NOTES

Preface

1 If anything changes in the practitioner, it is a personality shift toward depression: K. S. Pope and B. G. Tabachnick, “Therapists as Patients: A National Survey of Psychologists’ Experiences, Problems, and Beliefs,” Professional Psychology: Research and Practice 25 (1994): 247–58. Research has shown that psychotherapists and psychologists have high rates of depression. In a survey of about five hundred psychologists, Pope and Tabachnick found that 61 percent of their sample reported at least one episode of depression during their career, 29 percent had experienced suicidal feelings, and 4 percent had actually attempted suicide.

American Psychological Association, Advancing Colleague Assistance in Professional Psychology (February 10, 2006). Retrieved October 15, 2009, from www.apa.org/practice/acca_monograph.html. In 2006 the APA’s Board of Professional Affairs’ Advisory Committee on Colleague Assistance (ACCA) issued a report on distress and impairment in psychologists. The report pointed out that depending on how depression is measured, its lifetime prevalence in psychologists ranges from 11 percent to 61 percent. In addition to depression, mental health practitioners are exposed to high levels of stress, burnout, substance abuse, and vicarious traumatization.

See also P. L. Smith and S. B. Moss, “Psychologist Impairment: What Is It, How Can It Be Prevented, and What Can Be Done to Address It?” Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice 16 (2009): 1–15.

2 At this moment, several thousand people around the world: The International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA) currently counts more than three thousand members from over seventy countries around the world. Approximately 45 percent of the association’s members are academic researchers and practicing psychologists. The next 20 percent (called associates) are practitioners involved in putting positive psychology research into practice in applied contexts (schools, businesses, and so on). The next 25 percent are students interested in positive psychology. The remaining 10 percent (affiliates) include people who are simply interested in the field. More details about IPPA can be found at www.ippanetwork.org.

One of several active Internet groups worth joining is friends-of-pp@lists.apa.org.

Chapter 1: What Is Well-Being?

5 Judy zoomed at an astonishingly young age: “Judith Rodin: Early Career Awards for 1977,” American Psychologist 33 (1978): 77–80. Judy Rodin won the American Psychological Association’s Early Career Award in 1977. This article summarizes her early accomplishments.

Judy Rodin has also recently been selected by U.S. News & World Report as one of America’s best leaders for her work as head of the Rockefeller Foundation: D. Gilgoff, “Judith Rodin: Rockefeller Foundation Head Changes the Charity and the World,” U.S. News & World Report, October 22, 2009.

Throughout her career, she has authored or coauthored more than two hundred academic articles and twelve books, including The University and Urban Renewal: Out of the Ivory Tower and into the Streets (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007).

5 we even managed to collaborate on a study investigating the correlation of optimism with a stronger immune system: L. Kamen-Siegel, J. Rodin, M. E. P. Seligman, and J. Dwyer, “Explanatory Style and Cell-Mediated Immunity in Elderly Men and Women,” Health Psychology 10 (1991): 229–35. In collaboration with Leslie Kamen-Siegel, we found that a pessimistic explanatory style predicted lower immunocompetence in a sample of twenty-six older adults (aged sixty-two to eighty-two years old), controlling for other factors such as current health, depression, medication, weight changes, sleep habits, and alcohol use. Our study, as well as the relation between optimism and the immune system, is discussed further in Chapter 9.

6 the princes and princesses of ethnopolitical violence, attended: the conference report is available at www.ppc.sas.upenn.edu/chirot.htm.

7 the volume Ethnopolitical Warfare: D. Chirot and M. E. P. Seligman, eds., Ethnopolitical Warfare: Causes, Consequences, and Possible Solutions (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2001).

7 the medical anthropologist Mel Konner: Mel Konner is the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Anthropology at Emory University, in Atlanta. Among other books, he is the author of: M. Konner, The Tangled Wing: Biological Constraints on the Human Spirit (New York: Holt, Rinehart, Winston, 1982). More information on Mel Konner’s life and work is available on his website, at www.melvinkonner.com.

8 Charles Feeney: Atlantic Philanthropies was in 2006 the third most generous foundation in the United States (giving out a half billion dollars in grants), surpassed only by the Ford and Gates Foundations. For more information on Chuck Feeney’s career and philanthropic activities, see J. Dwyer, “Out of Sight, Till Now, and Giving Away Billions,” New York Times, September 26, 2007.

C. O’Clery, The Billionaire Who Wasn’t: How Chuck Feeney Secretly Made and Gave Away a Fortune Without Anyone Knowing (New York: Public Affairs, 2007).

8 It contained some very fine science: Our 2000 progress report for the Humane Leadership Project can be found at www.ppc.sas.upenn.edu/hlprogressreport.htm#Research.

9 Thales thought that everything was water: Thales of Miletus (ca. 624 B.C.–ca. 546 B.C.) is considered by many to be the first philosopher in the Greek tradition. A central claim to Thales’ theory is the belief that the world started from water, and that water is the principle of all things. For more information on Thales, see B. Russell, A Western History of Philosophy (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1945).

9 Aristotle thought that all human action was to achieve happiness: Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998).

9 Nietzsche thought that all human action was to get power: F. Nietzsche, The Will to Power (New York: Vintage, 1968).

9 Freud thought that all human action was to avoid anxiety: S. Freud, Inhibitions, Symptoms, and Anxiety (New York and London: W. W. Norton, 1959).

9 when there are too few variables to explain the rich nuances of the phenomenon in question, nothing at all is explained: D. Gernert, “Ockham’s Razor and Its Improper Use,” Cognitive Systems: 133–38. A critical discussion of the misuse and limitations of the principle of parsimony.

9 happiness , which is so overused: D. M. Haybron, The Pursuit of Unhappiness: The Elusive Psychology of Well-Being (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008). A review of the various meanings of happiness.

10 “People try to achieve just for winning’s own sake”: Senia pointed out that although achievement can lead to desirable outcomes and is also often accompanied by positive emotion, achievement can be intrinsically motivating as well.

11 a far cry from what Thomas Jefferson declared that we have the right to pursue: A. De Tocqueville, Democracy in America (New York: Perennial Classics, 2000). In Democracy in America, Tocqueville explained that Jefferson’s concept of happiness was one that involved self-restraint in order to achieve long-term fulfillment. Jeffersonian happiness is therefore much closer to enduring well-being than transient pleasure.

D. M. McMahon, Happiness: A History (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2006). The best source on the historical evolution of the concept of happiness.

11 if you ask people who are in flow what they are thinking and feeling, they usually say, “nothing”: M. Csikszentmihalyi, Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention (New York: Harper Perennials, 1997). Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi used the example of the creative process to describe the relationship between flow and positive emotion. In his words: “When we are in flow, we do not usually feel happy—for the simple reason that in flow we feel only what is relevant to the activity. Happiness is a distraction. The poet in the middle of writing or the scientist working out equations does not feel happy, at least not without losing the thread of his or her thought. It is only after we get out of flow, at the end of a session or in moments of distraction within it, that we might indulge in feeling happy. And then there is a rush of well-being, of satisfaction that comes when the poem is completed or the theorem is proved.”

A. Delle Fave and F. Massimini, “The Investigation of Optimal Experience and Apathy: Developmental and Psychosocial Implications,” European Psychologist 10 (2005): 264–74.

11 There are no shortcuts to flow. On the contrary, you need to deploy your highest strengths and talents to meet the world in flow: M. Csikszentmihalyi, K. Rathunde, and S. Whalen, Talented Teenagers: The Roots of Success and Failure (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997). Csikszentmihalyi, Rathunde, and Whalen found that the development of talent in a group of American teenagers was linked to the ability to use their concentration abilities, to commit to the development of their skills, and to experience flow.

12 Hence, the importance of identifying your highest strengths and learning to use them more often in order to go into flow: M. E. P. Seligman, T. A. Steen, N. Park, and C. Peterson, “Positive Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions,” American Psychologist 60 (2005): 410–21. This idea was first presented in Authentic Happiness (2002). In subsequent research, we found that learning to use their signature strengths in a new way made people happier (and less depressed), and that this effect lasted for up to six months after our intervention. Using your highest strengths, however, is not a necessary condition for going into flow: I go into flow when I get a back massage. Using your highest strength is at most only a contributing condition to flow. You can identify your highest strengths by taking the Values in Action survey at www.authentichappiness.org.

12 Human beings, ineluctably, want meaning and purpose in life: V. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning (London: Random House / Rider, 2004). A stirring portrait of just how ineluctable the pursuit of meaning is.

13 a widely researched self-report measure that asks on a 1-to-10 scale how satisfied you are with your life: E. Diener, R. Emmons, R. Larsen, and S. Griffin. “The Satisfaction with Life Scale,” Journal of Personality Assessment 49 (1985): 71–75. 13 how much life satisfaction people report is itself determined by how good we feel at the very moment we are asked: R. Veenhoven, “How Do We Assess How Happy We Are? Tenets, Implications, and Tenability of Three Theories” (paper presented at conference on New Directions in the Study of Happiness: United States and International Perspectives, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN, October 2006).

M. Schwarz and F. Strack, “Reports of Subjective Well-Being: Judgmental Processes and Their Methodological Implications,” in Foundations of Hedonic Psychology: Scientific Perspectives on Enjoyment and Suffering, eds. D. Kahneman, E. Diener, and N. Schwarz (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1999), pp. 61–84.

14 Introverts are much less cheery than extroverts: for example, see P. Hills and M. Argyle, “Happiness, Introversion-Extraversion and Happy Introverts,” Personality and Individual Differences 30 (2001): 595–608.

W. Fleeson, A. B. Malanos, and N. M. Achille, “An Intraindividual Process Approach to the Relationship Between Extraversion and Positive Affect: Is Acting Extraverted as ‘Good’ as Being Extraverted?” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 83 (2002): 1409–22.

14 any theory that aims to be more than a happiology: C. Peterson, A Primer in Positive Psychology (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006). In A Primer in Positive Psychology, Christopher Peterson noted that the positive psychology movement has unfortunately often been associated with Harvey Ball’s clichéd smiley face when featured in the media. Peterson pointed out how misleading this iconography is: “a smile is not an infallible indicator of all that makes life worth living. When we are highly engaged in fulfilling activities, when we are speaking from our hearts, or when we are doing something heroic, we may or may not be smiling, and we may or may not be experiencing pleasure in the moment. All of these are central concerns to positive psychology, and they fall outside the realm of happiology” (p. 7).

15 the topic is a construct —well-being—which in turn has several measurable elements, each a real thing, each contributing to well-being, but none defining well-being: E. Diener, E. M. Suh, R. E. Lucas, and H. L. Smith, “Subjective Well-Being: Three Decades of Progress,” Psychological Bulletin 125 (1999): 276–302. See this source for more information on the multifaceted nature of subjective well-being.

16 Many people pursue it for its own sake: E. L. Deci and R. M. Ryan, Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behavior (New York: Plenum Press, 1985). In other words, the element is intrinsically motivating, as defined by Deci and Ryan.

17 Abraham Lincoln, a profound melancholic, may have, in his despair, judged his life to be meaningless: J. Shenk, Lincoln’s Melancholy (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2005). A splendid emotional biography of Lincoln.

17 Jean-Paul Sartre’s existentialist play No Exit: J.-P. Sartre, No Exit and Three Other Plays (New York: Vintage, 1949).

18 Some will even cheat to win: R. Wolff, The Lone Wolff: Autobiography of a Bridge Maverick (New York: Masterpoint Press, 2007). An excellent book on expert bridge and why some experts cheat.

19 John D. Rockefeller: R. Chernow, Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. (New York: Vintage, 1998). An outstanding biography of his winning in the first half of his life and then his philanthropy in the second half.

19 Chariots of Fire: D. Putnam, J. Eberts, D. Fayed, and J. Crawford (producers), and H. Hudson (director), Chariots of Fire (motion picture), 1981. Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video.

20 Robert White had published a heretical article: R. W. White, “Motivation Reconsidered: The Concept of Competence,” Psychological Review 66 (1959): 297–333.

20 all of them took place around other people: H. T. Reis and S. L. Gable, “Toward a Positive Psychology of Relationships,” in Flourishing: Positive Psychology and the Life Well-Lived, eds. C. L. M. Keyes and J. Haidt (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2003), pp. 129–59. In a review of the evidence, Reis and Gable concluded that good relationships with others may be the single most important source of life satisfaction and emotional well-being across people of all ages and cultures. I am especially indebted to Corey Keyes for his foresighted use of the term and the concept of “flourishing,” which antedates my own usage. Although I use the term in a different sense—PERMA—Corey’s work has been an inspiration to me.

20 My friend Stephen Post: S. Post, J. Neimark, and O. Moss, Why Good Things Happen to Good People (New York: Broadway Books, 2008).

20 doing a kindness produces the single most reliable momentary increase in well-being: M. E. P. Seligman, T. A. Steen, N. Park, and C. Peterson, “Positive Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions,” American Psychologist 60 (2005): 410–21. In recent research, we found that, among five different positive psychology exercises, the gratitude visit (as described in Authentic Happiness) produced the largest positive changes in happiness (and decreases in depressive symptoms), and this effect lasted for a month. In the gratitude visit exercise, participants are asked to write and deliver a letter of gratitude in person to someone who had been especially kind to them but had never been properly thanked.

S. Lyubomirsky, K. M. Sheldon, and D. Schkade, “Pursuing Happiness: The Architecture of Sustainable Change,” Review of General Psychology 9 (2005): 111–31. Sonja Lyubomirsky and colleagues have also found that asking students to perform five acts of kindness per week over six weeks resulted in an increase in well-being, especially if they performed their five acts of kindness all in one day.

21 the master strength is the capacity to be loved: D. M. Isaacowitz, G.  E.  Vaillant, and M. E. P. Seligman, “Strengths and Satisfaction Across the Adult Lifespan, International Journal of Aging and Human Development 57 (2003): 181–201. In 2000 we held a meeting in Glasbern, Pennsylvania, to refine the VIA taxonomy of strengths and virtues. More than twenty-five researchers gathered to discuss which strengths should be included. Love—almost implicitly defined as the capacity to love—had always figured high on our list. George Vaillant chastised us for ignoring the capacity to be loved. For Vaillant, the capacity to be loved is the master strength. Vaillant’s insight came from his seminal work on the Grant Study, an almost seventy-year (and ongoing) longitudinal investigation of the developmental trajectories of Harvard College graduates. (This study is also referred to as the Harvard Study.) In a study led by Derek Isaacowitz, we found that the capacity to love and be loved was the single strength most clearly associated with subjective well-being at age eighty.

21 loneliness is such a disabling condition: J. T. Cacioppo and W. Patrick, Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection (New York: W. W. Norton, 2008); J. T. Cacioppo, L. C. Hawkley, J. M. Ernst, M. Burleson, G. G. Berntson, B. Nouriani, and D. Spiegel, “Loneliness Within a Nomological Net: An Evolutionary Perspective,” Journal of Research in Personality 40 (2006): 1054–85. According to Cacioppo and Patrick, social cooperation has been a driving force in the evolution of human behavior. The converse, loneliness, extracts a significant toll from its sufferers by raising stress levels and causing negative cycles of self-defeating behaviors. For instance, Cacioppo and colleagues found that lonely (compared to nonlonely) young adults are higher in anxiety, anger, negative mood, as well as fear of negative evaluation. They are also lower in optimism, social skills and support, positive mood, extraversion, emotional stability, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and sociability.

D. W. Russell, “The UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3): Reliability, Validity, and Factor Structure,” Journal of Personality Assessment 66 (2006). Loneliness can be measured using the UCLA Loneliness Scale, a twenty-item questionnaire.

22 if they did not bring about positive emotion or engagement or meaning: R. F. Baumeister and M. R. Leary, “The Need to Belong: Desire for Interpersonal Attachments as a Fundamental Human Motivation,” Psychological Bulletin 117 (1995): 497–529. A review of the research on the determinants and consequences of the human drive to engage in social relationships (or “need to belong”).

22 the big brain is a social problem solver: N. Humphrey, The Inner Eye: Social Intelligence in Evolution (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986).

22 The eminent British biologist and polemicist Richard Dawkins: R. Dawkins, The Selfish Gene (New York: Oxford University Press, 1976).

23 what others are thinking and feeling: The issue of group selection—pros and cons—is a complicated theoretical one. The main objection to group selection is the “free rider” problem. Imagine a group that wins out because some of its members have altruism and cooperation along with the hive emotions. They do well in battle, but those members who are the uncooperative cowards among them do even better than the courageous cooperators. These free riders survive and reproduce on the backs (and over the dead bodies) of the brave. The selfish free riders will eventually crowd out the self-sacrificing genetically, and so the entire groups’ altruistic edge will fall apart. The most ingenious counter to the free rider problem is that morality and religion are a counteradaptation with a heritable basis among human beings that nullifies the advantage of being a free rider. Selfish free riders are condemned by morality and religion and so lose their reproductive edge. Hence the universality of moral and religious systems among our species. Versions of this argument can be found in Charles Darwin’s Descent of Man (1871), Chapter 5; in David Sloan Wilson’s Evolution for Everyone (2007); and most convincingly in Jon Haidt’s The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion (2011), Chapter 9.

23 the group is a primary unit of natural selection: D. S. Wilson, and E. O. Wilson, “Rethinking the Theoretical Foundation of Sociobiology,” Quarterly Review of Biology 82 (2007): 327–48.

24 You go into flow when your highest strengths are deployed to meet the highest challenges that come your way: M. Csikszentmihalyi, Finding Flow in Everyday Life (New York: Basic Books, 1997). The precise balance between skills and challenges determines whether an individual will enter flow (or the states of control, relaxation, boredom, apathy, worry, and anxiety). Flow corresponds to the optimal combination of high skills and high challenges, per Csikszentmihalyi.

25 Richard Layard argues: R. Layard, Happiness (New York: Penguin, 2005).

26 why we choose to have children: N. Powdthavee, “Think Having Children Will Make You Happy?” The Psychologist 22 (2009): 308-11. A substantial literature measuring life satisfaction and happiness consistently finds less, or at best no more, among parents than non-parents.

J. Senior, “All Joy and No Fun,” New York Magazine, July 4, 2010. Jennifer Senior sets out the controversy well, and captures my view: “Happiness is best defined in the ancient Greek sense: leading a productive, purposeful life. And the way we take stock of that life, in the end, isn’t by how much fun we had, but what we did with it. (Seligman has seven children.)”

26 Brave New World: A. Huxley, Brave New World (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1932). Aldous Huxley’s unforgettable dystopia.

26 subjective and objective measures of positive emotion, engagement, meaning: E. Jayawickreme and M. E. P. Seligman, “The Engine of Well-Being” (manuscript in preparation, 2010). Eranda Jayawickreme and I have contrasted well-being theory with the other major theories of well-being in a recent manuscript, “The Engine of Well-Being.” There are three kinds of theories: wanting, liking, and needing theories. The first—wanting theories—dominates mainstream economics and behavioral psychology and says that an individual achieves well-being when he is able to fulfill his “desires,” where “desires” are defined objectively. In economic terms, well-being is tied to satisfying one’s preferences. There is no subjective requirement, no need for satisfying your preferences to lead to pleasure or satisfaction. Positive reinforcement, similarly, is based on instrumental choice (an objective preference measure), with no subjective component, and so constitutes a wanting theory. Well-being in reinforcement theory is approximated by how much positive reinforcement and how little punishment (both behavioral measures of preference) one obtains. People and animals strive to get what they want because such behavior is positively reinforcing, not because it satisfies any particular need or drive, and not because it engenders any subjective state of liking.

Liking theories are the hedonic accounts of happiness in philosophy and psychology that center on subjective reports of positive emotion, life satisfaction, and happiness. Subjective well-being is the combination of general satisfaction with life, satisfaction with specific domains of life, current mood, and current positive and negative emotion. Subjective well-being is perhaps the most widely used theory in the psychology of happiness, and well-being is typically assessed by asking an individual, “How satisfied are you with your life?” The answer includes both momentary emotions along with a cognitive evaluation of how life is going.

Needing theories catalogue the objective list of goods required for well-being or for a happy life. They do not completely discount what people choose (wanting) and how people feel about their choices (liking), but contend that what people need is more central to well-being. These theories include the objective-list accounts of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, the hierarchy-of-needs approach of Abraham Maslow, and the eudemonic approaches of Carolyn Ryff, Ed Deci, and Rich Ryan. Ryff’s sustained, creative work on eudemonic approaches to well-being is important as a counterweight to purely subjective approaches.

Veenhoven and Cummins are the progenitors of the engine approach: R. A. Cummins, “The Second Approximation to an International Standard for Life Satisfaction,” Social Indicators Research 43 (1998): 307–34; R. Veenhoven, “Quality-of-Life and Happiness: Not Quite the Same,” in G. DeGirolamo, et al., eds., Health and Quality-of-Life (Rome: Il Pensierro Scientifico, 1998).

Parfit (1984), as well as Dolan, Peasgood, and White (2006), first made the valuable distinction among needing, wanting, and liking theories: P. Dolan, T. Peasgood, and M. White, Review of Research on the Influences on Personal Well-Being and Application to Policy Making (London: DEFRA, 2006); D. Parfit, Reasons and Persons (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984).

My friend and colleague Ed Diener, the first of the modern positive psychologists, is the giant in the field of subjective well-being: E. Diener, E. Suh, R. Lucas, and H. Smith, “Subjective Well-Being: Three Decades of Progress,” Psychological Bulletin 125 (1999): 276–302.

The major theoretical papers on objective list theory (or needing theory) include: A. K. Sen, Development as Freedom (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999); A. H. Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being (New York: Van Nostrand, 1968); M. C. Nussbaum, “Capabilities as Fundamental Entitlements: Sen and Social Justice,” Feminist Economics 9 (2003): 33–59; C. D. Ryff, “Happiness Is Everything, or Is It? Explorations on the Meaning of Psychological Well-Being,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 57 (1989): 1069–81; C. D. Ryff, “Psychological Well-Being in Adult Life,” Current Directions in Psychological Science 4 (1995): 99–104; R. M. Ryan and E. L. Deci, “On Happiness and Human Potentials: A Review of Research on Hedonic and Eudaimonic Well-Being,” Annual Review of Psychology 52 (2001): 141–66.

26 Felicia Huppert and Timothy So of the University of Cambridge have defined and measured flourishing in each of twenty-three European Union nations: T. So and F. Huppert, “What Percentage of People in Europe Are Flourishing and What Characterizes Them?” (July 23, 2009). Retrieved October 19, 2009, from www.isqols2009.istitutodeglinnocenti.it/Content_en/
Huppert.pdf. So and Huppert used the latest round of the European Social Survey, which incorporates a well-being module, to measure flourishing in a sample of around forty-three thousand adults (all above sixteen years old) in the twenty-three countries of the European Union. Aside from between-nations differences, they found that higher flourishing is associated with higher education levels, higher income, and being married. General health is also moderately associated with flourishing, although only a third of individuals with good self-reported health are flourishing. Flourishing was found to decline with age, although not linearly so. Indeed, people over sixty-five years of age in certain countries (for instance, Ireland) show the highest rates of flourishing. Middle-aged people show the lowest rates.

So and Huppert also tested the relationship between life satisfaction and flourishing to determine how much the two concepts overlap. Consistent with well-being theory, the two measures correlated only modestly (r = .32). In other words, many people who are satisfied with their lives are not flourishing, and vice versa. This finding reinforces the notion that measures of life satisfaction (a unitary construct) are not adequate to assess well-being and flourishing (both multifaceted constructs).

28 “moon-shot goal”: In May 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced the then implausible goal of putting humans on the moon by the end of that decade. There is nothing like a huge goal to galvanize the best.

28 Public policy follows only from what we measure—and until recently, we measured only money, gross domestic product (GDP): P. Goodman, “Emphasis on Growth Is Called Misguided,” New York Times, September 23, 2009. As explained by Nobel Prize–winning economist Joseph Stiglitz: “What you measure affects what you do. If you don’t measure the right thing, you don’t do the right thing.” Governments around the world are starting to consider the idea that indicators other than the GDP are needed in order to address the needs of their citizens. In 2008 French president Nicolas Sarkozy commissioned a report from renowned economists Joseph Stiglitz, Amartya Sen, and Jean-Paul Fitoussi, asking for the creation of a new measure of economic growth that would take into account, among other factors, social well-being. As a result of the recent economic turmoil, Sarkozy felt that the old-fashioned measures of economic growth are giving citizens the impression that they are being manipulated. The resulting Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress (CMEPSP) recently released its first report, supporting Sarkozy’s initiative and proposing alternative measurement strategies. The full text of the commission’s first report can be found at: www.stiglitz-sen-fitoussi.fr.

This report and much subsequent action is tied to objective list theory and is not incompatible with well-being theory and its goal of flourishing. The essential difference, however, is that flourishing takes subjective variables at least as seriously as objective ones. The economist-dominated developments are quite skeptical about subjective indicators of human progress.

Chapter 2: Creating Your Happiness: Positive Psychology Exercises That Work

31 You will be happier and less depressed one month from now: M. E. P. Seligman, T. A. Steen, N. Park, and C. Peterson, “Positive Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions,” American Psychologist 60 (2005): 410–21. This has been shown by our first randomized, controlled study conducted on the Internet, described here.

31 many aspects of human behavior do not change lastingly: M. E. P. Seligman and J. Hager, eds., The Biological Boundaries of Learning (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1992); M. E. P. Seligman, What You Can Change … and What You Can’t (New York: Vintage, 1993). The extent to which any behavior can be learned is a long-standing debate. The evidence suggests that we are hardwired to learn certain things easily, but not others. This debate was the topic of my very first book, The Biological Boundaries of Learning. As a result, interventions targeting modifiable behaviors will be much more likely to succeed than those targeting more intractable ones. This was the topic of What You Can Change … and What You Can’t. Common examples of modifiable behaviors include sexual dysfunction, mood, and panic attacks (if provided with the right intervention). Examples of things that are much harder to change are weight, sexual orientation, and alcoholism.

31 I did the watermelon diet for thirty days: To reinforce this point, there isn’t a single scientific study looking at the effectiveness of the watermelon diet. That’s never a good sign. Anecdotal reports of unpleasant side effects and overall ineffectiveness, however, abound on the Internet.

31 like 80 percent to 95 percent of dieters, I regained all that weight (and more) within three years: For a recent review of the effectiveness of dieting, see T. Mann, J. Tomiyama, E. Westling, A.-M. Lew, B. Samuels, and J. Chatman. “Medicare’s Search for Effective Obesity Treatments: Diets Are Not the Answer,” American Psychologist 62 (2007): 200–33; L. H. Powell, J. E. Calvin III, and J. E. Calvin Jr., “Effective Obesity Treatments,” American Psychologist 62 (2007): 234–46. Mann, et al., pointed out that although many studies have shown that certain diets work (at least in the short term), their conclusions should be interpreted with caution, as methodological problems may have biased their results.

Another review by Powell and colleagues compared different kinds of treatment for obesity (dieting, drugs, gastric surgery) and found that overall, dieting and drugs had a consistent significant effect on weight. The average weight loss in these studies was, however, only seven pounds! These so-called effective treatments for obesity are therefore no panaceas. Interestingly though, the authors pointed out that even small amounts of weight loss had significant effects on other markers of health (blood pressure, diabetes, and so on). The results of gastric surgery are much better. So while we cannot dismiss the advantage of losing even a small amount of weight, the results still clearly show that substantial weight loss by dieting is very difficult to achieve.

31 a study of lottery winners, who were happier for a few months after their windfall but soon fell back to their habitual level of grouchiness or cheerfulness: P. Brickman, D. Coates, and R. Janoff-Bulman, “Lottery Winners and Accident Victims: Is Happiness Relative?” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 36 (1978): 917–27. In this classic study, Brickman and colleagues demonstrated that lottery winners are not happier than nonwinners, thus suggesting that lottery winners adapt to their new situation. However, another finding from the same study put into question the notion that we are always able to adapt to a set-point level of happiness. Indeed, Brickman and colleagues also examined the levels of happiness of a group of people with paraplegia. These subjects bounced back from their initial misery but never quite caught up with controls. This study therefore suggested that happiness may be more difficult to increase than to decrease.

32 If we trade up successfully, we stay on the hedonic treadmill, but we will always need yet another shot: E. Diener, R. E., Lucas, and C. N. Scollon, “Beyond the Hedonic Treadmill,” American Psychologist 6 (2006): 305–14. Diener and colleagues made five revisions to the hedonic treadmill model to reflect our current understanding of happiness, including whether or not it can be improved.

First they argue that people’s set points are not neutral (against previous findings). In other words, most people are happy most of the time (as shown by Diener and Diener, 1996), and they revert back to this “happy” set point after events. Second, people differ in their set points. In other words, some people are generally happier than others, for both genetic and environmental reasons. Third, people also differ in the degree to which they adapt to external events (and revert back to their set points). Fourth, it doesn’t make sense to talk about one set point of happiness. Instead, there are multiple set points which correspond to the various components of well-being (which allows for the adaptation of the hedonic treadmill theory to well-being theory). Finally, and most important, set points can be changed under certain conditions. The fact that citizens of different countries report differing levels of happiness is evidence that environmental circumstances do affect well-being. In particular, wealth and human rights appear to be strong predictors of national well-being (Diener, Diener, and Diener, 1995).

In the words of Diener and colleagues (2006), the hedonic treadmill theory asks us to “Imagine that individuals living in a cruel dictatorship where crime, slavery, and inequality are rampant are as satisfied with their lives as people living in a stable democracy where crime is minimal.” The research shows that, fortunately, there is no need to imagine that this would be true. It is false.

E. Diener and C. Diener, “Most People Are Happy,” Psychological Science 7 (1996): 181–85.

E. Diener, M. Diener, and C. Diener, “Factors Predicting the Subjective Well-Being of Nations,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 69 (1995): 851–64.

32 which are just bogus?: S. Lyubomirsky, The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want (London: Penguin, 2007). A good self-help manual that separates scientific advice from unfounded myths on how to become happier.

32 “naughty thumb of science”: e. e. cummings, “O Sweet Spontaneous Earth,” Complete Poems, 1904–1962 (New York: Norton, 1994), p. 58. I use this quote often in lectures, and it always surprises me how few members of the audience are acquainted with the marvelous poem.

32 There is a gold standard for testing therapies—random-assignment, placebo-controlled studies: J. B. Persons and G. Silberschatz, “Are Results of Randomized Controlled Trials Useful to Psychotherapists?” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 66 (1998): 126–35. For an entertaining debate on the usefulness of RCTs for clinicians, see the following discussion between Jacqueline Persons and George Silberschatz. Persons argued that clinicians cannot provide top quality care without reading the findings from RCTs. Silberschatz, on the other hand, explained that RCTs do not address the issues and concerns of practicing clinicians because they lack external validity.

M. E. P. Seligman, “The Effectiveness of Psychotherapy: The Consumer Reports Study,” American Psychologist 50 (1995): 965–74. Elsewhere, I have argued that efficacy studies (such as RCTs) do have certain drawbacks: treatments have a fixed duration (usually around twelve weeks), treatment delivery is not flexible, and subjects are assigned to a group and are therefore consigned to a more passive role. They are also somewhat nonrepresentative of many “real-life” patients who enter treatment with high comorbidity. Finally, outcomes tend to focus on symptom reduction as opposed to general decreases in impairment. I therefore argued that the ideal study should combine features of both efficacy and effectiveness studies, so that the scientific rigor of RCTs can be augmented with the real-life relevance of effectiveness studies.

34 The odds are that you will be less depressed, happier, and addicted to this exercise: M. E. P. Seligman, T. A. Steen, N. Park, and C. Peterson, “Positive Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions,” American Psychologist 60 (2005): 410–21.

34 It was all book learning, and they could never know craziness itself: Admittedly, some courageous teachers have attempted to provide an experiential perspective in their Abnormal Psychology courses, but the ethical considerations are tricky.

F. E. Rabinowitz, “Creating the Multiple Personality: An Experiential Demonstration for an Undergraduate Abnormal Psychology Class,” in Handbook of Demonstrations and Activities in the Teaching of Psychology, vol. 3, Personality, Abnormal, Clinical-Counseling, and Social (2nd ed.), eds. M. E. Ware and

D. E. Johnson (Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 2000). D. Wedding, M. A. Boyd, and R. M. Niemec, Movies and Mental Illness: Using Films to Understand Psychopathology (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1999). Less controversial than direct experiences, teachers can use carefully chosen movies to communicate the subjective experience of mental illness. This volume suggests relevant movies.

D. L. Rosenhan, “On Being Sane in Insane Places,” Science 179 (1973): 250–58. I long for the good old days before institutional review boards (IRB) made bold experimentation impossible. I was a pseudopatient with David Rosenhan in 1972. We got ourselves admitted to mental hospitals and observed how we were treated. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Unlike the rest of the pseudopatients, I was treated splendidly. It was a fine way to be exposed to craziness from the inside, but no IRB would allow the study today because we deceived the psychiatrists and the patients about our identities. This is Rosenhan’s original research report.

35 Dr. Ben Dean: www.mentorcoach.com.

38 Two of the exercises […] markedly lowered depression three months and six months later: M. E. P. Seligman, T. A. Steen, N. Park, and C. Peterson, “Positive Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions,” American Psychologist 60 (2005): 410–21.

39 This questionnaire was developed by Chris Peterson, a professor at the University of Michigan: C. Peterson and N. Park, “Classifying and Measuring Strengths of Character,” in Handbook of Positive Psychology (2nd ed.), eds. C. R. Snyder and S. J. Lopez (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009).

For more information on the specific strengths, see C. Peterson and M. E. P. Seligman, eds., The VIA Classification of Strengths and Virtues (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2003).

40 at appropriate places throughout this book: T. Rashid and M. Seligman, Positive Psychotherapy (New York: Oxford, 2001). Includes the complete exposition of these exercises.

40 they stayed nondepressed for the year that we tracked them: M. E. P. Seligman, T. Rashid, and A. C. Parks, “Positive Psychotherapy,” American Psychologist 61 (2006): 774–88.

40 Dr. Tayyab Rashid created positive psychotherapy: on this topic, see the following publications:

T. Rashid and A. Anjum, “Positive Psychotherapy for Children and Adolescents,” in Depression in Children and Adolescents: Causes, Treatment, and Prevention, eds. J. R. Z. Abela and B. L. Hankin (New York: Guilford Press, 2007).

M. E. P. Seligman, T. Rashid, and A. C. Parks, “Positive Psychotherapy,” American Psychologist 61 (2006): 774–88.

T. Rashid, “Positive Psychotherapy,” in Positive Psychotherapy, Perspective Series, ed. S. J. Lopez (London: Blackwell Publishing, forthcoming).

R. Cummins, “Subjective Well-Being, Homeostatically Protected Mood and Depression: A Synthesis,” Journal of Happiness Studies 11 (2010): 1–17.

C. Harmer, G. Goodwin, and P. Cowen, “Why Do Antidepressants Take So Long to Work?” British Journal of Psychiatry 195 (2009): 102–8.

41 Rashid and Seligman, 2011: T. Rashid and M. E. P. Seligman, Positive Psychotherapy: A Treatment Manual (New York: Oxford University Press, forthcoming).

See also A. Wood and S. Joseph, “The Absence of Positive Psychological (Eudemonic) Well-Being as a Risk Factor for Depression: A Ten-Year Cohort Study,” Journal of Affective Disorders 122 (2010): 213–17.

C. Harmer, U. O’Sullivan, and E. Favaron, et al., “Effect of Acute Antidepressant Administration on Negative Affective Bias in Depressed Patients,” American Journal of Psychiatry 166 (2009): 1178–84.

41 We introduce forgiveness as a powerful tool: Perhaps the best illustration of this idea is the story of Kim Phuc, the Vietnamese woman who was famously photographed at age nine running naked on the streets of Trang Bang after a napalm attack by South Vietnamese forces. Her essay “The Long Road to Forgiveness” (2008) has been featured on NPR’s This I Believe series. More information on Kim Phuc’s story can be found in the following biography: D. Chong, The Girl in the Picture: The Story of Kim Phuc, the Photograph, and the Vietnam War (New York: Viking Penguin, 1999).

42 Satisficing is encouraged over maximizing: B. Schwartz, A. Ward, J. Monterosso, S. Lyubomirsky, K. White, and D. R. Lehman, “Maximizing Versus Satisficing: Happiness Is a Matter of Choice,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 83 (2002): 1178–97.

B. Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less (New York: HarperCollins, 2004).

Barry Schwartz, the Dorwin Cartright Professor of Social Theory and Social Action at Swarthmore College, is the leading researcher on the costs and benefits of using satisficing versus maximizing strategies during decision making. In particular, maximizers endure psychological costs when they are faced with an increased number of options (as they will always attempt to improve their situation rather than be content with their current one). In a series of seven studies conducted with Sonja Lyubomirsky (among other authors), Schwartz showed that maximizing (measured as an individual difference variable) is associated with lower levels of happiness, optimism, self-esteem, and life satisfaction but with higher levels of depression, perfectionism, and regret.

43 55 percent of patients in positive psychotherapy, 20 percent in treatment as usual, and only 8 percent in treatment as usual plus drugs achieved remission: M. E. P. Seligman, T. Rashid, and A. C. Parks, “Positive Psychotherapy,” American Psychologist 61 (2006): 774–88. Note that the treatment-as-usual condition in this study consisted of an integrative and eclectic approach to therapy delivered by licensed psychologists and social workers, and graduate interns.

43 Time magazine ran a cover story on positive psychology: C. Wallis, “The New Science of Happiness,” Time, January 17, 2005.

Chapter 3: The Dirty Little Secret of Drugs and Therapy

45 depression is the most costly disease in the world: World Health Organization, Global Burden of Disease: 2004 Update (2008). Retrieved October 20, 2009, from www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/
GBD_report_2004update_full.pdf. In 2004 the WHO estimated that unipolar depression had the highest number of years lost to disability (YLDs) of all diseases. Depression is at the top of the list for both males (twenty-four million YLDs) and females (forty-one million YLDs), as well as for both high (ten million YLDs) and middle-to low-income countries (fifty-five million YLDs). In all regions of the world, neuropsychiatric illnesses (of all types) are the leading cause of disability, accounting for approximately one-third of all YLDs (among adults aged fifteen and over).

45 the treatments of choice are drugs and psychotherapy: Kaiser Permanente Care Management Institute, Depression Clinical Practice Guidelines (Oakland, CA: Kaiser Permanente Care Management Institute, 2006).

45 On average, treating a case of depression costs about $5,000 per year, and there are around ten million such cases annually in America: www.allaboutdepression.com/gen_01.html; http://mentalhealth.about.com/b/2006/07/17/depression-treatment-can-be-expensive.htm.

45 Antidepressant drugs are a multibillion-dollar industry: IMS Health, Top 15 Global Therapeutic Classes (2008). Retrieved October 26, 2009, from www.imshealth.com/deployedfiles/imshealth/Global/Content/
StaticFile/Top_Line_Data/Global_Top_15_Therapy_
Classes.pdf. In 2008 global sales for antidepressants amounted to more than $20 billion. Antidepressants were at the time the eighth most prescribed class of drugs in the world.

45 as effective as therapy and drugs: M. E. P. Seligman, T. Rashid, and A. C. Parks, “Positive Psychotherapy,” American Psychologist 61 (2006): 774–88.

46 both have given up the notion of cure: J. Moncrieff, The Myth of the Chemical Cure: A Critique of Psychiatric Drug Treatment (London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2009). For more on the notion of cure in psychiatry, see Joanna Moncrieff’s controversial book.

For a review of Dr. Moncrieff’s book, see A. Yawar, “Book Review: The Fool on the Hill,” Lancet 373 (2009): 621–22.

46 only brief treatment is reimbursed by insurance companies: S. A. Glied and R. G. Frank, “Shuffling Towards Parity: Bringing Mental Health Care Under the Umbrella,” New England Journal of Medicine 359 (2008): 113–15; C. L. Barry, R. G. Frank, and T. G. McGuire, “The Costs of Mental Health Parity: Still an Impediment?” Health Affairs 25 (2006): 623–34. In spite of the progress made during recent years, mental illness still is not on an equal footing with other medical conditions in terms of insurance coverage. For a discussion of the current problems in the debate about mental health parity, see Glied and colleagues. For a critique of the notion that establishing mental health parity would increase spending and would be unsustainable, see Barry, et al.

46 There are two kinds of medications: cosmetic drugs and curative drugs: C. King and L. N. P. Voruganti, “What’s in a Name? The Evolution of the Nomenclature of Antipsychotic Drugs,” Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience 27 (2007): 168–75. Many factors affect clinicians’ and patients’ perceptions of what drugs do and how they work. Simple factors—such as the name of the drug—can influence these perceptions. In a review paper, Caroline King and Lakshmi Voruganti examine the history and influence of the names given to drugs used to treat psychosis. The researchers explain why a multitude of different terms were used throughout the past century (from tranquilizer, to ataractic, to neuroleptic, to antischizophrenic, to antipsychotic, to serotonin-dopamine agonists, and so on). They conclude that although psychiatry has come a long way in understanding the mechanisms of action of psychotropic medications, the nomenclature system is still incredibly vague and promotes misunderstandings about what drugs actually do. A similar commentary could be made about the class of drugs we currently call the antidepressants.

46 Every single drug on the shelf of the psychopharmacopoeia is cosmetic: S. D. Hollon, M. E. Thase, and J. C. Markowitz, “Treatment and Prevention of Depression,” Psychological Science in the Public Interest 3 (2002): 39–77. According to Hollon and colleagues, the bulk of the evidence shows that antidepressants have only symptom suppressive (rather than curative) effects. Once treatment is terminated, patients are at a high risk for recurrence.

46 a defense called “flight into health”: W. B. Frick, “Flight into Health: A New Interpretation,” Journal of Humanistic Psychology 39 (1999): 58–81. A historical review and critique (from a humanistic perspective) of the concept of “flight into health.”

47 Almost always, the effects are what is technically called “small”: I. Kirsch, T. J. Moore, A. Scoboria, and S. S. Nicholls, “The Emperor’s New Drugs: An Analysis of Antidepressant Medication Data Submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration,” Prevention and Treatment (July 15, 2002). Retrieved October 26, 2009, from http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/pre/5/1/23a.html. In 2002 Kirsch and colleagues published a review of studies investigating the efficacy of the six most prescribed antidepressants approved between 1987 and 1999 (fluoxetine, paroxetine, sertraline, venlafaxine, nefadozone, and citalopram). Results showed that the overall difference between drug and placebo, although significant, was only approximately a 2-point difference on the Hamilton Depression Scale. Most clinicians would agree that such a difference is trivial. Results, moreover, did not differ for low or high doses of the medication.

S. D., Hollon, R. J. DeRubeis, R. C. Shelton, and B. Weiss, The Emperor’s New Drugs: Effect Size and Moderation Effects,” Prevention and Treatment (July 15, 2002). Retrieved October 26, 2009, from http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=fulltext.journal&jcode=pre&vol=5&issue=1&format=html
&page=28c&expand=1. In a commentary of Kirsch’s review, Hollon and colleagues proposed that the small effect described may be misleading, because it obscures the fact that different drugs may work for different people, and that potential effects are therefore dampened by taking into account the effect of the drug on everyone. Effect sizes based on the average patient may therefore underestimate the drug-placebo difference for those who do respond.

For another review of the size of the effect of antidepressant medication, see J. Moncrieff and I. Kirsch, “Efficacy of Antidepressants in Adults,” British Medical Journal 331 (2005): 155–57.

47 for each you get a 65 percent relief rate, accompanied by a placebo effect that ranges from 45 percent to 55 percent: In their review of the efficacy of antidepressants, Kirsch et al. (see previous note) found that 82 percent of drug effects can be accounted for by placebo effects. In other words, only 18 percent of the drug response can be traced to the pharmacological effects of the medication. The authors argue that, moreover, these 18 percent could also be due to the breaking of the blind before the end of the study, as people are cued by side effects that they are probably in the active treatment condition and not in the control condition.

47 so high is the placebo response that in half the studies on which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) based its official approval of the antidepressant drugs, there was no difference between placebo and drug: As described by Kirsch and colleagues (2002; see previous note), the FDA requires two positive findings (in other words, significant differences between placebo and drug) from two controlled clinical trials in order to approve a drug, even if other additional trials show negative findings. For example, the drug Celexa (citalopram) was approved on the basis of two positive findings and three negative findings.

47 the effects were nonexistent: J. Fournier, R. DeRubeis, S. Hollon, S. Dimidjian, J. Amsterdam, R. Shelton, and J. Fawcett, “Antidepressant Drug Effects and Depression Severity: A Patient-Level Meta-Analysis,” Journal of the American Medical Association 303 (2010): 47–53.

48 Every single drug has exactly the same property: once you stop taking it, you are back to square one, and recurrence and relapse are the rule: S. D. Hollon, M. E. Thase, and J. C. Markowitz, “Treatment and Prevention of Depression,” Psychological Science in the Public Interest 3 (2002): 39–77.

48 Shelly Gable, professor of psychology at the University of California at Santa Barbara, has demonstrated that how you celebrate is more predictive of strong relations than how you fight: S. L. Gable, H. T. Reis, E. A. Impett, and E. R. Asher, “What Do You Do When Things Go Right? The Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Benefits of Sharing Good Events,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 87 (2004): 228–45.

S. L. Gable, G. C. Gonzaga, and A. Strachman, “Will You Be There for Me When Things Go Right? Supportive Responses to Positive Events Disclosures,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 9 (2006): 904–17.

51 there is another, more realistic approach to these dysphorias: learning to function well even if you are sad or anxious or angry—in other words, dealing with it: S. C. Hayes, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Relational Frame Theory, and the Third Wave of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies,” Behavior Therapy 35 (2004): 639–65. The so-called third wave of behavioral and cognitive therapies shares the idea that patients may be better off dealing with their problems rather than trying to get rid of them. Steven Hayes, the architect of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT, pronounced as one word), explains how clients can lose sight of what their ultimate goals are, and how acceptance, or “dealing with it,” can help them do just that: “Typically, an anxiety-disordered person wants to get rid of anxiety. It could be experienced as invalidating to refuse to work directly on that desired outcome. At another level, however, the anxious client wants to get rid of anxiety in order to do something such as living a vital human life. Lack of anxiety is not the ultimate goal—it is a means to an end. Since often it has failed as a means, ACT suggests abandoning that means […] The larger message thus is validating (trust your experience) and empowering (you can live a powerful life from here, without first winning a war with your own history)” (p. 652).

For another review of ACT, see S. C. Hayes, J. B. Luoma, F. W. Bond, A. Masuda, and J. Lillis, “Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Model, Processes, and Outcomes,” Behaviour Research and Therapy 44 (2006): 1–25.

Another “third wave therapy,” Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), also emphasizes the importance of acceptance in the therapeutic process: Z. V. Segal, J. M. G. Williams, and J. G. Teasdale, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression (New York: Guilford Press, 2002).

51 most personality traits are highly heritable, which […] Dysphorias often, but not always, stem from these personality traits: J. C. Loehlin, R. R. McCrae, and P. T. Costa, “Heritabilities of Common and Measure-Specific Components of the Big Five Personality Factors,” Journal of Research in Personality 32 (1998): 431–53. One twin study by Loehlin and colleagues looked at the heritability of the Big Five factor traits and showed that approximately 50 percent to 60 percent of the variance in extraversion, openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism is genetic in origin. Forty percent to 50 percent of the variance appears to derive from the unique individual environment, while none of the variance seems to stem from shared environmental influences.

See also J. Harris, The Nurture Assumption (New York: Free Press, 1998), and S. Pinker, The Blank Slate: The Denial of Human Nature and Modern Intellectual Life (New York: Viking, 2002).

53 Abraham Lincoln: R. P. Basler, M. D. Pratt, and L. A. Dunlap, The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (9 vols.) (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953). In a letter addressed to his law partner John T. Stuart on January 23, 1841, Lincoln describes the intense depressive episode he went through: “I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on the earth. Whether I shall ever be better I cannot tell; I awfully forebode I shall not. To remain as I am is impossible; I must die or be better, it appears to me.”

About Lincoln’s biography, as previously cited: R. C. White, Lincoln: A Biography (New York: Random House, 2009).

The best of the books that I have read about Lincoln’s emotional life is J. W. Shenk, Lincoln’s Melancholy (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 2005).

53 Winston Churchill: G. Rubin, Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill: A Brief Account of a Long Life (New York: Random House, 2004). For an account of Winston Churchill’s depression, see Chapter 11, “Churchill as Depressive: The ‘Black Dog?’” Winston’s Churchill’s productivity in light of his impairment has been used as a communication tool to decrease stigma among mental ill persons in the United Kingdom. Recently, the largest severe mental illness charity in the UK (Rethink) commissioned a statue of Churchill wearing a straitjacket. Fittingly, the statue was called “Black Dog,” the name Churchill himself gave to his depression. In spite of the good intentions behind this initiative, the statue caused a lot of controversy, perhaps because the straitjacket carries very negative connotations of backward treatment for the mentally ill. However, the leaders of Rethink replied that the straitjacket was used as a metaphor illustrating how mental illness can act as a straitjacket to deny work, social, and other opportunities to sufferers.

C. London, A. Scriven, and N. Lalani, “Sir Winston Churchill: Greatest Briton Used as an Antistigma Icon,” Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health 126 (2006): 163–64.

53 Lincoln came close to killing himself in January 1841: J. W. Shenk, Lincoln’s Melancholy (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 2005). As a home-schooling parent, I have had the privilege of teaching American history to my children. In the last iteration, when the kids were eight, ten, and twelve, I spent three years teaching the presidents. After the first year, we got through James Buchanan. When we started Abraham Lincoln, the kids said, “Whoa, this is one awesome dude.” So we spent an entire year on Abraham Lincoln, using Carl Sandburg’s marvelous biography, Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and the War Years (New York: Mariner Books, 2002).

55 “An A for ‘applied’”: I was not present, of course, so my narration is from hearsay.

55 Even though Penn was founded by Benjamin Franklin to teach both the “applied” and the “ornamental”: B. Franklin, Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pensilvania (1749). In the words of Franklin himself: “As to their studies, it would be well if they could be taught every Thing that is useful, and every Thing that is ornamental: But Art is long, and their Time is short. It is therefore propos’d that they learn those Things that are likely to be most useful and most ornamental. Regard being had to the several Professions for which they are intended.”

56 Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus: L. Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (New York: Routledge Classics, 1921/2001).

56 Philosophical Investigations : L. Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1953/2009). In a poll of five thousand teachers of philosophy asked to name the five most important works of philosophy of the twentieth century, Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations was the runaway winner. (Tractatus also made it among the five most important philosophy books of the century, ranked fourth behind Heidegger’s Being and Time and Rawls’s A Theory of Justice.) Incidentally, Philosophical Investigations was published posthumously. Wittgenstein did not deign to publish himself; his students published his thoughts from their classroom notes.

D. Lackey, “What Are the Modern Classics? The Baruch Poll of Great Philosophy in the Twentieth Century,” Philosophical Forum 30 (1999), 329–46.

56 Just as important as Wittgenstein’s ideas was the fact that he was a spellbinding teacher: R. Monk, Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius (New York: Penguin, 1990). When Wittgenstein returned to Cambridge to teach in 1929, his Tractatus had become legendary, and he was met at the railway station by the elite of England’s intelligentsia. John Maynard Keynes (one of Wittgenstein’s friends) commented in a letter to his wife, “Well, God has arrived. I met him on the 5.15 train.”

For more on Wittgenstein’s teaching style, see A. T. Gasking and A. C. Jackson, “Wittgenstein as Teacher,” in Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Man and His Philosophy, ed. K. T. Fann (New York: Delta, 1967), pp. 49–55.

57 Walter Kaufmann, the charismatic teacher of Nietszche: W. Kaufmann, Nietszche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1950).

57 (This event is re-created in David Edmonds and John Eidinow’s gripping Wittgenstein’s Poker): D. Edmonds and J. Eidinow, Wittgenstein’s Poker: The Story of a Ten-Minute Argument Between Two Great Philosophers (New York: HarperCollins, 2001).

58 I did my PhD with white rats: M. E. P. Seligman, “Chronic Fear Produced by Unpredictable Electric Shock,” Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology 66 (1968): 402–11.

59 Then in his mideighties and almost blind, Jerry is a walking history of American psychology: D. Bakhurst and S. G. Shanker, eds., Jerome Bruner: Language, Culture, Self (London: Sage Publications, 2001). An overview of Jerome Bruner’s work and its legacy.

60 This is, indeed, the logic of the artificial intelligence endeavor: J. McCarthy, M. Minsky, N. Rochester, and C. Shannon, A Proposal for the Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence (1955). Retrieved August 2, 2010, from www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/history/dartmouth/dartmouth.html. The 1956 Dartmouth conference is largely credited as the time of birth of artificial intelligence. In the said proposal leading to the conference, the researchers asserted that “Every aspect of learning or any other feature of intelligence can be so precisely described that a machine can be made to simulate it.”

61 benefits were not specific to any one kind of therapy or to any one kind of disorder: M. E. P. Seligman, “The Effectiveness of Psychotherapy: The Consumer Reports Study,” American Psychologist 50 (1995): 965–74.

Chapter 4: Teaching Well-Being: The Magic of MAPP

63 Derrick Carpenter: Derrick Carpenter graduated from the MAPP program in 2007. He received his B.S. in mathematics from MIT and subsequently worked as a research coordinator at the University of Pennsylvania, studying perceptual learning and mathematics education. Derrick is an avid rower and cyclist, and is interested in the connection between sports and positive psychology. Derrick has a monthly column on Positive Psychology News Daily (positivepsychologynews.com).

64 the master of applied positive psychology: for more information about the program, go to www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/mapp.

64 Dr. James Pawelski: James Pawelski is the director of education and a senior scholar at the Positive Psychology Center. He is also adjunct associate professor of religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Pawelski earned his PhD in philosophy in 1997. He is the author of The Dynamic Individualism of William James, in which he presents a major new interpretation and application of the work of this seminal philosopher and psychologist. He currently studies the philosophical underpinnings of positive psychology, the philosophy and psychology of character development, and the development, application, and assessment of interventions in positive psychology. He is also the founding executive director of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA).

For more information on James Pawelski and his work, see http://jamespawelski.com and J. O. Pawelski, The Dynamic Individualism of William James (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2007).

64 Debbie Swick: Deborah Swick is the associate director of education of the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania. She obtained her MBA from Vanderbilt University. In addition to directing the MAPP program, Debbie Swick is also one of the associate executive directors of the International Positive Psychology Association.

65 Tom Rath: Tom Rath is the author of the best-selling business books How Full Is Your Bucket?, StrengthsFinder 2.0, and Strengths Based Leadership. His latest best seller, with Jim Harter, is Well Being: the Five Essential Elements (Washington, DC: Gallup, 2010). Also see T. Rath and D. O. Clifton, How Full Is Your Bucket? (New York: Gallup Press, 2004); T. Rath, StrengthsFinder 2.0 (New York: Gallup Press, 2007); T. Rath and B. Conchie, Strengths Based Leadership (New York: Gallup Press, 2008).

65 Yakov Smirnoff: famous comedian and painter. For more information about the current activities of Yakov Smirnoff, see www.yakov.com/branson.

65 Senia Maymin: Senia Maymin is currently pursuing her PhD at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. She is also the publisher and editor in chief of Positive Psychology News Daily (PPND), a gold mine of information about positive psychology research and applications. Most authors featured on PPND (http://positivepsychologynews.com) are graduates of the MAPP programs at the University of Pennsylvania or at the University of East London.

66 the laboratory genius of positive psychology: B. L. Fredrickson, Positivity: Groundbreaking Research Reveals How to Embrace the Hidden Strength of Positive Emotions, Overcome Negativity, and Thrive (New York: Random House, 2009). Overview of Barbara Fredrickson’s work on positive emotions.

66 Barb began by detailing her “broaden-and-build” theory of positive emotion: B. L. Fredrickson, “The Role of Positive Emotions in Positive Psychology: The Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotions,” American Psychologist 56 (2001): 218–26.

B. L. Fredrickson and C. Branigan, “Positive Emotions Broaden the Scope of Attention and Thought-Action Repertoires,” Cognition & Emotion 19 (2005): 313–32.

66 “Companies with better than a 2.9:1 ratio for positive to negative statements are flourishing”: B. L. Fredrickson and M. F. Losada, “Positive Affect and the Complex Dynamics of Human Flourishing, American Psychologist 60 (2005): 678–86. Fredrickson and Losada had previously found similar results for individuals. They asked 188 subjects to complete a survey to determine whether they were flourishing. These subjects then provided daily reports of positive and negative emotions over the span of a month. The mean ratio of positive to negative affect was found to lie above 2.9 for flourishing individuals, and below for those not flourishing.

For another discussion of the role of positive emotions in organizational settings, see B. L. Fredrickson, “Positive Emotions and Upward Spirals in Organizational Settings,” in

Positive Organizational Scholarship, eds. K. Cameron, J. Dutton, and R. Quinn (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2003): 163–75.

67 “call this the ‘Losada ratio’”: M. Losada, “The Complex Dynamics of High Performance Teams,” Mathematical and Computer Modeling 30 (1999): 179–92; M. Losada and E. Heaphy: “The Role of Positivity and Connectivity in the Performance of Business Teams: A Nonlinear Dynamics Model,” American Behavioral Scientist 47 (2004): 740–65.

67 “Law is the profession with the highest depression, suicide, and divorce rates”: W. W. Eaton, J. C. Anthony, W. Mandel, and R. Garrison, “Occupations and the Prevalence of Major Depressive Disorder,” Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 32 (1990): 1079–87. In a 1990 study, researchers from Johns Hopkins University compared the prevalence of clinical depression in 104 occupations. Lawyers topped the list, with a prevalence of depression approximating four times that of the general population.

P. J. Schiltz, “On Being a Happy, Healthy, and Ethical Member of an Unhappy, Unhealthy, and Unethical Profession,” Vanderbilt Law Review 52 (1999): 871–951. Schiltz gives an excellent overview and commentary on the research showing higher rates of depression, anxiety, alcoholism, drug abuse, suicide, divorce, and poor physical health among lawyers and/or law students. He offers three explanations for these findings: the long hours worked, the money at stake, and the competitiveness of the profession. Finally, Schiltz gives advice on how to stay sane and ethical without giving up on being a lawyer.

K. M. Sheldon and L. S. Krieger, “Understanding the Negative Effects of Legal Education on Law Students: A Longitudinal Test of Self-Determination Theory,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 33 (2007): 883–97. Sheldon and Krieger recently investigated the psychological processes underlying the decline of well-being in law students enrolled at two different law schools. At both schools, the students’ well-being declined over three years. In one of the two schools, however, students reported that the faculty encouraged a higher sense of perceived autonomy in students. As a result, the decline in their well-being was less steep than that of the students at the other school. Perceived autonomy support also predicted a higher GPA, better bar exam results, and more self-determined motivation for finding a first job after graduation.

67 John Gottman computed the same statistic: J. M. Gottman, “The Roles of Conflict Engagement, Escalation, and Avoidance in Marital Interaction: A Longitudinal View of Five Types of Couples,” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 61 (1993): 6–15; J. M. Gottman, What Predicts Divorce: The Relationship Between Marital Processes and Marital Outcomes (Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1994).

69 The “basic rest and activity cycle”: N. Kleitman, “Basic Rest-Activity Cycle in Relation to Sleep and Wakefulness,” in Sleep: Physiology and Pathology, ed. A. Kales (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1969), pp. 33–38. Nathaniel Kleitman, the father of sleep research, coined this term.

70 I fear that coaching has run wild: G. B. Spence, M. J. Cavanagh, and A. M. Grant, “Duty of Care in an Unregulated Industry: Initial Findings on the Diversity and Practices of Australian Coaches,” International Coaching Psychology Review 1 (2006): 71–85. An Australian perspective on the role of coaches and problems created by the lack of regulation of the profession.

For a review of the literature on executive coaching (the area where most of the research is currently accumulating), see S. Kampa-Kokesch and M. Z. Anderson, “Executive Coaching: A Comprehensive Review of the Literature,” Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research 53 (2001): 205–28.

70 Positive psychology can provide both: M. E. P. Seligman, “Coaching and Positive Psychology,” Australian Psychologist 42 (2007): 266–67.

For an example of coaching based on positive psychology, see R. Biswas-Diener and B. Dean, Positive Psychology Coaching: Putting the Science of Happiness to Work for Your Clients (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2007).

C. Kauffman, D. Stober, and A. Grant, “Positive Psychology: The Science at the Heart of Coaching,” in The Evidence Based Coaching Handbook, eds. D. R. Stober and A. M. Grant (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2006), pp. 219–54.

70 interventions and measurements that work: Three good examples that have good empirical validation in addition to those detailed in this book are Michael Frisch’s Quality of Life Therapy, Solution-Focused Therapy, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).

M. Frisch, Quality of Life Therapy (New York: Wiley, 2005).

W. Gingerich, “Solution-Focused Brief Therapy: A Review of the Outcome Research,” Family Process, 39 (2004): 477–98.

S. Hayes, K. Strosahl, and K. Wilson, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (New York: Guilford, 1999).

71 and you know when to refer a client to someone who is more appropriately trained: S. Berglas, “The Very Real Dangers of Executive Coaching,” Harvard Business Review (June 2002): 87–92. A case of coaching gone awry.

72 goal-setting theory: E. A. Locke and G. P. Latham, “Goal Setting Theory,” in Motivation: Theory and Research, eds. H. F. O’Neil and M. E. Drillings (Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1994), pp. 13–29; E. A. Locke and G. P. Latham, “Building a Practically Useful Theory of Goal Setting and Task Motivation: A 35-Year Odyssey,” American Psychologist 57 (2002): 705–17; E. A. Locke, “Motivation by Goal Setting,” in Handbook of Organizational Behavior, ed. R. Golembiewski (New York: Marcel Dekker, 2001).

72 Creating Your Best Life: C. A. Miller and M. Frisch, Creating Your Best Life: The Ultimate Life List Guide (New York: Sterling, 2009).

72 Appreciative Inquiry: D. L. Cooperrider, D. Whitney, and J. M. Stavros, Appreciative Inquiry Handbook: For Leaders of Change, 2nd ed. (Bedford Heights, OH: Lakeshore Communications, 2007); D. L. Cooperrider and D. Whitney,  Appreciative Inquiry: A Positive Revolution in Change (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2005). For the latest on research about Appreciative Inquiry.

72 corporations use 360: J. W. Smither, M. London, R. R. Reilly, “Does Performance Improve Following Multisource Feedback? A Theoretical Model, Meta-Analysis, and Review of Empirical Findings,” Personnel Psychology 58 (2005): 33–66. A review of the effectiveness of 360 feedback.

73 married adults […] tend to be healthier and live longer than their single counterparts: R. H. Coombs, “Marital Status and Personal Well-Being: A Literature Review,” Family Relations 40 (1991): 97–102. A review of the benefits of marriage; S. Stack and J. R. Eshleman, “Marital Status and Happiness: A 17-Nation Study,” Journal of Marriage and the Family 60 (1998): 527–36. The benefits of marriage, moreover, do not seem to depend on cultural factors.

75 Sociologists distinguish among a job, a career, and a calling: A. Wrzesniewski, C. R. McCauley, P. Rozin, and B. Schwartz, “Jobs, Careers, and Callings: People’s Relations to Their Work,” Journal of Research in Personality 31 (1997): 21–33.

75 Groundhog Day: T. Albert (producer) and H. Ramis (producer and director), Groundhog Day (motion picture), USA: Columbia Pictures (1993).

76 The Devil Wears Prada: W. Finerman and K. Rosenfelt (producers) and D. Frankel (director). The Devil Wears Prada (motion picture), USA: 20th Century Fox (2006).

76 The Shawshank Redemption: N. Marvin (producer) and F. Darabont (director), The Shawshank Redemption (motion picture), USA: Columbia Pictures (1994).

76 Chariots of Fire: D. Putnam and D. Fayed (producers) and H. Hudson, Chariots of Fire (motion picture), USA: Warner Bros. and the Ladd Company (1981).

76 Sunday in the Park with George: M. Brandman (producer) and T. Hughes (director), Sunday in the Park with George (video), USA: Image Entertainment (1986).

76 Field of Dreams: L. Gordon and C. Gordon (producers) and P. A. Robinson (director), Field of Dreams (motion picture), USA: Universal Studios (1989).

76 Shoeless Joe: W. P. Kinsella, Shoeless Joe (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1982).

76 Vadim Rotenberg from Moscow: V. S. Rotenberg, “Search Activity Concept: Relationship Between Behavior, Health, and Brain Functions,” Activitas Nervosa Superior 5 (2009): 12–44. Dr. Rotenberg is now a psychiatrist and researcher at Tel-Aviv University, Israel. He is particularly known for his “search activity concept” (SAC) theory, which attempts to explain the pathogenesis of mental and psychosomatic disorders using information about individuals’ behaviors, resistance to stress, sleep function, brain neurotransmitter activity, and brain laterality.

77 Close Encounters: J. Phillips and M. Phillips (producers) and S. Spielberg (director), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (motion picture), USA: Columbia Pictures (1977).

Chapter 5: Positive Education: Teaching Well-Being to Young People

79 depression is about ten times more common now than it was fifty years ago: P. J. Wickramaratne, M. M. Weissman, P. J. Leaf, and T. R. Holford, “Age, Period, and Cohort Effects on the Risk of Major Depression: Results from Five United States Communities,” Journal of Clinical Epidemiology 42 (1989): 333–43.

79 Now the first onset is below age fifteen: P. M. Lewinsohn, P. Rohde, J. R. Seeley, and S. A. Fischer, “Age-Cohort Changes in the Lifetime Occurrence of Depression and Other Mental Disorders,” Journal of Abnormal Psychology 102 (1993): 110–20. By the end of high school, around 20 percent of adolescents report having already experienced a depressive episode.

79 While there is controversy about whether this rises to the scary appellation epidemic: E. J. Costello, A. Erkanli, and A. Angold. “Is There an Epidemic of Child or Adolescent Depression?” Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 47 (2006): 1263–71. In a meta-analysis of twenty-six epidemiological studies conducted between 1965 and 1996, Costello and colleagues did not find cohort effects in the rates of depression. They suggested that results from other studies showing rising prevalence might have been biased by the use of retrospective recall. The public perception of an “epidemic” may also be due to the fact that depression had previously been underdiagnosed by clinicians.

For another discussion of the effect of birth cohort as well as gender on the prevalence of depression, see J. M. Twenge and S. Nolen-Hoeksema, “Age, Gender, Race, Socioeconomic Status, and Birth Cohort Differences on the Children’s Depression Inventory: A Meta-Analysis,” Journal of Abnormal Psychology 111 (2002): 578–88.

79 This is a paradox: G. E. Easterbrook, The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse (New York: Random House, 2003); G. E. Easterbrook, “Life Is Good, So Why Do We Feel So Bad?” Wall Street Journal, June 13, 2008.

79 Progress has not been limited to the material: See for instance Latest Findings on National Air Quality: Status and Trends Through 2006 (Research Triangle Park, NC: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2006); T. D. Snyder, S. A. Dillow, and C. M. Hoffman, Digest of Education Statistics, 2007 (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, 2008); H. Schuman, C. Steeh, I. Bobo, and M. Krysan, Racial Attitudes in America: Trends and Interpretations (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997).

79 Happiness has gone up only spottily, if at all: R. Inglehart, R. Foa, C. Peterson, and C. Welzel, “Development, Freedom, and Rising Happiness: A Global Perspective (1981–2007),” Perspectives on Psychological Science 3 (2007): 264–85.

80 the Old Order Amish of Lancaster County: J. A. Egeland and A. M. Hostetter, “Amish Study: I. Affective Disorders Among the Amish, 1976–1980,” American Journal of Psychiatry 140 (1983): 56–61.

80 Positive mood produces broader attention: B. L. Fredrickson and C. Branigan, “Positive Emotions Broaden the Scope of Attention and Thought-Action Repertoires,” Cognition & Emotion 19 (2005): 313–32; A. Bolte, T. Goschke, and J. Kuhl, “Emotion and Intuition: Effects of Positive and Negative Mood on Implicit Judgments of Semantic Coherence,” Psychological Science 14 (2003): 416–21; G. Rowe, J. B. Hirsh, A. K. Anderson, and E. E. Smith, “Positive Affect Increases the Breadth of Attentional Selection,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 104 (2007): 383–88.

80 more creative thinking: A. M. Isen, K. A. Daubman, and G. P. Nowicki, “Positive Affect Facilitates Creative Problem-Solving,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 52 (1987): 1122–31; C. A. Estrada, A. M. Isen, and M. J. Young, “Positive Affect Improves Creative Problem Solving and Influences Reported Source of Practice Satisfaction in Physicians,” Motivation and Emotion 18 (1994): 285–99.

80 and more holistic thinking: A. M. Isen, A. S. Rosenzweig, and M. J. Young, “The Influence of Positive Affect on Clinical Problem Solving,” Medical Decision Making 11 (1991): 221–27; J. Kuhl, “Emotion, Cognition, and Motivation: II. The Functional Significance of Emotions in Perception, Memory, Problem-Solving, and Overt Action,” Sprache and Kognition 2 (1983): 228–53; J. Kuhl, “A Functional-Design Approach to Motivation and Self-Regulation: The Dynamics of Personality Systems Interactions,” in Handbook of Self-Regulation, eds. M. Boekaerts, P. R. Pintrich, and M. Zeidner (San Diego: Academic Press, 2000), pp. 111–69.

80 in contrast to negative mood, which produces narrowed attention: A. Bolte, T. Goschke, and J. Kuhl, “Emotion and Intuition: Effects of Positive and Negative Mood on Implicit Judgments of Semantic Coherence,” Psychological Science 14 (2003): 416–21.

82 A meta-analysis of all the studies: S. M. Brunwasser and J. E. Gillham, “A Meta-Analytic Review of the Penn Resiliency Programme” (paper presented at the Society for Prevention Research, San Francisco, CA, May 2008).

82 in the first PRP study, the program halved the rate of moderate to severe depressive symptoms through two years of follow-up: J. E. Gillham, K. J. Reivich, L.  H.  Jaycox, and M. E. P. Seligman, “Prevention of Depressive Symptoms in Schoolchildren: Two-Year Follow-Up,” Psychological Science 6 (1995): 343–51.

82 In a medical setting, PRP prevented depression and anxiety disorders: J. E. Gillham, J. Hamilton, D. R. Freres, K. Patton, and R. Gallop, “Preventing Depression Among Early Adolescents in the Primary Care Setting: A Randomized Controlled Study of the Penn Resiliency Program,” Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 34 (2006): 203–19.

82 benefits on parents’ reports of adolescents’ conduct problems three years after their youngsters completed the program: J. J. Cutuli, “Preventing Externalizing Symptoms and Related Features in Adolescence” (unpublished honors thesis, University of Pennsylvania, 2004); J. J. Cutuli, T. M. Chaplin, J. E. Gillham, K. J. Reivich, and M. E. P. Seligman, “Preventing co-occurring depression symptoms in adolescents with conduct problems: The Penn Resiliency Program,” New York Academy of Sciences 1094 (2006): 282–86.

82 Penn Resiliency Program works equally well for children of different racial/ethnic backgrounds: S. M. Brunwasser and J. E. Gillham, “A Meta-Analytic Review of the Penn Resiliency Programme” (paper presented at the Society for Prevention Research, San Francisco, CA, May 2008).

83 PRP’s effectiveness varies considerably across studies: J. E. Gillham, S. M. Brunwasser, and D. R. Freres, “Preventing Depression Early in Adolescence: The Penn Resiliency Program,” in Handbook of Depression in Children and Adolescents, eds. J. R. Z. Abela and B. L. Hankin (New York: Guilford Press, 2007), pp. 309–32.

83 The fidelity of curriculum delivery is critical: J. E. Gillham, J. Hamilton, D. R. Freres, K. Patton, and R. Gallop, “Preventing Depression Among Early Adolescents in the Primary Care Setting: A Randomized Controlled Study of the Penn Resiliency Program,” Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 34 (2006): 203–19.

83 We tested students’ strengths: using the VIA classification described by C. Peterson and M. E. P. Seligman, Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification (New York: Oxford University Press/Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2004).

85 The positive psychology program improved the strengths of curiosity, love of learning, and creativity: M. E. P. Seligman, R. M. Ernst, J. Gillham, K. Reivich, and M. Linkins, “Positive Education: Positive Psychology and Classroom Interventions,” Oxford Review of Education 35 (2009): 293–311.

85 The positive psychology program improved social skills: M. E. P. Seligman, R. M. Ernst, J. Gillham, K. Reivich, and M. Linkins, “Positive Education: Positive Psychology and Classroom Interventions,” Oxford Review of Education 35 (2009): 293–311.

86 “What is the Geelong Grammar School”: For more information about the school, see www.ggs.vic.edu.au.

89 the ABC model: A. Ellis, Reason and Emotion in Psychotherapy (New York: Lyle Stuart, 1962); see also M. E. P. Seligman, Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life (New York: Pocket Books, 1992).

90 students learn “real-time resilience”: K. Reivich and A. Shatte, The Resilience Factor: 7 Essential Skills for Overcoming Life’s Inevitable Obstacles (New York: Broadway, 2003).

90 active-constructive responding: E. L. Gable, H. T. Reis, E. A. Impett, and E. R. Asher, “What Do You Do When Things Go Right? The Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Benefits of Sharing Positive Events,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 87 (2004): 228–45.

90 a 3:1 Losada positive-to-negative ratio: B. L. Fredrickson and M. F. Losada, “Positive Affect and the Complex Dynamics of Human Flourishing,” American Psychologist 60 (2005): 678–86.

90 Shakespeare’s King Lear: W. Shakespeare, King Lear (London: Arden, 2007).

90 Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman: A. Miller, Death of a Salesman (New York: Viking Press, 1996).

90 Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis: F. Kafka, The Metamorphosis (Cheswold, DE: Prestwick House, 2005).

90 Student preparation for these speeches: M. E. P. Seligman, R. M. Ernst, J. Gillham, K. Reivich, and M. Linkins, “Positive Education: Positive Psychology and Classroom Interventions,” Oxford Review of Education 35 (2009): 293–311.

91 Elementary teachers start each day with “What went well?”: J. M. F. Eades, Classroom Tales: Using Storytelling to Build Emotional, Social, and Academic Skills Across the Primary Curriculum (London: Jessica Kingsley, 2005).

Chapter 6: GRIT, Character, and Achievement: A New Theory of Intelligence

102 he died suddenly at age fifty-nine in 2005: M. Silver, “John P. Sabini (1947–2005),” American Psychologist 6 (2006): 1025.

102 it is a legitimate form of moral sanction but at a less punitive level than legal sanction: J. P. Sabini and M. Silver, “Moral Reproach and Moral Action,” Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 8 (1978): 103–23.

102 Summerbridge Cambridge: N. J. Heller, “Students-Turned-Teachers Help Middle Schoolers Get Ahead in School,” Harvard Crimson, July 25, 2003. The Summerbridge programs are now known as the Breakthrough Collaborative programs throughout the United States (and Summerbridge Cambridge is now known as Breakthrough Cambridge). For more information, see www.breakthroughcollaborative.org.

103 Character had long since gone out of fashion in social science: The decline in psychologists’ interest for the notion of character can be traced back to the work of Gordon Allport, one of the founding fathers of the study of personality in the United States. Allport borrowed from John Watson, another psychologist, the distinction between “character” (the self viewed from a moral perspective) and “personality” (the objective self). According to Allport (1921), “psychologists who accept Watson’s view have no right, strictly speaking, to include character study in the province of psychology. It belongs rather to social ethics.” Personality is a morally neutral version of character and thus more appropriate to objective science. Allport urged psychologists to study personality traits and leave character to the province of philosophy.

For a review of Allport’s work on character and personality, see I. A. M. Nicholson, “Gordon Allport, Character, and the ‘Culture of Personality,’ 1897–1937,” History of Psychology 1 (1998): 52–68.

For Allport’s original work on the distinction between character and personality, see G. Allport, “Personality and Character,” Psychological Bulletin 18 (1921): 441–55; G. Allport, “Concepts of Traits and Personality,” Psychological Bulletin 24 (1927): 284–93; G. Allport and P. Vernon, “The Field of Personality,” Psychological Bulletin 27 (1930): 677–730.

103 “better angels of our nature”: Lincoln’s inaugural address can be found at www.bartleby.com/124/pres31.html, as well as in Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2001).

103 The Haymarket Square riot in 1886 in Chicago was a turning point: P. Avrich, The Haymarket Square Tragedy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984).

104 Almost the entire history of twentieth-century psychology: K. S. Bowers, “Situationism in Psychology: An Analysis and a Critique,” Psychological Review 80 (1973): 307–36.

104 giving up character as an explanation of human misbehavior in favor of the environment: J. Sabini and M. Silver, “Lack of Character? Situationism Critiqued,” Ethics 115 (2005): 535–62. Discusses the impact of situationism on the notion of character and on the study of virtue ethics.

107 Together they created Wilson Lodge: University of Chicago Magazine, May–June 2010. Today this brave reaction is also being emulated by University of Chicago professor Sian Beilock, who established a house system for female math and science students to keep them focused on their discipline and encouraged to stay the course. Goheen, incidentally, had snatched up the torch that a previous Princeton president, Woodrow Wilson, dropped in his futile battle against the club system around the turn of the twentieth century.

107 Dickie Freeman and Joel Kupperman, two of the prodigies who starred in Quiz Kids: R. D. Feldman, Whatever Happened to the Quiz Kids? The Perils and Profits of Growing Up Gifted (Lincoln, NE: iUniverse.com, 2000). Ruth Duskin Feldman followed up on the Quiz Kids contestants and later published this volume describing their long-term outcomes, including the achievements of some (for example, Nobel Prize winner James Watson) and the failure of others to realize their potential.

108 IQ correlates almost as high as +.50 with how fast people can do this: I. J. Deary, G. Der, and G. Ford, “Reaction Times and Intelligence Differences: A Population-Based Cohort Study,” Intelligence 29 (2001): 389–99. Deary and colleagues, for instance, tested nine hundred Scottish subjects in their fifties, and found a correlation of .49 between a measure of intelligence and a four-choice reaction-time test.

109 people say she has “great intuitions”: M. E. P. Seligman and M. Kahana, “Unpacking Intuition: A Conjecture,” Perspectives on Psychological Science 4 (2009): 399–402. Intuitions may be a form of enhanced recognition memory (which leads to great speed and the feeling of “automaticity”). This conjecture proposed by Michael Kahana and me implies that intuition may be teachable—for instance, through the use of tools such as massive virtual simulation.

The psychological literature on intuition has also been readably summarized by M. Gladwell, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (New York: Little, Brown, 2005).

110 achievement = skill × effort: A. L. Duckworth, “Achievement = Talent × Effort” (forthcoming). Angela defines skill as the rate of change in achievement per unit effort (in other words, how fast someone can learn something within a defined period, also called the “instantaneous” rate of change). Effort can be most simply thought of as time on task (if that time is spent in a state of high concentration!). Angela’s theory of achievement also takes into account one additional variable: talent. While most people use the terms skill and talent interchangeably, Angela differentiates the two constructs by defining talent as the rate of change in skill per unit effort. In other words, talent is the rate of change of the successive instantaneous rates of change. We consider individuals who can learn faster and better over the long term to be more talented. In contrast, individuals who do not show such acceleration in learning (or even show deceleration) may be skilled but would probably be referred to as less talented.

111 when I should have been reading every word: G. Salomon and T. Globerson. “Skill May Not Be Enough: The Role of Mindfulness in Learning and Transfer,” International Journal of Educational Research 11 (1987): 623–37. Salomon and Globerson noted that there is often a gap between what people can do and what they actually do. They suggest that the notion of mindfulness (in other words, slowness) explains why some individuals realize their full potential and others do not. The authors explain that “increased mindfulness is apparently important where automaticity of skill is not enough” (p. 630). Thus, depending on the type of task and the amount of information already on automatic, a slow, mindful attitude toward learning may be required to succeed.

111 the legendary William K. Estes: A. F. Healy, “APF Gold Medal Awards and Distinguished Teaching of Psychology Award: William K. Estes,” American Psychologist 47 (1992): 855–57.

111 the greatest of the mathematical learning theorists: W. K. Estes, “Towards a Statistical Theory of Learning,” Psychological Review 57 (1950): 94–107. His seminal article.

Almost a half century later, Bower reviewed the major influence of this article on the field of psychology: G. H. Bower, “A Turning Point in Mathematical Learning Theory,” Psychological Review 101 (1994): 290–300.

111 Søren Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling: S. Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling (New York: Classic Books, 2009).

112 Walter Mischel’s classic marshmallow study: W. Mischel, Y. Shoda, and M. I. Rodriguez, “Delay of Gratification in Children,” Science 244 (1989): 933–38.

112 the seed crystal around which the cascade of school failure begins: C. Blair and A. Diamond, “Biological Processes in Prevention and Intervention: Promotion of Self-Regulation and the Prevention of Early School Failure,” Development and Psychopathology 20 (2008): 899–911.

113 Tools of the Mind kids score higher on tests that require executive function: A. Diamond, W. S. Barnett, J. Thomas, and S. Munro, “Preschool Program Improves Cognitive Control,” Science 318 (2007): 1387–88.

See also the coverage of this finding in the popular media: P. Tough, “Can the Right Kinds of Play Teach Self-Control?” New York Times, September 25, 2009.

115 time and effort you spend in deliberate practice: K. A. Ericsson and P. Ward, “Capturing the Naturally Occurring Superior Performance of Experts in the Laboratory,” Current Directions in Psychological Science 16 (2007): 346–50.

116 Self-discipline outpredicts IQ for academic success by a factor of about 2: A. L. Duckworth and M. E. P. Seligman, “Self-Discipline Outdoes IQ in Predicting Academic Performance of Adolescents,” Psychological Science 16 (2005): 939–44.

117 This also solves one of the perennial riddles about the gap in school achievement between girls and boys: A. L. Duckworth and M. E. P. Seligman, “Self-Discipline Gives Girls the Edge: Gender in Self-Discipline, Grades, and Achievement Test Scores,” Journal of Educational Psychology 98 (2006): 198–208.

118 Self-discipline did the same thing for weight gain that it did for grades: A. L. Duckworth, E. Tsukayama, and A. B. Geier, “Self-Controlled Children Stay Leaner in the Transition to Adolescence,” Appetite 54 (2010): 304–8; E. Tsukayama, S. L. Toomey, M. S. Faith, and A. L. Duckworth, “Self-Control as a Protective Factor against Overweight Status in the Transition from Childhood to Adolescence,” Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 164 (2010): 631–5.

118 Roy Baumeister, believes it is the queen of all the virtues: For overviews of Baumeister’s work on self-control, see R. F. Baumeister, M. Gailliot, C. N. DeWall, and M. Oaten, “Self-Regulation and Personality: How Interventions Increase Regulatory Success, and How Depletion Moderates the Effects of Traits on Behavior,” Journal of Personality 74 (2006): 1773–1801; R. F. Baumeister, K. D. Vohs, and D. M. Tice, “The Strength Model of Self-Control,” Current Directions in Psychological Science 16 (2007): 351–55.

118 the combination of very high persistence and high passion for an objective: A. L. Duckworth, C. Peterson, M. D. Matthews, and D. R. Kelly, “Grit: Perseverance and Passion for Long-Term Goals,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 92 (2007): 1087–1101.

119 Charles Murray […] in his magnum opus, Human Accomplishment: C. Murray, Human Accomplishment (New York: HarperCollins, 2003).

120 William Shockley […] found this pattern in the publication of scientific papers: W. Shockley, “On the Statistics of Individual Variations of Productivity in Research Laboratories,” Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers 45 (1957): 279.

121 the following scale: A. L. Duckworth and P. D. Quinn, “Development and Validation of the Short Grit Scale (Grit-S),” Journal of Personality Assessment 91 (2009): 166–74.

125 As psychiatrist Dr. Ed Hallowell says: E. M. Hallowell and P. S. Jensen, Superparenting for ADD: An Innovative Approach to Raising Your Distracted Child (New York: Random House, 2008).

Chapter 7: Army Strong: Comprehensive Soldier Fitness

127 the legendary George Casey: E. Schmitt, “The Reach of War: Man in the News—George William Casey Jr.: A Low-Key Commander with 4 Stars to Tame the Iraqi Furies,” New York Times, July 5, 2004. A short biographical profile written upon George Casey’s nomination as commander of the multinational force in Iraq.

127 author of the brilliant essay “Clausewitz and World War IV,” in the Armed Forces Journal: R. H. Scales, “Clausewitz and World War IV,” Armed Forces Journal (2006). Retrieved November 12, 2009, from www.armedforcesjournal.com/2006/07/1866019.

128 Richard Carmona, the surgeon general of the United States: R. Pear, “Man in the News: A Man of Many Professions—Richard Henry Carmona,” New York Times, March 27, 2002. A short biographical profile.

128 “We spend two trillion dollars every year on health”: A. Sisko, C. Truffer, S. Smith, S. Keehan, J. Cylus, J. A. Poisal, M. K. Clemens, and J. Lizonitz, “Health Spending Projections Through 2018: Recession Effects Add Uncertainty to the Outlook,” Health Affairs 28 (2009): w346–w57. To make things worse, national health spending may increase up to $4.4 trillion per year by 2018, according to experts’ projections.

128 “seventy-five percent of this goes to treating chronic disease”: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Chronic Disease Overview page. Retrieved November 12, 2009, from www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/overview.htm.

129 “in combat for years to come”: G. Casey, “Comprehensive Soldier Fitness: A Vision for Psychological Resilience in the United States Army,” American Psychologist (forthcoming). Much of the material describing CSF is adapted from a special issue of the American Psychologist; guest editors, Martin Seligman and Mike Matthews. General Casey’s article is the lead article.

129 GAT: C. Peterson, N. Park, and C. Castro, “Assessment: The Global Assessment Tool,” American Psychologist (forthcoming). Some of the ideas and some of the wording in this section are derived from these authors.

130 creation of psychological tests: J. E. Driskell and B. Olmstead, “Psychology and the Military: Research Applications and Trends,” American Psychologist 44 (1989): 43–54.

See also T. W. Harrell, “Some History of the Army General Classification Test,” Journal of Applied Psychology 77: 875–78. The AGCT is the successor to the alpha and beta tests used during World War I.

130 the Aviation Psychology Program: J. C. Flanagan, The Aviation Psychology Program in the Army Air Forces (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1948).

130 procedures for selecting and classifying flying personnel: J. C. Flanagan, “The Selection and Classification Program for Aviation Cadets (Aircrew—Bom-bardiers, Pilots, and Navigators),” Journal of Consulting Psychology 6 (1942): 229–39.

133 “catastrophization” items, a cognitive thinking trap: as defined and described by A. T. Beck, A. J. Rush, B. F. Shaw, and G. Emery, Cognitive Therapy of Depression (New York: Guilford Press, 1979).

135 this may reduce the stigma surrounding mental health services: T. M. Greene-Shortbridge, T. W. Britt, and C. A. Castro, “The Stigma of Mental Health Problems in the Military,” Military Medicine 2 (2007): 157–61. The issue of reducing stigma among soldiers around mental health issues is critical and timely, as highlighted in this article by Colonel Carl Castro and colleagues.

137 The Soldier Fitness Tracker assesses soldiers: M. Fravell, K. Nasser, and R. Cornum, “The Soldier Fitness Tracker: Global Delivery of Comprehensive Soldier Fitness,” American Psychologist (forthcoming). Some of the ideas and some of the wording in this section are derived from these authors.

138 Here are the Global Assessment Tool scores for a male lieutenant: This example is from C. Peterson, N. Park, and C. Castro, “Assessment: The Global Assessment Tool,” American Psychologist (forthcoming). Some of the ideas and some of the wording in this section are derived from these authors.

139 Emotional fitness module: S. Algoe and B. Fredrickson, “Emotional Fitness and the Movement of Affective Science from Lab to Field,” American Psychologist (forthcoming). Some of the ideas and some of the wording in this section are derived from these authors.

140 regard them as “resource builders”: B. L. Fredrickson, “The Role of Positive Emotions in Positive Psychology: The Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotions,” American Psychologist 56 (2001): 218–26.

142 Family fitness module: J. M. Gottman and J. S. Gottman, “The Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Program: Family Skills Component,” American Psychologist (forthcoming). Some of the ideas and some of the wording in this section are derived from these authors.

142 The majority of suicides by our soldiers in Iraq involve a failed relationship with a spouse or partner: United States Medical Corps Mental Health Advisory Team, Fifth Annual Investigation (MHAT-V) (2008). The report is available at www.armymedicine.army.mil/reports/mhat/mhat_v/
Redacted1-MHATV-4-FEB-2008-Overview.pdf.

143 Social fitness module: J. Cacioppo, H. Reis, and A. Zautra, “Social Resilience: The Protective Effects of Social Fitness,” American Psychologist (forthcoming).

143 “this would be natural selection”: C. R. Darwin, The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (Lawrence, KS: Digireads.com, 2009), p. 110.

143 the devastating effects of loneliness itself: J. T. Cacioppo and W. Patrick, Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection (New York: W. W. Norton, 2008). See Chapter 9.

144 The Selfish Gene: R. Dawkins, The Selfish Gene (New York: Oxford University Press, 1976).

144 This convoluted argument flies in the face of ordinary altruism: H. Gintis, S. Bowles, R. Boyd, and E. Fehr, “Explaining Altruistic Behavior in Humans,” Evolution and Human Behavior 24 (2003): 153–72. A review of the various theories that have been invoked to explain altruism.

144 Christians hiding Jews in their attics: several psychologists have tried to find out what distinguished “righteous gentiles” who protected Jews during World War II from others. See for example M. P. Oliner and S. P. Oliner, The Altruistic Personality: Rescuers of Jews in Nazi Europe (New York: Free Press, 1988); E. Midlarsky, S. F. Jones, and R. P. Corley, “Personality Correlates of Heroic Rescue During the Holocaust,” Journal of Personality 73 (2005): 907–34; K. R. Monroe, “Cracking the Code of Genocide: The Moral Psychology of Rescuers, Bystanders, and Nazis During the Holocaust,” Political Psychology 29 (2008): 699–736.

144 “Born to be good”: D. Keltner, Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life (New York: W. W. Norton, 2009).

145 the most forceful advocates of group selection: as cited earlier, D. S. Wilson and E. O. Wilson, “Rethinking the Theoretical Foundation of Sociobiology,” Quarterly Review of Biology 82 (2007): 327–48; see also E. Sober and D. S. Wilson, Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998).

145 consider the lowly chicken: D. S. Wilson, Evolution for Everyone (New York: Random House, 2007).

145 egg production does indeed become massive: C. Goodnight and L. Stevens, “Experimental Studies of Group Selection: What Do They Tell Us About Group Selection in Nature?” American Naturalist 150 (1997): S59–79.

145 factories, fortresses, and systems of communication: E. O. Wilson, “One Giant Leap: How Insects Achieved Altruism and Colonial Life,” Bioscience 58 (2008): 17–25.

146 allowing us to empathize: M. Iacoboni, “Imitation, Empathy, and Mirror Neurons,” Annual Review of Psychology 60 (2009): 653–70. A review of the evidence on the role of mirror neurons in empathy; see also S. Blakeslee, “Cells That Read Minds,” New York Times, January 10, 2006.

146 Happiness was even more contagious than loneliness or depression: J. H. Fowler and N. A. Christakis, “Dynamic Spread of Happiness in a Large Social Network: Longitudinal Analysis over 20 Years in the Framingham Heart Study,” British Medical Journal 337 (2008): a2338.

148 Karen Reivich and I wanted to predict: D. C. Rettew, K. Reivich, C. Peterson, D. A. Seligman, and M. E .P. Seligman, “Professional Baseball, Basketball, and Explanatory Style: Predicting Performance in the Major League” (unpublished manuscript).

149 Spiritual fitness module: K. Pargament and P. Sweeney, “Building Spiritual Fitness in the Army,” American Psychologist (forthcoming). Some of the ideas and some of the wording in this section are derived from these authors.

149 spirituality goes hand in hand with: for reviews of the many benefits of spirituality, see D. G. Myers, “The Funds, Friends, and Faith of Happy People,” American Psychologist 55 (2000): 56–67; D. G. Myers, “Religion and Human Flourishing,” in The Science of Subjective Well-Being, eds. M. Eid and R. J. Larsen (New York: Guilford Press, 2008), pp. 323–43; G. E. Vaillant, Spiritual Evolution: A Scientific Defense of Faith (New York: Broadway Books, 2008); E. A. Greenfield, G. E. Vaillant, N. E. Marks, “Do Formal Religious Participation and Spiritual Perceptions Have Independent Linkages with Diverse Dimensions of Psychological Well-Being?” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 50 (2009): 196–212.

149 Hugh Thompson’s: H. C. Kelman and V. L. Hamilton, Crimes of Obedience: Towards a Social Psychology of Authority and Responsibility (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1990). See Chapter 1.

150 Ken Pargament: K. I. Pargament, Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy: Understanding and Addressing the Sacred (New York: Guilford, 2007); K. I. Pargament, The Psychology of Religion and Coping: Theory, Research, Practice (New York: Guilford Press, 1997). Ken Pargament is the author of two books on spirituality and psychology.

151 openness to alternate viewpoints: K. Pargament and P. Sweeney, “Building Spiritual Fitness in the Army,” American Psychologist (forthcoming).

Chapter 8: Turning Trauma into Growth

152 Shell shock and combat fatigue: J. D. Kinzie and R. R. Goetz, “A Century of Controversy Surrounding Posttraumatic Stress-Spectrum Syndromes: The Impact on DSM-III and DSM-IV,” Journal of Traumatic Stress 9 (1996): 159–79. A comprehensive description of the history of the post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis and the controversies surrounding it.

152 Kai Erikson, son of the famed psychologist Erik Erikson, wrote a landmark book about this disaster: K. T. Erikson, Everything in Its Path: Destruction of Community in the Buffalo Creek Flood (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1978).

153 Wilbur, his wife, Deborah, and their four children managed to survive: The stories of the Buffalo Creek disaster are from M. Seligman, E. Walker, and D. Rosenhan. Abnormal Psychology, 4th ed. (New York: W. W. Norton, 2001, pp. 183–84).

155 Here from the fourth edition are the latest criteria for diagnosing a case of PTSD: American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th ed., text revision (Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association, 1994).

156 Here is a composite case of PTSD from the Iraq War: M. J. Friedman, “Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Among Military Returnees from Afghanistan and Iraq,” American Journal of Psychiatry 163 (2006): 586–93.

157 with as many as 20 percent of the soldiers said to be afflicted: C. S. Milliken, J. L. Auchterlonie, and C. W. Hoge, “Longitudinal Assessment of Mental Health Problems Among Active and Reserve Component Soldiers Returning from Iraq,” Journal of the American Medical Association 298 (2007): 2141–48. In a study of almost 90,000 soldiers having served in Iraq, Charles Milliken and colleagues found that 20.3 percent of active-duty soldiers required mental health treatment six months after returning home. Among reserve component soldiers, this figure reached 42.4 percent.

C. W. Hoge, A. Terhakopian, C. A. Castro, S. C. Messer, and C. C. Engel, “Association of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder with Somatic Symptoms, Health Care Visits, and Absenteeism Among Iraq War Veterans,” American Journal of Psychiatry 164 (2007): 150–53. Charles Hoge and colleagues also surveyed over 2,800 Iraq veterans and found that 17 percent met criteria for PTSD. The disorder was associated with poorer health, more absenteeism from work, and more severe physical symptoms overall. These results held even when analyses controlled for physical injuries.

C. W. Hoge, C. A. Castro, C. S. Messer, D. McGurk, D. I. Cotting, and R. L. Koffman, “Combat Duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mental Health Problems and Barriers to Care,” New England Journal of Medicine 351 (2004): 13–22. Finally, in a previous study of more than 6,000 soldiers, Charles Hoge and colleagues found that the rate of PTSD in soldiers deployed to Iraq (16 percent to 17 percent) was higher than the rate of those deployed to Afghanistan (11 percent). This difference was explained by the fact that exposure to combat was greater in soldiers deployed to Iraq. These statistics will therefore probably change as the U.S. military strategy focuses more on Afghanistan. This study also highlighted that veterans’ perception of stigma was a barrier to receiving proper care for their PTSD symptoms.

157 resilience—a relatively brief episode of depression plus anxiety, followed by a return to the previous level of functioning: as explained by A. C. McFarlane and R. Yehuda, “Resilience, Vulnerability, and the Course of Posttraumatic Reactions,” in Traumatic Stress, eds. B. A. van der Kolk, A. C. McFarlane, and L. Weisaeth (New York: Guilford Press, 1996), pp. 155–81.

G. Bonanno, “Loss, Trauma, and Human Resilience: Have We Underestimated the Human Capacity to Thrive After Extremely Aversive Events?” American Psychologist 59 (2004): 20–28; G. Bonanno, “Resilience in the Face of Potential Trauma,” Current Directions in Psychological Science 14 (2005): 135–38; G. Bonanno, The Other Side of Sadness (New York: Basic Books, 2009). In two studies, George Bonanno from Columbia University reviewed the evidence demonstrating that most people exposed to trauma do not develop PTSD. Because early studies of trauma focused on individuals seeking treatment (and therefore experiencing psychological problems), Bonanno argues that researchers have grossly underestimated the potential for human resilience. Until recently, resilience was therefore considered to be the exception—or worse, a pathological state (in other words, the individual is not “working through” his or her problems). Bonanno also makes a useful distinction between recovery (returning to pretrauma functioning levels after having experienced significant symptoms) and resilience (the ability to maintain a stable equilibrium in the face of adverse events). According to him, resilience is even more common than recovery.

R. C. Kessler, A. Sonnega, E. Bromet, M. Hughes, and C. B. Nelson, “Post-traumatic Stress Disorder in the National Comorbidity Survey,” Archives of General Psychiatry 52 (1995): 1048–60. Epidemiological studies of the prevalence of PTSD in trauma-exposed populations have confirmed that recovery and/or resilience are the norm, not the exception. In a landmark study using data from the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS), Kessler and colleagues noted that although 50 percent to 60 percent of the U.S. population is exposed to trauma at some point, only about 8 percent will meet full criteria for PTSD.

S. Galea, H. Resnick, J. Ahern, J. Gold, M. Bucuvalas, D. Kilpatrick, J. Stuber, and D. Vlahov, “Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Manhattan, New York City, After the September 11th Terrorist Attacks,” Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine 73 (2002): 340–52; S. Galea, D. Vlahov, H. Resnick, J. Ahern, E. Susser, J. Gold, M. Bucuvalas, and D. Kilpatrick, “Trends of Probable Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in New York City After the September 11 Terrorist Attacks,” American Journal of Epidemiology 158 (2003): 514–24.

The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks also provided useful information about the rates of resilience and recovery and PTSD in exposed populations. Sandro Galea and colleagues (2003) conducted surveys in New York City and found that one month after the event, 7.5 percent of Manhattan residents met criteria for PTSD (17.4 percent had subsyndromal symptoms). Six months later, the prevalence dropped to .6 percent (4.7 percent for subsyndromal symptoms). In contrast, 40 percent of Manhattan residents did not exhibit a single PTSD symptom after the attacks (Galea and colleagues, 2002).

157 less than 10 percent had heard of post-traumatic growth: P. Sweeney and M. Matthews (personal communication, 2009).

158 a symptom of normal grief and mourning: R. M. Glass, “Is Grief a Disease? Sometimes,” Journal of the American Medical Association 293 (2005): 2658–60. A discussion of the difference between normal and pathological grief.

158 much more susceptible to PTSD: L. S. Elwood, K. S. Hahn, B. O. Olatunji, and N. L. Williams, “Cognitive Vulnerabilities to the Development of PTSD: A Review of Four Vulnerabilities and the Proposal of an Integrative Vulnerability Model,” Clinical Psychology Review 29 (2009): 87–100. A review of risk factors associated with PTSD.

158 were diagnosed with PTSD: C. A. LeardMann, T. C. Smith, B. Smith, T. S. Wells, and M. A. K. Ryan, “Baseline Self-Reported Functional Health and Vulnerability to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder After Combat Deployment: Prospective US Military Cohort Study,” British Medical Journal 338 (2009): b1273.

158 that kind of money can lead to exaggerated and prolonged symptoms: B. L. Green, M. C. Grace, J. D. Lindy, G. C. Gleser, A. C. Leonard, and T. L. Kramer, “Buffalo Creek Survivors in the Second Decade: Comparison with Unexposed and Nonlitigant Groups,” Journal of Applied Social Psychology 20 (1990): 1033–50. This hypothesis has been investigated by Bonnie Green and colleagues, who compared litigant and nonlitigant survivors of the Buffalo Creek disaster on reported symptoms of psychopathology, and found no differences. Both groups of survivors however showed higher rates of anxiety, depression, and hostility than a third group of control (nonexposed) subjects. These results suggest that, in the case of the Buffalo Creek disaster, the financial incentives may not have exacerbated symptoms. 159 We do not know what effect this substantial incentive is having on the diagnosis of PTSD from our wars: R. A. Kulka, W. E. Schlenger, J. A. Fairbank, R. L. Hough, B. K. Jordan, and C. R. Marmar, et al., Trauma and the Vietnam War Generation: Report of Findings from the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study (New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1990); B. P. Dohrenwend, J. B. Turner, N. A. Turse, B. G. Adams, K. C. Koenen, and R. Marshall, “The Psychological Risks of Vietnam for U.S. Veterans: A Revisit with New Data and Methods,” Science 313 (2006): 979–82; R. J. McNally, “Can We Solve the Mysteries of the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study?” Journal of Anxiety Disorders 21 (2007): 192–200; B. C. Frueh, J. D. Elhai, P. B. Gold, J. Monnier, K. M. Magruder, T. M. Keane, and G. W. Arana, “Disability Compensation Seeking Among Veterans Evaluated for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder,” Psychiatric Services 54 (2003): 84–91; B. C. Frueh, A. L. Grubaugh, J. D. Elhai, and T. C. Buckley, “U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Disability Policies for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Administrative Trends and Implications for Treatment, Rehabilitation, and Research,” American Journal of Public Health 97 (2007): 2143–45.

The effect of financial incentives on Vietnam veterans has been extensively studied by Christopher Frueh and colleagues, after the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study (NVVRS) reported that more than 30 percent of all men having served in Vietnam suffered from PTSD at one point or another (Kulka, et al., 1990). Many researchers and historians commented that the NVVRS probably overstated the prevalence of PTSD among Vietnam veterans (for instance, Dohrenwend, et al., 2006; McNally, 2007).

Frueh and colleagues conducted a series of studies investigating the effects of disability payments on PTSD symptom reports among Vietnam veterans. They found, for instance, that veterans who sought disability payments were more likely to report more distress across domains of psychopathology than another group of veterans matched on PTSD diagnoses (and who did not seek compensation). Frueh and colleagues (2007) therefore recommended that the VA disability policies be modified to encourage gainful employment while providing the best possible care and retaining a safety net for veterans who need it.

159 British soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan: N. Fear, M. Jones, and D. Murphy, et al., “What Are the Consequences of Deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan on the Mental Health of the UK Armed Forces? A Cohort Study,” Lancet 375 (2010): 1783–97. Why is there such a large discrepancy between British and U.S. rates of PTSD? Is it different exposure to combat? Is it different disability pay for PTSD? Is it different diagnostic stringencies? Is it different gaming of the medical system for British versus American soldiers? Is it different psychological fitness? No one knows yet.

159 I have combed the Civil War writings and can find almost no PTSD […] from that horrific epoch: K. C. Hyams, S. Wignall, and R. Roswell, “War Syndromes and Their Evaluation: From the US Civil War to the Persian Gulf War,” Annals of Internal Medicine 125 (1996): 398–405; J. M. Da Costa, “On Irritable Heart: A Clinical Study of a Form of Functional Cardiac Disorder and its Consequences,” American Journal of the Medical Sciences 61 (1871): 17–52. In their review of the various war syndromes that have afflicted American soldiers throughout history, Hyams and colleagues note that soldiers involved in the U.S. Civil War most often suffered from “irritable heart syndrome,” a disorder first described by Da Costa. This syndrome included shortness of breath, palpitations, chest pain, headache, and diarrhea, as well as other symptoms, in the absence of an obvious physical condition. Hyams and colleagues rightly point out that these symptoms could have been caused by various physical as well as psychological factors.

159 My doubts are about overdiagnosis: D. Dobbs, “The Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Trap,” Scientific American (April 2009): 64–69; P. McHugh, Try to Remember (New York: Dana, 2008). Richard McNally, from Harvard University, perhaps summarized best the situation (as cited by Dobbs, p. 65): “PTSD is a real thing, without a doubt. But as a diagnosis, PTSD has become so flabby and overstretched, so much a part of the culture, that we are almost certainly mistaking other problems for PTSD and thus mistreating them.” The lay reader will appreciate Dobbs’s recent summary of the existing evidence for the causes and consequences of the overdiagnosis of PTSD.

See also Paul McHugh’s Try to Remember for an insightful portrait of the psychiatric politics around PTSD.

159 In the long run, they arrive at a higher level of psychological functioning than before: R. G. Tedeschi and L. G. Calhoun, “Posttraumatic Growth: Conceptual Foundations and Empirical Evidence,” Psychological Inquiry 15 (2004): 1–18. Reviews the concept of post-traumatic growth.

159 “What does not kill me makes me stronger”: F. Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols: Or How to Philosophize with a Hammer (London: Penguin Classics, 1990), p. 33.

159 individuals who’d experienced one awful event had more intense strengths: C. Peterson, N. Park, N. Pole, W. D’Andrea, and M. E. P. Seligman. “Strengths of Character and Posttraumatic Growth,” Journal of Traumatic Stress 21 (2008): 214–17.

160 Rhonda Cornum: R. Cornum and P. Copeland, She Went to War: The Rhonda Cornum Story (New York: Presidio Press, 1992).

161 PTG module: R. Tedeschi and R. McNally, “Can We Facilitate Posttraumatic Growth in Combat Veterans?” American Psychologist (forthcoming). Some of the ideas and some of the wording in this section are derived from these authors.

161 often follow tragedy: R. G. Tedeschi and L. G. Calhoun, “Posttraumatic Growth: Conceptual Foundations and Empirical Evidence,” Psychological Inquiry 15 (2004): 1–18. These domains of growth have been supported by empirical evidence, as reviewed here.

See also S. Joseph, “Growth Following Adversity: Positive Psychological Perspectives on Posttraumatic Stress,” Psychological Topics 18 (2009): 335–44.

161 61.1 percent of imprisoned airmen tortured for years by the North Vietnamese said that they had benefited psychologically: W. H. Sledge, J. A. Boydstun, and A. J. Rabe, “Self-Concept Changes Related to War Captivity,” Archives of General Psychiatry 37 (1980): 430–43.

161 Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI): R. G. Tedeschi and L. G. Calhoun, “The Posttraumatic Growth Inventory: Measuring the Positive Legacy of Trauma,” Journal of Traumatic Stress 9 (1996): 455–71.

162 five elements that are known to contribute to post-traumatic growth: R. G. Tedeschi and L. G. Calhoun, Facilitating Posttraumatic Growth: A Clinician’s Guide (Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 1999). Richard Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun have published a guide to help clinicians maximize the potential for post-traumatic growth in their clients.

See also R. G. Tedeschi and L. G. Calhoun, “A Clinical Approach to Posttraumatic Growth,” in Positive Psychology in Practice, eds. P. A. Linley and S. Joseph (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley and Sons, 2004), pp. 405–19.

163 Master Resilience Training: K. Reivich, M. Seligman, and S. McBride, “Resilience Training,” American Psychologist (forthcoming). Some of the ideas and some of the wording in this section are derived from these authors. Karen Reivich’s creativity and energy is the backbone of this section of the book and of Master Resilience Training generally.

163 “ordinary schoolteachers can be taught to deliver resilience training effectively to adolescents”: S. M. Brunwasser and J. E. Gillham, “A Meta-Analytic Review of the Penn Resiliency Programme” (paper presented at the Society for Prevention Research, San Francisco, CA, May 2008).

164 the author of Happiness : R. Layard, Happiness: Lessons from a New Science (London: Penguin, 2005).

164 he argues that government policy should be measured not by increases in gross domestic product but by increases in global well-being: R. Layard, “Well-Being Measurement and Public Policy,” in Measuring the Subjective Well-Being of Nations: National Accounts of Time Use and Well-Being, ed. A. Krueger (Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2008).

164 “I want to take it to the schools of the United Kingdom”: R. Layard, “The Teaching of Values” (Ashby Lecture, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England, May 2, 2007). In a lecture delivered at the University of Cambridge in 2007, Layard outlined his ideas on positive education and how it might be incorporated in the British educational system. According to Layard, the effects of a large-scale program should be even larger than those observed in controlled scientific trials “because each child taking the programme would interact with other children who had also taken it. If this applied to all children in a city, it should be possible to modify the whole youth culture of that city.”

165 “you are to make resilience training happen for the whole army”: B. Carey, “Mental Stress Training Is Planned for U.S. Soldiers,” New York Times, August 17, 2009.

167 the well-validated program we use to teach civilian teachers: the Penn Resiliency Program, as reviewed in Chapter 6.

167 Albert Ellis’s ABCDE model: as described in A. Ellis, J. Gordon, M. Neenan, and S. Palmer, Stress Counseling: A Rational Emotive Behaviour Approach (London: Cassell, 1997).

A. Ellis, “Fundamentals of Rational-Emotive Therapy for the 1990s,” in Innovations in Rational-Emotive Therapy, eds. W. Dryden and L. K. Hill (New York: Sage, 1993).

167 thinking traps: another term for cognitive biases or distortions, as described by A. T. Beck, A. J. Rush, B. F. Shaw, and G. Emery, Cognitive Therapy of Depression (New York: Guilford Press, 1979).

168 “icebergs,” deeply held beliefs: also referred to as “core beliefs,” as defined in J. S. Beck, Cognitive Therapy: Basics and Beyond (New York: Guilford Press, 1995).

J. E. Young, J. L. Rygh, A. D. Weinberger, and A. T. Beck, “Cognitive Therapy for Depression,” in Clinical Handbook of Psychological Disorders: A Step-by-Step Treatment Manual, 4th ed., ed. D. H. Barlow (New York: Guilford Press, 2008), pp. 250–305.

170 Gabriele Prati and Luca Pietrantoni: G. Prati and L. Pietrantoni, “Optimism, Social Support, and Coping Strategies as Factors Contributing to Posttraumatic Growth: A Meta-Analysis,” Journal of Loss and Trauma 14 (2009): 364–88.

171 people who habitually acknowledge and express gratitude: R. A. Emmons, Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2007).

173 four styles of responding: E. L. Gable, H. T. Reis, E. A. Impett, and E.  R.  Asher, “What Do You Do When Things Go Right? The Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Benefits of Sharing Positive Events,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 87 (2004): 228–45.

173 Dr. Carol Dweck’s work on effective praise: M. L. Kamins and C. Dweck, “Person Versus Process Praise and Criticism: Implications for Contingent Self-Worth and Coping,” Developmental Psychology 35 (1999): 835–47.

174 One poignant area is exploring how they talk to their own families: Much research has been conducted on the well-being of military families. Examples include L. M. Burrell, G. A. Adams, D. B. Durand, and C. A. Castro, “The Impact of Military Lifestyle Demands on Well-Being, Army, and Family Outcomes,” Armed Forces and Society 33 (2006): 43–58; B. R. Karney and J. S. Crown, Families Under Stress: An Assessment of Data, Theory, and Research on Marriage and Divorce in the Military (Arlington, VA: Rand Corporation, 2007).

175 “brainwashes” soldiers with positive thinking: B. Levine, (July 29, 2010). American Soldiers Brainwashed with “Positive Thinking.” Retrieved August 2, 2010, from http://www.alternet.org/world/147637/american_soldiers_
brainwashed_with_%22positive_thinking%22?page=1.

175 war on terror: J. Mayer, The Dark Side (New York: Doubleday, 2008), pp. 163–64. In the wildest blog I have seen, Thierry Meyssan (May 20, 2010, voltairenet.org) wrote that I “supervised the torture experiments on Guantánamo prisoners. The navy formed a high-powered medical team. In particular, it invited Professor Seligman to Guantánamo … It was he who oversaw the experiments on human guinea pigs. U.S. torturers, under Professor Seligman’s supervision, experimented and perfected every single coercive technique.” This is wholly false and baseless.

176 James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen: S. Shane, “2 U.S. Architects of Harsh Tactics in 9/11’s Wake,” New York Times, August 11, 2009.

181 The outcome of our training: P. Lester and S. McBride, “Bringing Science to Bear: An Empirical Assessment of the Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Program,” American Psychologist (forthcoming). Some of the ideas and some of the wording in this section are derived from these authors.

Chapter 9: Positive Physical Health: The Biology of Optimism

183 mental health is not just the absence of mental illness: M. Jahoda, Current Concepts of Positive Mental Health (New York: Basic Books, 1958). This idea was proposed long ago by Marie Jahoda’s pioneering book Current Concepts of Positive Mental Health. She proposed then that “it [is] unlikely that the concept of mental health can be usefully defined by identifying it with the absence of disease […] The absence of disease may constitute a necessary, but not sufficient, criterion for mental health” (pp. 14–15).

C. L. M. Keyes, “Mental Illness and/or Mental Health? Investigating Axioms of the Complete State Model of Health,” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 73 (2005): 539–48. Since then, empirical research has supported the idea that mental health and mental illness are not the two ends of one continuum but rather constitute separate dimensions of human functioning. Corey Keyes, therefore, proposed a two continua model of mental illness and mental health. Using confirmatory factor analysis, he found strong support for his model in a representative survey of more than three thousand American adults. Keyes found that only around 17 percent of his sample had “complete mental” health (low mental illness and high mental health). Around 10 percent were languishing without suffering from a disorder (low mental illness and low mental health); this group corresponds to those described in Chapter 8 as “not […] mentally ill, but […] stuck and languishing in life.” Finally, around 15 percent were mentally healthy while also suffering from a psychological disorder. These last two groups do not fit the traditional model positing a continuum of mental health and illness, and their existence, therefore, supports Keyes’s two continua model.

See also C. L. M. Keyes and S. J. Lopez, “Toward a Science of Mental Health: Positive Directions in Diagnosis and Interventions,” in Handbook of Positive Psychology, eds. C. R. Snyder and S. J. Lopez (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 45–59.

P. J. Greenspoon and D. H. Saklofske, “Toward an Integration of Subjective Well-Being and Psychopathology,” Social Indicators Research 54 (2001): 81–108; S. M. Suldo and E. J. Shaffer, “Looking Beyond Psychopathology: The Dual-Factor Model of Mental Health in Youth,” School Psychology Review 37 (2008): 52–68. Studying children, Greenspoon and Saklofske proposed a similar model called the “dual factor system” (DFS). The researchers tested and verified the validity of the DFS on a sample of more than 400 schoolchildren (grades three through six). Next, Shannon Suldo and Emily Shaffer (2008) replicated and extended Greenspoon and Saklofske’s findings. Using a sample 349 middle school students, they found that 57 percent of the children enjoyed “complete mental health” (high SWB, low psychopathology); 13 percent were vulnerable (low SWB, low psychopathology); 13 percent were symptomatic but content (high SWB, high psychopathology); and the remaining 17 percent were troubled (low SWB, high psychopathology). The researchers also found that children with “complete mental health” had a large number of favorable outcomes compared to others (for example, better reading skills, school attendance, academic success, social support).

Subjective well-being (or positive mental health), therefore, needs to be taken into account to understand optimal functioning in both children/adolescents and adults.

183 (more than 95 percent of its budget goes to curtail illness): www.nih.gov/about/budget.htm. You can plow through it and try to make your own estimate. My plowing suggests that 5 percent to health as opposed to illness is conservative.

184 “Is health a real thing”: There have been numerous serious efforts to move medicine in the direction of a definition of positive health and away from a mere absence of illness definition of health. Health promotion, prevention, and the Wellness movement are examples. One article that reviews the history usefully is R. Manderscheid, C. Ryff, and E. Freeman, et al., “Evolving Definitions of Mental Illness and Wellness,” Preventing Chronic Disease 7 (2010): 1–6.

184 discovered “learned helplessness” in the mid-1960s: M. E. P. Seligman, Helplessness: On Depression, Development, and Death (San Francisco, CA: Freeman, 1975). A comprehensive account and complete bibliography of the helplessness experiments in animals. See also S. F. Maier and M. E. P. Seligman, “Learned Helplessness: Theory and Evidence,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 105 (1976): 3–46.

C. Peterson, S. F. Maier, and M. E. P. Seligman, Learned Helplessness: A Theory for the Age of Personal Control (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993); J. B. Overmier, “On Learned Helplessness,” Integrative Physiological and Behavioral Science 37 (2002): 4–8. Debates about the theory of learned helplessness have continued up to this day. For a short introduction to the nature of these debates, as well as a list of relevant references, see Overmier.

184 in the paradigm human experiment, carried out by Donald Hiroto: D. S. Hiroto, “Locus of Control and Learned Helplessness,” Journal of Experimental Psychology 102 (1974): 187–93.

See also D. S. Hiroto and M. E. P. Seligman, “Generality of Learned Helplessness in Man,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 31 (1975): 311–27.

187 this experiment—published in Science in 1982: M. A. Visintainer, J. R. Volpicelli, and M. E. P. Seligman, “Tumor Rejection in Rats After Inescapable or Escapable Shock,” Science 216 (1982): 437–39.

187 the last time that I have been involved in an animal experiment: S. Plous, “Attitudes Towards the Use of Animals in Psychological Research and Education: Results from a National Survey of Psychologists,” American Psychologist 51 (1996): 1167–80. Plous conducted an interesting survey of members of the American Psychological Association and found that the majority of the four thousand respondents disapproved of studies that involve inflicting pain or death on animals. Plous quotes reasons given by respondents to disapprove of animal research, including reasons related to external validity: “I’m a neuropsychologist and have worked in rat and monkey labs. However, I’m increasingly convinced about differences between animal and human brains and behavior and think we should usually study humans”; “I used to conduct research with animals. I believe that much of the pain I inflicted on animals was not justified by the value of the data.” Plous also quotes defendants of animal research, thus showing that this debate has certainly not been resolved.

188 I have come to think that establishing external validity is an even more important but much more nettlesome scientific inference than establishing internal validity: For additional comments on the relative importance of internal and external validity in psychological research, see M. E. P. Seligman, “Science as an Ally of Practice,” American Psychologist 51 (1996): 1072–79; M. E. P. Seligman, “The Effectiveness of Psychotherapy: The Consumer Reports Study,” American Psychologist 50 (1995): 965–74.

189 It was that observation that led to the field called learned optimism: M. E. P. Seligman, Learned Optimism (New York: Knopf, 1991).

189 we looked systematically at the way that the people whom we could not make helpless interpreted bad events: L. Y. Abramson, M. E. P. Seligman, and J. D. Teasdale, “Learned Helplessness in Humans: Critique and Reformulation,” Journal of Abnormal Psychology 87 (1978): 49–74.

189 we devised questionnaires to measure optimism: C. Peterson, A. Semmel, C. VonBaeyer, L. Y. Abramson, G. I. Metalsky, and M. E. P. Seligman, “The Attributional Style Questionnaire,” Cognitive Therapy and Research 6 (1982): 287–300.

189 as well as content analytic techniques: P. Schulman, C. Castellon, and M. E. P. Seligman, “Assessing Explanatory Style: The Content Analysis of Verbatim Explanations and the Attributional Style Questionnaire,” Behaviour Research and Therapy 27 (1989): 505–12.

189 We found that pessimists: for a review, see G. M. Buchanan and M. E. P. Seligman, eds., Explanatory Style (Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1995).

190 Only optimism […] predicted a second heart attack: G. M. Buchanan and M. E. P. Seligman, “Explanatory Style and Heart Disease,” in Explanatory Style, eds. G. M. Buchanan and M. E. P. Seligman (Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1995), pp. 225–32.

191 Men with the most optimistic style […] had 25 percent less CVD than average: L. Kubzansky, D. Sparrow, P. Vokonas, and I. Kawachi, “Is the Glass Half Empty or Half Full? A Prospective Study of Optimism and Coronary Heart Disease in the Normative Aging Study,” Psychosomatic Medicine 63 (2001): 910–16. 191 Death from cardiovascular disease was strongly influenced by a sense of mastery: P. G. Surtees, N. W. J. Wainwright, R. Luben, K.-T. Khaw, and N. E. Day, “Mastery, Sense of Coherence, and Mortality: Evidence of Independent Associations from the EPIC-Norfolk Prospective Cohort Study,” Health Psychology 25 (2006): 102–10.

192 Pessimism was very strongly associated with mortality: E. Giltay, J. Geleijnse, F. Zitman, T. Hoekstra, and E. Schouten, “Dispositional Optimism and All-Cause and Cardiovascular Mortality in a Prospective Cohort of Elderly Dutch Men and Women,” Archives of General Psychiatry 61 (2004): 1126–35. 192 if positive emotion worked through optimism: K. W. Davidson, E. Mostofsky, and W. Whang, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy: Positive Affect and Reduced 10-Year Incident Coronary Heart Disease: The Canadian Nova Scotia Health Survey,” European Heart Journal (2010). Retrieved August 2, 2010, from doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehp603.

B. Pitt and P. J. Deldin, “Depression and Cardiovascular Disease: Have a Happy Day—Just Smile!” European Heart Journal (2010). Retrieved August 2, 2010, from doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehq031.

193 The optimists (the top quarter) had 30 percent fewer coronary deaths than the pessimists: H. Tindle, Y. F. Chang, L. Kuller, J. E. Manson, J. G. Robinson, M. C. Rosal, G. J. Siegle, and K. A. Matthews, “Optimism, Cynical Hostility, and Incident Coronary Heart Disease and Mortality in the Women’s Health Initiative,” Circulation 118 (2009): 1145–46.

193 Something Worth Living For: The three Japanese studies of ikigai are T. Sone, N. Nakaya, K. Ohmori, T. Shimazu, M. Higashiguchi, and M. Kakizaki, et al., “Sense of Life Worth Living (Ikigai) and Mortality in Japan: Ohsaki Study,” Psychosomatic Medicine 70 (2008): 709–15; K. Shirai, H. Iso, T. Ohira, A. Ikeda, H. Noda, and K. Honjo, et al., “Perceived Level of Life Enjoyment and Risks of Cardiovascular Disease Incidence and Mortality: The Japan Public Health Center–Based Study, Circulation 120 (2009): 956–63; K. Tanno. K. Sakata, M. Ohsawa, T. Onoda, K. Itai, and Y. Yaegashi, et al., “Associations of Ikigai as a Positive Psychological Factor with All-Cause Mortality and Cause-Specific Mortality Among Middle-Aged and Elderly Japanese People: Findings from the Japan Collaborative Cohort Study,” Journal of Psychosomatic Research 67 (2009): 67–75.

See also P. Boyle, A. Buchman, L. Barnes, and D. Bennett, “Effect of a Purpose in Life on Risk of Incident Alzheimer Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment in Community-Dwelling Older Persons,” Archives of General Psychiatry 67 (2010): 304–10.

195 they report fewer symptoms: This phenomenon has been described in the following articles: D. Watson and J. W. Pennebaker, “Health Complaints, Stress, and Distress: Exploring the Central Role of Negative Affectivity,” Psychological Review 96 (1989): 234–54; S. Cohen, W. J. Doyle, D. P. Skoner, P. Fireman, J. M. Gwaltney, and J. T. Newsom, “State and Trait Negative Affect as Predictors of Objective and Subjective Symptoms of Respiratory Viral Infections,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 68 (1999): 159–69; S. Cohen, W. J. Doyle, R. B. Turner, C. M. Alper, and D. P. Skoner, “Emotional Style and Susceptibility to the Common Cold,” Psychosomatic Medicine 65 (2003): 652–57.

197 None developed sores, leading to the conclusion that they must have already been infected: The story is told in E. Kraepelin, “General Paresis,” Nervous and Mental Disease Monograph 14 (1923).

199 People with high positive emotion before the rhinovirus develop fewer colds: S. Cohen, W. J. Doyle, R. B. Turner, C. M. Alper, and D. P. Skoner, “Emotional Style and Susceptibility to the Common Cold,” Psychosomatic Medicine 65 (2003): 652–57.

200 The higher the positive emotion (PES), the lower the interleukin-6 (IL-6): W. J. Doyle, D. A. Gentile, and S. Cohen, “Emotional Style, Nasal Cytokines, and Illness Expression After Experimental Rhinovirus Exposure,” Brain, Behavior, and Immunity 20 (2006): 175–81.

200 Sheldon replicated this study with flu virus as well as cold virus: S. Cohen, C. M. Alper, W. J. Doyle, J. J. Treanor, and R. B. Turner, “Positive Emotional Style Predicts Resistance to Illness After Experimental Exposure to Rhinovirus or Influenza A Virus,” Psychosomatic Medicine 68 (2006): 809–15.

200 “if a crane falls on you, optimism is not of much use”: M. E. P. Seligman, Learned Optimism (New York: Knopf, 1991). The same point is made in Chapter 10 (p. 176): “If you are hit by a Mack truck, your level of optimism is not going to make much difference. If you are hit by a bicycle, however, optimism could play a crucial role. I do not believe that when a patient has such a lethal load of cancer as to be deemed ‘terminal,’ psychological processes can do much good. At the margin, however, when the tumor load is small, when illness is beginning to progress, optimism might spell the difference between life and death.” 201 no measurable effect on prolonging life in patients with inoperable cancer: P. Schofield, D. Ball, and J. Smith, et al., “Optimism and Survival in Lung Carcinoma Patients,” Cancer 100 (2004): 1276–82; P. Novotny, R. Colligan, and B. Szydlo, et al., “A Pessimistic Explanatory Style Is Prognostic for Poor Lung Cancer Survival,” Journal of Thoracic Oncology (forthcoming). Novotny and Colligan, et al., found that optimists survived six months longer than pessimists in a large sample of 534 adults.

201 Ehrenreich recently published: B. Ehrenreich, Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America (New York: Holt, 2009).

201 Smile or Die: B. Ehrenreich, Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World (London: Granta Books, 2009).

201 seven years longer than those not smiling: E. Abel and M. Kruger, “Smile Intensity in Photographs Predicts Longevity,” Psychological Science 20 (2010): 1–3.

202 Evidence is thin: M. Shermer, “Kool-Aid Psychology,” Scientific American 39 (2010): 39. Michael Shermer is founding editor of Skeptic magazine. Coming from a bias to skepticism, I like the premises of the magazine, but in this case, the skeptic-in-chief failed to underpin his skepticism by reviewing the primary literature.

202 eighty-three separate studies of optimism and physical health: H. Rasmussen, M. Scheier, and J. Greenhouse, “Optimism and Physical Health: A Meta-Analytic Review,” Annals of Behavioral Medicine 37 (2009): 239–56.

For a heated exchange about this meta-analysis, see J. Coyne and H. Tennen, “Positive Psychology in Cancer Care: Bad Science, Exaggerated Claims, and Unproven Medicine,” Annals of Behavioral Medicine 39 (2010): 16–26.

L. Aspinwall and R. Tedeschi, “Of Babies and Bathwater: A Reply to Coyne and Tennen’s Views on Positive Psychology and Health,” Annals of Behavioral Medicine 39 (2010): 27–34.

M. Roseman, K. Milette, Y. Zhao, and B. Thombs, “Is Optimism Associated with Physical Health? A Commentary on Rasmussen et al.,” Annals of Behavioral Medicine 39 (2010): 204–6.

M. F. Scheier, J. B. Greenhouse, and H. N. Rasmussen, “Reply to Roseman, Milette, Zhao, and Thombs,” Annals of Behavioral Medicine 39 (2010): 207-09. I will let the scholarly reader judge, but I believe the cancer outcome is still an unsettled empirical issue, and the huge army data set will likely settle it within the next three years.

202 although the effect was smaller than for CVD: H. Tindle, Y. F. Chang, and L. Kuller, et al., “Optimism, Cynical Hostility, and Incident Coronary Heart Disease and Mortality in the Women’s Health Initiative,” Circulation 10 (2009): 1161–67.

203 Yoichi Chida and Andrew Steptoe […] recently published an exemplary comprehensive meta-analysis: Y. Chida and A. Steptoe, “Positive Psychological Well-Being and Mortality: A Quantitative Review of Prospective Observational Studies,” Psychosomatic Medicine 70 (2008): 741–56.

See also J. Xu and R. Roberts, “The Power of Positive Emotions: It’s a Matter of Life or Death—Subjective Well-Being and Longevity Over 28 Years in a General Population,” Health Psychology (forthcoming).

205 there exists only one in the optimism-health literature: G. M. Buchanan, C. A. R. Gardenswartz, and M. E. P. Seligman, “Physical Health Following a Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention,” Prevention and Treatment 2 (1999). Retrieved November 14, 2009, from http://proxy.library.upenn.edu:8457/prevention/
volume2/pre210a.html.

See also M. Charlson, C. Foster, and C. Mancuso, et al., “Randomized Controlled Trials of Positive Affect and Self-Affirmation to Facilitate Healthy Behaviors in Patients with Cardiopulmonary Diseases: Rationale, Trial Design, and Methods,” Contemporary Clinical Trials 28 (2007): 748–62.

206 it was the optimists who gave up smoking: G. E. Vaillant, Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life from the Landmark Harvard Study of Adult Development (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2003).

206 happy people also sleep better than unhappy people: A. Steptoe, S. Dockray, and J. Wardle, “Positive Affect and Psychobiological Processes Relevant to Health,” Journal of Personality 77 (2009): 1747-75.

206 people who have one person whom they would be comfortable calling at three in the morning: G. E. Vaillant, Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life from the Landmark Harvard Study of Adult Development (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2003).

206 lonely people are markedly less healthy than sociable people: J. T. Cacioppo, L. C. Hawkley, L. E. Crawford, J. M. Ernst, M. H. Burleson, R. B. Kowalewski, W. B. Kowalewski, E. Van Cauter, and G. G. Berntson, “Loneliness and Health: Potential Mechanisms, Psychosomatic Medicine 64 (2002): 407–17. J. T. Cacioppo, L. C. Hawkley, and G. G. Berntson, “The Anatomy of Loneliness,” Current Directions in Psychological Science 12 (2003): 71–74.

207 The blood of optimists had a feistier response to threat: L. Kamen-Siegel, J. Rodin, M. E. P. Seligman, and J. Dwyer, “Explanatory Style and Cell-Mediated Immunity in Elderly Men and Women,” Health Psychology 10 (1991): 229–35.

See also S. Segerstrom and S. Sephton, “Optimistic Expectancies and Cell-Mediated Immunity: The Role of Positive Affect,” Psychological Science 21 (2010): 448–55.

207 promote atherosclerosis: See for instance S. A. Everson, G. A. Kaplan, D. E. Goldberg, R. Salonen, and J. T. Salonen, “Hopelessness and 4-Year Progression of Carotid Atherosclerosis: The Kuopio Ischemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study,” Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology 17 (1997): 1490–95.

A. Rozanski, J. A. Blumenthal, and J. Kaplan, “Impact of Psychological Factors on the Pathogenesis of Cardiovascular Disease and Implications for Therapy,” Circulation 99 (1999): 2192–2217.

207 women who score low in feelings of mastery and high in depression have been shown to have worse calcification of the major artery, the trunk-like aorta:

K. A. Matthews, J. F. Owens, D. Edmundowicz, L. Lee, and L. H. Kuller, “Positive and Negative Attributes and Risk for Coronary and Aortic Calcification in Healthy Women,” Psychosomatic Medicine 68 (2006): 355–61.

207 Helpless rats, in the triadic design, develop atherosclerosis at a faster rate than rats that demonstrated mastery: G. M. Buchanan and M. E. P. Seligman, “Explanatory Style and Heart Disease,” in Explanatory Style, eds. G. M. Buchanan and M. E. P. Seligman (Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1995), pp. 225–32.

207 less of a fibrinogen response to stress than those with low positive emotion: A. Steptoe, J. Wardle, and M. Marmot. “Positive Affect and Health-Related Neuroendocrine, Cardiovascular, and Inflammatory Processes,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102 (2005): 6508–12.

208 high heart rate variability are healthier, have less CVD, less depression, and better cognitive abilities: J. Thayer and E. Sternberg, “Beyond Heart Rate Variability: Vagal Regulation of Allostatic Systems,” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1088 (2006): 361–72.

210 Normative Aging Study: See www.nia.nih.gov/ResearchInformation/ScientificResources/
StudyInfo.htm?id=26.

214 Dr. Darwin Labarthe: Darwin Labarthe is also the author of D. R. Labarthe, Epidemiology and Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease, 2nd ed. (Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett, 2010).

215 people who walk ten thousand steps every day markedly lower their risk for heart attack: See for instance P. D. Savage, and P. A. Ades, “Pedometer Step Counts Predict Cardiac Risk Factors at Entry to Cardiac Rehabilitation,” Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation and Prevention 28 (2008): 370–77.

D. M. Bravata, C. Smith-Spangler, V. Sundaram, A. L. Gienger, N. Lin, R. Lewis, C. D. Stave, I. Olkin, and J. R. Sirard, “Using Pedometers to Increase Physical Activity and Improve Health: A Systematic Review,” Journal of the American Medical Association 298 (2007): 2296–2304. A review and meta-analysis of the benefits of walking on health.

215 As Nietzsche tells us, good philosophy always says, “Change your life!”: see the introduction by the editor of F. Nietzsche, W. Kaufmann, and P. Gay, Basic Writings of Nietzsche (New York: Random House, 2000).

216 the real epidemic, the worst killer, is the epidemic of inactivity: D. C. Lee, X. Sui, and S. N. Blair, “Does Physical Activity Ameliorate the Health Hazards of Obesity?” British Journal of Sports Medicine 43 (2009): 49–51. Reviews Steve Blair’s work on obesity and physical activity.

216 Poor physical fitness correlates strongly with all-cause mortality, and particularly with cardiovascular disease: X. Sui, J. N. Laditka, J. W. Hardin, and S. N. Blair, “Estimated Functional Capacity Predicts Mortality in Older Adults,” Journal of the American Geriatric Society 55 (2007): 1940–47.

217 Here is a representative one: X. Sui, J. N. Laditka, M. J. LaMonte, J. W. Hardin, N. Chase, S. P. Hooker, S. P., and S. N. Blair, “Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Adiposity as Mortality Predictors in Older Adults,” Journal of the American Medical Association 298 (2007): 2507–16.

218 exercise will not make you much thinner: J. Cloud, “Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin,” Time, August 9, 2009.

218 The surgeon general’s 2008 report: www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/sgr/index.htm (1999).

219 (The real danger point is fewer than 5,000 steps a day): C. Tudor-Locke and D. R. Bassett, “How Many Steps/Day Are Enough? Preliminary Pedometer Indices for Public Health,” Sports Medicine 34 (2004): 1–8. Based on previous evidence, Tudor-Locke and Bassett suggested the following indices to evaluate pedometer-determined physical activity: fewer than 5,000 steps a day indicates that individuals have a sedentary lifestyle (which, as noted before, is associated with a wide array of negative health outcomes). Individuals who take 5,000 to 7,499 steps a day are considered “low active.” Those who take 7,500 to 9,999 steps a day are considered “somewhat active.” The cutoff for classifying individuals as “active” is 10,000 steps a day. Those who take more than 12,500 steps a day are considered “highly active.”

Chapter 10: The Politics and Economics of Well-Being

221 When politicians run for office, they campaign about what they will do, or have done, for the economy: For an interesting discussion of the role of the economy in the 2008 presidential election, see the symposium in PS: Political Science and Politics 42, no. 3 (2009), including the articles R. S. Erikson, “The American Voter and the Economy, 2008,” PS: Political Science and Politics 42 (2009): 467–71; M. S. Lewis-Beck and R. Nadeau, “Obama and the Economy in 2008,” PS: Political Science and Politics 42 (2009): 479–83.

222 perhaps an overabundance, of goods and services: as described by G. Easterbrook, The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse (New York: Random House, 2003).

222 Ed Diener and I published an article: E. Diener and Seligman, M. E. P., “Beyond Money: Toward an Economy of Well-Being,” Psychological Science in the Public Interest 5 (2004): 1–31.

223 Life satisfaction in the United States has been flat for fifty years even though GDP has tripled: E. Diener and Seligman, M. E. P., “Beyond Money: Toward an Economy of Well-Being,” Psychological Science in the Public Interest 5 (2004): 1–31.

See also E. Zencey, “G.D.P. R.I.P.,” New York Times, August 9, 2009.

223 Depression rates have increased tenfold: The two major studies that found the epidemic of depression are L. Robins, J. Helzer, M. Weissman, H. Orvaschel, E. Gruenberg, J. Burke, and D. Regier, “Lifetime Prevalence of Specific Psychiatric Disorders in Three Sites,” Archives of General Psychiatry 41 (1984): 949–58; G. Klerman, P. Lavori, J. Rice, T. Reich, J. Endicott, N. Andreasen, M. Keller, and R. Hirschfeld, “Birth Cohort Trends in Rates of Major Depressive Disorder Among Relatives of Patients with Affective Disorder,” Archives of General Psychiatry 42 (1985): 689–93.

223 Rates of anxiety have also risen: J. M. Twenge, “The Age of Anxiety? The Birth Cohort Change in Anxiety and Neuroticism, 1952–1993,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 79 (2000): 1007–21.

223 Social connectedness in our nation has dropped: R. Putnam, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001).

223 trust is a major predictor of well-being: J. F. Helliwell, “How’s Life? Combining Individual and National Variables to Explain Subjective Well-Being,” Economic Modeling 20 (2003): 331–60.

223 There is an enormous literature on money and happiness: For a review, see R. Biswas-Diener, “Material Wealth and Subjective Well-Being,” in The Science of Subjective Well-Being (New York: Guilford Press, 2008).

See also E. Diener and R. Biswas-Diener, “Will Money Increase Subjective Well-Being?” A Literature Review and Guide to Needed Research,” Social Indicators Research 57 (2002): 119–69.

Finally, for a discussion of the relationship between money and happiness between nations, see E. Diener and S. Oishi, “Money and Happiness: Income and Subjective Well-Being Across Nations,” in Culture and Subjective Well-Being, eds. E. Diener and E. M. Suh (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000), pp. 185–218.

223 In the graph: A. Deaton, “Income, Health, and Well-Being Around the World: Evidence from the Gallup World Poll,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 22 (2008): 53–72.

224 This is the venerable “Easterlin paradox”: R. A. Easterlin, “Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot?” in Nations and Households in Economic Growth: Essays in Honour of Moses Abramovitz (New York: Academic Press, 1974); R. A. Easterlin, “Will Raising the Incomes of All Increase the Happiness of All?” Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 27 (1995): 35–47.

224 it has been challenged recently by my young colleagues at Penn, Justin Wolfers and Betsey Stevenson: J. Wolfers and B. Stevenson, “Economic Growth and Subjective Well-Being: Reassessing the Easterlin Paradox,” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (2008): 1–87.

226 Life Satisfaction for Various Groups: See E. Diener and M. E. P. Seligman, “Beyond Money: Toward an Economy of Well-Being,” Psychological Science in the Public Interest 5 (2004): 1–31.

227 these two components, mood and judgment, are influenced differentially by income: as shown by E. Diener, D. Kahneman, R. Arora, J. Harter, and W. Tov, “Income’s Differential Influence on Judgments of Life Versus Affective Well-Being,” in E. Diener, Assessing Well-Being: The Collected Works of Ed Diener (New York: Springer, 2009), pp. 233–46.

227 There are fifty-two nations for which substantial time series analyses of subjective well-being (SWB) exist from 1981 to 2007: R. Inglehart, R. Foa, and C. Welzel, “Development, Freedom, and Rising Happiness: A Global Perspective (1981–2007),” Perspectives on Psychological Science 3 (2008): 264–85.

227 some very instructive anomalies appear: R. Inglehart, R. Foa, and C. Welzel, “Development, Freedom, and Rising Happiness: A Global Perspective (1981–2007),” Perspectives on Psychological Science 3 (2008): 264–85.

227 Poor people in Calcutta: See R. Biswas-Diener and E. Diener, “Making the Best of a Bad Situation: Satisfaction in the Slums of Calcutta,” Social Indicators Research 55 (2001): 329–52; R. Biswas-Diener and E. Diener, “The Subjective Well-Being of the Homeless, and Lessons for Happiness,” Social Indicators Research 76 (2006): 185–205.

227 Utah is much happier than its income suggests: See P. J. Rentfrow, C. Mellander, and R. Florida, “Happy States of America: A State-Level Analysis of Psychological, Economic, and Social Well-Being,” Journal of Research in Personality 43 (2009): 1073–82.

229 “The Importance of What We Care About”: H. Frankfurt, “The Importance of What We Care About,” Synthese 53 (1982): 257–72.

229 “On Bullshit”: H. G. Frankfurt, On Bullshit (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005).

229 “functional autonomy of motives”: G. W. Allport, “The Functional Autonomy of Motives,” American Journal of Psychology 50 (1937): 141–56.

230 My solution was “prepared” Pavlovian conditioning: M. E. P. Seligman and J. L. Hager, eds., Biological Boundaries of Learning (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1972).

230 This is called the Garcia effect: J. Garcia and R. A. Koelling, “Relation of Cue to Consequence in Avoidance Learning,” Psychonomic Science 4 (1966): 123–24; J. Garcia, B. K. McGowan, F. R. Ervui, and R. A. Koelling, “Cues: Their Relative Effectiveness as a Function of the Reinforcer,” Science 760 (1968): 794–95.

230 the sauce béarnaise phenomenon: M. E. P. Seligman and J. L. Hager, “Biological Boundaries of Learning: The Sauce-Bearnaise Syndrome,” Psychology Today 6 (August 1972): 59–61, 84–87.

230 specific fears run in families: See for instance I. Skre, S. Onstad, S. Torgersen, D. R. Philos, S. Lygren, and E. Kringlen, “The Heritability of Common Phobic Fear: A Twin Study of a Clinical Sample,” Journal of Anxiety Disorders 14 (2000): 549–62.

230 identical twins are more concordant for depression […] than fraternal twins: P. F. Sullivan, M. C. Neale, and K. S. Kendler, “Genetic Epidemiology of Major Depression: Review and Meta-Analysis,” American Journal of Psychiatry 157 (2000): 1552–62.

232 experiences bring more well-being than material goods of the same price: L. Van Boven and T. Gilovich, “To Do or to Have? That Is the Question,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 85 (2003): 1193–1202; L. Van Boven, “Experientialism, Materialism, and the Pursuit of Happiness,” Review of General Psychology 9 (2005): 132–42.

233 baseline statistics for other projects that resemble theirs: D. Kahneman and D. Lovallo, “Timid Choices and Bold Forecasts: A Cognitive Perspective on Risk Taking,” Management Science 39 (1993): 17–23; D. Lovallo and D. Kahneman, “Delusions of Success: How Optimism Undermines Executives’ Decisions,” Harvard Business Review 81 (2003): 56–63.

233 “How Positive Thinking Destroyed the Economy”: See Chapter 7 in B. Ehrenreich, Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America (New York: Holt, 2009).

234 (George Soros […] calls it “reflexive reality”): G. Soros, The Age of Fallibility (Perseus, 2006).

236 Sandra Murray […] has done an extraordinary set of studies on good marriage: For a review, see S. L. Murray, J. G. Holmes, and D. W. Griffin, “Reflections on the Self-Fulfilling Effects of Positive Illusions,” Psychological Inquiry 14 (2003): 289–95.

See also S. L. Murray, J. G. Holmes, D. Dolderman, and D. W. Griffin, “What the Motivated Mind Sees: Comparing Friends’ Perspectives to Married Partners’ Views of Each Other,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 36 (2000): 600–20; S. L. Murray, J. G. Holmes, and D. W. Griffin, “The Self-Fulfilling Nature of Positive Illusions in Romantic Relationships: Love Is Not Blind, but Prescient,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 71 (1996): 1155–80.

237 “one damn thing after another”: A. J. Toynbee, A Study of History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1961). The historian Arnold Toynbee is credited for having said that history is not “one damn thing after another,” a thesis he defended in his classic A Study of History, a twelve-volume opus describing and analyzing the rise, development, and decay of more than twenty civilizations.

238 Huppert and Timothy So surveyed 43,000 adults: T. So and F. Huppert, “What Percentage of People in Europe Are Flourishing and What Characterizes Them? (July 23, 2009). Retrieved October 19, 2009, from www.isqols2009.istitutodeglinnocenti.it/Content_en/
Huppert.pdf.

See also E. Diener and W. Tov, “Well-Being on Planet Earth,” Psychological Topics 18 (2009): 213–19; D. Bok, The Politics of Happiness: What Government Can Learn from New Research on Well-Being (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2009); C. Keyes, “Promoting and Protecting Mental Health as Flourishing,” American Psychologist 62 (2007): 95–108.

239 Notice that such criteria are not merely subjective: The importance of correlating subjective measures with objective indicators is underscored by A. Oswald and S. Wu, “Objective Confirmation of Subjective Measures of Human Well-Being: Evidence from the U.S.A.,” Science 327 (2010): 576–78.

240 how to weight income disparity within a nation: M. Berg and R. Veenhoven, “Income Inequality and Happiness in 119 Nations,” in Social Policy and Happiness in Europe, ed. Bent Greve (Cheltenham, UK: Edgar Elgar, 2010). This is an example in which political leanings and the data are at odds and are presently duking it out. The left holds that wide income disparity is unjust and that taxing the very rich to reduce it ought to make people happier. It points to Denmark, perennial number one nation in life satisfaction, as an example. Ruut Veenhoven, however, has actually gathered worldwide data on this. In his World Database of Happiness (worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl), he correlates size of income disparity with happiness and finds zero relationship. So taxing Bill Gates even more heavily will likely not affect your mood or your life satisfaction.

241 happiness turns out to be more contagious than depression: J. H. Fowler and N. A. Christakis, “Dynamic Spread of Happiness in a Large Social Network: Longitudinal Analysis over 20 Years in the Framingham Heart Study,” British Medical Journal 337 (2008): a2338. James Fowler and Nicholas Christakis recently showed that people’s happiness depends on the happiness of those to whom they are connected. They followed 4,739 participants over twenty years and found that happiness clusters (that is, groups of happy people socially connected) could be explained by the spreading of happiness rather than by a tendency for happy individuals to associate.

See also J. Fowler and N. Christakis, “Cooperative Behavior Cascades in Human Social Networks,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107 (2010): 5334–38.