What Makes People Happy An Introduction to Positive Psychology and its application within the work setting

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What Makes People Happy An Introduction to
Positive Psychology and its application within
the work setting

• Shane Martin,
• Psychologist
• Moodwatchers
• Email moodwatchers_at_eircom.net
• Tel. [phone] Mob [phone]

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One track mind?

• Psychology consumed with mental illness
• Describing and measuring depression,
  schizophrenia, addiction etc.
• Explanations for disorders across the lifespan
• Genetics, biochemistry, psychological causes
• Emphasis on relieving the pain

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Progress at a price?

• Trying to relieve the states that makes life
  miserable instead of building the states that
  makes life worth living
• A shift from what is wrong to what is right (and
  fundamentally why it is right)
• From fire-brigade psychology to fire-proofing
  psychology
• Surviving crisis how? Why?
• Strengths as well as weaknesses

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Global Gallop Poll

• Which would help you be more successful in your
  life - knowing what your weaknesses are and
  attempting to improve on them or knowing your
  strengths and building on them?
• 41 US, 38 UK, 24 Japan focused on weaknesses.
  No country focused on strengths.

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• From 2 to 7
• From -5 to -2
• How improved/better are you?

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• Time has arrived for a science that seeks to
  understand positive emotion and strengths and
  offer us guideposts for the good life
• New research into happiness shows that it can be
  lastingly increased

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Authentic Happiness?

• Comes from identifying and cultivating your most
  fundamental strengths and using them everyday in
  work, love, play, parenting etc

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3 Pillars of Positive Psychology

• STUDY OF POSITIVE EMOTION
• STUDY OF POSITIVE TRAITS - strengths, virtues,
  abilities (intelligence, athleticism)
• STUDY OF POSITIVE INSTITUTIONS

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Therapy?

• FROM THE DISEASE MODEL - helping people who
  present themselves for treatment once the
  problems have become unbearable
• Therapy usually too late - better to act when
  well, prevention, self-empowerment, education etc
• Prevention is massively effective

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Are there psychological interventions in youth
that will prevent depression, schizophrenia and
substance abuse in adulthood?

• YES
• Seligman Teaching 10 year olds the skills of
  optimistic thinking and actions cuts their rates
  of depression in half in puberty

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• Prevention of mental illness by recognising and
  nurturing a set of strengths, competencies and
  virtues in young people such as
  future-mindedness, hope, faith, work ethic etc.
• Building strengths as a buffer
• Disease model focuses on deficits

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Positive Psychology

• The Study of Happiness
• When people are happy they are also mentally
  healthy
• Work Are you happy in your job?
• Happier people are markedly more satisfied in
  their jobs than less happy people
• Research shows that happiness actually causes
  more productivity and higher incomes

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• One study (TOYOTA) 275 employees measured their
  positive emotion and followed their job
  performance over next 18 months.
• Happier people went on to get better evaluations
  and higher pay
• Happy people endure pain better and take more
  health and safety precaution when threatened

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Genetics?

• Approximately 50 of all personality traits are
  attributed to genetic inheritances
• But high hereditary link does not determine how
  unchangeable a trait is
• State of Drift

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SIGNATURE STRENGTHS

• Strengths ( integrity, valor, originality etc.)
  and talents (perfect pitch, facial beauty etc.)
  not to be confused with each other
• Strengths are moral traits
• Talents are non-moral

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Talents or Strengths?

• Talents tend not to be as buildable as
  strengths
• Strengths can be built
• Talents more innate - you either have them or not
• Talents are relatively automatic (Its C sharp v
  act of will (too much change in shop)
• Talents involve choice - whether to develop it or
  not, whether to use it or not
• Jill was so smart. She wasted her intelligence
• Jill was so kind. She wasted her kindness.

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Strengths can be acquired.

• Time
• Self-discovery and Self-potential
• Determination
• But talents cannot be acquired merely by an act
  of will

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The Signature Strengths

• WISDOM
• COURAGE
• HUMANITY
• JUSTICE
• TEMPERANCE
• TRANSCEDENCE
• Several distinct routes to each of the six and
  these are measurable and acquirable strengths

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Strength

• Not once off kindness in one setting but seen
  across different situations and consistently over
  time
• Ubiquitous - across culture

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WISDOM

• Curiosity / interest in the world
• Love of learning
• Judgment / critical thinking / open-mindedness
• Ingenuity /originality / practical intelligence
  /street smart
• Social Intelligence / personal intelligence /
  emotional intelligence
• Perspective

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COURAGE

• Valor and bravery
• Perseverance industry/ diligence
• Integrity / genuineness / honesty

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HUMANITY

• Kindness / generosity
• Loving
• Allowing oneself to be loved

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JUSTICE

• Citizenship / Duty / Teamwork / Loyalty
• Fairness and Equity
• Leadership

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TEMPERANCE

• Self-control and discipline
• Prudence / discretion / caution
• Humility and modesty

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TRANSCEDENCE

• Appreciation of beauty and excellence
• Gratitude
• Hope, optimism, future mindedness
• Spirituality, sense of purpose, faith,
  religiousness
• Forgiveness and mercy
• Playfulness and humour
• Zest, passion and enthusiasm

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Work?

• Does my work have to be this unsatisfying?
• What can I do about it?

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Positive Psychology

• Work can be more satisfying
• Using your signature strengths at work more often
• Re-crafting your job to make it more satisfying
• Job Coaches - implications for placing clients in
  work and in measuring clients satisfaction
  within work

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• To maximise job satisfaction we need to use our
  signature strengths and develop them more
• Strengths-based development
• Transforming a token job to a calling
• Calling is the most satisfying form of work
  because it is done for its own sake rather than
  for the material benefits
• Companies that promote this state will overtake
  companies that rely solely on monetary reward

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3 Kinds of Work Orientation

• Job for the pay cheque, no other rewards sought,
  means to an end
• Career deeper personal involvement, achievement
  marked through money/advancement / promotion
  brings more prestige, power, money (When
  opportunities close we start looking elsewhere)
• Calling Passionate, fulfilling in its own right

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Positive Psychology says..

• Any job can become a calling and any calling can
  become a job.

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Implications for Job Coaches

• Matching clients to jobs
• Positive Psychology within assessment process
• Assessment of satisfaction within job
• Strengths-based development

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Positive Psychology Research shows

• Strengths-based development linked to positive
  outcomes
• Direct relationship between strengths-based
  development and attendance, punctuality,
  productivity
• Linked to Employee-Engagement
• Studies of State of Flow

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• People will be healthier and happier by
• By identifying and developing individual
  strengths.
• Ensuring sufficient levels of self-engagement are
  involved in the work setting