Positive Psychology: International Edition

by Steve R. Baumgardner

This book is designed to serve as a primary text for an undergraduate college course in positive psychology. Consistent with the "nuts and bolts" presentation of positive psychology, in many places throughout the book the authors provide detailed coverage of individual research studies, methodological issues and theoretical controversies. The first goal in writing this book was to make positive psychology accessible to undergraduate students by reviewing and summarizing the major empirical findings and theories within the major areas of positive psychology. Specifically, the authors hope to bridge the gap between an undergraduate audience and the professional level of source material. A second goal was to present the core topics of positive psychology in a way that preserves the richness and excitement of findings in this new area of psychology. Positive psychology addresses important questions about how we lead our lives, find happiness and satisfaction in life, and deal with life's challenges. As a result, the subject matter of positive psychology has high intrinsic interest. The authors hope to engage and maintain this interest by making frequent connections and applications to the everyday lives of readers. A third goal was to present positive psychology without compromising the complexities of research and theory That is, the goal was to present positive psychology as it is -- a work in progress. Put another way, this book is a "nuts and bolts" view of positive psychology with a primary emphasis on the results of empirical studies and the theories that help explain them.

Genres: Psychology, Textbooks

Paperback

Reviews

[Aaron Wong]

I know this is a relatively new field of research, but the depth of research here is really shallow, with little compelling empirical evidence to support the authors' claims. While the ideas are potentially life-changing, it's a pity the lack of pictures, diagrams, paragraph breakers and all the other stuff that makes textbooks more interesting dampen the enthusiasm. This book can and will be so much better, maybe in later editions or in the hands of a different publisher. Still, the ideas of positive psychology are worth studying and practising, to change the world one person at a time.



As the cover photo suggests, the glass is half full, so I say that this book is worth reading just to get some life-changing ideas that can transform your life e.g. 5:1 positive-negative behaviour ratio, active-constructive response to sharing of positive life events etc. It could transform your marriage too! =]

[Shauna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for my positive psych class. While it is a text book it is very easy to read. It's not filled with over the top terms and huge medical/scientific words. The layman can understand it which I totally appreciated. It brought the book down to my level. Positive psychology is a relatively new field of psychology. It is utterly fascinating though. It gives hope where other fields may not be able to. It will be exciting to see where positive psychology takes us in the coming years. It deals with positive emotions and how they can lead a person to a healthy fulfilling life. Very much worth the read even if you're not a psych major.

[Teo · Rating 3 out of 5]

2016.01.18–2016.02.06

Contents

Baumgardner S & Crothers M (2008) Positive Psychology

01. What is Positive Psychology?
• Traditional Psychology
• • Why the Negative Focus?
• • • Negative Aspects Perceived as More Authentic and "Real"
• • • Negatives as More Important
• • • The Disease Model
• Positive Psychology
• • Health Psychology
• • Focus on Research: Living Longer Through Positive Emotions–The Nun Study
• • Clinical Psychology
• • Developmental Psychology
• • Survey Research and Subjective Well-Being
• • Social/Personal Psychology and the Psychology of Religion
• Positive Psychology: Assumptions, Goals, and Definitions
• • Life Above Zero
• • Culture and the Meaning of a Good Life
• • Why Now?
• Two Final Notes
• • Positive Psychology Is Not Opposed to Psychology
• • Positive Psychology and the Status Quo

02. The Meaning and Measure of Happiness
• Why a Psychology of Well-Being?
• • Objective versus Subjective Measures
• • Negative versus Positive Functioning
• What is Happiness? Two Traditions
• • Hedonic Happiness
• • Eudaimonic Happiness
• • Focus on Research: Positive Affect and a Meaningful Life
• Subjective Well-Being: The Hedonic Basis of Happiness
• • Measuring Subjective Well-Being
• • Life Satisfaction
• • Positive Affect, Negative Affect, and Happiness
• • Focus on Research: Is Your Future Revealed in Your Smile?
• • Issues in the Study of Affect
• • Global Measures of Happiness
• • Reliability and Validity of Subjective Well-Being Measures
• • Experience Sampling Method
• • Focus on Method: How Do We Spend Our Time?
• • • The Day Reconstruction Method
• • Experience Sampling versus Global Measures of Subjective Well-Being
• Self-Realization: The Eudaimonic Basis of Happiness
• • Psychological Well-Being and Positive Functioning
• • • Emotional Well-Being
• • • Psychological Well-Being
• • • Social Well-Being
• • Need Fulfillment and Self-Determination Theory
• • Focus on Research: What Makes a "Good" Day?
• Comparing Hedonic and Eudaimonic Views of Happiness
• • Definition and Causes of Happiness and Well-Being
• • Complementarity and Interrelationship

03. Positive Emotions and Well-Being
• What are Positive Emotions?
• • Focus on Theory: The Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotions
• • • Positive Emotions Broaden Our Thought-Action Repertoires
• • • Positive Emotions Undo Negative Emotions
• • • Positive Emotions Enhance Resilience
• • • Positive Emotions Build Enduring Resources and Improve Well-Being
• Positive Emotions and Health Resources
• • Physical Resources
• • Psychological Resources
• • • Positive Emotions and Coping with Stress
• • Focus on Application: Finding the Positive in the Negative
• • • Positive Reappraisal
• • • Problem-Focused Coping
• • • Infusing Ordinary Activities with Positive Meaning
• • • Positive Traits and Health
• • Social Resources
• • The Limits of Positive Emotions
• Positive Emotions and Well-Being
• • Happiness and Positive Behaviors
• • Positive Emotions and Success
• • Positive Emotions and Flourishing
• • • A General Theory of Positivity?
• Cultivating Positive Emotions
• • Flow Experiences
• • Savoring

04. Resilience
• What is Resilience?
• • Developmental Perspectives
• • Clinical Perspectives
• Resilience Research
• • Sources of Resilience
• • The Dangers of Blaming the Victim
• • Sources of Resilience in Children
• • Focus on Research: Resilience Among Disadvantaged Youth
• • Sources of Resilience in Adulthood and Later Life
• • Successful Aging
• Growth Through Trauma
• • Negative Effects of Trauma
• • Positive Effects of Trauma
• • Explanations for Growth Through Trauma
• • Focus on Research: In their Own Words–Making Sense of Loss

05. Happiness and the Facts of Life
• Happiness Across the Life Span
• • Focus on Research: Happiness and Where We Live
• • Stability in Well-Being Despite Life Changes
• • • Temperament and Subjective Well-Being
• • • Frequency, Intensity, and Balance of Positive and Negative Emotions
• • • Measurement and Definitional Issues
• • • The Shifting Basis of Life Satisfaction
• Gender and Happiness
• • Gender Differences in Emotional Experience
• • • Negative Emotions
• • • Positive Moods and Behaviors
• • Explaining the Paradox of Gender
• Marriage and Happiness
• • Benefits of Marriage
• • Selection Effects
• • Focus on Research: Are We Still Happy After the Honeymoon?
• • Gender Differences in the Benefits of Marriage
• Other Facts of Life
• • Physical and Mental Health
• • Work and Unemployment
• • Intelligence and Education
• • Religion
• • Race, Ethnicity, and Stigma

06. Money, Happiness and Culture
• "The Paradox of Affluence"
• Well-Being Across Nations
• • Between-Nations Comparisons
• • Within-Nation Comparisons
• Interpreting National Comparisons
• Understanding Money and Happiness
• • Focus on Research: Do Happy People Make More Money?
• • Why Doesn't Money Matter More?
• • • Genetics, Personality, and Relationships
• • • Adaptation and the Hedonic Treadmill
• • Focus on Research: Adaptation to Extreme Events–Lottery Winners and Accident Victims
• • • Rising Expectations and the "Tyranny of the Unnecessary"
• • • Social Comparisons
• • • Excessive Materialism
• The Meaning of Happiness: Relative or Universal?
• Culture and Well-Being
• • The Self in Individualistic and Collectivist Cultures
• • Culture and the Meaning of Happiness
• • The American-Individualistic Style of Happiness
• • The Asian-Collectivist Style of Happiness
• • • Cultural Ideals
• • • Emotional Expressiveness
• • • Group Pride and Sensitivity
• • • Self-Critical Attitudes
• • • False Humility or Social Sensitivity?

07. Personal Goals as Windows to Well-Being
• Goals Connect "Having" and "Doing"
• What are Personal Goals?
• • Defining Personal Goals
• • Goals and Related Motivational Concepts
• • Measuring Personal Goals
• • Goal Organization
• The Search for Universal Human Motives
• • Goals and the Fulfillment of Basic Human Needs
• • Focus on Research: An Empirical Method for Assessing Universal Needs
• • Goals Expressing Fundamental Values
• • Personal Goals Across Cultures
• • • Intrinsic versus Extrinsic Goals
• • • Physical versus Self-Transcendent Goals
• The Personalization of Goals in Self-Concept
• What Goals Contribute Most to Well-Being?
• • Goal Progress, Achievement, and Importance
• • The Matching Hypothesis
• • What Explains the Matching Hypothesis?
• • • Personal Goals and Self-Realization
• • • Intrinsic versus Extrinsic Goals
• • • Autonomous versus Controlled Motivation
• • Focus on Research: Happiness and Success in College
• Materialism and Its Disconcents
• • Why Are Materialists Unhappy?
• • • The Content of Materialistic Goals
• • • The What and Why of Materialistic Goals
• • • Compensation for Insecurity
• • Why Do People Adopt Materialistic Values?
• • • Consumer Culture
• • • Psychological Insecurity
• • • Materialism and Death
• • Affluence and Materialism
• • Are We All Materialists?

08. Self-Regulation and Control
• The Value of Self-Control
• Personal Goals and Self-Regulation
• • Control Theory
• • Self-Discrepancy Theory
• Planning for Self-Regulation Success
• • Focus on Research: Planning Makes a Difference
• • Why Planning Helps
• • • Automatic Activation of Goal Behaviors
• • • Conserving Self-Control Resources
• • Commitment and Confidence
• Goals That Create Self-Regulation Problems
• • Approach versus Avoidance Goals
• • • Why Avoidance Goals are Difficult to Regulate
• • Goal Conflict
• • "Trivial Pursuits" and "Magnificent Obsessions"
• • Focus on Theory: Thinking About the Meaning of Our Actions
• • • Individual Differences in Goal Level Identification
• • Goal Difficulty
• • The Ironic Effects of Mental Control
• • • Mental Load and the Paradoxes of Control
• Everyday Explanations for Self-Control Failure
• • Excuses
• • • What Makes a Good Excuse?
• • • Advantages of Excuses
• • • Disadvantages of Excuses
• • Irresistible Impulses
• • • Beliefs About Self-Control
• • • Activation of Impulsive and Reflective Control Systems
• • • Individual Differences in Self-Control
• • • Resisting Temptations
• • Focus on Research: The Costs and Benefits of Procrastination
• Goal Disengagement

09. Positive Traits
• What Makes a Trait Positive?
• Personality, Emotions, and Biology
• • Positive and Negative Affectivity
• • Genetics and Happiness
• • Personality and Happiness: The "Big Five"
• • • Teasing Out Cause and Effect
• • • Personality and Eudaimonic Well-Being
• • Neurobiology and Approach/Avoidance Motives
• • Genetics and Change
• Positive Beliefs
• • The World Through Happy and Unhappy Eyes
• • Self-Esteem
• • • Self-Esteem and Happiness
• • • Is Self-Esteem All You Need?
• • • The Darker Side of Self-Esteem
• • Personal Control
• • Optimism
• • • Dispositional Optimism
• • • Optimism as Explanatory Style
• • • How Optimism Works
• • • Varieties of Optimism and Pessimism
• • Focus on Research and Theory: Unresolved Issues in the Study of Optimism
• • Positive Illusions

10. Virtue and Strengths of Character
• Developing a Classification of Human Virtues
• • Measuring Strengths of Character
• Wisdom as a Foundational Strength and Virtue
• • What is Wisdom?
• • Theories of Wisdom
• • • Balance Theory
• • • Wisdom as Expert Knowledge in the Conduct of Life
• • Wisdom in Action: The SOC Model of Effective Life Management
• • Focus on Theory: Wisdom or Self-control as Master Virtues?
• Transcendence: Religion and Spirituality
• • The Search for Meaning
• • Religion and Spirituality: The Diversity of Views
• • Defining Religion and Spirituality
• • Religion/Spirituality and Well-Being
• • Religious Orientation
• • • Intrinsic and Extrinsic Religious Orientation
• • • Quest Religious Orientation
• • Attachment Theory and Relationship to God
• • Styles of Religious Coping
• • "Explaining Religion versus Explaining Religion Away"
• Religion and Virtue
• • Forgiveness
• • Gratitude
• • Focus on Research: Increasing Well-Being by Counting Your Blessings

11. Close Relationships and Well-Being
• Defining Close Relationships
• • Characteristics
• • Exchange and Communal Relationships
• On the Lighter Side
• • Teasing and Humor
• • Focus on Research: Sharing What Goes Right in Life
• Friendship and Romantic Love
• • Clarity of Rules
• • Complexity of Feelings
• • Expectations
• Varieties of Love
• • Passionate versus Companionate Love
• • Triangular Theory of Love
• Cultural Contexts of Love, Marriage, and Divorce
• • Why Don't Marriages Last?
• • • Increased Freedom and Decreased Constraints
• • • Getting Married and Staying Married: Is Love the Answer?
• • • Realism or Idealism?
• • • Satisfaction and Conflict
• What People Bring to Romantic Relationships
• • Attachment Style
• • Conflict and Communication Skills
• • Focus on Research: The Power of the "Bad"
• • Attributions
• • Implicit Theories and Expectations
• Food for Thought: Contours of a Happy Marriage
• • What Can Happy Couples Tell Us?
• • Humor and Compatibility

References
Index

[Alberto Lagomarsini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es un buen libro de texto. Trabaja bien el tema de las virtudes pero se queda un poco corto en la reconceptualizacion de la psicología positiva. Podría ser mejor si hubiera tocado el florecimiento y otras consecuencias que autores citados hablan abundantemente.

[Anneliese · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was for a college course, and it's surprisingly good and well laid out. Positive psych is a newer field, and there's some excellent analysis of empirical studies, written in easy to understand language. it also gives you the tools to examine your own life; are you happy? Here's how to find out, and what you need to consider to make it so.

[Jenny Anderson · Rating 1 out of 5]

good text for advanced PP courses but not 100-200 level

[Ian Marck]

A great introduction to positive Psychology without the false prophets syndrome