Diminishing Effectiveness of Happiness Interventions: Positive Psychology Stumbles on the Dodo Verdict

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Diminishing Effectiveness of Happiness Interventions: Positive Psychology Stumbles on the Dodo Verdict

Journal Article•

Diminishing Effectiveness of Happiness Interventions: Positive Psychology Stumbles on the Dodo Verdict

01 Jan 2020-Journal of Psychology & Psychotherapy (Longdom Publishing S.L)-pp 1-10

TL;DR: In this article, it is argued that the explosion in happiness studies of the last twenty years did not improve effect sizes of happiness interventions and the supposed epistemological superiority of positive psychologists has not produced more effective happiness advice.

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Abstract: Some positive psychologists claim that quantitative research leads to the most effective interventions for the intentional pursuit of happiness. A similar claim made in psychotherapy research resulted in failure; fifty years of experimental research has not improved psychotherapy outcomes. In this essay it is argued that the explosion in happiness studies of the last twenty years did has not improved effect sizes of happiness interventions. The supposed epistemological superiority of positive psychologists has not produced more effective happiness advice. This should not be taken as an encouragement to throw the baby out with the bathwater. If we follow current reasoning in psychotherapy research, we can conclude that positive psychological research can correct misguided or counterproductive happiness advice, but will not offer definitive answers. The individuals making his their own choices on the basis of a personal life philosophy count. A further conclusion is that happiness interventions should not just be about acquiring skills to correct the affective system in our brains, so that we are able to overcome our negativity bias or hedonic adaptation. Intervention should also be about following our emotional action tendencies; promoting doing to do more of what feels right to us and avoiding what causes pain.

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Journal Article•

Thinking fast and slow.

[...]

Neil McGlynn

01 Dec 2014-Australian Veterinary Journal

TL;DR: Prospect Theory led cognitive psychology in a new direction that began to uncover other human biases in thinking that are probably not learned but are part of the authors' brain’s wiring.

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Abstract: In 1974 an article appeared in Science magazine with the dry-sounding title “Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases” by a pair of psychologists who were not well known outside their discipline of decision theory. In it Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman introduced the world to Prospect Theory, which mapped out how humans actually behave when faced with decisions about gains and losses, in contrast to how economists assumed that people behave. Prospect Theory turned Economics on its head by demonstrating through a series of ingenious experiments that people are much more concerned with losses than they are with gains, and that framing a choice from one perspective or the other will result in decisions that are exactly the opposite of each other, even if the outcomes are monetarily the same. Prospect Theory led cognitive psychology in a new direction that began to uncover other human biases in thinking that are probably not learned but are part of our brain’s wiring.

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Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

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Authoritative Guide to Self-Help Resources in Mental Health

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Sydney D Krampitz

01 Jan 2003-Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services

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Journal Article•DOI•

Dystopian and Utopian Omission of Discourse in Three Modern Robinsonades: Lord of the Flies, Concrete Island, The Red Turtle

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Patrick Gill

15 Dec 2019

TL;DR: The reader of Robinson Crusoe encounters a narrative self-consciously shaped by an intradiegetic narrator with the aim of unburdening his mind and creating a sense of order in and control over his own story: "I drew up the State of my Affairs in Writing, not so much to leave them to any that were to come after me [...] as to deliver my Thoughts from daily poring upon them, and afflicting my Mind" as mentioned in this paper.

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Abstract: The reader of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe encounters a narrative self-consciously shaped by an intradiegetic narrator with the aim of unburdening his mind and creating a sense of order in and control over his own story: “I drew up the State of my Affairs in Writing, not so much to leave them to any that were to come after me [...] as to deliver my Thoughts from daily poring upon them, and afflicting my Mind” (49). This simple recipe is somewhat complicated by the addition of the voice of an older Robinson figure looking back on his adventures to the journal kept by Robinson in extremis. Where the younger Robinson on the island can occasionally fail to grasp the meaning of events around him, the older Robinson can step in and – with the benefit of hindsight – discern the workings of Providence in his younger self ’s life. Thus the story provides a sense of immediacy and jeopardy on the one hand while also offering retrospective wisdom and control on the other. What becomes increasingly clear through the telling of the story, however, is the fact that its main purpose is the shaping of reality into something that makes sense to the protagonist narrator as well as his readers. As Richetti elaborates:

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3 citations

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Journal Article•DOI•

Positive psychology: An introduction.

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Martin E. P. Seligman, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi¹•Institutions (1)

Claremont Graduate University¹

01 Jan 2000-American Psychologist

TL;DR: The authors outline a framework for a science of positive psychology, point to gaps in the authors' knowledge, and predict that the next century will see a science and profession that will come to understand and build the factors that allow individuals, communities, and societies to flourish.

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Abstract: A science of positive subjective experience, positive individual traits, and positive institutions promises to improve quality of life and prevent the pathologies that arise when life is barren and meaningless, The exclusive focus on pathology that has dominated so much of our discipline results in a model of the human being lacking the positive features that make life worth living. Hope, wisdom, creativity, future mindedness, courage, spirituality, responsibility, and perseverance are ignored or explained as transformations of more authentic negative impulses. The 15 articles in this millennial issue of the American Psychologist discuss such issues as what enables happiness, the effects of autonomy and self-regulation, how optimism and hope affect health, what constitutes wisdom, and how talent and creativity come to fruition. The authors outline a framework for a science of positive psychology, point to gaps in our knowledge, and predict that the next century will see a science and profession that will come to understand and build the factors that allow individuals, communities, and societies to flourish.

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12,650 citations

"Diminishing Effectiveness of Happin..." refers background in this paper

...We find this idea in humanistic psychology with its focus on self-actualization and the importance of ‘being needs’ compared to ‘deficiency needs’ [1]; in psychiatry with a focus on recovery and maintaining people in the community, instead of fending off relapse and deterioration [2]; in health care with the concept of positive health that can be defined as the ‘ability to adapt and self-manage, in light of the physical, emotional and social challenges of life’ so that health care no longer strives for the total absence of physical, emotional and social pathology [3]; in dementia care with a focus of personhood and citizenship and not just on brain damage [4]; in solutionfocused therapy with its focus on strengths and competency and not on assumed deficits and pathology [5], and of course in positive psychology, the ‘science of positive subjective experience, positive individual traits, and positive institutions promises to improve quality of life and prevent the pathologies that arise when life is barren and meaningless’ [6]....
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Book•

Man's Search for Meaning

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Viktor Emil Frankl

01 Jan 1946

TL;DR: A new edition of Man's Search for Meaning includes a new preface by the author, in which he explains his decision to remain in his native Austria during the Nazi invasion, a choice which eventually led to his imprisonment.

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Abstract: When Beacon Press first published Man's Search for Meaning in 1959, Carl Rogers called it "one of the outstanding contributions to psychological thought in the last fifty years." In the thirty-three years since then, this book - at once a memoir, a self-help book, and a psychology manual - has become a classic that has sold more than three million copies in English language editions. Man's Search for Meaning tells the chilling and inspirational story of eminent psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz and other concentration camps for three years during the Second World War. Immersed in great suffering and loss, Frankl began to wonder why some of his fellow prisoners were able not only to survive the horrifying conditions, but to grow in the process. Frankl's conclusion - that the most basic human motivation is the will to meaning - became the basis of his groundbreaking psychological theory, logotherapy. As Nietzsche put it, "He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how." In Man's Search for Meaning, Frankl outlines the principles of logotherapy, and offers ways to help each one of us focus on finding the purpose in our lives. This new edition of Man's Search for Meaning includes a new preface by the author, in which he explains his decision to remain in his native Austria during the Nazi invasion, a choice which eventually led to his imprisonment. It also includes an updated bibliography of books, articles, records, films, videotapes, and audio tapes about logotherapy.

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6,029 citations

"Diminishing Effectiveness of Happin..." refers background in this paper

...The Raids on the Inspeakable by the monk and poet Thomas Merton [64], the search for meaning in the concentration camps by the inventor of logotherapy Viktor Frankl [65], the description of what it means to be an individual in the light of the quest of Don Quixote [66], the work on wisdom as the hard work that needs to be done to find the truth in clichés, whether it is done by a scholar [67] or a novelist [68], the psychoanalyst Jung [69] who tried to get to know himself all his life, and confesses in the last page of his autobiography that he experiences himself as a stranger at old age, Frijda’s [70] reflections on the laws of emotion, Paulo Coelho’s [71] work The fifth mountain that shows compassion for people that rage against faith and Albert Camus’ [72] ideas about the happiness of Sisyphus and the absurdity of life....
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Journal Article•

Thinking fast and slow.

[...]

Neil McGlynn

01 Dec 2014-Australian Veterinary Journal

TL;DR: Prospect Theory led cognitive psychology in a new direction that began to uncover other human biases in thinking that are probably not learned but are part of the authors' brain’s wiring.

...read moreread less

4,351 citations

"Diminishing Effectiveness of Happin..." refers background in this paper

...They do not offer an explicit definition of intentional activity, but the phrase certainly suggests that it is falls under Kahnemann’s slow thinking....
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...The innate, automatic tendency to feel good or bad about our interactions with the world is described by Kahneman [45] as a part of thinking fast, who contrasts it with the deliberate effort that is needed to think slowly....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Pursuing Happiness: The Architecture of Sustainable Change

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Sonja Lyubomirsky¹, Kennon M. Sheldon², David Schkade³•Institutions (3)

University of California, Riverside¹, University of Missouri², University of California, San Diego³

01 Jun 2005-Review of General Psychology

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose that a person's chronic happiness level is governed by three major factors: a genetically determined set point for happiness, happiness-relevant circumstantial factors, and happiness relevant activities and practices.

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Abstract: The pursuit of happiness is an important goal for many people. However, surprisingly little scientific research has focused on the question of how happiness can be increased and then sustained, probably because of pessimism engendered by the concepts of genetic determinism and hedonic adaptation. Nevertheless, emerging sources of optimism exist regarding the possibility of permanent increases in happiness. Drawing on the past well-being literature, the authors propose that a person's chronic happiness level is governed by 3 major factors: a genetically determined set point for happiness, happiness-relevant circumstantial factors, and happiness-relevant activities and practices. The authors then consider adaptation and dynamic processes to show why the activity category offers the best opportunities for sustainably increasing happiness. Finally, existing research is discussed in support of the model, including 2 preliminary happiness-increasing interventions.

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2,616 citations

"Diminishing Effectiveness of Happin..." refers background in this paper

...As discussed, Lyubomisky, Sheldon & Schkade [9] explain all the unexplained variance in happiness as intentional activity....
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...Lyubomirsky, Sheldon and Schkade [9] ascribe fifty percent of happiness to genetic factors and ten percent to circumstances and infer that the other forty percent must be due to intentional activity....
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...It is worthwhile to note that the percentages are derived from data gathered to explain differences in happiness between respondents, and not the intra-individual factors associated with happiness [9]....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Enhancing well-being and alleviating depressive symptoms with positive psychology interventions: a practice-friendly meta-analysis.

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Nancy L. Sin¹, Sonja Lyubomirsky¹•Institutions (1)

University of California, Riverside¹

01 May 2009-Journal of Clinical Psychology

TL;DR: Clinicians should be encouraged to incorporate positive psychology techniques into their clinical work, particularly for treating clients who are depressed, relatively older, or highly motivated to improve.

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Abstract: Do positive psychology interventions-that is, treatment methods or intentional activities aimed at cultivating positive feelings, positive behaviors, or positive cognitions-enhance well-being and ameliorate depressive symptoms? A meta-analysis of 51 such interventions with 4,266 individuals was conducted to address this question and to provide practical guidance to clinicians. The results revealed that positive psychology interventions do indeed significantly enhance well-being (mean r=.29) and decrease depressive symptoms (mean r=.31). In addition, several factors were found to impact the effectiveness of positive psychology interventions, including the depression status, self-selection, and age of participants, as well as the format and duration of the interventions. Accordingly, clinicians should be encouraged to incorporate positive psychology techniques into their clinical work, particularly for treating clients who are depressed, relatively older, or highly motivated to improve. Our findings also suggest that clinicians would do well to deliver positive psychology interventions as individual (versus group) therapy and for relatively longer periods of time.

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2,274 citations

"Diminishing Effectiveness of Happin..." refers background or result in this paper

...Note: for the studies of Sin & Lyubomirsky [14] and Bolier et al....
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...or the studies included in several meta-analysis [14,16,28], I can find no example of ‘faulty theories of happiness’ or ‘unprofitable approaches to become happier’....
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...Sin and Lyubomirsky [14] report a small effect (mean r = +0.29, median r = +0.24) on ‘well-being’....
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...Sin and Lyubomirsky [14] report a small effect (mean r = +0....
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