Lecture 8: Character Strengths of Altruism: Kindness, Love, Forgiveness

December 23, 2013January 5, 2014 selvam Uncategorized

Kindness
Kindness, generosity, nurturance, care, compassion, altruistic love, and “niceness” are closely related terms that indicate “a common orientation of the self toward the other” (Peterson & Seligman, 2004, p.326). Kindness consists in doing favours or good deeds to others, while compassion is more related to the emotion evoked at the sufferings of others. Compassion becomes significant when the troubles of the other person are serious, not self-inflicted, and the agent of compassion is able to picture oneself in the same predicament as the one in trouble (Cassell, 2005, p.435). Assessing kindness involves very practical indicators as in:

I have voluntarily helped a neighbour in the last month.
I always call my friends when they are sick

Love
Peterson and Seligman attempt to define love in terms of psychology:
Love represents a cognitive, behavioural, and emotional stance toward others that takes three prototypical forms. One is love for the individuals who are our primary sources […]

Lecture 9: Character Strengths of Temperance & Transcendence: Self-regulation, Hope, Gratitude, Wisdom

December 23, 2013January 5, 2014 selvam Uncategorized

Self-regulation
As one of the character strengths of temperance, self-regulation can also be referred to as self-control or self-discipline. The expressions of self-regulation and its constructs refer to how a person exerts control over his or her impulses and behaviour so as to pursue their goals while maintaining their moral standards. It can also mean a rhythm of life that facilitates self-efficacy (Bandura, 1999). “Delay of gratification constitutes an important paradigm of self-regulation,” implying that a person with self-regulation is able to resist the temptation to choose an immediate, small reward in order to obtain a larger benefit, even if the latter was delayed (Peterson & Seligman, 2004, p.500).

I am a highly disciplined person.
I can always stay on a diet.
I can always say “enough is enough.”

Hope
“Hope, optimism, future-mindedness, future-orientation represent a cognitive, emotional, and motivational stance towards the future” (Peterson & Seligman, 2004, p.570). In more precise terms, this stance […]

Lecture 10: Religion, Spirituality and Positive Psychology

December 23, 2013January 5, 2014 selvam Uncategorized

DOWNLOAD MY CLASSNOTES IN PDF:PP 10 Religion & Positive psychology
Positive psychology and Religion/Spirituality in dialogue
Religion and spirituality are in the domain of “human experience beyond the material” (Miller, 2010, p.35). That is why, Wulff (1997, p.645) proposed the inclusion of the ‘Principle of the Transcendent’ in the psychology of religion. Without due consideration of the transcendent, the psychological study of religion, or any study of religion for that matter, that uses positivist methods, runs the risk of materialism and reductionism (See Gualtieri 1989). For instance, studying religion from the perspective of cognitive neuroscience could provide useful insights, but it cannot sufficiently explain religious sentiments and behaviour. However, this is a matter of debate. The crux of the debate is how far the academic approach to religion should respect the ‘insider perspective’ (Sharma, 1997). Should a scholar of religion necessarily prefer explaining religious processes as an outsider, tounderstanding religious phenomena as an insider – […]

Lecture 11: Post-traumatic Growth

December 23, 2013November 4, 2014 selvam Uncategorized

DOWNLOAD MY CLASSNOTES IN PDF: PP 12 Post Traumatic Growth
One of the criticisms of positive psychology (PP) by ‘outsiders’ is that it is like positive thinking. It is one-sided, attempting to forget or run away from the negative dimensions of life. This is not a fair criticism of PP. As Barbara Fredrickson has acknowledged negative experiences are like the keel to the ship, and positivity is the sail. On the other hand, positivity not only improves our general wellbeing but offers the possibility to make sense out of our negative experiences.
Lectures 10 and 11 focus on the positive outcome of negative experience. Here we examine Post-traumatic Growth. In brief, when trauma is transformed the outcome is wisdom.
A Simple Reading: Positive Changes Following Adversity
Other key texts:
Tedeshi, R.G., & Calhoun, L.G. (2004). Posttraumatic Growth: Conceptual Foundation and Empirical Evidence. Philadelphia, PA: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Linley, P.A. and Joseph, S. (2004). Positive Change Following Trauma […]

Lecture 12: Resilience

December 23, 2013January 5, 2014 selvam Uncategorized

DOWNLOAD MY CLASSNOTES IN PDF: PP 11 Resilience
WHAT IS RESILIENCE?
Psychological resilience is the ability to bounce back from negative events. Need for a study among street boys of Nairobi: when they get back to mainstream education why do they perform consistently better than their younger ‘normal’ counterparts?
Three Categories of Protective Factors (Garmezy, 1983):

Dispositional attributes of the child: children themselves were easy to relate to, felt good about themselves, believed they were in control of their lives, and were self-reliant.
Family cohesion and warmth: a child experienced a warm relationship with at least one adult family member, the family felt close, and order and organization were in evidence.
Use of external support systems by parents and children, in the neighbourhood or elsewhere in the community.

Broadening and Building Theory in relation to Resilience:

When we focus on positivity, we have energy to creatively explore..
Broadening: As we explore, we acquire more resources (human, social, psychological, material).
Building: These […]