Blog #14 – Optimism 2 Last time, we focused on optimism; in particular, highlighting ideas such as that, whether we realise it or not, as a species we tend towards optimism more than pessimism, and that far from the former being somehow a sign of self-delusion, it appears to be a key marker of psychological…
Whether you realise it or not, the odds are that you skew at least slightly more towards optimism than pessimism. One of the peculiarities of human beings is that we can be optimistic without even realising it, even those of us who identify as pessimists. That is not to deny that there are many among…
We began this series of blog posts in July by asking the question – what is well-being? It was one worth asking, particularly at the outset, as 10 random people on the street would most likely offer 10 different answers if the question was put to them. That wouldn’t necessarily cause any problems in general…
Two weeks ago, we focused on how the experience of gratitude can impact positively on individual well-being. More specifically, we looked at the ‘counting blessings’ approach, which has been demonstrated to be particularly effective by an ever-increasing body of research findings. However, it would be misleading to leave this topic at that, as psychology researchers…
In an earlier post in this series, we focused on the factors that tend to influence individual levels of happiness and well-being. This involved highlighting three lists of variables compiled from a number of pre-existing studies, ranking items as contributing to happiness to small, medium, and high degrees. While all of the items mentioned in…
In recent years, it appears that the western world has become increasingly obsessed with happiness – becoming happy, becoming happier, remaining happy, the how and the why of it all. Happiness-related headlines and images scream off the covers of glossy magazines, hardly a month goes by without at least one national newspaper running a happiness-related…
Christopher Peterson’s 2006 book A Primer in Positive Psychology proved to be my own gateway into the science of well-being and related matters. Weighing in at under 400 pages and written in a largely accessible style, it may represent a good starting point for any ‘layman’ interested in dipping their toes into this topic. With…
As noted last week, psychological research suggests that life circumstances tend not to impact upon our happiness levels as much as we might assume. That’s not to say that these circumstances make no impact on happiness, more that perhaps the time and effort that we put into looking to change them may not be matched…
Last week, while discussing the limitations associated with linking the pursuit of pleasure to a durable happiness, we referred to adaptation – in essence, the human tendency to adjust to changed circumstances, whether they be positive or negative. This week, we will approach the same basic topic from another angle, looking at the set-point theory…
Last week, we focused on the ‘three happy lives’, as set out by Martin Seligman. One of the key messages was that while there is nothing inherently wrong or negative in the pursuit of pleasure, any ‘happiness strategy’ that relies exclusively on pursuing pleasure is doomed to come up short of the mark, and perhaps…