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Scholarly Publications
Positive Psychotherapy (PPT) is a therapeutic approach based on the principles of positive psychology. PPT supplements traditional psychotherapy approaches that focus on deficits. PPT addresses strengths, resources, values and hopes in addition to symptoms, weaknesses, risks and regrets, to facilitate a more balanced understanding of the human experience. This paper makes the case for an alternative approach to psychotherapy that gives equal attention and effort to both negatives and positives. It discusses PPT’s assumptions and describes how PPT exercises work in clinical settings. The paper summarizes results of pilot studies using this approach, discusses caveats in conducting PPT, and suggests potential directions.
Citation: Rashid, T. (2015). Positive psychotherapy: A strength-based approach. The Journal of Positive Psychology,10(1), 25-40. doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2014.920411
A key challenge for well-being interventions is promoting sustained engagement to improve long-term outcomes. One way to increase engagement is to introduce variety. Researchers investigated whether supplementing interventions with items from a person’s social media archive could add variety and increase engagement. Results suggested that supplementing interventions with Facebook content increased engagement, particularly photos, text, and content about friends. The usefulness of the social media content depended on the type of intervention.
Citation: Sosik, V.S., & Cosley, D. (2014). Leveraging social media content to support engagement in positive interventions. Journal of Positive Psychology,(9)5, 428-434. doi:10.1080.17439760.2014.910826
Research indicates that men and women have different reactions to stress, which affects their ability to accurately tune into others. Distinguishing one’s own thoughts and feelings from another person’s plays an important role in crucial social skills, such as understanding and empathy. Under stress, women showed increases in self-other distinction, while men showed decreases. The findings suggest that women flexibly distinguish self and other under stress, enabling accurate social responses, while men respond with increased egocentricity and less adaptive regulation. This has crucial implications for explaining gender differences in social skills such as empathy and prosociality.
Citation: Tomova, L., von Dawans, B., Heinrichs, M., Silani, G., & Lamm, C. Is stress affecting our ability to tune into others? Evidence for gender differences in the effects of stress on self-other distinction. Psychoneuroendocrinology.
The World Happiness Report is a landmark survey of the state of global happiness. The first report was published in 2012, the second in 2013, and the third on April 23, 2015. Leading experts across fields – economics, psychology, survey analysis, national statistics, health, public policy and more – describe how measurements of well-being can be used effectively to assess the progress of nations. The reports review the state of happiness in the world today and show how the new science of happiness explains personal and national variations in happiness. They reflect a new worldwide demand for more attention to happiness as a criteria for government policy.
Read the full report here: http://worldhappiness.report/
Press Articles
From The Huffington Post, April 13, 2015
From The Huffington Post, April 13, 2015
From Bulletin Standard: Connecticut Bulletin Standard Daily Gazette, April 3, 2015
Popular Books
By Tom Rath
Do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day? Chances are, you don't. All too often, our natural talents go untapped. From the cradle to the cubicle, we devote more time to fixing our shortcomings than to developing our strengths. To help people uncover their talents, Gallup introduced the first version of its online assessment, StrengthsFinder, in 2001 which ignited a global conversation and helped millions to discover their top five talents. In its latest national bestseller, StrengthsFinder 2.0, Gallup unveils the new and improved version of its popular assessment, language of 34 themes, and much more (see below for details). While you can read this book in one sitting, you'll use it as a reference for decades. Loaded with hundreds of strategies for applying your strengths, this new book and accompanying website will change the way you look at yourself--and the world around you--forever.
By Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton
The publication of Now, Discover Your Strengths in 2001 launched a worldwide strengths revolution. To date, more than 11 million people have discovered their strengths, and thousands more are discovering theirs every week. Gallup Press has published numerous strengths books, and Gallup Strengths Center has become a worldwide destination for strengths-based development.
By Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman
In First, Break All the Rules, Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman of the Gallup Organization present the remarkable findings of their massive in depth study of great managers. Buckingham and Coffman explain how the best managers select an employee for talent rather than for skills or experience; how they set expectations', how they motivate people by building on each person's unique strengths; and, finally, how great managers find the right fit for each person, not the next rung on the ladder. First, Break All The Rules provides vital performance and career lessons for managers at every level.