as a moderator ofadverse reactions). Models might then bedeveloped for evidence-based PI selection.This would be more efficient than

conducting separate studies to investigate PIefficacy and person-PI fit.

Enhancing our ability to match peoplewith PIs may have numerous benefits. It mayprevent overgeneralisations from directingpeople away from well-suited but generallyinefficacious PIs, prevent overgeneralisationsfrom directing people toward poorly-suitedbut generally efficacious PIs, motivate engage-ment in well-suited PIs, maximise benefits ofutilised PIs, prevent people from wasting timewith poorly-suited PIs, prevent cursory use ofmany poorly-suited PIs rather than in-depthuse a well-suited PI, prevent the ‘PI attrition’that may occur when people cannot find well-suited PIs, and help coaches select PIs despitea lack of psychopathologies to use as selectioncriteria. Through these and other mecha-nisms, PI selection research may enhance theefficacy of positive interventions.

Increasing the ‘tonnage of human happi-ness’ (Seligman, 2004) is a primary aim ofboth Positive Psychology and coaching.Empirical validation of PI efficacy is anessential piece of this process; coachingpsychologists and clients are likely to benefitfrom a broadened range of empirically vali-dated interventions. Scientific PI trials,however, are only the first step of a vitaljourney. For the aforementioned reasons, PIselection research may be the next impor-tant step.

AcknowledgmentsMany thanks to Mike Maniaci, NansookPark, James Pawelski, Christopher Peterson,and Martin Seligman, for their expertise andsupport.

CorrespondenceJordan SilbermanPediatric Generalist Research Group,Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia,3535 Market Street, Room 1525,Philadelphia, PA 19104.E-mail: [email protected](585) 230-5480 (cell)(267) 426-5637 (office)(215) 590-0426 (fax)


Jordan Silberman

Gratitude Visit: Write and then deliver a letter of gratitude in person to someone who has beenespecially kind to you but whom you have never properly thanked.

Three Good Things: Write down three things that went well each day and their causes everynight for one week. In addition, provide a causal explanation for each good thing.

You at your Best: Write about a time when you were at your best and then reflect on thepersonal strengths displayed in the story. Review the story once every day for a week and reflecton the strengths you identified.

Using Signature Strengths in a New Way: Complete the inventory of character strengths onlineat www.authentichappiness.org and receive individualised feedback about your top five(‘signature’) strengths. Use one of these top strengths in a new and different way every day forone week. You must be certain that your chosen activities are entirely safe, and that they entailno more risk of harm than your normal daily activities.



Appendix 1: Positive intervention descriptions.More detailed descriptions are available upon request.

ReferencesBeutler, L. (1991). Have all won and must all have

prizes? Revisiting Luborsky et al.’s verdict. Journalof Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 59(2),226–232.

Biswas-Diener, R. & Diener, E. (2001). Making thebest of a bad situation: Satisfaction in the slumsof Calcutta. Social Indicators Research, 55(3),329–352.

Brickman, P., Coates, D. & Janoff-Bulman, R. (1978).Lottery winners and accident victims: Is happi-ness relative? Journal of Personality and SocialPsychology, 36, 917–927.

Brunstein, J.C., Schultheiss, O.C. & Grassman, R.(1998). Personal goals and emotional well-being:The moderating role of motive dispositions.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,75,494–508.

Frisch, M. (2005). Quality of life therapy: Applying a lifesatisfaction approach to positive psychology and cogni-tive therapy. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Garfield, S.L. & Bergin, A.E. (Eds.) (1986). Handbookof psychotherapy and behaviour change. (3rd ed.).New York: Wiley.

Gilbert, D., Pinel, E., Wilson, T., Blumberg, S. &Wheatley, T. (1998). Immune neglect: A sourceof durability bias in affective forecasting. Journalof Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 617–638.

Gosling, S.D., Vazire, S., Srivastava, S. & John, O.P.(2004). Should we trust web-based studies? A comparative analysis of six preconceptionsabout Internet questionnaires. American Psycho-logist, 59, 93-104.

Kiesler, D. (1996). Some myths of psychotherapyresearch and the search for a paradigm. Psycho-logical Bulletin, 65(2), 110–136.

Lyubomirsky, S., Sheldon, K. & Schkade, D. (2005).Pursuing happiness: The architecture of sustain-able change. Review of General Psychology, 9(2),111–131.

Radloff, L.S. (1977). The CES-D Scale: A self-reportdepression scale for research in the generalpopulation. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1,385–401.

Ryan, R.M. & Deci, E. (2000). Self-determinationtheory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation,social development, and well-being. AmericanPsychologist, 55(1), 68–78.

Seligman, M.E.P. (2003). Closing remarks. SecondInternational Positive Psychology Summit. Wash-ington, DC, October.

Seligman, M.E.P. (2004). Positive interventions: Moreevidence of effectiveness. Retrieved 17 July, 2006,from:http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/newsletter.aspx?id=45.

Seligman, M.E.P., Steen, T., Park, N. & Peterson, C.(2005). Positive psychology progress: Empiricalvalidation of interventions. American Psychologist,60(5), 410–421.

Sheldon, K.M. & Elliot, A.J. (1999). Goal striving,need-satisfaction, and longitudinal well-being:The self-concordance model. Journal of Personalityand Social Psychology, 76, 482–497.

N OPTIMISTIC EXPLANATORYstyle has been linked to a wide range

of positive performance outcomes inacademic, athletic, and work domains (cf.Kamen & Seligman, 1985; Nolen-Hoeksema,Girgus, & Seligman, 1986; Peterson &Barrett, 1987; Peterson & Seligman, 1984).Researchers have found that an optimisticexplanatory style significantly correlates withand predicts successful job performance(Seligman & Schulman, 1986). According toTombaugh (2005, p.16), ‘Optimistic leadersare more likely to see problems as chal-lenges, exert greater effort for longerperiods to reach their goals, and seek outand appreciate the positive aspects of diffi-cult situations.’ On an individual-levelanalysis, optimism clearly influences workperformance. Given that an optimistic

explanatory style predicts and precedes asuccessful job performance, what role does amanager play in influencing employeeperformance, and how can coachingpsychologists working with managers andexecutives use this knowledge?

According to Gallup researchers Kruegerand Killham (2005), managers greatly influ-ence employee well-being and engagement,which in turn play a significant role in organi-sational performance. Fredrickson’s (1998)broaden-and-build theory of positive emotionsprovides an explanation of how managersmight create more engagement in employees.In this model, positive emotions ‘broaden anindividual’s momentary thought-action reper-toire, which in turn has the effect of buildingthat individual’s physical, intellectual, andsocial resources’ (Fredrickson, 1998, p.300).


Optimistic managers and their influenceon productivity and employee engagementin a technology organisation: Implicationsfor coaching psychologistsDana Arakawa & Margaret Greenberg

Objectives: Executive coaches are often involved in working with executive managers. The objective of thisstudy is to investigate whether teams are more engaged and productive when led by an optimistic manager.Furthermore, we hypothesise that optimistic managers embody positive leadership – employing a strengths-based approach, maintaining a positive perspective, and frequently providing recognition andencouragement – which increases the engagement and productivity of their employees. Design: The study used a cross-sectional survey design at two time points.Method: The researchers developed a survey to measure this concept of positive leadership. In addition, twomeasures were used: the Life Orientation Test Revised (LOT-R) to measure optimism and the GallupOrganisation’s Q12 to measure engagement. Results: In a cross-sectional study of 86 employees and 17 managers in an Information Technology (IT)organisation, positive leadership correlated with employee optimism, engagement, and project performance.When we looked at a subset of this data prospectively, with 39 employees and 14 managers, manageroptimism predicted project performance. Conclusions: Our data support the claim that positive leadership is correlated with employee engagementand performance, and further extends the importance of optimism in the workplace. Coaching implicationsare also discussed, in terms of exploring how coaching psychologists can work with executives to developtheir managerial style.

A

Business schools have taken the lead inresearching the effects of leadership style onemployees. McColl-Kennedy and Anderson(2002) found that frustration and optimismfully mediate the relationship between lead-ership style and employee performance. Thisfinding brings back the question of howmanagers can improve the productivity oftheir employees. We hypothesise that themanager’s own optimism can engenderemployee engagement via positive emotion,which then positively influences workperformance.

The importance of manager optimism issupported by Amit, Popper, Gal, Mishkal-Sinai and Lisak (2004), who found that opti-mism is one of three psychological capacitiesessential for leadership. Similarly,Humphrey (2002) argues that the emotionaldisplays of leaders have a larger impact onemployees than the content of theirmessages. How do optimistic managers influ-ence the productivity of their teams? Thegrowing body of research in Positive Organi-sational Scholarship suggests that authen-ticity is critical for people to feel empowered,engaged, and able to relate to others (Avolio& Luthans, 2003; Quinn, 2004). We hypo-thesise that optimistic managers embody apositive leadership approach, in which theyare more likely to: employ a strengths-basedapproach to managing employees, maintaina positive perspective when difficulties arise,and provide frequent recognition ofemployee accomplishments.

The first component in our model ofpositive leadership is a strengths-basedapproach to managing. Over the last 30years, The Gallup Organisation has takenthe lead in investigating human talents andstrengths. According to Clifton and Harter(2003, p.119), ‘top-performing managershave an approach to management thatfocuses on developing the strengths of theindividuals they manage.’ From thisresearch, we chose to investigate a strengths-based approach as a key component of posi-tive leadership. As Clifton and Harter (2003,p.119) surmise, ‘top-performing managers

have been ahead of their time in doing whatis psychologically most efficient: they affectengagement and productivity by under-standing and positioning individual differ-ences in their employees.’

The second component of positive lead-ership we investigated is the manager’sperspective during difficult times. Accordingto Henry (2005), ‘Individuals with a morepositive explanatory style are better able tomanage the uncertainty of change. This isbecause these individuals perceive that theyhave a higher level of control over their envi-ronment and implement more active copingstrategies to dampen potential downsides.Also, they often reinterpret the negativeevent as an opportunity for growth.’ Thesefindings align with the work of Reivich andShatte (2002) on resiliency, which includesother components of positive perspectivesuch as de-catastrophising setbacks andappropriate disengagement. Taken together,positive perspective includes de-cata-strophising setbacks, accuracy aroundperceptions of control, appropriate disen-gagement, emotional coping, solution-orien-tation, and positive interpretation of theproblem.

The third component of positive leader-ship we investigated is the manager’s style inproviding recognition and encouragement.Kouzes and Posner (1999, p.4) found that 98per cent of respondents answered ‘yes’ to thequestion, ‘When you get encouragement,does it help you perform at a higher level?’Further emphasising the importance ofproviding encouragement, Losada andHeaphy (2004) discovered that teams ofemployees displaying more positive thannegative interactions outperformed otherteams. Building upon this work, Fredricksonand Losada (2005) found that the optimumratio of positive to negative emotions is 3:1;however, performance declines when theratio exceeds 11.6:1. In addition, Ryan andDeci (2000, p.70) found that ‘positiveperformance feedback enhanced intrinsicmotivation, whereas negative performancefeedback diminished it.’ Together, these


Optimistic managers

findings support our hypothesis that an opti-mistic manager may affect employee produc-tivity by providing frequent recognition andencouragement.

From this review of previous research, wechose to investigate the influence of manageroptimism on team productivity and employeeengagement in an IT Organisation. Thisstudy is driven by two primary research ques-tions investigated through both retrospectiveand prospective correlational design: (1) Doteams produce better results when led by anoptimistic manager? (2) Are employees moreengaged at work when led by an optimisticmanager? We hypothesise that the answers toboth questions will be affirmative, leading usto our secondary research objective: discov-ering how optimistic managers influence theproductivity of their teams. We hypothesisethat managers embodying positive leadership– employing a strengths-based approach,maintaining a positive perspective, andfrequently providing recognition andencouragement – increase the engagementand productivity of their employees. Relatedto the activities of coaching psychologistsworking with executives, this study exploressome of the actions that managers can take toimprove their leadership, and which may beamenable to change and development as partof a coaching relationship.

MethodParticipants Participants in our study were recruited via e-mail from a highly ranked property and casu-alty insurance company located inWorcester, Massachusetts. All participantsare Information Technology (IT) profes-sionals working on key IT projects within thetechnology Organisation. These employeesrepresented various individual contributorand managerial roles such as Program andProject Managers, Business Analysts, Devel-opers, and Architects.

The company selected projects withsignificant scope and duration and alignedemployees with these projects in 2005 wereidentified as potential participants. This

selected group was then sent an e-mail solic-iting their participation. Toward the latterpart of 2005 and early 2006, the technologyOrganisation underwent a restructuring.Consequently, only a subset of theemployees aligned with the 2005 projectscontinued to be aligned with those sameprojects in 2006. A total of 155 peoplereceived the survey electronically and 117actually completed the survey for a 75 percent response rate.

DemographicsWe assessed the following demographics onthe survey: year of birth, location, gender,race/ethnicity, and length of employmentwith the company. Eighty-four per cent ofthe participants are Caucasian; 7.5 per centAsian or Pacific Islander; 4.7 per cent Otheror Unknown; 1.9 per cent Hispanic; and 0.9per cent each of American Indian or AlaskanNative, Black (not of Hispanic origin).Ninety-seven per cent of the participants arelocated in the US. Fifty-four per cent arefemale and 46 per cent are male. Agesranged from 25 to 59 with a mean age of 44(SD=7.59). Fifty-five per cent have workedfor the company 10 or more years, 20 percent for one to five years, 20 per cent for fiveto 10 years, and five per cent worked for anoutsourcing firm.

MeasuresTo measure optimism, engagement, andpositive leadership, we constructed two elec-tronic surveys, one for the employees andone for the managers, by combining threeseparate questionnaires.

The Life Orientation Test Revised (LOT-R).The LOT-R (Scheier, Carver & Bridges,1994) is a 10-item scale designed to assessindividual differences in generalised opti-mism versus pessimism. This measure isavailable in the public domain and its brevitymade it an ideal measure for our projectsince two other measures were also beingused. The LOT-R has demonstrated internalconsistency, with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.78and high test-retest reliability: 0.68 (four


Dana Arakawa & Margaret Greenberg

months); 0.60 (12 months); 0.56 (24months); 0.79 (28 months) (Scheier, Carver,Charles & Bridges, 1994).

The Gallup Organisation Q12 (Q12). TheQ12 is a 12-item scale that measures engage-ment in the workplace. According to Rath(2006), over eight million employees world-wide have taken the Q12; those with high Q12

scores exhibit superior performance, such aslower turnover, higher sales growth,increased productivity, and better customerloyalty. Permission was granted by TheGallup Organisation to use the Q12 as part ofour study.

Positive Leadership. We developed our own setof questions, both closed and open-ended,to investigate three components of positiveleadership. Based upon our literature reviewwe hypothesised that an optimistic managermay be more inclined to employ a strength-based approach, have more perspectivewhen difficulties arise, and provide morerecognition than pessimistic managers.

Strength-Based approach (STR). We measuredthe degree to which the manager employs astrength-based approach to managing bytaking the mean of all strength-based ques-tions (as shown in Table 1) such as ‘My ProjectManager matches my talents to the tasks that needto be accomplished.’ Our definition of astrengths-based approach to managementincludes: appreciating employees’ strengths,matching talents to tasks, and focusing onstrengths more than weaknesses.

Perspective (PER). We measured the degree towhich the manager maintains a positiveperspective when difficulties arise by takingthe mean of all perspective-based questionssuch as: ‘When a problem crops up on my project,my Project Manager is able to help me come upwith solutions.’ Our definition of positiveperspective includes: de-catastrophisingsetbacks, accuracy around perceptions ofcontrol, appropriate disengagement,emotional coping, solution-orientation, andpositive interpretation of the problem.

Recognition (REC). We measured thedegree to which the manager providesrecognition for employee’s efforts andaccomplishments by taking the mean of allrecognition-based questions such as: ‘My Project Manager regularly recognises projectmilestones.’ Our definition of recognitionincludes: frequently encouraging andrewarding employee accomplishments.

These questions form three psychometri-cally reliable scales, with Cronbach’s alphareliability scores above 0.8 and item-to-totalcorrelations above 0.6 (see Table 1 overleaf).

To measure project performance (PP),nine key project attributes were examined.The first six attributes listed below arereviewed monthly by members of the seniorleadership team and the Project Manage-ment Office (PMO); the next two arereviewed after the project is complete; andlastly, the Organisation considers projectcomplexity and degree of difficulty asanother attribute in measuring andcomparing projects. The nine attributesused to measure Project Performance are: 1. Scope/Requirements Management –

requirements were managed throughoutproject life cycle.

2. Resources – planned staffing and actualstaffing closely aligned and managedthroughout project life cycle.

3. Schedule – key milestones met orexceeded throughout all life cyclephases, and implementation metscheduled date.

4. Budget – actual project expenses wereequal to or lower than planned projectexpenses.

5. Issue Management – issues identified andmanaged throughout project life cycle.

6. Dashboard/Review Quality – high degreeof accuracy and quality in projectperformance data throughout life cycle.

7. Quality Defects Delivered – level ofdefects delivered to baseline.

8. Client Satisfaction – client or end-usersatisfaction with product.

9. Degree of Difficulty – project complexityand difficulty.


Optimistic managers



Table 1: Alpha and Item–Total Correlations for Positive Leadership Measure.

Item Item–TotalCorrelations

Strengths-Based Approach α=0.858

‘My Project Manager spends more time focusing on my weaknesses than focusing on my strengths.’ 0.621

‘My Project Manager appreciates my strengths.’ 0.804

‘My Project Manager matches my talents to the tasks that need to be accomplished.’ 0.818

‘My Project Manager encourages high performance by helping me fix my weaknesses.’ 0.833

‘My Project Manager encourages high performance by building on my strengths.’ 0.868

Perspective α=0.805

‘When a problem crops up on my project, I usually go to my Project Manager for help.’ 0.772

‘When I have a problem, I avoid going to my Project Manager.’ 0.769

‘When a problem crops up on my project, my Project Manager is able to help me come up with solutions.’ 0.813

‘My Project Manager can manage his/her emotions.’ 0.758

‘My Project Manager tells me to move on when a particular path is a dead-end.’ 0.632

Recognition α=0.887

‘My Project Manager recognises my accomplishments regularly.’ 0.866

‘My Project Manager regularly recognises project milestones.’ 0.638

‘I would describe my Project Manager as a 'cheerleader'.’ 0.759

‘My Project Manager notices even 'little' accomplishments.’ 0.830

‘I know exactly what my Project Manager expects from me.’ 0.615

‘I know that my Project Manager will recognise my hard work/devotion.’ 0.846

‘My Project Manager regularly provides encouragement to me.’ 0.870

A score between 1 and 5 was given to each ofthe nine attributes. The first eight attributeswere scored as follows: 1=poor; 2=fair;3=good; 4= very good; 5= excellent. The lastattribute (Degree of Difficulty) was scored asfollows: 1=very low; 2=low; 3=medium;4=high; 5=very high. We calculated themean for the first eight categories, and thenmultiplied this average by the Degree ofDifficulty score for an overall score onProject Performance. If an employee workedon more than one project, a mean was taken

for all the projects worked on. We analysedthe data at the individual employee level. If employees had more than one manager,we calculated mean scores on all measuresfor all managers who worked with thatemployee.

To control for suggestion effects we titledthe survey ‘Attitudes and Beliefs in the Work-place’. The LOT-R questions were titled‘Life in General’. The Gallup’s Q12 questionswere titled ‘Workplace’. The positive leader-ship questions were titled ‘Relationship with

Project Manager’ for the employee surveyand ‘Relationship with Project TeamMembers’ for the manager survey.

Procedure We administered the survey during an 11-dayperiod between 28 March and 7 April, 2006.To ensure a good response rate, targetedmanagers and employees received an email,a day before we launched the survey, fromthe Chief Information Officer (CIO)alerting them of our study and requestingtheir participation. In the letter he stressedthat participation was optional and confi-dentiality would be assured.

These managers and employees thenreceived an e-mail from us, which explainedthe purpose of the study and instructions forcompleting the survey online. They wereinformed that by clicking on the link to thesurvey, they would be granting their consentto participate in our study.

Managers and employees were given oneweek to complete the survey. A reminder bythe CIO was distributed a day before the duedate and an extension was granted for anadditional three days. After participantscompleted the survey, we gained retrospec-tive access to the company’s internalperformance data for key projects in 2005.

Between the time managers andemployees completed the survey and the endof the quarter (April to June, 2006),performance data was collected prospec-tively on these same projects. In addition,prospective performance data were collectedfor the projects that participants had beenreassigned to during the restructuring.

ResultsThe primary questions of our research studywere: (1) Do teams produce better resultswhen led by an optimistic manager? and (2)Are employees more engaged at work whenled by an optimistic manager? We hypothe-sised that manager optimism would posi-tively correlate with project performanceand employee engagement. Second, we wereinterested in the other relationships among

manager optimism, manager engagement,employee optimism, employee engagementand project performance. Finally, we wantedto test our model of positive leadership.

To investigate these relationships, we ranthe correlations between eight variables:Manager Optimism (MO), Manager Engage-ment (ME), Employee Optimism (EO),Employee Engagement (EE), Project Perfor-mance (PP), Strengths-Based approach(STR), Perspective (PER), and Recognition(REC). Although this was one study, we ranthe set of inter-correlations twice: once withthe retrospective project performance datafrom 2005 and once with the prospectiveproject performance data from April toJune, 2006.

Retrospective: 2005The sample size for the retrospective datawas comprised of 86 employees and 17managers. See Table 2 (overleaf) for acomparison of means and standard devia-tions for the data collected in 2005; correla-tions are presented in Table 3 (overleaf).

Manager optimism correlated signifi-cantly with manager engagement, and thiscorrelation is statistically moderate to large(Cohen, 1988). Manager engagement had avery large and significant correlation withproject performance. Employee optimismcorrelated significantly with employeeengagement, and employee engagementsignificantly correlated with project perform-ance.

Managers who employ a strengths-basedapproach correlated significantly withmanager engagement, employee optimism,employee engagement, project perform-ance, perspective, and recognition.

The degree to which managers main-tained a positive perspective correlatedsignificantly with employee engagement,project performance, and recognition.

And, the degree to which managers whofrequently provide recognition correlatedsignificantly with employee optimism,employee engagement, and project perform-ance.


Optimistic managers

However, in 2005, manager optimism didnot correlate with either employee engage-ment or project performance, as originallyhypothesised.

Prospective: 2006The prospective data were comprised of 39employees and 14 managers: a subset of theoriginal data with a different alignment.These data came from the same sample asthe retrospective data; however, the prospec-tive sample is smaller because some peoplewent to different projects and could not belined up. See Table 4 for a comparison of

means and standard deviations in 2006 andTable 5 for inter-correlations.

Manager engagement significantly corre-lated with project performance andemployee optimism. Employee optimismsignificantly correlated with employeeengagement, and employee engagementsignificantly correlated with project perform-ance.

Managers who employ a strengths-basedapproach correlated significantly withemployee optimism, employee engagement,project performance, perspective and recog-nition.



Table 2: Means and Standard Deviations for 2005 scores on Manager and EmployeeOptimism/Engagement, Project Performance, and Positive Leadership.

Measure M SD

Manager Optimism 20.58 3.22Manager Engagement 3.76 0.16Employee Optimism 17.08 4.46Employee Engagement 3.65 0.69Project Performance 9.40 5.00Manager leverages Strengths 3.61 0.86Manager has Perspective 3.73 0.85Manager provides Recognition 3.40 0.90

Measure MO ME EO EE PP STR PER REC

Manager Optimism (MO) –Manager Engagement (ME) 0.47** –Employee Optimism (EO) –0.11 0.00 –Employee Engagement (EE) 0.02 0.19† 0.30** –Project Performance (PP) 0.07 0.82** –0.01 0.30** –Manager uses Strengths (STR) 0.01 0.25* 0.36** 0.69** 0.33** –Manager has Perspective (PER) –0.04 0.15 0.20 0.26* 0.26* 0.57** –Recognition (REC) 0.08 0.20† 0.31** 0.59** 0.27* 0.80** 0.63** –

Table 3: 2005: Intercorrrelations for scores on Manager and EmployeeOptimism/Engagement, Project Performance, and Positive Leadership.

Note: MO=Manager score on Life Orientation Test - Revised; ME=Manager score on Gallup’s Q12 survey; EO=Employee score on Life Orientation Test – Revised; EE=Employee score on Gallup’s Q12 survey; PP=Organisation’s rating of the project’s performance; STR=Employees’ rating of whether manager uses a ‘strengths-based approach’; PER=Employees’ rating of manager’s perspective; REC=Employees’ rating of how frequently managerprovides recognition.† .05< p<.10 *p<.05 **p<.01

The degree to which managers maintaina positive perspective correlated significantlywith employee optimism, project perform-ance, and recognition, and, managers whofrequently provide recognition correlatedsignificantly with employee optimism,employee engagement, and project perform-ance.

In 2006, manager optimism did notcorrelate with employee engagement, but itdid have a moderate to large significantcorrelation with project performance, asoriginally hypothesised.

DiscussionThe primary questions of our research studywere: (1) Do teams produce better resultswhen led by an optimistic manager? and (2) Are employees more engaged at workwhen led by an optimistic manager? In 2005,manager optimism did not result in moreengaged employees and better projectperformance as we expected. This findingcould be due to the complexity of aligningindividual employees with only one managerin a highly matrixed Organisation typical oftoday’s technology industry. According toBell (2004), ‘Many employees now report to


Optimistic managers

Table 4: Means and Standard Deviations for 2006 scores on Manager and EmployeeOptimism/Engagement, Project Performance, and Positive Leadership.

Measure M SD

Manager Optimism 17.42 2.66Manager Engagement 3.84 0.35Employee Optimism 17.18 4.53Employee Engagement 3.71 0.68Project Performance 14.96 6.59Manager leverages Strengths 3.77 0.89Manager has Perspective 3.83 0.77Manager provides Recognition 3.51 0.94

Measure MO ME EO EE PP STR PER REC

Manager Optimism (MO) –Manager Engagement (ME) –0.18 –Employee Optimism (EO) 0.06 0.35* –Employee Engagement (EE) 0.13 0.28† 0.39* –Project Performance (PP) 0.42** 0.42** 0.26 0.37* –Manager uses Strengths (STR) 0.25 0.08 0.46** 0.64** 0.33** –Manager has Perspective (PER) 0.24 0.27† 0.41* 0.31† 0.35* 0.70** –Recognition (REC) 0.26 0.12 0.49** 0.63** 0.36* 0.91** 0.65** –

Table 5: 2006: Intercorrrelations for scores on Manager and EmployeeOptimism/Engagement, Project Performance, and Positive Leadership.

Note: MO=Manager score on Life Orientation Test - Revised; ME=Manager score on Gallup’s Q12 survey; EO=Employee score on Life Orientation Test – Revised; EE=Employee score on Gallup’s Q12 survey; PP=Organisation’s rating of the project’s performance; STR=Employees’ rating of whether manager uses a ‘strengths-based approach’; PER=Employees’ rating of manager’s perspective; REC=Employees’ rating of how frequently managerprovides recognition.† .05< p<.10 *p<.05 **p<.01

multiple bosses, team leaders, or processowners.’ In 2005, employees worked with upto nine managers on as many as five projects,whereas in 2006, no one worked with morethan two managers or on more than two proj-ects. The high amount of overlap in 2005 isevident; the mean number of managers isalmost triple the number in 2006.

Optimism and engagementIn 2006, we did find that manager optimismsignificantly correlated with project perform-ance, but not employee engagement.Although our sample in 2006 was smallerthan in 2005, there was less overlap on thenumber of projects and subsequent numberof managers each employee reported to.Only five employees worked on more thanone project; no one worked with more thanthree managers. In comparison, in 2005,employees in our sample worked on anaverage of three projects with two managers.

We were also interested in the other rela-tionships among manager optimism,manager engagement, employee optimism,employee engagement and project perform-ance. In 2005 we found that manager opti-mism was significantly correlated withmanager engagement, which in turn signifi-cantly correlated with project performance –this correlation was also evident in theprospective data. This finding suggests thatmanagers who are more engaged in theirwork are more likely to manage teams thatproduce better results. Our findings areconsistent with prior research by Kruegerand Killham (2005) and Fredrickson (1998)on the link between engagement andproductivity.

In both 2005 and 2006 employee opti-mism was correlated with employee engage-ment, which in turn was correlated withproject performance. Although it is difficultto determine causality, this finding suggestsa link between optimism, engagement, andresults, consistent with the findings ofTombaugh (2005) and Seligman andSchulman (1986). We also looked at the rolethe manager plays in influencing employee

engagement: in both our retrospective andprospective data a statistically small tomoderate trend emerged between managerand employee engagement.

Positive leadershipFinally, we were curious about how leader-ship style influences optimism, engagement,and project performance, based on previousresearch by McColl-Kennedy and Anderson(2002), and Amit, Popper, Gal, Mishkal-Sinaiand Lisak (2004). We selected three compo-nents of positive leadership closely linkedwith optimism: strengths-based approach,positive perspective, and recognition. Allthree measures strongly correlated with eachother in both the retrospective and prospec-tive data. The large to very large correlationsmay suggest that these measures are in factcapturing one single component – perhapsan aggregate of leadership effectiveness.

Assuming that a strength-based approach,perspective, and recognition are all qualitiesof positive leadership, in both years we foundthat optimistic and engaged employees weremore likely to report to a manager thatvalued their strengths, had a positive perspec-tive and frequently provided recognition.Positive leadership also predicted higherproject performance in both years. Our find-ings support previous research related tostrengths-based leadership by The GallupOrganisation; positive perspective by Reivichand Shatte (2002) and Henry (2005); andrecognition by Kouzes and Posner (1994).With a larger sample size, path analysis mightdiscover that managers who employ a positiveleadership style actually facilitate employeeengagement, leading to higher performance.

This finding would suggest that managerswho currently embody positive leadershipare contributing to the effectiveness of notonly their employees, but also the Organisa-tion as a whole. Managers who do notcurrently value employee strengths, normaintain a positive perspective, and fail toprovide frequent recognition and encour-agement, might benefit from positive leader-ship training and development. Future



research could look at the efficacy of inter-ventions targeting these three components.Karl (1992) found that a training program,focusing on optimism, increased outcomeexpectations, self-efficacy, motivation,learning, and transfer, when compared tostandard training. As one of our participantsexpressed in the open-ended section of thesurvey, ‘I work with many project managers andeach has a different philosophy around how theyrecognise, reward, or show appreciation. Some arevery good while others fail miserably.’ Ourresearch suggests that managers who employa positive leadership style will have moreengaged employees and produce betterresults.

Study limitations and future researchThe main limitation in our study wasoverlap. It was difficult to isolate whichmanager the employee was thinking of whenhe or she completed the survey. In the retro-spective 2005 data, there was a large amountof overlap between the number of managersand projects aligned with each employee.Thus, mean scores were used to calculatemanager optimism, manager engagement,and project performance. Although thesample size of our prospective 2006 data issmaller, there was less overlap

Due to the highly complex nature of amatrixed Organisation, it was difficult toalign an individual employee with just onemanager. If this study was replicated, werecommend collecting a larger sample andusing more sophisticated data analysis tech-niques to take into account the non-inde-pendence and hierarchal Organisation ofthe data. With a larger sample size it wouldbe ideal to conduct a Hierarchical LinearModelling analysis, in addition to simpleinter-correlations, to see how different levelsof management affect engagement, opti-mism, and productivity.

ConclusionAccording to Seligman (2002, p.83), ‘opti-mism and hope cause better resistance todepression when bad events strike, better

performance at work, particularly in chal-lenging jobs, and better physical health.’ In today’s rapidly changing and uncertainbusiness environment, managers andemployees need optimism more than everbefore to not only cope, but to innovate andflourish.

Organisations typically rely on stream-lining processes to improve productivity andoften overlook the gains that can be made byfocusing on sound leadership practices, suchas the ones defined in the researcher’s Positive Leadership model. As this studyshows, managers have more influence onemployee performance, engagement, andoptimism than perhaps they realise. Thegood news is, if optimism and the behavioursoutline in this Positive Leadership model donot come naturally to a manager, they can belearned. Executive coaches can help amanager become more aware of his or herleadership style, through the use of self and360 assessment instruments. Leadershipdevelopment programmes can also teachspecific skill sets. Development programmesthat also utilise coaches can help a managerapply and hone these practices until theybecome natural. Not only will the managerbenefit from learning and applying thesepractices, but so will his or her employeesand the Organisation at large. Throughcombining the work of the coaching psychol-ogist with empirically validated interventionsto build manager capability, Organisationscan enhance manager performance to driveorganisational performance, therebyhelping to build a further business case forthe role of executive coaching in the work-place. The findings of this study offer someinitial indications in that direction.

Authors’ noteThis paper is based on a research study weperformed in 2006 as part of our degreeprogramme (Master of Applied PositivePsychology) at the University of Pennsyl-vania. We would like to express our grati-tude to the following people for theirsupport to various aspects of the study:


Optimistic managers

Mike Maniaci, Emily Killham, Tom Rath,Greg Tranter, Karen Craft, Jean Dalbec,Karen Facteau, Linda McGowan, KathleenMills, Chris Peterson, James Pawelski, KarenReivich, Marty Seligman, Bill Robertson,Debbie Swick, Jaime Hernandez, NealGreenberg, and our MAPP (Master inApplied Positive Psychology) classmates,especially Gordon Parry and Doug Turner.Also to all the employees and managers ofthe Hanover Insurance Group who took thetime to complete our survey.

Dana Arakawa is now a Programme Associateat the John Templeton Foundation in WestConshohocken, Pennsylvania.

Margaret Greenberg is President of TheGreenberg Group – an executive coaching/organisational effectiveness practice inAndover, Connecticut.

They both completed the Master of AppliedPositive Psychology Program at the Univer-sity of Pennsylvania and both are monthlycontributors to Positive Psychology NewsDaily (www.pos-psych.com).

CorrespondenceCorrespondence concerning this articleshould be addressed to:

Dana Arakawa117 N. 15th Street, #1406, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19102.E-mail: [email protected]

Margaret Greenberg43 Jurovaty Road, Andover,Connecticut, 06232. E-mail: [email protected]



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Optimistic managers

What are your thoughts about applyingPositive Psychology to CoachingPsychology?

Ilona BoniwellWith a shared focus on strengths, well-beingand optimal performance, coaching andpositive psychology are natural allies.Coaching serves as a perfect testing groundfor the theories and scholarly ideas of posi-tive psychology, which, in turn, can providecoaching with a much needed empiricalbase.

Chris PetersonCoaching is one of the areas that I call anatural home for positive psychology. Excel-lence is recognised, celebrated, and encour-aged. That is what positive psychology is allabout. Also, coaching (from my outsiderperspective) seems to be area in need oftheory and empirical grounding, and posi-tive psychology can provide both.

Shane LopezPositive psychology theory and research hasa great deal to contribute to people livingbetter lives. My concern about applying posi-tive psychology to coaching is that only thebest coaches take the time to learn the in-depth aspects of positive psychology science.Applying popularised notions of positivepsychological principles do little to improvethe lives of people.

Robert Biswas-DienerI think it is important for coaches to under-stand the strengths and limitations of workbased on positive psychology. On the onehand, positive psychology is a dynamic newscience with lots of promise and is an easy fitwith coaching. On the other hand, positivepsychology is, at present, essentially a basicscience rather than an applied science.

When Martin Seligman championed theidea of focusing on strengths he lookedaround the profession of psychology andcobbled together researchers who wereworking in positive areas. People like DeanSimonton who studies genius, Ed Diener whostudies happiness, and Paul Baltes who studieswisdom. Each of these scientific giants isprimarily interested in investigating the innerworkings of positive human psychology. Myhunch though, is that they are motivated by astrong curiosity rather than an eagerness tosee their research results applied. As positivepsychology enters its next stage we are seeinga shift toward more applications and inter-ventions. In fact, I believe that the field willmove strongly toward application in the nearfuture. In 10 years I see positive psychology asstill being around, but as being largely aboutapplication.

The one cautionary note I would includeis that, while we ought to be creative with ourapplication of positive psychology research,we should also not get too far-fetched. I haveheard of coaches talking about using positivepsychology to get through the holidays andto improve parenting. While both of theseare certainly worthwhile pursuits there is a


The meeting of the minds: Positivepsychology and coaching psychologyCarol Kauffman & P. Alex Linley

As part of this special issue of the International Coaching Psychology Review, Carol Kauffman andAlex Linley sought the views of some leading figures in positive psychology about how they sawa positive coaching psychology. Here is what they had to say.

large jump from basic research on strengths,happiness, and optimism to specific disci-pline techniques for your three year old orwhat guests to invite for Christmas dinner.To the extent that coaches have a solidknowledge of the background research, andunderstand the limits and advantages ofpositive psychology, I believe both fields willbenefit. If, however, coaches make wildclaims about the power of positivepsychology I think both coaching and posi-tive psychology could suffer.

Stephen JosephPositive psychologists have said that for toolong mainstream psychology has focused onthe negative side of life at the expense of thepositive side. There seems to be twocompeting perspectives on the implicationsof this.

First, there is the idea that we should nowbe interested in the full spectrum of func-tioning, both the negative and the positive,and the hope is that this way of thinking willpermeate all existing branches of psycho-logy. So we can see a future in which allpsychologists eventually become positivepsychologists. For example, the clinicalpsychologist no longer just thinks about thealleviation of depression, but also the facili-tation of happiness. Over time the term posi-tive psychology simply withers away, becausepositive psychology is what everyone does.

Second, there is the idea that positivepsychology is separate from existingbranches of psychology. For example, theclinical psychologist is interested in depres-sion, and the positive psychologist is inter-ested in happiness. From this perspective,the negative and the positive are two sepa-rate domains of enquiry.

My view is that the first perspective ismore intellectually sound. The negative andthe positive are not separate domains ofenquiry. We understand one in relation tothe other.

The implication of the first perspective isthat we think about coaching psychologyacross the spectrum of human functioning.

Just because other branches of appliedpsychology such as clinical have traditionallyfocused on the negative doesn’t mean thatcoaching has to now only focus on the posi-tive. Coaching psychology is about facili-tating optimal functioning, but this shouldnot be arbitrarily confined to those who arealready well functioning. What can coachingpsychology offer to those who are less thanfully functioning, in educational settings,clinical and health care settings?

Inevitably, boundaries between thedifferent branches of applied psychologybecome blurred when we think from the firstperspective, and the implication is that theface of applied psychology will radicallychange in the long term, but that’s poten-tially a very good thing.

Why do you think Positive Psychologyand Coaching Psychology have grownso quickly?

IlonaBoth have identified a gap in the science-and practice-as-usual and managed tosuccessfully address it. Rather than operatingwithin a medical or disease paradigm, bothpositive psychology and coaching haveplaced an explicit emphasis on fulfilment,achievement and performance. The ‘rightplace, right time’ formula seems to haveworked for both, not mentioning the rightname.

Chris In the US in particular … (we should not)underestimate the teleconferencing part-nering of Ben Dean and Marty Seligman,which introduced the two fields to oneanother.

RobertPositive psychology has grown because itresonates with people. We live in an upbeatculture (don’t let anyone tell you different)but in the midst of troubled times. Peopleare eager for a hopeful message and positivepsychology supplies one. It is a re-imagined


The meeting of the minds

self-help movement, only with academicteeth and scientific backbone. At its heart,positive psychology is a philosophy that says‘Hey! No matter what problems or setbacksyou have faced, you are also resourceful andhave experienced success.’ It is aboutdirecting folks’ attention back to virtues,wisdom, and hope. I think many segments ofsociety have reached a place of comfortwherein they can turn their attention towarddeveloping themselves or working towardthe betterment of their communities, and Ibelieve they would largely prefer scientifi-cally proven routes for doing so.

StephenI suspect that for many of us we have alwaysbeen positive psychologists in how we thinkand practice, and in that sense the positivepsychology movement provided a newumbrella for a range of researchers andpractitioners who were already there, as wellas offering something which seemed newand exciting to younger researchers andpractitioners. But as indicated above thequestion for me is whether positivepsychology is a temporary movement thatwill transform and reconfigure mainstreampsychology, or whether it will becomepermanent as a separate branch ofpsychology.

What coaching psychology researchwould you most like to see?

IlonaI’d like to see several rigorous randomisedcontrol trial studies carried out, comparingthe outcomes of coaching psychology withthose of counselling and various forms ofpersonal development training.

ChrisBasic outcome research – effectiveness andefficacy.

ShaneAll approaches to teaching and practiceneed to be evidence-based. Coaching

research needs to generate Principles ofEmpirically Supported Applications andagree on a common set of positive outcomesto be pursued by coaches and clients.

RobertI am very excited that there are establishedjournals for coaching psychology researchand believe that an empirical foundation forunderstanding and practicing coachingpsychology is in everyone’s best interest.That said, I would love to see more researchwith non-executive populations, especiallybecause coaching is evolving toward a muchwider client base. I would also like to seemore efficacy research, both studies aimed atproving coaching effectiveness and thosegeared toward understanding how specificinterventions might be used with variousclient types or presenting problems.

StephenOne of the most important light bulbmoments for me as a psychologist was theunderstanding that research findings are notinstructions for practice. How we perceivethe link between research and practice is asocial construction. I’d like to see moreemphasis given to scholarly reflection on ourrole in society, and the philosophical under-pinnings of coaching practice. One of thethings that I’ve been interested in is theextent to which coaching psychology hasimplicitly adopted the medical model.Maybe the medical model is appropriate forcoaching psychology, but the professionneeds to make explicit what its underlyingphilosophical underpinnings actually are.An alternative to the medical model is theperson-centred model of coachingpsychology, and I’d like to see more researchwhich investigated the intrinsic motivationof clients toward optimal functioning andclient-centred coaching.


Carol Kauffman & P. Alex Linley

What applied positive psychologyresearch would you most like to see?

IlonaThe number of positive psychology interven-tions keeps increasing, yet apart from a fewpapers, we still have very limited empiricalevidence of their effectiveness. I would liketo see many more studies addressing theseissues.

ChrisLinking positive psychology constructs tohard outcome measures – e.g. performanceand health—and not just self-reported well-being.

ShaneApplied positive psychology research needsto examine the positive outcomes associatedwith strengths identification and interven-tions.

RobertThe truth is, there are very few empiricallytested interventions, and we do not knowexactly when they are best used, or withwhich types of clients. First, there are thetested interventions: savouring, positivereminiscence, using signature strengths, andcounting blessings. Then, there are theassessments: the VIA classification ofstrengths can be useful with clients, as canestablished measures of hope and optimism.I often bring up a specific study or relevantresult to my clients and ask them what theythink about it, how they might apply it totheir own lives, or what lesson they can takeaway from it. For example, when a client isfeeling pessimistic about future success Imight introduce them to Rick Snyder’sHope Theory. Rick says that hope is basedon self-confidence (the belief you canaccomplish your goal) and pathwaysthinking (the ability to find alternateavenues toward success when a roadblockpresents itself). For most clients, this helpsthem reframe the challenge ahead in easy-to-understand terms. ‘Oh,’ they say, ‘It’s just a

matter of believing in myself and looking forcreative solutions. Let’s get to work!’ To mymind, those two activities are largely whatcoaching is all about. My clients love it.

StephenI’d like to see research embrace the notionthat positive psychology is about changingmainstream practice so I’d like to see posi-tive psychology research that focuses ontraditional topics, and asks questions such aswhat is the positive psychology under-standing of trauma, for example. I’d also likeus to develop a better understanding oftraditional conceptions of mental healthsuch as anxiety and depression and theirrelationship with positive psychologicalconceptions such as relaxation and happi-ness. Are these dichotomous, or are theycontinuous dimensions?

What is the biggest thing each couldlearn from the other?

IlonaCoaching can learn from positive psychologyabout research and scientific rigour. Bothcan put to test, through either research orpractice, new techniques and interventionssuggested within their respective fields.

ChrisCoaching can learn about the need forempirical validation (and maybe theprudence of not sounding like an infomer-cial – as you see on some coaching websites),and psychology can learn about the impor-tance of studying ‘real’ people as opposed tocollege students.

ShanePartnerships could result in the develop-ment of empirically supported treatments.



What key breakthroughs do you see onthe horizon?

IlonaI expect that both coaching psychology andpositive psychology would penetrate theexisting approaches to science and practice,changing psychology as we know it, thoughpossibly losing their identity as a result. It ispossible that coaching might merge with otherone-to-one helping-by-talking approaches,thus offering clients a complete package. Posi-tive psychology, on the other hand, is likely toexpand beyond the boundaries of psychologyas a discipline, setting the foundations for apositive science.

ShaneMeditation appears to have an importantrole in cultivating positive emotions. Giventhe potential here, coaches may want toconsider extensive training in mindfulnessmeditation.

RobertThere are new assessments and interventionsemerging all the time. Michael Frisch justdeveloped a useful online measure calledthe Quality of Life Inventory, and Seligmanand his team are batting around ideas about‘positive portfolios’ and other promisingapplications. There are also high schoolsadopting a positive psychology curriculum inboth the US and Australia.

As positive psychology moves moretoward becoming an applied science Iforesee a flood of candidate interventions,and a deeper understanding of how andwhen to best use them. In part, I see coaches,trainers, and similar professionals as beingintegral to this process. For instance, I recently discussed ‘forgiveness’ with SandraFoster, from Korn/Ferry, and she cautionedme that forgiveness interventions can be, inher experience, too emotionally laden to beused effectively in an executive setting.Although forgiveness is associated with well-being in the research literature, it is onlythrough in-the-trenches experience that we

can fully appreciate the strengths and limita-tions of such interventions.

StephenThe breakthrough on the horizon is thatpositive psychology succeeds in transformingand reconfiguring the face of mainstreampsychology. But I am rather pessimisticabout that because I think that many nowperceive positive psychology simply as a newseparate branch of psychology rather than abigger vision for psychology as a whole.

However, the future lies in the hands ofthose in traditional branches of psychologyand the extent to which they becomeattracted to topics associated with positivepsychology.

For example, in my own field of traumawe are beginning to see the topic of post-traumatic growth and positive changefollowing adversity become a mainstreamtopic among clinical and health psycholo-gists. The best mainstream journals ontrauma and clinical psychology now regu-larly publish on this topic. Clinicalpsychology trainees often choose it for theirthesis topic. So, in certain areas I’m moreoptimistic of breakthrough.

Perhaps what we will see is that sometopics will become mainstream and practicein those areas becomes reconfigured, whilethe spotlight of positive psychology willnarrow to some core topics. We are walkingin the early footsteps of humanisticpsychology. It too had a grand vision fortransforming and reconfiguring the whole ofpsychology, but what happened is that itbecame a minority interest with its ownspecialist journals, and relatively little impacton mainstream psychological practice.

Coaching psychology can draw on posi-tive psychology research, but I thinkcoaching psychology should be wary ofbecoming seen as the applied arm of positivepsychology. Coaching psychology is simplythe application of all psychological knowl-edge to the facilitation of optimal func-tioning.



What Positive Psychology CoachingInterventions have the most promise?

IlonaThere are several interventions that deservea mention here, including, for instance,mindfulness meditation, drawing a pyramidof priorities, applying one’s strengths in anovel way and putting the learned optimismprinciples into practice. I personally like a‘Positive Portfolio’ exercise, because it facili-tates the development of a past-positivetemporal perspective that is conducive towell-being, and enables one to re-visit theirlife values.

ChrisMy view is that strengths-based interventionshave the most promise.

RobertI think we are at the beginning stages ofcreating and understanding positivepsychology interventions. There is a set ofestablished, standard interventions such asthe gratitude exercise and using memora-bilia to enhance positive reminiscing. Theseare terrific, but I think there is much more topositive psychology than this. I see the struc-ture of the coaching session itself as a kind ofintervention, a place where coaches andclients are free to break from social normsaround modesty and own their strengths. Iparticularly like positive introductions – inwhich strangers speak about their uniquetalents and virtues – as a way of establishingthe culture of the coaching session as a posi-tive one. I try to work this into my intakesessions to set the stage for later work. I alsolike a concept I pulled from the savouringresearch literature. The idea is that whenyou have a success you not only enjoy it, butintentionally take a mental snap shot of theexperience with the knowledge that you willgo back and savour it later. Coaches canencourage their clients who are facing alikely or predictable win to be prepared totake note of details for later savouring. As welearn more about human cognition, and the

relationship between cognition andemotion, I think fascinating new interven-tions will emerge

StephenI think those interventions grounded in theperson-centred philosophy developed byCarl Rogers have the most promise. Butperson-centred psychology doesn’t always fitwith the needs of contemporary societywhich wants quick fixes. People often say tome that person-centred psychology is a goodidea but we have to be practical. I agree, butI think we have to be practical in a way thatkeeps us directed towards our ideals. Whatthat means is that there may be a limit tohow practical we can be without losing sightof our ideals.

What can practicing coaches do tofurther research in positive andcoaching psychology?

IlonaI think the best way forward is the collabora-tion between practicing coaches andacademic positive psychologists. This wayboth sides would play to their strengths,advancing both the science of positivepsychology and the practice of coaching.

ChrisJust do it. Maybe partner with researchpsychologists. I have had a devil of a time inmy own research getting access to ‘real’people in ‘real’ settings. I run into the brickwall of HR gatekeepers. Maybe coaches withaccess could help

ShanePracticing coaches must systematicallycollect data on their clients and share it withresearchers. Hit and miss outcome data willnot do.

RobertI think the collaboration of coaches andpositive psychology researchers could bemuch stronger. The two professions seem to



only now be meeting one another. Coachesare a terrific resource for researchers as theyhave the clients needed for efficacy researchand the practical experience to test interven-tions. At the profession-wide level I wouldlike to see coaches becoming more familiar

with psychological techniques, and at theindividual level I would like to see coachesestablishing working relationships withresearchers so that both can benefit from theother’s expertise.



About the contributors

Ilona Boniwell is Programme Leader, MSc Applied Positive Psychology, at the University ofEast London, and author of Positive Psychology in a Nutshell: A Balanced Perspective on the Scienceof Optimal Functioning (PWBC, 2006).

Chris Peterson is Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan, where he is thedirector of clinical training. He is a major thought leader in positive psychology and leadauthor, with Martin Seligman of: Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification(Oxford University Press, 2004)

Shane Lopez is an Associate Professor at the Counselling Psychology Program at the Universityof Kansas. He is second author, with C.R. Snyder, of the classic: Handbook of Positive Psychology(Oxford University Press, 2002) and lead author, with C.R. Snyder, of Positive PsychologicalAssessment: A Handbook of Models and Measures (American Psychological Association, 2003)

Robert Biswas-Diener is an author and coach who applies positive psychology research topeople’s lives and work. Robert has worked with clients from England, Australia, Canada, andthe US, on issues ranging from professional development, to improving relationships, tophilanthropy. Robert is co-author of the book Positive Psychology Coaching: Putting the Science ofHappiness to Work for your Clients (Wiley, 2007).

Stephen Joseph is Professor of Psychology, Health, and Social Care at the University ofNottingham. He was co-editor of the special issue of The Psychologist on positive psychology, andof the volume Positive Psychology in Practice (Wiley, 2004). He has published in both The CoachingPsychologist and the International Coaching Psychology Review.

LTHOUGH THE SENIOR AUTHORhas many professional roles, her

primary endeavour is coaching. Assuch, she wanted to ensure that this specialPositive Psychology issue of the InternationalCoaching Psychology Review offered practicaltools that readers could translate intocoaching acumen; each article had to pass the‘so what?’ test. The six empirical studies andone review paper will expand your toolbox ofevidence-based coaching practices.

Today, or this week, or the next time youare in sessions, you might take a moment toconsider if something from this issue mightbe useful. We hope these articles will helpbroaden your theory base, expand yourcoaching toolbox, and enhance yourcoaching skills. To do this we must tap intoour creativity and synthesis skills, and sensehow each article might inspire evidenced-based action. We offer just a few possibilitiesherein, and it is up to Coaching Psycholo-gists to take this work further. If you makeprogress or encounter barriers as you striveto apply this or other novel information,consider writing a case study to broaden theknowledge base for fellow coaches. Yourwork might be suitable for future issues ofthis or other coaching journals. In addition,notice if the work you create might bestudied in a qualitative or quantitativemanner with pre and post measures youmight use to translate your practice intoresearch. To help you, free sessions withresearch mentors are available, contact thesenior author or the non-profit institute:TheFoundationofCoaching.org.

We will now discuss each articlepresented in this issue. First, we will providea detailed description of how this informa-tion might be applied, using the first article

for illustrative purposes. After discussingapplication of the first article in some depth,we will discuss application of subsequent arti-cles with less detail.

Choong and Britton’s ‘Character strengthsand type’ is chock full of potential coachingapplications. First, their work underscoresthat more people -- both clients and coaches-- might benefit from completing the Valuesin Action (VIA) Institute Signature StrengthsQuestionnaire. Thanks to the generosity ofThe Mayerson Foundation, creators of theVIA Institute, the VIA Questionnaire is avail-able for free at www.viastrengths.org. Theinstrument is a powerful pathway to greaterself-awareness of strengths.

Relationships between MBTI types andVIA strengths suggest that we explore howthese instruments can complement oneanother. Each provides information thatmay inform coaching style and help coacheschoose what material is offered to the client.The MBTI measure of mental preferences isa fairly pure process instrument. The VIAquestionnaire, in contrast, provides a bitmore content, measuring cognitive,emotional, interpersonal, civic regulatory,and transcendent domains.

Choong and Britton suggest that we usethese tests in tandem to ‘tailor client actionrequests’ and explore how people can capi-talise on their preferences and strengths. A client of the lead author provides a goodexample. This senior executive is an ISTP(‘I’ and ‘T’ are particularly strong), and hertop VIA strengths are: open mindedness,curiosity, persistence, love of learning, andkindness. A large portion of her job involvespublic speaking and training. Despite brilliance and productivity, her boss was


A pragmatic perspective: Putting positivecoaching psychology into actionCarol Kauffman & P. Alex Linley

A

dissatisfied with her speaking skills. Hercombination of cognitive strengths led herto give talks that exhausted audiences. Herboss wanted her to ‘lighten up, be funny,and talk more off the cuff.’ These sugges-tions may have been easily-achieved throughher boss’s strengths, but they were difficultfor the client given her psychological consti-tution. Being asked to lead with her weak-nesses, the client felt her energy drain away.

What could she do? What can we learnfrom the work of Choong and Britton thatmight help us effectively intervene?

The coaching process began by consid-ering the ‘lighten up and be funny’ advice ingreater depth. It seemed that the client’s bosswanted her to connect more with the peopleshe was training, and to keep trainees moreengaged. The client explored how she coulduse her strength of kindness (her only inter-personal strength in the top 10). The coachhelped the client to consider how thisstrength had developed over the years. As theclient spoke, the coach anchored andaugmented positive things she had to sayabout herself, asking how it might be possibleto bring previous experiences relating tokindness into the present. This unlockedsomething special almost immediately.

Once the client viewed her training as anoutlet for her strength of kindness, herbehaviour changed. Being kind to trainees,rather than forcing trainees to learn every-thing, helped the client establish greaterconnections with her audiences. The clientbegan to notice when audiences could notkeep up with her. In response she sloweddown, added more question and answersessions, and ended on time (none of whichwere suggested by the coach). Training eval-uations rose, the client felt more satisfiedwith this aspect of her work, and her boss wasquite pleased with the improvement!

Choong and Britton’s work may helpcoaches find ways to work through theplethora of information they receive, and touse knowledge of the client’s MBTI typesand VIA strengths to make sense of theclient’s experiences. This can reveal ways to

tweak the client’s task or task perceptions,and help them discover how they can capi-talise on their personality type and characterstrengths.

Green, Grant and Rynsaardt’s article on lifecoaching for students also expands ourrepertoire of assessments and interventions.The first important implication of their workis to suggest it may be helpful for coaches toassess clients’ hardiness and hope and tobecome familiar with standardised as well asinformal instruments to do so. Datapresented in this article showed that normalhigh school students increased in hardinessand hope as a result of coaching. Yet, if wemet these students, we might not have imme-diately thought that raising hardiness andhope would be an immediate goal, theymight have looked as if they were doingquite well. In a similar vein we shouldremember that despite how competent ourhigh level executives are, they may also bewell served by our coaching them towardgoals of building reserves in these areas. Themeasures of hardiness also provide a rela-tively available pre – post outcome measureof how our clients are doing, and offer valu-able data that accumulated over time mightprovide good outcome data. On one hand itcould be good feedback to assess if changingcoaching strategies might be useful. Alterna-tively if one accumulates enough data itcould form the basis of a pragmatic evidencebased research paper.

The research of Green, Grant andRynsaardt also suggests that hardiness andhope are buffers for stress, and many dozensof other studies support this assertion. Thissuggests an alternative pathway to stressmanagement. Rather than tackling stress‘head-on,’ one can build hope and hardiness– as well as other positive attributes – thatmay buffer stress in the future. Clients mayappreciate being able to choose betweenthese strategies.

Wesson and Boniwell’s article on coachingfor flow builds on 30 years of research



conducted by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Theauthors nicely integrate this work withnumerous well known interventions, and werecommend keeping Wesson and Boniwell’s‘Table 1,’ which catalogues methods forfacilitating flow, close at hand. Since thisentire article is on coaching applications offlow theory we will focus on one facet of thework they present.

One aspect of the large body of work theyreviewed focuses on the issue that an optimalbalance of challenge and skill is crucial foroptimal performance. There are numerousways to apply this knowledge when workingwith a client. Coaches can decreaseperceived challenge levels by helping clientsto break their goals into smaller pieces, or byexploring how the client might lower thebar. In contrast, if perceived challenge is toolow, then the client may feel uninspired. Thecoach might then encourage the client toraise the bar or help them infuse the taskwith a larger vision. Coaches are often well-versed in these skills, but many may not beaware of the theory underlying thesecoaching practices.

In addition to modifying challenges, onecan also ask questions, make observations, orprovide suggestions regarding skill level.Although skills can certainly be lacking, theclient’s perception of skill level is often theprimary obstacle. Fortunately, Wesson andBoniwell provide interventions for changingperceptions of skill level. Clients’ percep-tions of their own skills might also shift ifthey begin focusing on their characterstrengths (as suggested by Choong &Britton), or by using Solution FocusedCoaching to build hardiness and hope (assuggested by Green, Grant & Rynsaardt). Alist of additional interventions developed bySeligman et al., which can help clientsincrease positive emotion and awareness oftheir skills, is available (Kauffman, 2006).

The work of Wesson and Boniwell, andthat of Green, Grant and Rynsaardt, offercomplementary ideas on how one mightcoach for flow and peak performance.Increasing hardiness and hope can relieve

stress, freeing up psychological energy to dothe more nuanced work of balancing chal-lenge and skill. And, as one helps a client tobalance challenge and skill, self-efficacy mayincrease, yielding increased hope and hardi-ness. This positive spiral, of course, is hypo-thetical; future research investigating thispossibility may be fruitful.

Examining peak performance in greaterdetail, Rolo and Gould explored hopecoaching for athletes. Like the work ofGreen, Grant and Rynsaardt, this studyunderscores the importance of assessinghope and having hope-increasing interven-tions in our tool boxes. Rolo’s thoroughliterature review and citations can leadcoaches to find out more about the specificsof coaching for hope.

More complex lessons stem from how theauthors used hope theory to tailor interven-tions for college athletes. The authors devel-oped group coaching that included games,activities, regular debriefings, and othercomponents, in accordance with the sportsculture of the institution. Most readers willnot work with college athletes, but this studyis relevant nevertheless; it exemplifies howpsychological theories can be used todevelop evidence-based interventions, andhow assessments can gauge the effectivenessof coaching interventions. In addition, thesealterations in usual hope coaching practicecan serve as a model for those interested incoaching children for increases in hope andschool performance.

The athletes in Rolo and Gould’s samplewere all under pressure to perform, and anoptimal balance of challenge and skill levelwould be helpful for them. These athletesdid not have the option to lower the levels oftheir challenges. Athletes did, however,learn about goal deconstruction, and iden-tify action steps that helped break over-whelming goals into manageable pieces.Skills were also built through time manage-ment training and other programme compo-nents. As a result at the least, theirperception of their performance went up.


A pragmatic perspective

Though not spelled out in detail, carefulreading Rolo and Gould’s work suggests thatit was not just the content of the interven-tions that was helpful. The athletes qualita-tive feedback data suggested that theexperience of feeling cared about was impor-tant to them. Implicit as well is the extent towhich the authors had spent years in the insti-tution developing trust of the administration,and how they were able to honour theculture within which their work is embedded.These kinds of processes are clearlycongruent with the kinds of challenges exec-utive coaches face regularly, even form thebackbone of much of the work. Yet, themyriad of choices coaches make to createthese optimal institutional connections arerarely elucidated or studied empirically

Next we turn to Burke and Linley’s study,which explored how a single coachingsession could enhance motivation throughself-concordant thinking. The study eluci-dates how coaching techniques can help theclient to listen through the static of multiplecompeting demands, and tune in to theirclear ‘inner voice.’ As a result, they are moreable to remind themselves of what they reallywant, and bring their goals into greateralignment with their core self and subse-quently be more motivated and able to reachtheir goals. To achieve these ends, theauthors used well-known coaching methods,including the GROW model (Goal, Reality,Options, and Will-do) to achieve these goals.

One way to build our own coaching skillsfrom reading this article is to add self-concordance coaching to the tool box if it isnot already there. Simply using the PLOC(perceived locus of causality measure), ortranslating that instrument into coachingquestions to help clients explore their goalsand priorities, could be of great value.

In essence their paper is a successfulattempt to unite academia and coaching.The paper reveals how the science of positiveand coaching psychology allows us to diveinto the depths of human experience in ascientifically reliable and valid manner.

Though the study is preliminary, it exempli-fies how masterful coaches can derivehypotheses from theories, apply evidence-based interventions, conduct empirical pilotanalyses, and offer major contributions to thefield. The Burke and Linley team -- a prac-ticing executive coach (DB) and an academicpositive psychologist (AL) -- help bringtogether the ivory tower and the real world.More partnerships like this may guide scien-tists to rich fields of inquiry. Coaches can playa pivotal role in inspiring dissertations andother research, and can help academic posi-tive psychologists study topics that are rele-vant to their daily coaching practice.

Silberman’s study is quietly radical in it’squestioning of the exact assumptions Burkeand Linely explore above. In his sample ofcollege students, he assessed their abilities toself-select positive interventions from a poolof evidence supported self-coaching exer-cises. The idea was – would well-beingimprove more that the group who pickedtheir own interventions, or those that did nothave a choice. The results were equal. Whatis not clear is how well these students reallytuned into their inner voice prior tochoosing their interventions. However, hisresults are an important reminder to us, ascoaches, to question some of our automaticassumptions. As researchers, we need morebasic research about coaching processes.

While Silberman’s paper focused onwhether choice increases efficacy a morecrucial set of results fades into the back-ground -- all of these very simple positivepsychology interventions made a differencein the wellbeing of the participants. (Longerdescriptions of the interventions are avail-able from Silberman, and are also describedin Kauffman (2006). This alone is worthnoting, and many of us would be well servedby putting some of these exercises in ourcoaching toolbox. While in the US it isn’tunusual to present an actual exercise to aclient (a try this …) one can also deliverthese interventions in a more conversationalmanner, or offer them as inquiries.



Last and certainly not least, is the remark-able paper on the impact of positive manage-ment on the morale and performance.Arakawa and Greenberg’s study of howmanager optimism influences productivityand engagement. Their work is a phenom-enal example of how practicing coaches cantranslate their theories of good managementinto identifiable behaviours that can then bestudied over time.

The first contribution is their clear oper-ationalisation of what they consider to bepositive management: Positive Leadershipwas divided into three clear behaviours(orienting around strengths, being positiveduring stress and actively recognising andpraising worker behaviour. The authors alsoprovide us, as executive coaches, with anadditional set of tests and instruments thatwe can use to assess these dimensions. Thesecould be added to 360 assessments or trans-lated into more open-questions we askduring coaching sessions.

What is also important is that there isevidence that these positive qualities, thatcan often seem intangible (Positive Leader-ship) were not only measured reliably, butwere connected to performance outcomemeasures that corporations value. Showingclear pathways to improving these factorssuggests a clear ROI that supports coachesoffering these services. Lastly, while positiveleadership was defined and shown toconnect to ROI the authors make the impor-tant point that data shows these skills are‘coachable’ and not just talent based.

These results, and those from many ofthe studies presented in this special issuebode well for all of seeking to bring evidencebased practices to the real world of coaching.

PostlogueStepping back for a moment, let’s look oncemore at the connections between positiveand coaching psychology. The definitionproposed by Shelly Gable and JonathanHaidt seems most relevant (2005). ‘PositivePsychology is the study of the conditions andprocesses that contribute to the flourishing

or optimal functioning of people, groups,and institutions.’

It seems to us, that the client-coach rela-tionship can create exactly these kinds ofconditions and processes. As coaches we canco-create with our clients ideal and empow-ering contexts that allow them and theirinstitutions to flourish. Echoing the words ofChristopher Peterson in Meeting of theMinds, ‘coaching is a natural home for Posi-tive Psychology’.

We hope that the intertwining of fieldscontinues, with Positive Psychologyproviding more theory and research toground our work in science. CoachingPsychology, as it has evolved and distin-guished itself from clinical psychology, hasshifted the way practitioners and clients worktogether and connect with one another (e.g.Peterson, Stober & Kauffman, 2006). Manycoaches now believe that clients are whole(or at least potentially so); and that clientswill attempt to co-create an optimal workingrelationship, identify tangible or intangiblegoals, and use their strengths to overcomeobstacles. These foundations of coaching arehighly concordant with the foundations ofPositive Psychology.

CorrespondenceCarol KauffmanCoaching Psychology Institute:Positive Psychology in Action.

Harvard Medical School,22 Mill Street, Suite 405,Arlington, Massachusetts, 02476,USA.E-mail:[email protected]

P. Alex LinleyCentre for Applied Positive Psychology,Barclays Venture Centre,University of Warwick Science Park,Coventry CV4 7EZ, UK.

E-mail: [email protected]


A pragmatic perspective

References Gable, S. & Haidt, J. (2005). What (and why) is

positive psychology? Review of General Psychology,9, 103–110.

Kauffman, C. (2006). Positive psychology: Science atthe heart of coaching. In D. Stober & A. Grant(Eds.), Evidence-based coaching handbook. NewYork: J Wiley and Sons.

Peterson, D., Stober, D. & Kauffman, C. (2006). The coaching relationship: Examining theory andpractice. Half-day workshop presented at theAmerican Psychological Association AnnualConference, New Orleans, August.



Correction: The title of the Whybrow and Palmer article in the last issue of ICPR wasincorrect (see Vol. 1, No. 2, 75–85). It should be: Shifting perspectives: One year intothe development of the British Psychological Society Special Group in CoachingPsychology in the UK.

Where coaching psychology and positivepsychology meet: Positive psychology coaching.

Positive Psychology Coaching: Putting the Science of Happiness to Workfor Your Clients. Robert Biswas-Diener & Ben DeanHoboken, NJ: Wiley.288 pages. £24.99

Reviewed by P. Alex Linley

There has been much talk about positivepsychology and coaching psychology, andhow each may inform the other. This specialissue of the International Coaching PsychologyReview is, of course, dedicated to providingsome answers to that question. But at thetime of writing (January, 2007) there is notan accessible source to which the coachingpsychologist with an interest in applying posi-tive psychology in their coaching practice canreadily turn. And what might coachingpsychologists be looking for in a book thatpurports to do this? An understanding of thescientific backbone of positive psychology?Ready applications to coaching psychologypractice? Top tips and recommendations forapplying positive psychology in the coachingpsychology engagement to leveragestrengths, enhance well-being, and driveperformance? Or all of the above?

The coaching psychology community isfortunate to count Robert Biswas-Diener andBen Dean amongst its numbers. For not onlyhave they created and delivered a book thatticks all of these boxes, they have done so ina way that makes it a joy to read and aneducation in itself. They are uniquely quali-fied to do so. Robert has literally travelled tothe furthest corners of the globe in his questto understand subjective well-being andcharacter strengths across hugely diversecultures, including Greenland (where heworked with traditional hunters), Calcutta(where he worked with prostitutes), Israel

(where hestudied empathyin the WestBank), Kenya(where heworked withMaasai tribalpeople), and theAmerican heartland (where he worked withthe Amish). Ben developed and deliveredthe hugely successful Authentic HappinessCoaching programme with positivepsychology founder Martin E.P. Seligman, aswell as running his own coach trainingorganisation, MentorCoach, for over adecade. Their combined experience,expertise, and insight are apparentthroughout the book.

Positive Psychology Coaching begins bytaking a look at the coaching paradox(coaching has not yet reached its own fullpotential, despite helping others to achievetheirs) and the positive psychology solution(positive psychology can provide more of thetheoretical, empirical, and conceptual mapsthat it is argued coaching needs to achieve itspotential). It then explores happiness, posi-tioning it as the goal that we rarely talk aboutbut the pursuit of which we all engage in.The next two sections examine the twomajor foundations of positive psychologycoaching: happiness and characterstrengths. Chapters 3 and 4 examine thecore factors that influence happiness, as wellas what we can do to cultivate them more,before considering specific tried-and-testedhappiness interventions that readily lendthemselves to the coaching psychologyengagement. Chapters 5, 6 and 7 examinethe application and use of strengths withincoaching, dividing the focus between socialstrengths (fairness, social intelligence) andpersonal strengths (curiosity, optimism,creativity). The closing two chapters divedown into focusing on how coaches can helpclients craft a perfect job before taking a


Book Reviews

bird’s eye view of what the future of positivepsychology coaching might hold.

Throughout, the book is replete withgems and insights that any coaching psychol-ogist could use on any day of the week in anycoaching psychology assignment. One of myfavourites is reframing the family/work/exercise trade-off (i.e. I find it difficult toexercise because it takes time out of beingwith family or being at work) to a family/work/health trade-off (i.e. exerciseenhances health, and health means we arebetter with our families and at work),making them complementary rather thancompetitive. On a personal level, that onereally worked for me!

Positive Psychology Coaching is also seededwith the experiences and perspectives ofpositive psychology authorities from aroundthe world, with the authors selecting keyquotes from interviews conducted with thesepeople to enhance the reader’s under-standing of what positive psychologycoaching is all about and why it works. Andperiodically throughout, we are offeredboxed review points for easy reference, andtop tips for applications in our coachingwork. This makes the book a valuable quickreference resource while preparing for acoaching session, as much as a volume to beread through. The Appendix sets out avariety of ideas and offerings that can be

tailored to individual coaching psycholo-gists’ needs and preferences for designingand delivering positive psychology coachingsessions, including strengths-based conversa-tions, appreciative questioning, and the useof positive psychology assessments.

While 10 positive psychologists wouldlikely provide 10 different answers as to whatshould be included in a consideration ofpositive psychology and coachingpsychology, it would be churlish to criticisethe book on these grounds. It doesn’tinclude a section on flow, but it does addresstime orientation. It doesn’t examinewisdom, but it does explore savouring. Whatis most important though, is how Biswas-Diener and Dean weave such a smoothnarrative from the first page to the last.When starting reading, one is left feeling asif you are joining Robert on one of hisfamous journeys, and by the conclusion wenot only arrive where we set out to be, but wehave seen some fantastic things – andlearned some important lessons – along theway. Positive Psychology Coaching is simply thebest resource for coaching psychologists whowant to introduce more of the positive intotheir practice.

Alex Linley is Director of the Centre for AppliedPositive Psychology (see www.cappeu.org). He can be contacted by e-mail to [email protected]


Book Reviews

A positive psychology primer: Short, sweet butpacks a punch!

Positive Psychology in a Nutshell: A Balanced Introduction to the Science ofOptimal Functioning. Ilona BoniwellLondon: PWBC. 111 pages. £7.99.

Reviewed by Carol Kauffman

Do not judge this paperback book by itscover, or maybe just a little. At first glanceone sees a playful shining sunny-faced figurestretching out its little stick arms, having justpopped open the nutshell that previouslyencased it. Weighing in at a mere 111 pagesof text (the book is seven millimetres thick)it is a fraction of the size and cost of mostpositive psychology primers. Crack open thisbook, however, and one finds a surprisinglypowerful addition to the positive psychologylibrary.

Positive Psychology in a Nutshell: A BalancedIntroduction to the Science of Optimal Func-tioning, is a comprehensive, user friendly,thoughtful introduction and critique of thefield. Simply put, it is the best overview outthere that can be read in a couple of sittings.Those with no psychology background findit fascinating and informative, those withserious credentials find it to be a credibleoverview and critique of the field. With 232footnotes tucked out of sight in the back ofthe book, it is chock full of empirical studiesthat the more serious reader can use as aguide to find original data.

The areas covered in the tiny text arecovered in 14 short chapters. Each includesan introduction, walk through the relatedresearch, tables, diagrams and lots of ‘tipsand tools’ boxes with pithy applicationcomments. What can easily escape the casualreader is that each of these chapters is, infact, a somewhat frothy-appearing version ofa very serious literature review and incisivecritique of the field.

Positive Psychology in a Nutshell begins withan orientation on the definition of positivepsychology and an introduction to the theo-ries behind the benefits of positive affect.Following this, Boniwell explores the morecognitive theories and sums up the latestresearch on optimism and hope, providestips and tools as well as quizzes (a.k.a.research instruments). The next chapterprovides a quick trip through 20 years ofresearch on flow states, including the nineconditions that foster optimal performance,tips and critique of the theory.

In chapters 5 and 6, the book steps backand examines the components of subjectivewell-being, and takes a more serious look atthe pros and cons of feeling good and someof the problems the field faces along with acomparison of emotional happiness and thecontrasting perspective of eudaimonic wellbeing. This is an application of Aristotle'sconcept of living in congruence with one'spotentialities (daimon = true nature), andleads to a slightly different concept, psycho-logical well-being. From here on the bookincludes more of a focus on applications ofthese ideas including examining issues suchas self determination theory, intrinsic moti-vation and values. From this flows a discus-sion of goal setting and a theoretically basedlook at how we use time. Then focus shifts tohow to harness the tenets of positivepsychology to grapple with complexities oflife, making choices with work and in rela-tionships as well as identifying our characterstrengths and an initial foray into coachingand organisational psychology.

Most of the chapters flow fairly well intoone another. The organisation is conceptdriven rather than divided by how peoplemight put it into practice. At times the topicchanges seem a bit choppy, but making themsmooth would have doubled the size of thebook. In addition, the balance of its smallsize and large scope does not allow this bookto be an in-depth study. The chapters oftenmake you want more than they can offer.The latter is also the strength of the book.One can read it as a first foray into the field


Book Reviews

to see if one would like to explore the classictomes of Positive Psychology in Practice (Linley& Joseph, 2004) or Snyder and Lopez'sHandbook of Positive Psychology (2002), or theirnewest text on Positive Psychology (2006).These weigh in at about a stone.

As the reviewer I should acknowledgethat I have given a half-dozen copies of thisbook to clients and potential donors to thenon-profit Coaching Psychology Institute atHarvard Medical School. These individualswere able to absorb the information withlittle background in psychology and found itquite useful.

And because as reviewer I get the lastword, I have to end where we began, at thecover. Dr. Boniwell, can you have yourpublisher put out a second edition of theNutshell, with a bit more sober accou-trements? You know – with no smiley face,more serious illustrations? Then I can givethis book to my executive coaching clientswithout a five-minute explanation how itreally is a very serious book.

ReferencesLinley, P.A., & Joseph, S. (Eds.). (2004). Positive

psychology in practice. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Snyder, C.R. & Lopez, S.J. (Eds.). (2002). Handbook of

positive psychology. New York: Oxford UniversityPress.

Snyder, C.R. & Lopez, S.J. (2006). Positive psychology:The scientific and practical explorations of humanstrengths. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.


Book Reviews

Partitioning Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology:The Science of Happiness and Human Strengths. Alan CarrBrunner-Routledge. 388 pages. $29.00.

An Introduction to Positive Psychology.William ComptonThomson-Wadsworth.276 pages. $23.00.

Reviewed by Kennon M. Sheldon

Although positive psychology has made largestrides in the few years since its inception, it isstill in the process of defining itself. Is it reallya new area of scientific inquiry, or is it just‘old wine in new bottles?’ Does it offer agenuinely novel definition and conception ofhuman nature, or is it mainly a marketing

tool, a label which ultimately adds little towhat we were already doing before it camealong? Can any researcher become a positivepsychologist, simply by declaring him/herselfto be one, or simply by labelling his/herexplanatory constructs in positive (ratherthan negative) terms? If so, perhaps positivepsychology is just a fad, or a biased set ofnaming conventions. Furthermore, what,exactly, should count as a ‘positive’ phenom-enon? Although the remediation of depres-sion and the alleviation of trauma arecertainly positive outcomes, these topicswould not typically come under the positivepsychology umbrella -- why not? Because oflingering questions such as these, someresearchers are still on the fence about thesignificance, value, and staying power of posi-tive psychology (see Lazarus, 2003; Ryff,2003; Tennen & Affleck, 2003).

This explains why the recent appearanceof two positive psychology textbooks is ofsuch potential importance. In any field, but

perhaps especially in new and emergingfields, introductory textbooks can play acrucial role. First, textbooks define the basicassumptions and approaches of the field.What is the field about, and what is it tryingto do? Second, by their organisation, text-books help crystallise a set of discrete sub-disciplines within that field. What are thebasic topics and phenomena of the field?Third, textbooks produce a short-list of theleading theories in the field, focusing at thewriter’s discretion upon just a few of the theo-retical perspectives available (althoughconsiderable omission is of course neces-sary). Such decisions help to crystallise thefield, for both established researchers and forthe emerging new generation of researchers.

To illustrate the conundrums faced byinitial textbook writers within a new field,consider chapter titles and topics. Howshould they be partitioned and organised? Ina positive psychology textbook, should therebe chapters on emotions, cognitions, traits,selves, and cultures? Beliefs, attitudes,motives, and goals? Intelligences, skills,strengths, and competencies? Micro-system,meso-system, and macro-system? Shouldchapters focus on major theories of person-ality and social psychology (i.e. Big 5 theory,terror-management theory, self-determina-tion theory), or upon nested functionalsystems (as addressed by Carver andScheier’s control theory, Bronfenbrenner’secological systems theory, Ford’s develop-mental systems theory), or upon distinctdomains and roles within life (i.e. child,parent, friend, life-partner, and worker)?Should chapters focus on distinct positiveoutcomes to be understood (i.e. happiness,creativity, longevity, relationship quality), orupon the positive processes thought to leadto these outcomes (i.e. genius, well-beinginterventions, positive coping)? Should‘negative’ topics (i.e. depression, self-handi-capping, personal conflict) be entirelyexcluded from the book, or should suchtopics be incorporated after all, to lend anecessary balance to the discussion? Again,the textbook writer decides all this.

Interestingly, both Carr’s PositivePsychology: The Science of Happiness and HumanStrengths (2004) and Compton’s An Introduc-tion to Positive Psychology (2005) take a similarapproach to organising the field. To illus-trate: Carr’s book has nine chapters, whichin order concern happiness; flow; hope andoptimism; emotional intelligence; gifted-ness, creativity and wisdom; positive traitsand motives; positive self; positive relation-ships; and positive change. Compton’s 12-chapter book has an introductory chapter,followed by chapters on emotions and moti-vation; subjective well-being; leisure, optimalexperience, and peak performance; love andwell-being; wellness, health psychology, andpositive coping; excellence, aesthetics,creativity, and genius; thriving and flour-ishing; well-being interventions; religion,spirituality, and well-being; work, commu-nity, culture, and well-being; and a looktowards the future.

Obviously, Compton’s chapter titles arewordier than Carr’s (as is true of the entirebook; more on this below). Still, bothauthors decided to focus their chapters onvarious positive phenomena, grouped prima-rily by semantic similarity (i.e. creativity,aesthetics, and genius are grouped together;hope and optimism are grouped together)rather than by conceptual scheme. Althoughthis approach is some ways a reasonable one,it may also reinforce an image of positivepsychology as a mere smorgasbord of uncon-nected topics, most of which were alreadybeing investigated before it came along.Furthermore, this approach tends to segre-gate topics that might better be consideredtogether (i.e. subjective well-being, thriving/flourishing, and wellness/positive coping areconsidered separately in three differentchapters of Compton’s book, despite theirapparent conceptual overlap). Finally, byignoring ‘the negative’ (i.e, by not making atleast some connections to psychopathologyand clinical psychology), both books mayignore important aspects of life withoutwhich ‘the positive could not exist’ (Tennen& Affleck, 2003).


Book Reviews

Overall, Carr’s text is more open to thesmorgasbord critique than Compton’s, as itmay be guilty of considerable oversimplifica-tion (as Carr himself suggests in his fore-word). No introductory chapter is provided,and there is no real attempt to characterisepositive psychology as a movement within ahistorical context. A typical chapter visitsmany different concepts and terms, devotingonly a single brief paragraph or two to manyof them (although many sections are consid-erably longer). New concepts are often intro-duced in isolation, without being discussedin terms of the concepts immediatelypreceding. Thus, many possible connectionsare left out or ignored.

Still, Carr's book does a good job in itsshort descriptions -- they are clear and accu-rate depictions of the theories beingdiscussed. Also, the chapter summaries do agood job of beginning to tie things together.The ‘controversies’ section at the end ofeach chapter aptly (if sometimes telegraphi-cally) describes major debates within thattopic area, such as those concerning skill-vs.-trait models of emotional intelligence, theeffects of rewards upon intrinsic motivation,and the proper definition of well-being.Thus, armed with this book and a teacherreceptive to questions, a curious youngstudent could learn a large amount aboutpsychology. Students not ready or able toquestion so deeply could still take away manypotentially useful chunks of information,because of the book’s easily digestibleformat. Together, these features suggest thatCarr’s book may be the better choice forhigh school or lower-division classes.Notably, however, it could also serve as auseful glossary of terms and concepts forupper-level students and researchers.

In contrast, Compton’s book is writtenat a considerably higher level. There is anintroductory chapter that nicely introducespositive psychology, locating it within ahistorical context and showing ‘why it isnecessary’ (Sheldon & King, 2001).Throughout the book, thoughtful connec-tions are drawn to past movements and zeit-

geists within psychology, and the words ofmany past thinkers are shown to havecontemporary relevance (i.e. Allport, Dewey,James, Mead). Compton also providesnumerous stories and anecdotes that help tobring the topics to life. Thus, for the mostpart, the book is more fun to read. Further-more, Compton is more serious aboutcomparing and integrating the various theo-ries and topics discussed. As new conceptsare introduced they are discussed in terms ofthe previous concepts, enabling the readerto weave the ideas together. In addition,many more complex questions and issues areentertained. For example, in his chapter 12,Compton provides a discussion of systemperspectives upon positive functioning,showing why the many superficially differenttopics that characterise positive psychologymay have to be considered together for anadequate accounting. This kind of systemsthinking can help combat the ‘topic-ism’ orsmorgasbord approach that seeminglypervades the new field (Sheldon, 2004).

Of course there is also a risk toincluding much history, subtlety, andcomplexity within an introductory textbook– simply, that it may be too much too soonfor beginning students. Indeed, Compton’sbook is quite wordy throughout, and in someplaces teeters on pedantry. Furthermore, it isnot always easy to follow the thread that isbeing developed. Overall, however, the bookdoes a fine job of introducing positivepsychology in a thoughtful and integrativeway. Together, these features suggest thatCompton’s book is probably better forupper-division or even graduate-level classes.However, it could also serve as a stimulatingtext in a lower-level course consisting of ableand motivated students.

The suggestion that the Carr text ismore suitable for young or beginningstudents, and that the Compton text is moresuitable for older or more advancedstudents, is reinforced by some differencesin pedagogical tools. Carr begins eachchapter with an outline, and also a set oflearning objectives; in contrast, Compton


Book Reviews

introduces each chapter only with a quote.Thus, Carr may do a better job of preparinginexperienced students to learn. Still, thebooks are quite similar in their end-of-chapter resources; both provide chaptersummaries, terms/glossaries, references forfurther reading, and exercises/questions forpersonal exploration. Compton alsoprovides web resources at the end of eachchapter, whereas Carr does not. However, anoteworthy feature of the Carr text is that itpresents many contemporary scales andmeasures throughout the book, withcomplete items and instructions to theparticipant. Although too little guidance isprovided to the beginning student abouthow to use, score, and interpret these scales,the measures themselves could be a valuableresource for more advanced students andbeginning researchers.

In conclusion, both of these textbooksdo a reasonably good job of introducing thefield of positive psychology, to somewhatdifferent audiences. Both may suffer from a‘smorgasbord’ problem, in which the pres-entation is organised around unconnectedtopic-areas instead of being organisedaround connected theories, systems, hierar-chies, or life-domains. However, in thisaspect, the two texts are little different fromthe emerging field as a whole, in whichresearchers are still jostling to get theirpreferred phenomena positioned within thepositive psychology pantheon. Compton’sbook does a better job of pointing to thekind of integrative new thinking that needsto be done in order to get beyond such topic-ism, whereas Carr’s book does a better job ofdistilling the field into digestible chunks forthe new student.

Kennon M. SheldonUniversity of Missouri-Columbia

Note: This book review was originallypublished in the January, 2006, edition ofthe Journal of Positive Psychology, 1, 53–55.Reproduced by kind permission of KennonM. Sheldon and Taylor and Francis.

ReferencesLazarus, R.S. (2003). Does the positive psychology

movement have legs? Psychological Inquiry, 14(2),93–109.

Ryff, C. D. (2003). Corners of myopia in the positivepsychology parade. Psychological Inquiry, 14(2),153–159.

Sheldon, K.M. (2004). Optimal human being: An integrated multi-level perspective. Hillsdale, NJ:Erlbaum.

Sheldon, K.M. & King, L.K. (2001). Why positivepsychology is necessary. American Psychologist, 56,216–217.

Tennen, H. & Affleck, G. (2003). While accentuatingthe positive, don’t eliminate the negative or Mr. in-between. Psychological Inquiry, 14(2),163–169.


Book Reviews

The Special Group in Coaching Psychology

We are pleased to present further details of our 2007 Event Programme. These events will offer opportunities for further

training and development in topics which have been carefully selected to complement coaching psychology. We really look

forward to seeing you at one or more events.

21st June 2007:

‘Solution Focused Coaching in Coaching Psychology: SolutionsFocus is What it Says on the Tin’.

Facilitator: Carey Glass, CPsychol.

This one-day event will be held at the BPS London Office.

30th July 2007:

‘Using Cognitive, Imaginal and Relaxation Techniques in HealthCoaching: A Skills Based Workshop’

Facilitator: Prof Stephen Palmer, PhD CPsychol CSci

This half-day event will be held at The Scots Club, Edinburgh.

For registration information and further details about these events see the ‘News Page’ of the SGCP website on: http://www.sgcp.org.uk. For booking information please contact: Tracy White, Email: [email protected]

Further details will soon be announced on the following one-day workshop:

• Using Appreciative Inquiry in Coaching Psychology & Researching Personal Coaching Relationships: Analysis of Qualitative Data

A Tele-event programme is also planned including national & international speakers on a variety of topics related to coaching

psychology.

The 2007 membership fee to join SGCP is £3.50. SGCP membership benefits include membership rates at our events and free copies of the ‘International

Coaching Psychology Review’ and ‘The Coaching Psychologist’.


Notes


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