Happiness - AllPsych

Well-Being and the Five ‘Happy’ Lives

Christopher L. Heffner, PsyD, PhD — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 09:39:36 +0000

Well-Being and The PERMA Model Seligman (2011) argues that well-being is enhanced through thriving in one or more pillars of well-being. His model, often referred to as the PERMA Model, consists of Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment (or Achievement). The more we thrive in each of these, the higher our well-being, according to…

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Brief History of Positive Psychology (Part 1)

Christopher L. Heffner, PsyD, PhD — Sat, 17 Apr 2021 10:46:54 +0000

It Didn't Start Off Very Positive I could not think of a better or more ironic way to start a paper on the history of positive psychology than with a quote on the inevitability of pain and suffering. So here it is: “Life swings like a pendulum backward and forward between pain and boredom.” This…

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Good Sex and Good Friendships Make People Happier With Being Single

Neil Petersen — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 23:41:31 +0000

If you’re single, you’re certainly not alone. The US is in the middle of an ongoing shift toward one-person households. As I’ve written about before, single people commonly cite a variety of both positive and negative reasons for their singleness. Some of them enjoy the freedom, some have priorities other than relationships, and some just…

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When You See Your Own Emotions in Other People’s Faces

Neil Petersen — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 23:33:05 +0000

Sometimes our perceptions of others tell us more about ourselves. That can be true in how we interpret other people’s motivations, for example, and a newly published study suggests it can even be true in how we read people’s facial expressions. In the study, researchers in Germany asked 50 participants to interpret pictures of people…

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What a Connection to Nature Means for Kids

Neil Petersen — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 23:18:33 +0000

It’s a common complaint that kids these days don’t get outside enough. There may be something to that claim, as well, with parents of 8 to 12 year olds saying in one survey that their children spent three times as much time playing on screens as playing outside. Intuitively, you might suspect that children who…

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Happiness Is Possible With a History of Anxiety

Neil Petersen — Tue, 17 Mar 2020 23:31:31 +0000

Mental health conditions like anxiety can interfere in almost any aspect of people’s lives, with real consequences. And yet, in the long-run, that doesn’t mean happiness is unobtainable. I’m not saying that to provide words of inspiration. I’m saying it because a newly published study suggests it’s true. The study surveyed 2,128 adults in Canada…

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Not Judging Your Own Thoughts as an Element of Happiness

Neil Petersen — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 00:06:47 +0000

There’s no formula for happiness, but something that apparently helps is not being too judgmental toward your own thoughts and feelings. A recent study from researchers in Spain highlights the role that this kind of acceptance plays in overall happiness. The study surveyed 589 participants, asking about several different personality traits and about their self-rated…

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Why Gun Owners Are Happier (Hint: It’s Probably Not the Guns)

Neil Petersen — Fri, 24 Jan 2020 17:00:33 +0000

Decades of psychology researchers has converged on the conclusion that the key to happiness is … owning a gun? Not quite. But as the authors of a new study on happiness and gun ownership point out, there has been plenty of speculation in that vein going back to when the Beatles released their song Happiness…

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A Happiness Intervention for Teachers

Neil Petersen — Sat, 28 Dec 2019 00:20:38 +0000

Teaching is a stressful job. From managing a classroom, to taking work home at night, to trying to adequately explain new concepts and keep pace with a curriculum at the same time, teachers have a lot of demands to juggle. That’s a problem not just for teachers, but for the education system as a whole.…

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Quality and Quantity of Social Interactions Both Matter for Happiness

Neil Petersen — Fri, 08 Nov 2019 17:00:04 +0000

It seems obvious that having fulfilling social interactions with other people makes a difference in how happy we are. Less obvious is what makes for fulfilling social interactions, and how that varies from one person to the next. When psychologists study people’s social interactions and relationships, there’s always a question of whether quantity or quality…

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