Study of optimal human functioning
Positive Strengths
Subjective Experience
Positive Psychology Examines
Personal Growth
Ivan Staroversky - www.StarOverSky.com
Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence
Creativity
Gratitude
Curiosity
Hope
Humor
Judgment
Transendence
Love of Learning
Spirituality
Wisdom & Knowledge
Forgiveness
Perspective
Bravery
Humility
Perseverance
Prudence
Honesty
Self-Regulation
Zest
Temperance
Courage
VIA Key Character Strengths
Teamwork
Love
Fairness
Kindness
Leadership
Social Intelligence
Humanity and Love
Justice
Ivan Staroversky - www.StarOverSky.com
Originality
Ingenuity
Creativity
Artistic achievement
Open mindedness
Interest
Wonder
Beauty
Excellence
Noticing and appreciating
Novelty-seeking
Curiosity
Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence
Openness to experience
Exploring and discovering
Skilled performance in various domains of life
Critical thinking
Being aware of
Thankful for the good things that happen
Gratitude
Thinking things through
Wisdom & Knowledge
Taking time to express thanks
Judgment
Examining things from all sides
Optimism
Future-mindedness
Working to achieve it
Being able to change one's mind in light of evidence
Future
, future orientation]
Weighing all evidence fairly
Hope
Love of Learning
Expecting the best in the future
Mastering new skills and topics
Wisdom
Playfulness
Transendence
Perspective
Bringing smiles to other people
Humor
Acting on convictions even if unpopular
Faith
Includes physical bravery but is not limited to it
Purpose
Persistence
Spirituality
Coherent beliefs about
Perseverance
Course of action in spite of obstacles
Authenticity
Forgiving those who have done wrong
Forgiveness
Honesty
VIA Key Character Strengths
Giving people a second chance
Letting one's accomplishments speak for themselves
Being careful about one's choices
Presenting oneself in a genuine way
Acting in a sincere way
Courage
Humility
Prudence
Vitality
Being disciplined
Self-Regulation
Zest
Temperance
Living life as an adventure
Feeling alive and activated
Valuing close relations with others
Teamwork
Love
Doing one's share
Sharing and caring are reciprocated
Being close to people
Generosity
Treating all people the same
Nurturance
Fairness
Kindness
Avoid bias
Care
Compassion
Justice
Encouraging
Maintaining good relations within the group
Energy
Not doing things halfway or halfheartedly
Social responsibility
Giving everyone a fair chance
Enthusiasm
Approaching life with excitement and energy
Controlling one's appetites and emotions
Loyalty
Being without pretense
Taking responsibility for one's feelings and actions
Self-control
Regulating what one feels and does
Integrity
Speaking the truth
Accepting the shortcomings of others
Seeing that they happen
Finishing what one starts
Taking pleasure in completing tasks
Knowing where one fits within the larger scheme
Justice
Self
Speaking up for what is right even if there is opposition
Bravery
Making (not necessarily telling) jokes
Fairness
World
Valor
Seeing the light side
Meaning of the universe
Cise counsel to others
Understand
Liking to laugh and tease
The higher purpose
Not jumping to conclusions
Altruistic love
Leadership
Emotional intelligence
Humanity and Love
Organizing group activities
Doing favors and good deeds for others
Personal intelligence
Social Intelligence
Being aware of the motives and feelings of
Ivan Staroversky - www.StarOverSky.com
Knowing what
Other people
Oneself
To do to fit into different social situations
Makes other people tick
One's Belief
Ability to accomplish a task by own efforts
Low
Desire to Act Morally
Do Good
Immediate Experience
Now
Self-efficacy
Maintain Healthy Lifestyle
High
Stress
Aids Stress Management
Decrease Pain
Absorption in own work
Mindfulness
Intense Concentration
Positive Psychology Terms
Reduction of
Improve Immune System
Present Moment
Simply Observe Experience
Depression
Overcome Eating Disorder
Intentionally-Focused Awareness
Here
Anxiety
Elevation
Associated with Depression
Loss of Self-Awareness
Benefits
Flow
Chronic Pain
Perfect Challenge
Time is Flying
Achieve a Goal
Ivan Staroversky - www.StarOverSky.com
Helps
Win a Game
Improve Skills
A philosophical approach
Asks what is “going right”
rather than what is “going wrong.”
Replication
A scientific endeavor
Uses the virtues of science
Controlled experiments
Generalizeable samples
To add confidence to new insights about human nature
Positive Psychology at a Glance
- Robert Biswas-Diener
Principally concerned with interventions
Move clients from healthy to healthier
Rather than
Simply alleviating pain or overcoming disorder
Built on staple research
Happiness
Trends heavily toward
Optimism
Strengths over other potentially positive topics
Ivan Staroversky - www.StarOverSky.com
Empathy
Altruism
Experiencing physical problems and mistakes
Inability to maintain appropriate attentional focus
Negative mental attitude
Flow state blockers
Example of Intrinsic Motivation
Seemingly effortless
Lack of audience response
Intrinsically joyful
Development of a positive mental attitude
Positive precompetitive affect
During contest
Perception of being prepared
Coach
Flow cannot occur
Matched
Hight
Apathy results
Flow state facilitators
Every action, movement, and thought
follows inevitably from the previous one
Like playing jazz
Physical readiness
Teammates
Skill of the performer
Your whole being is involved
You're using your skills to the utmost
Positive competitive affect
Maintaining appropriate attentional focus
Challenge of the task
Inner movement
Interesting itself
When you engage in activity
Unity with
For its own sake
No external purpose
Balance must be struck between
Something that is to be
If the task is too easy or too difficult
The Flow Experience - Csikszentmihalyi
State of consciousness
Skill level and challenge level must be
Enjoyed
Appreciated
Total absorption in a task
Optimal level of functioning
Self-contained activity
If skill and challenge are low and matched
Requirements
Mindfulness
Autotelic Experience
Meditation
Yoga
Alexander Technique
Martial arts
Done
Not with the expectation of some future benefit
Simply because the doing itself is the reward
The ego falls away
Focused attention
End in itself
Cox, R. H. (2007). Sport psychology: concepts
and applications (6th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Geirland, John (1996). “Go With The Flow”.
Wired magazine, September, Issue 4.09.
Ivan Staroversky - www.StarOverSky.com
Time flies
Past
Strengths
Contentment
Virtues
Love
Work
Satisfaction
Positive Emotions
Capacity for
Courage
Knowledge
Control
Present Happiness
Future Hope
Foster Better Communities
Compassion
Justice
Resilience
Responsibility
Creativity
Civility
Integrity
Happiness
Positive Individual Traits
Parenting
Positive Psychology Focus
Nurturance
SelfPositive Institutions
Moderation
Work Ethic
Teamwork
Wisdom
Purpose
Ivan Staroversky - www.StarOverSky.com
Tolerance
Life of Enjoyment
Life of Affiliation
How People
Well-Being
Belonging
Meaning
Positive Feelings & Emotions
Experience
Forecast
How - Positive Sense of...?
Relationships
Purpose
Pleasant Life
Larger
Hobbies
Part of Normal Healthy Living
Interests
Meaningful
Entertainment
Nature
Social Groups
Organizations
Life of Engagement
Contribute Back To Something
Meaningful Life
Positive Psychology Broad theories
Optimally Engaged
Primary Activities
Immersion
Movements
Beneficial Affects of
Traditions
Absorption
Flow
Beliefs Systems
Good Life
Ivan Staroversky - www.StarOverSky.com
Positive Match
Strength + Task
Yes I Can
Life satisfaction
Criteria for happiness
People return to their weight
Psychology about self remains the same
Decreases happiness
Dieting business - Scam
Fall back on what they know
Fear or under stress Goes out into the world & learns
Secure
Negative Filter
Questions to ask yourself ?
School
Daily Long commute for $
What we want (aspiration)/what we have (attainment) Babies
9th graders read tragedy books
Happiness
Learning experience Crisis creates focus illusion
Want
Enjoy doing
Positive feelings
3 Blessings
Find what you
Relationship
Play & flow
In 2 words or less
Discuss negative
Negative conditioning
What 3 things went well today?
Train your brain to focus on positive
Reframe your problems through you strength
Active
Technique
Constructive
Provide feedback to people
Acknowledge their achievement
Ask positive questions
Elicit positive feelings
Ivan Staroversky - www.StarOverSky.com
What do you want for you kids to learn in life ?
What do schools teach ?
At the end of the day before bed
Find your biggest strength in life
Positive Psychology
Money & convenience
Sadder
Pessimists
More realistic
See reality accurately
Distort reality
Self-serving direction
Overestimate their control
Optimists
Pessimism vs Optimism
Have no control at all
Wildly overestimate their abilities
80% of American men
Depressed people
Think they are above average in social skills
More accurately judge
More optimistic
We are
More pessimistic
Ivan Staroversky - www.StarOverSky.com
Particularly when
Helpless
How much control they have
Late morning
Early evening
Late afternoon
Middle of the night
Competition anxiety is inevitable
You can cope with it
Good
Bad
Others' performances
Know
Personal life distractions
Effort
Physical
Emotional
Training
Competition
Acceptance
Ability to achieve competitive goals
Self-Belief
Not being adversely affected by
Pressure of competition
Technique
Unshakable
Possess Unique
Thriving on
Remaining fully-focused
Abilities
Makes you better than your opponents
Mental Toughness In Sports
Rebound
Maintain
Success
Pain
Qualities
Pushing Back Boundaries
Bouncing back from performance setbacks
Result of increased determination to succeed
Internalized motives
Insatiable desire
Psychological Control
Under distress
Sport Focus
Cox, R. H. (2007). Sport psychology: concepts
and applications (6th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Ivan Staroversky - www.StarOverSky.com
Regain after events
Switch on/off as required
Unexpected
Uncontrollable
Mastery
Mastery vs Pleasure
Pleasure
Sense of accomplishment
Feelings of
Enjoyment
Satisfaction
While performing a task
Spiegler, M. D., & Guevremont, D. C. (2010). Contemporary behavior
therapy (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Ivan Staroversky - www.StarOverSky.com
Not perfection
Out of control
Obsessive
Types of Passion Robert Vallerand
Shields from
Takes mental energy
Hormones
Ivan Staroversky - www.StarOverSky.com
In control
Increases well-being
Secondary
Goals
Activities
Constantly Challenge Negative
Self Talk
Rationalize
Explain
Goal-Directed Thinking
Hope
Find routes to desired goals
Motivations to use routes
Learned Optimism
Vertical Agitation
Ivan Staroversky - www.StarOverSky.com
Focus on
One portion of the problem at a time
Accountable for Solving the Problem
We are finite
1. we have the capacity for self-awareness
Gives significance to life
Awareness of death as a basic condition
We are finite
We have a limited amount of time to do things
There will be anxiety
Death means that
Neurotic
Anxiety that is out of proportion to the situation
6. Awareness of death and nonbeing
We are free to choose
2. Freedom and Responsibility
Types of anxiety
Existential guilt = occurs when we
Humanistic Psychology Six
Existential Propositions
A person has to reinterpret the experience
to make it congruent with their self-concept
Choose not to choose
Let others define or make choices for us
Existentialist therapists
We cannot depend on anyone else for our own confirmation
define from within
5. Anxiety as a condition for living
3. Striving for Identity and Relationship to Others
We alone must give a sense of meaning to life
We alone must decide how we live
When we are able to stand alone and dip within ourselves
for our own strength
When we receive information which is
inconsistent with our self-concept
The more inaccurate yourself concept
We act in what Sartre calls "bad faith" Part of the human condition is aloneness
"Whenever you leave the sure basis of the now and become
preoccupied with the future, you experience anxiety“ (Perls)
The more likely you will have clashes with other people
If we don't accept responsibility for our actions
Neurotic anxiety
Death can't be faced without anxiety
We experience anxiety
But we have the opportunity to relate to others
We must accept responsibility for our actions
Do not strive to eliminate normal anxiety
Life can not be lived
We can choose, and thus we can shape our destiny
We are basically alone
When we make a decision or change
Normal
We can act, or not act
Our relationships with others are based
on fulfillment, not our deprivation
Concerns the struggle for significance and purpose in life
Anxiety as a condition of living (Carl Rogers)
Therapists would encourage clients to help create a value
system that is based on their way of being
To ward off anxiety
4. The Search for meaning
Sometimes people experience meaninglessness
We create meaning working, loving, and building
Life is not meaningful in and of itself
Ivan Staroversky - www.StarOverSky.com
Rather an individual creates and discovers meaning
Tend to be independent
Applied his creative genius to rethink
fundamental assumptions of time and space
Showed concern for all humankind and
worked to help improve human lives
Albert Einstein
Qualities
Have complex personalties
William James
Defied the religious orthodoxy of his time
to propound ideas considered heretical
Baruch Spinoza
Fought for a moral idea of
freedom, at great personal cost
Efficient perception of reality
Acceptance of self and others
Historical Figures
Spontaneous and natural
Abraham Lincoln
Was an architect and philosopher of a new form of
government built on democratic principles
Focus on problems outside themselves
Thomas Jefferson
Self-Actualized People
Became what many considered to be the
greatest cellist of the twentieth century
Love freedom
Have a high need for privacy
Eleanor Roosevelt
As a founder of psychology, he
brought a creative new perspective
Showed great creativity and achievement
in the face of hardship and discrimination
Resist social pressures
Characteristics
Pablo Casals
Need for privacy/sense of detachment
Fresh appreciation and Peak experiences
Social Interest and Profound relations
Democratic
George Washington Carver
Creative
Friedman, H. S., & Schustack, M. W. (2012). Personality: classic theories
and modern research (5th ed.). Boston: Pearson Allyn & Bacon.
Ivan Staroversky - www.StarOverSky.com
Resistant to enculturation
Intuition
Self-actualization
Emotions
Transcendence
Meaning
Healthy relationships
Values
Human Potential Humanistic Psychology
Mortality
Spirituality
Intentionality
The self
Creativity
Holism
Responsibility
Ivan Staroversky - www.StarOverSky.com
Insight
Authenticity
Congruence
Caring for the client
Core Conditions Of Counseling
- Humanistic Psychology
Self-discovery
Unconditional positive regard
Empathy
Phenomenological assessment strategies
Ivan Staroversky - www.StarOverSky.com
Fritz Perls
Charlotte Buhler
Carl Rogers
Abraham Maslow
Victor Frankl
Karen Horney
Humanistic Psychologists
Gordon Allport
Alfred Adler
Carl Jung
Rollo May
Albert Ellis
Virginia Satir
Ivan Staroversky - www.StarOverSky.com
Having
Hope
Goals
Follows
Motivation to work toward goals
Ways to achieve those goals
Have obstacles
Knowing
Ivan Staroversky - www.StarOverSky.com
You have more pathways to a goal
Than blocking obstacles
Pleasure
Flow
States of
Virtues
Talents
Social system
Institutions
Promoted by
Analyze
Make normal life more fulfilling
Goals of Positive Psychology
Ways
Importance of using the scientific method
How things go right
Find and nurture genius and talent
Determine
Not
Intention
Emphasize
Peterson, C. (2006). A primer in positive
psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ivan Staroversky - www.StarOverSky.com
Simply to treat mental illness
Compliment
Not replace
Traditional psychology
Capacity for self-awareness
Freedom
Tension between
Responsibility
Creating one’s identity
Establishing meaningful relationships
Meaning
Existential Therapy - Six
Existential Propositions
Search for
Purpose
Values
Goals
Accepting anxiety as a condition of living
Awareness of death and nonbeing
Ivan Staroversky - www.StarOverSky.com
Clarifying our life direction and core values
Taking full responsibility of our own life
Assuming responsibility for our decisions and actions
Holding ourselves accountable
Purpose
Responsibility
Being a moral agent
But a positive outcome is not inevitable
Sometimes, the personal costs of being responsible can be too high
Deliberating your daily plans
Pursuing one's calling and mission in life with passion and commitment
Full awareness of the situation and the consequences of one`s actions
DrPaul TPWong PURE Meaning in Life
The natural outcome of leading a purposeful and responsible life
Organizing our activities
Enjoyment/Evaluation
Knowing right from wrong
Understanding
This stage involves reflection and sometimes re-evaluation of PURE
Understanding the legal/ethical principles in decision making
Self-knowledge of our strengths and weaknesses
Understanding/knowing the world we live in
Achieving a sense of coherence
Ivan Staroversky - www.StarOverSky.com
Philosophy
Meaning makes life worth living
Love yourself for your inner qualities
Need wisdom and courage to live well
Do what is right no matter what
Resilience
Self-esteem
Wisdom
Meaning
9 Pathways to Flourishing
- Dr Paul TP Wong
Virtue
Spirituality
Responsibility
Freedom
Ivan Staroversky - www.StarOverSky.com
Make sense of life
Provides the royal road to the good life
The good life based on inner goodness
Survival
Flourishing
Free to choose a meaningful life
Challenges
Specific
Find the motivational support to overcome life's
Obstacles
Establish goals
Confidence
Self-efficacy
Optimism
Attaining valued goals
Reflect back on their lifelong progress in
"I will get this done"
"Keep going!"
Long-term
Tap into their motivational resources of
Set mastery (learning) goals
See more meaning in their lives
External Goals
Other-set goals
Not extrinsic motivation
External obstacles
Characteristics of People with High-Hope
Pursue other avenues when stumped
Achievement goals
Not on
Engage goals with intrinsic motivation
Less easily distracted by
Generate
Performance
Not
Rely on internal self-set goals
Have reservoirs of internally generated determination
Multiple pathways
Do not stick stubbornly with one approach
Vague
Not
Mastery motivational orientation.
Constructing values
Short-term
Task-irrelevant (distracting) thoughts
Negative feelings
Cox, R. H. (2007). Sport psychology: concepts
and applications (6th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Ivan Staroversky - www.StarOverSky.com
Image by Costalonga
Better secure jobs
Better keeping jobs
Less turnover
Less burnout
Characteristics Of Happy
People - Shawn Achor
More resilient
Superior productivity
Greater sales
Ivan Staroversky - www.StarOverSky.com
1. Clear Goals
Autotelic
End In Itself
2. Immediate Feedback
9. Activity
Done for its Own Sake
3. Balance
8. Time Distortion
Disappears
7. Self-Consciousness
6. No Worry of Failure
Every step of the way
4. Merged
9 Elements of Flow -Czikszentmihalyi
5. No Distractions
Ivan Staroversky - www.StarOverSky.com
Challenges
Skills
Action
Awareness