Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Nonlinear Dynamical Systems And Humanistic Psychology, David Pincus, Adam W. Kiefer, Jessica I. Beyer

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

The recent debunking by Brown, Sokal, and Friedman of some high-profile results applying chaos theory to positive psychology creates the opportunity to shed light on the quality work that has been done by others in this area. Too many humanists may be unaware of the large volume of legitimate work that exists in the literature apart from Fredrickson and Losada’s article. Often, such legitimate lines of research are ignored, not for lack of scientific merit, but because of artificial guild boundaries and similar silos that separate groups of scientists—even when working in similar areas. It would be unfortunate to have …

Building Blocks: A Multi-Theoretical Preventative Model To Promote Post-Traumatic Growth, Jared S. Becknell

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

The following is an exploratory model to understand the factors that promote growth after traumatic events, also known as post-traumatic growth (PTG). Additionally, the hope is to inspire further research and create quantitative data regarding the effectiveness of these factors, add additional interventions and integrate into crisis/trauma paradigms during recovery. Therefore, clients would be more equipped to handle the possibility of another event. When PTG occurs, victims of trauma experience increased positive well-being, life satisfaction and regain a new compassion for meaning or purpose in their life. By utilizing the following interventions, victims of past traumatic events can live a …

Preparing For Racial Discrimination : The Role Of Cognition And Emotion In The Proactive Coping Process Of African American College Students., Ryan Christopher Tyler Delapp

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Traditionally, conceptual models of racial discrimination have characterized the reactive experiences of African Americans, particularly identifying how African Americans cognitively, emotionally, and behaviorally respond to racial stress. The current study extends beyond the reactive coping experience and identifies nuances in the anticipatory and preparatory coping processes associated with racial discrimination. Methods: 62 African American college students participated in a stress induction experiment that prompted anticipatory judgments of discrimination. The full sample completed quantitative self-report questionnaires about their anticipatory thoughts (SAM; Peacock & Wong, 1990; Roesch & Rowley, 2005), state-based affect (PANAS-X; Watson & Clark, 1994), and proactive coping behaviors (PPCB; …

Signature Strengths: A Positive Psychology Intervention With Informal Caregivers, Megan C. Macdougall

Dissertations

The adverse effects of caregiving on informal caregivers’ physical and mental health are well documented (Pinquart & Sorensen, 2003; Vitaliano, Zhang, & Scanlan, 2003). Many evidence-based treatments exist to address caregiver distress and burden (Gallagher-Thompson & Coon, 2007). Positive aspects of caregiving, however, have received considerably less attention in the literature. At present, there are relatively few interventions that have a primary focus on improving positive aspects of caregiving. The current study tested an established positive psychology intervention with informal caregivers of older adults. This internet-based study employed a three group randomized controlled design. One hundred and fifty-five women caring …

Development And Validation Of Hcap 21 Scale.Docx, Timothy H. Barclay

Timothy Barclay

Spiritual Media Experiences, Trait Transcendence, And Enjoyment Of Popular Films, Sophie Janicke, Srividya Ramasubramanian

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Recent scholarship on media psychology acknowledges that media entertainment offers not only purely hedonistic enjoyment but also meaningful experiences. This study expands our understanding of media enjoyment by exploring the role of media entertainment in evoking spiritual emotions and beliefs, such as those related to connectedness, blessedness, and transcendence. Results from an online survey (N=220) indicate that media entertainment elicits meaningful as well as spiritual emotions and increases the saliency of spiritual beliefs as related to self-actualization and spiritual experiences in everyday life. Furthermore, trait transcendence and eudaimonic media motivations add to the explanation of audiences’ mediated spiritual experiences. Open-ended …

I Can Thrive!: Fostering Well-Being In Adolescent Girls Via The Unified Approach, Jennifer L. Mills

Dissertations, 2014-2019

With the rise of positive psychology as a subfield of psychology, there has been increased focus and attention on the construct of well-being. Unfortunately, lack of agreement regarding the ultimate goal of positive psychology has contributed to fragmentation within the field of psychology. Thus, literature on well-being has not been integrated into a broad model for understanding psychology and human nature, as is the case with much psychological research. Connecting such research to a deep theoretical and philosophical model is important with a construct like well-being, as it is a complicated and central construct for the field, for both practitioners …

Blue The Bee Learns To Be Happy, Connie Reimers-Hild, Deborah J. Weitzenkamp, Connie Reimers-Hild, Kim Wellsandt

Kimmel Education and Research Center: Faculty and Staff Publications

Do you sometimes feel sad or blue and don't know what to do? If so, this book was written just for you!

Join Blue the Bee as she travels through Happy Orchard meeting her friends (Flutter, Buzz, Bonita and Ernie) to learn the 7 Happiness Habits. When happiness is a habit, it comes without thinking. You can choose how to spend your day and use your time. You choose how to live your life and what is on your mind.

Each page was designed to enjoy at any age. People can become pollinators of happiness in any life stage!

This …

The Effects Of Grace Interventions In Church Communities, Rodger K. Bufford, Mark R. Mcminn, Jeff A. Moody, Laura Geczy-Haskins

Faculty Publications - Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) Program

Grace remains little studied though several recent studies have developed promising ways to measure grace. Here we report two studies involving grace interventions as part of an ongoing investigation of positive psychology in the context of Christian church communities, Study One used a crossover design in which two congregations were measured on grace and other variables at the outset, and again after phases one and two. One congregation received a grace intervention during phase one and the second during phase two. Results showed increased scores on grace but not an expected increase in marital satisfaction among married participants. Study Two …

Positive Psychology Coursework And Subjective Wellbeing, Heather E. Walker

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Positive Psychology aims to shift the conversation of mental health from solely repairing mental dysfunction to focusing on individuals’ positive qualities or strengths (Seligman, 2000). This study aims at exploring connections between a Positive Psychology college level coursework and students’ self-reported wellbeing using an electronically administered survey containing multiple scales used to measure various aspects of wellbeing. Scales used were The Ryff Scale of Psychological Wellbeing, The Purpose in Life Test (PIL), the Alienation Scale, and questions related to the course content itself. Students who have higher wellbeing tend to have increased life benefits such as health, life-satisfaction, and flourishing …

The Effects Of Gender And Perception Of Community Safety On Happiness, Jennifer K. Daffon

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Income-based indicators of happiness have been shown to be limited in their ability to predict happiness. Alternative measures of happiness have been gaining prominence in happiness research, and two predictors of happiness were investigated in the current study. The extent to which happiness (measured by affect, life satisfaction, and psychological well-being) could be predicted by gender and perception of community safety was investigated with 19,644 participant responses to The Happiness Alliance Survey. Multiple linear regression models indicated that gender and community safety are significant predictors of affect, life satisfaction, and psychological well-being. The effect of the predictor variables was similar …

Setting The Scene: The Rise And Coalescence Of Heroism Science, Scott T. Allison, George R. Goethals, Roderick M. Kramer

Scott T. Allison