Perspectives on positive

psychology

Paul Rozin

University of Pennsylvania

March, 2013

Sao Paolo, Brazil

“Positive Psychology is the scientific study of the

strengths and virtues that enable individuals and

communities to thrive. The Positive Psychology

Center promotes research, training, education,

and the dissemination of Positive Psychology.

This field is founded on the belief that people

want to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives, to

cultivate what is best within themselves, and to

enhance their experiences of love, work, and

play. “

Positive Psychology

• Begun by Martin Seligman in late 1990s,

announced as president of American

Psychological Association

• Positive Psychology Center Opens: 2003

• Masters in Applied Positive Psychology

(MAPP) begins: 2005

MAPP Program

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• Present Center: 30 full time employees

• Director: Martin Seligman

• Other Full-time Psychology Faculty Working Directly at PPC: Angela Duckworth, Paul Rozin, James Pawelski

• Other faculty at the U. of Pennsylvania

• Adam Grant (Wharton/Management)

• Lyle Ungar (Computer Science)

Faculty affiliated with PPC

• Roy Baumeister (prospection, energy)

• Michael Csikszentmihayli (engagement/flow)

• Ed Diener (wellbeing)

• Christopher Peterson (character, scaling) *

• Barbara Fredrickson (positive emotions)

• Jonathan Haidt (Morality)

• Sonja Lyubomirsky (happiness)

• Barry Schwartz (wisdom and choice)

• George Vaillant (life histories)

• Amy Wrzesniewski (work, callings)

•Positive Emotion

•Engagement

•Relationships

•Meaning

•Accomplishment

Major Projects at Penn

• BASIC RESEARCH

• Prospection: driven to future: (Templeton Fund)

• Measuring well-being: Diener, Kern, Ungar

• Grit and self-control Angela Duckworth

• PERMA world well being project. U. K., Bhutan

• Comprehensive soldier fitness data base, over 1,000,000 soldiers many measures, analysis

• Templeton Positive Neuroscience Research Awards to young investigators: a neuroscience network: 20 grants of up to $200,000

• INTERVENTIONS

• Army resilience: 950,000 soldiers, 10,000 trained (Karen Reivich)

• Resilience projects in schools in Philadelphia, Australia, U.K.

• Web-based interventions

– Expressing gratitude

– Active-constructive responding

– Building on signature strengths

• EDUCATION/DISSEMINATION

• MAPP program (James Pawelski)

• Web Activities

Character: Peterson and Seligman:

VIA (Values in Action)

24 character strengths

• Character taxonomy

• WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE

• COURAGE (integrity/genuineness/honesty)

• (perseverance/industry/diligence)

• HUMANITY AND LOVE (kindness)

• JUSTICE

• TEMPERANCE

• TRANSCENDENCE (spirituality)

Exploring (Moral) Character

Geoffrey Goodwin, Jared Piazza and

Paul Rozin

• Core character strengths: honesty, kindness

• Conditional character strengths: dedicated, loyal

• Signature strengths: Working on strengths or weaknesses

• The ability domain

• The moral domain: kindness and honesty

Experienced, Remembered and

Anticipated Pleasure

• (originated by Kahneman and Fredrickson)

ERA

Experienced, remembered and

anticipated pleasure

Thinking about experiences

• Think of a positive experience, like going to a favorite sports event or concert. We can talk about three aspects of this experience. First, is the ANTICIPATION of the experience….you have the ticket and enjoy thinking about going. Second, is the actual EXPERIENCE of the event, when you are attending it. Third is the MEMORIES of the event, remembering the different things that happened. This could be immediately after the event, or days or months or years later. Generally, how important do you think ANTICIPATION, EXPERIENCE, and MEMORY are for you, in your life. Rank the three.

ERA preferences (Americans)

% rank most important

Anticipation Experience Memory

22% 48% 29%

Peak-end effects in memory

Kahneman, Fredrickson et al.

end

peak

duration neglect

Kahneman, Fredrickson et al.

duration

neglect

• Almost all work on negative events

• For positive events:

– Beginning

– peak

– End

– duration neglect

Duration neglect in a meal 5-6 courses:

Increasing liking from courses 1 to 5

1 2

1 2 3 4 5 fav

1 2 3 4 5 fav 6 fav

Overall ratings of each meal are the SAME

Rode, Rozin & Durlach, 2006

When I go to my favorite restaurant,

I choose to order…

A. my favorite item on the menu

B. a new item that I have never tried

New uncertain vs familiar-

positive experiences Experienced Remembered Anticipated

New food at

favorite

restaurant

High average

but risk

Favorite food

at favorite

restaurant

Higher

average and

reliable

New uncertain vs familiar-

positive experiences Experienced Remembered Anticipated

New food at

favorite

restaurant

Positive but

variable

High average

but risk

Favorite food

at favorite

restaurant

High positive Higher

average and

reliable

New uncertain vs familiar-

positive experiences Experienced Remembered Anticipated

New food at

favorite

restaurant

Positive but

variable

Distinct new

positive

memories

High average

but risk

Favorite food

at favorite

restaurant

High positive No new

memories:

merge into

past

Higher

average and

reliable

Meal or Music Trajectories

black: typical meal, red: ideal meal

for maximizing memory Meal and concert profiles

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4

6

8

10

12

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

sequence

aff

ecti

ve

va

lue

With Christopher Dunn and Margaret Ercolani

• 12 item sequences for: art, houses, tall

buildings, cartoons, foods, animals, vacation

trip, music

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10

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30

40

50

60

70

80

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Position in Sequence

Lik

ing

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Position in Sequence

Lik

ing

Intermission: extra beginning and end

Possibly related factors

• Memory (Primacy effect)

• Affective value (Ending/recency)

• Relation between memory for an event and

its affective contribution to memory

The good life and endings

“All’s well that ends well”

Life endings and death

• Solutions

• Religion and Heaven

• Posthumous re-evaluation

• Rozin and Stellar

Good lives, negative posthumous reversal

• “Alex devotes his life to finding cures for deadly diseases.

He works hard has a wife and two kids. At age 35, he

discovers a drug that cures a painful disease and is praised

by the world until his death at age 75.// After his death it

is found that the drug causes serious birth defects in the

babies conceived by people on this drug. His drug is said

to have caused more harm than good and Alex’s work is

discredited. ##

• Goodness of life to // 86.0

• Goodness of life to ## 57.9

• Happiness of life to // 84.8

• Happiness of life to ## 71.7

• Parallel results with art appreciated only after death

Domains of life: What people do

Time spent in major domains (3 cultures: France, Peru, USA in 1972)

Szalai, 1976

Activity % total daily time

Sleep 36.7%

work 16.0%*

Food/ food related 13.2%

Leisure 10.0%

Other chores/personal 6.1%

House chores 5.9%

Positive psychology and work

• Amy Wrzesniewski

Jobs, Careers, and Callings

Jobs: Work as income

‘If I was financially secure, I would continue

my current work even if I stopped getting

paid.’ (reversed)

Careers: Advancement in occupation

‘I view my job as a stepping stone to other jobs.’

Callings: Fulfillment from the work itself

‘My work makes the world a better place.’

Work Orientation

• Unambiguous in seeing work as a Job, Career, or Calling

• Work orientations associated with differences in behaviors at work, and work and life satisfaction

• Each orientation found both across and within occupations and organizations

• Job crafting

(Berg et al., 2010; Wrzesniewski et al., 1997; Wrzesniewski, 1999; Wrzesniewski, 2003)

Positive psychology and culture

Visiting India

Richard Shweder, Jonathan Haidt and

me

Country rankings: Population about 2008 http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/peo_pop-people-population

Country Pop Country Pop

1 China 1,303 11 Mexico 110

2 India 1,148 12 Phillipines 96

3 USA 304 13 Viet Nam 86

4 Indonesia 238 14 Ethiopia 83

5 Brazil 196 15 Germany 82

6 Pakistan 173 16 Egypt 82

7 Bangladesh 154 17 Turkey 72

8 Nigeria 146 18 Congo 67

9 Russia 141 19 Iran 66

10 Japan 127 20 Thailand 66

• Diener (2005) from Veenhoven, R.

(1999-2001) All things considered,

how satisfied are you with your life as-

a-whole now?” on a 10-pt scale from 1

(dissatisfied) to 10 (satisfied).

(Brazil not in data base!!)

Denmark 8.24 France 7.01

Mexico 8.18 Indonesia 6.96

Netherlands 7.85 Nigeria 6.87

Canada 7.85 China 6.53

USA 7.66 Japan 6.47

Sweden 7.64 Bangladesh 5.77

Venezuela 7.52 Turkey 5.62

Germany 7.42 India 5.14

Great Britain 7.40 Russia 4.56

Argentina 7.30 Tanzania 3.87

India USA

necessity

tradition

choice necessity

tradition

choice

Hindu India vs USA

Generation effects

Item India

Student

US

Student

US

Gparent

Do your DUTY

above all else

86 46 62

Pleasantness of

outcomes not

important

35 12 23

Marriage: tradition

more than romance

63 17 35

Culture as different defaults

• Which doesn’t belong?

• SHAME ANGER HAPPINESS

Culture as different defaults

• SHAME ANGER HAPPINESS

• American college students 95% happy

• Small Brahmin Indian sample 100% anger

• Hindu Indian college students 44% anger

– Menon & Shweder, Rozin, 2003

Eating: Domain by Culture

Borrowing best practices

A cultural perspective:

France vs USA

Consumer spending on food 1980s: Economists Book of World Statistics

Country Food (% total) Highest

Category

China 51 food

India 52 food

USA 13 leisure (26%)

USSR 43 food

Indonesia 55 food

France 20 leisure (20%)

Late 20th Century developed

world

• Epidemiological revolution: longer life and death

from degenerative diseases

• food surplus

• extraordinary range of food choices

• development of super-foods (e.g. chocolate)

• no work needed to attain choices

• massive amounts of risk information

• no training in dealing with risks/benefits

“Concerned about being

overweight”

• % responding “often“ or “almost always”

• 57% females, 21% males

• US college students from 6 locations

Obesity:

France vs USA

• % BMI >= 30

• France: 16%

• USA: 32%

• 2008 http://www.who.int/gho/countries

Life expectancy at birth (data from 2008-2010: www.who.int/gho/countries)

rank country years rank country years

1 Japan 83 10 Norway 81

4.5 Australia 82 10 Sweden 81

4.5 Israel 82 14 Austria 80

4.5 Italy 82 14 Belgium 80

4.5 Singapore 82 14 Finland 80

4.5 Spain 82 14 Germany 80

4.5 Switzerland 82 14 Greece 80

10 Canada 81 14 Korea 80

10 France 81 14 U.K. 80

10 Netherlands 81 19.5 U.S.A. 79

Percent of subjects preferring an

inexpensive nutrient pill to eating

Females Males

Paris, France 10 9

Six USA

college

campuses

32 23

Percent of subjects preferring a week at a

luxury (vs. gourmet) hotel at same price

Females Males

Paris, France 13 8

Six USA

college

campuses

83 70

Percent of subjects selecting “unhealthy” for

choice:

What do you think of when you think of

HEAVY CREAM?: whipped or unhealthy

Females Males

Paris, France 28 23

Six USA

college

campuses

68 48

Percent of subjects agreeing that

they eat a “healthy diet”

Females Males

France 76% 72%

USA 28% 38%

Factors in food attitudes

• Consumption of fat-reduced food

• Worry or concern about food and eating

• Importance of food in life

• Culinary vs nutritional thinking

• Evaluation of self as a healthy eater

Culture, eating behavior and

eating environment

Restaurant portion size

Restaurant France USA

McDonald’s (7) 189g 256g

Quick/Bking(5) 207g 322g

Chinese (6) 244g 418g

Supermarket food portions

ITEM Carrefour Acme

Yogurt (modal) 125g 227g

Fresh fruit

(mean,4 types)

431g 553g

Coca cola

(modal)

330ml 500ml

Supermarket non-food portions

ITEM Carre-

four

Acme

toothpaste

(modal, ml)

75 170

toilet paper

(mean, sq cm)

121 117

Cat food

(modal, g)

100 85

Diliberti, Rolls et al., 2004

Environment Changes

• Accessibility in salad bar; location

– (Rozin, Urbanek, Dingley, Scott)

• Accessibility in salad bar: Spoon-tongs

– (Rozin, Scott, Dingley, Stein)

Lay’s stacked potato chips

Geier, Wansink and Rozin

Segmentation and consumption interrupts

About 50% reduction

Unit bias and portion size (Geier, Rozin & Doros, 2005)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

tootsie rolls pretzels M&Ms spoon

Small

Large

*

*

*

Energy

Intake

Energy

Expenditure

Energy

Storage

car

The French Garage

street

apt

Vetri Foundation Charter School Lunch: Feb, 2013

Vetri Foundation Charter School Lunch: Feb 2013

$1.50

Some French-American

behavioral differences • Portion size

• Eating time

• Eating sociality/ conversation

• Freshness and taste (vs shelf life) priority in foods

• Degree of snacking and snacking opportunities

• Differences in actual foods consumed (e.g., wine)

• Differences in variety of food consumed (Drewnowski et al.)

• Walk/bicycle vs car orientation

Some basic French-American

differences

• Quality vs quantity

• Moderation vs abundance

We can learn from the French in

this domain (not all domains)

• Focus on the environment to try to reduce

food intake and waist lines

• Don’t curtail the pleasure of eating

• Make small changes that encourage more

exercise and less eating

• Let the effects of those small changes

accumulate

Borrowing from Cultures

Heaven Hell

Brazil: Interpersonal

warmth and politeness

Israel: Army

Switzerland: Banks

Italy: Lovers

France: Food

U. K.: Universities

Borrowing from Cultures

Heaven Hell

Brazil: Interpersonal

warmth and politeness

Brazil: Army

Israel: Army

Switzerland: Banks

Italy: Lovers

France: Food

U. K.: Universities

Borrowing from Cultures

Heaven Hell

Brazil: Interpersonal

warmth and politeness

Brazil: Army

Israel: Army Israel: Politeness

Switzerland: Banks

Italy: Lovers

France: Food

U. K.: Universities

Borrowing from Cultures

Heaven Hell

Brazil: Interpersonal

warmth and politeness

Brazil: Army

Israel: Army Israel: Politeness

Switzerland: Banks Switzerland: Lovers

Italy: Lovers

France: Food

U. K.: Universities

Borrowing from Cultures

Heaven Hell

Brazil: Interpersonal

warmth and politeness

Brazil: Army

Israel: Army Israel: Politeness

Switzerland: Banks Switzerland: Lovers

Italy: Lovers Italy: Banks

France: Food

U. K.: Universities

Borrowing from Cultures

Heaven Hell

Brazil: Interpersonal

warmth and politeness

Brazil: Army

Israel: Army Israel: Politeness

Switzerland: Banks Switzerland: Lovers

Italy: Lovers Italy: Banks

France: Food France: Universities

U. K.: Universities

Borrowing from Cultures

Heaven Hell

Brazil: Interpersonal

warmth and politeness

Brazil: Army

Israel: Army Israel: Politeness

Switzerland: Banks Switzerland: Lovers

Italy: Lovers Italy: Banks

France: Food France: Universities

U. K.: Universities U.K.: Food

Singapore

Positive environments

END

• And beginning

Nature of ethnic aversions

Lina Cherfas, Paul Rozin,

Adam Cohen, Clark McCauley,

Amelie Davidson

Samples of Holocaust survivors

29 in United States

30 in Czechoslovakia

154 Jewish U of PA students

measuring aversion: card sorts

comfortable uncomfortable

80 year old German who

was an executive in a

German corporation

during World War II

? ?

living next

door to a:

measuring aversion: card sorts

comfortable uncomfortable

25 year old German

whose grandfather was a

German army soldier

who served in France

? ?

living next

door to a:

Hypothetical individuals – comfort living next door High aversion

participant

Low aversion

participant

Joseph Goebbels uncomfortable uncomfortable

80 year old former Nazi, an SS Nazi officer in Auschwitz uncomfortable uncomfortable

80 year old German man, an executive in a German corporation during

WWII

uncomfortable

80 year old American Jew, a Kapo in Auschwitz uncomfortable

65 year old German, in the Hitler Youth at age 8 uncomfortable

80 year old former German army soldier who served in France uncomfortable

25 year old German male, grandfather was an SS Nazi officer in Auschwitz uncomfortable

50 year old German, father was a German army soldier who served in France uncomfortable

65 year old German, raised in South America, and moved to Germany after

the war

uncomfortable

25 year old German male, grandfather was a German army soldier who

served in France

uncomfortable

80 year old German woman, remained at home with her children during

WWII

uncomfortable

80 year old American citizen, native language German, came to the U.S.

from Germany in 1932, at age 10

uncomfortable

25 year old German male, grandfather was in the resistance and executed by

the Nazis

uncomfortable

65 year old American, parents migrated to the U.S. from Germany in 1925 uncomfortable

80 year old Jewish retired pediatrician, served in the US Army during WWII

Nazis Nazi

related

German

WWII

link

German

association

Nazis Nazi

related

German

WWII

link

German

association

Pattern observed in a

participant scoring

HIGH on aversion

Pattern observed in a

participant scoring

LOW on aversion

0

20

40

60

80

100

1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 32

Cumulative number of participants

% D

isco

mfo

rt

USHolo

CzechHolo

Students

% disconfort for set of 14 German-related people

German Aversion in Jews

0

20

40

60

80

100

Goe

bb

80A

usch

65H

itYou

80Sol

dier

80C

EO

25 G

PinSS

50FSol

dier

80M

ama

25G

PSoldi

er

65SA

mer

65G

erAm

er

80lv

1932

25G

PGer

Res

% D

iscom

Iort

USHoloCZHoloUSStud

Predicter variables

• Prior famliarity with “good” Germans

• Degree of blame

• Jewish identity/religiosity

• German essentialism

Attention-respect by age: USA

Age

1 6 18 50 90

Att

enti

on

/Res

pec

t

Attention-respect by age: Japan,

Traditional world

Age

1 6 18 50 90

Att

enti

on

/Res

pec

t

Percent of reduced fat foods in

different categories, in supermarkets

Item France USA

Yogurt 22 96

Milk 36 56

Ice cream 00 25

Mid 1990s

Eating time

(lunch, mean minutes)

Source France USA

McDonalds 22.3’ 13.2’

Quick/

Burger King

16.5 15.3