The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a global threat to physical and mental health worldwide. Research has highlighted adverse impacts of COVID-19 on wellbeing but has yet to offer insights as to how ...wellbeing may be protected. Inspired by developments in wellbeing science and guided by our own theoretical framework (the GENIAL model), we examined the role of various potentially protective factors in a sample of 138 participants from the United Kingdom. Protective factors included physical activity (i.e., a health behaviour that helps to build psychological wellbeing), tragic optimism (optimism in the face of tragedy), gratitude (a prosocial emotion), social support (the perception or experience of being loved, cared for, and valued by others), and nature connectedness (physical and psychological connection to nature). Initial analysis involved the application of one-sample
t
-tests, which confirmed that wellbeing (measured by the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being scale) in the current sample (
N
= 138;
M
= 46.08, SD = 9.22) was significantly lower compared to previous samples (
d
= −0.36 and
d
= −0.41). Protective factors were observed to account for up to 50% of variance in wellbeing in a hierarchical linear regression that controlled for a range of sociostructural factors including age, gender, and subjective social status, which impact on wellbeing but lie beyond individual control. Gratitude and tragic optimism emerged as significant contributors to the model. Our results identify key psychological attributes that may be harnessed through various positive psychology strategies to mitigate the adverse impacts of hardship and suffering, consistent with an existential positive psychology of suffering.
This review argues for the development of a Positive Clinical Psychology, which has an integrated and equally weighted focus on both positive and negative functioning in all areas of research and ...practice. Positive characteristics (such as gratitude, flexibility, and positive emotions) can uniquely predict disorder beyond the predictive power of the presence of negative characteristics, and buffer the impact of negative life events, potentially preventing the development of disorder. Increased study of these characteristics can rapidly expand the knowledge base of clinical psychology and utilize the promising new interventions to treat disorder through promoting the positive. Further, positive and negative characteristics cannot logically be studied or changed in isolation as (a) they interact to predict clinical outcomes, (b) characteristics are neither “positive” or “negative”, with outcomes depending on specific situation and concomitant goals and motivations, and (c) positive and negative well-being often exist on the same continuum. Responding to criticisms of the Positive Psychology movement, we do not suggest the study of positive functioning as a separate field of clinical psychology, but rather that clinical psychology itself changes to become a more integrative discipline. An agenda for research and practice is proposed including reconceptualizing well-being, forming stronger collaborations with allied disciplines, rigorously evaluating the new positive interventions, and considering a role for clinical psychologists in promoting well-being as well as treating distress.
In addressing the recent special issue in
Frontiers in Psychology
, namely “
Positive Psychology in Foreign and Second Language Education: Approaches and Applications
,” calling language education ...researchers around the globe to study positive emotions, positive personality traits, and positive institutional tendencies and their implications for language education systems, stakeholders, and policy practices, the present conceptual review paper aims to acquaint language education researchers, practitioners, instructors, and learners with the main tenets of positive psychology and their application in second/foreign language (L2) education research. Accordingly, by drawing on the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, we explain how individuals' positivity can result in their flourishment and development in any aspect of life, including L2 learning and teaching. Then, we introduce and conceptualize seven instances of positive psychology variables, namely academic engagement, emotion regulation, enjoyment, grit, loving pedagogy, resilience, and well-being and explain how these positive factors contribute to desirable L2 learning and teaching experiences. Subsequently, potential theoretical and pedagogical implications are drawn to enhance the quality and effectiveness of language education systems and their respective stakeholders. In the end, the limitations of the studies in this area are explicated, and suggestions for future research are provided to expand the extant literature on positive psychology in the domain of L2 education.
The evidence for the effectiveness of humor-based positive psychology interventions (PPIs; i.e., interventions aimed at enhancing happiness and lowering depressive symptoms) is steadily increasing. ...However, little is known about who benefits most from them. We aim at narrowing this gap by examining whether personality traits and sense of humor moderate the long-term effects of humor-based interventions on happiness and depressive symptoms. We conducted two placebo-controlled online-intervention studies testing for moderation effects. In Study 1 (
= 104) we tested for moderation effects of basic personality traits (i.e., psychoticism, extraversion, and neuroticism) in the three funny things intervention, a humor-based PPI. In Study 2 (
= 632) we tested for moderation effects of the sense of humor in five different humor-based interventions. Happiness and depressive symptoms were assessed before and after the intervention, as well as after 1, 3, and 6 months. In Study 2, we assessed sense of humor before and 1 month after the intervention to investigate if changes in sense of humor go along with changes in happiness and depressive symptoms. We found moderating effects only for extraversion. Extraverts benefitted more from the three funny things intervention than introverts. For neuroticism and psychoticism no moderation effects were found. For sense of humor, no moderating effects were found for the effectiveness of the five humor-based interventions tested in Study 2. However, changes in sense of humor from pretest to the 1-month follow-up predicted changes in happiness and depressive symptoms. Taking a closer look, the playful attitude- and sense of humor-subscales predicted changes in happiness and depression for up to 6 months. Overall, moderating effects for personality (i.e., extraversion) were found, but none for sense of humor at baseline. However, increases in sense of humor during and after the intervention were associated with the interventions' effectiveness. Thus, we found humor-based interventions to be equally suited for humorous and non-humorous people, but increases in the sense of humor during the intervention phase could serve as an indicator whether it is worth continuing the intervention in the long-term.
What is positive psychology? Where has it come from? Where is it going? These are the questions we address in this article. In defining positive psychology, we distinguish between the ...meta-psychological level, where the aim of positive psychology is to redress the imbalance in psychology research and practice, and the pragmatic level, which is concerned with what positive psychologists do, in terms of their research, practice, and areas of interest. These distinctions in how we understand positive psychology are then used to shape conceptions of possible futures for positive psychology. In conclusion, we identify several pertinent issues for the consideration of positive psychology as it moves forward. These include the need to synthesize the positive and negative, build on its historical antecedents, integrate across levels of analysis, build constituency with powerful stakeholders, and be aware of the implications of description versus prescription.
Do acts of kindness improve the well-being of the actor? Recent advances in the behavioural sciences have provided a number of explanations of human social, cooperative and altruistic behaviour. ...These theories predict that people will be ‘happy to help’ family, friends, community members, spouses, and even strangers under some conditions. Here we conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of the experimental evidence that kindness interventions (for example, performing ‘random acts of kindness’) boost subjective well-being. Our initial search of the literature identified 489 articles; of which 24 (27 studies) met the inclusion criteria (total N = 4045). These 27 studies, some of which included multiple control conditions and dependent measures, yielded 52 effect sizes. Multi-level modeling revealed that the overall effect of kindness on the well-being of the actor is small-to-medium (δ = 0.28). The effect was not moderated by sex, age, type of participant, intervention, control condition or outcome measure. There was no indication of publication bias. We discuss the limitations of the current literature, and recommend that future research test more specific theories of kindness: taking kindness-specific individual differences into account; distinguishing between the effects of kindness to specific categories of people; and considering a wider range of proximal and distal outcomes. Such research will advance our understanding of the causes and consequences of kindness, and help practitioners to maximise the effectiveness of kindness interventions to improve well-being.
•Meta-analysis of effects of helping on the happiness of the helper•27 experimental studies included in review (total N = 4045)•The overall effect of kindness on well-being is small-to-medium (δ = 0.28).•No evidence of publication bias•Future research should test more specific theories of kindness.
Second/foreign language teaching has been found as one of the most emotional professions worldwide. To generate optimal academic outcomes and run an effective education, teachers and students' ...emotions and feelings must be positively cared for. Given the significance of emotions in L2 education, many studies have followed positive psychology (PP) and examined various positive constructs. Nevertheless, love, as a PP variable, has been ignored in education due to its cultural/religious sensitivities. Trying to dispel the myths, recently, a new trend called a "loving pedagogy" has started to find itself a place in second language acquisition (SLA) research and practice. Yet, proposing a model of its application and an agenda for its research has been overlooked by scholars in this domain. Motivated by this lacuna, this research article provided the conceptualization, definitions, research bases, practical models, and implications of a loving pedagogy for SLA practitioners and future researchers.
This interdisciplinary study investigates whether, and to what extent, grit (consisting of perseverance of effort and consistency of interests) and classroom enjoyment are linked with EFL learners' ...willingness to communicate in a second language (L2 WTC), the final psychological step before actual English communication. To this end, three groups of Korean EFL learners (N = 647) from five schools, who at the time of the study had no overseas experience, were surveyed: middle school (n = 137), high school (n = 323), and university students (n = 187). Results of hierarchical regression analyses show that grit (perseverance of effort) and classroom enjoyment are predictors of all cohorts' L2 WTC, while grit (consistency of interests) is not predictive of L2 WTC among all participants. These results suggest that L2 teachers, who instruct in a relatively monolingual and monocultural EFL classroom, can boost learners' L2 WTC by encouraging continuous efforts to initiate English communication. Moreover, by creating a positive classroom environment, EFL teachers can increase learners' level of L2 WTC and potentially boost their English communicative competence. Theoretically, these findings support an emerging view of the application of positive psychology in L2 learning and teaching.
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