Deck 16: Positive Psychology

Question 1

The founding of positive psychology has been attributed to

A) a 5-year-old who pointed out that if she could stop whining, her father could stop being a grouch.
B) a past president of the American Psychological Association.
C) an epiphany about how we raise children by nurturing their strengths.
D) all of the above.

Answer 1

all of the above.

Question 2

Lianne argued that much of psychology focuses on negative aspects. She is looking for an approach that accepts the reality of negative states, but includes experiences such as awe. Lianne should investigate_____psychology.

A) cognitive
B) happiology
C) positive
D) Seligism

Answer 2

positive

Question 3

People's attitudes toward hope, resilience, and spirituality are examples of

A) positive institutions.
B) positive individual traits.
C) positive thinking.
D) positive subjective experiences.

Answer 3

positive individual traits.

Question 4

Good moods, happiness, and love are examples of

A) positive individual traits.
B) positive subjective experiences.
C) positive objective experiences.
D) positive thinking.

Question 5

The positive but private feelings and thoughts people have about themselves and events in their lives are

A) cognitive epiphanies.
B) cognitive dissonance.
C) positive subjective experiences.
D) positive individual traits.

Question 6

Brian is looking for a safe and supportive community. In another way, he is searching for a

A) positive subjective experience.
B) positive individual trait.
C) therapy group.
D) positive institution.

Question 7

Positive institutions studied in positive psychology include all of the following EXCEPT

A) safe and supportive neighborhoods.
B) close-knit families.
C) all religious institutions.
D) good work environments.

Question 8

A person who has low well-being and low mental health is said to be

A) languishing.
B) mentally incompetent.
C) a negative thinker.
D) brooding.

Question 9

When studying positive psychology, we should look

A) only at new research.
B) both older research and newer research.
C) only at research occurring after 1998.
D) There is no research on positive psychology.

Question 10

Positive psychology requires a shift in perspective toward

A) blind optimism.
B) the equivalent of putting on rose-colored glasses.
C) helping people harness their strengths, virtues, and other good qualities to enhance their lives.
D) denying that psychological suffering exists.

Question 11

Positive psychology has been said to be a change in the_____for the discipline of psychology.

A) educational requirements
B) zeitgeist
C) diagnosis of disorders
D) research goals

Question 12

Marin wants to study positive psychology. She has determined that her best approach would be to examine research

A) that relates to positive psychology questions, regardless of date of the research.
B) published before 1998.
C) done after 1998.
D) that uses positive psychology in the title of the study.

Question 13

According to your text, positive psychology pursues_____lines of inquiry.

A) three
B) four
C) five
D) unlimited

Question 14

Which of the following theoretical orientations is most similar to positive psychology?

A) Humanism.
B) Behaviorism.
C) Psychodynamic.
D) Evolutionary.

Question 15

Before 1998, psychologists were ignoring the questions of positive psychology.

Question 16

The most common positive subjective state is

A) happiness.
B) sensual pleasure.
C) job satisfaction.
D) a good relationship.

Question 17

Founders of positive psychology describe it as a change in the focus of psychology from preoccupation with only repairing the worst things in life to also building positive qualities.

Question 18

Which of the following is NOT a line of inquiry in positive psychology?

A) Positive subjective experiences.
B) Positive individual traits.
C) Positive institutions.
D) Mental disorders.

Question 19

_____is a social and intellectual movement within the discipline of psychology that focuses on human strengths and how people can flourish and be successful.

A) Behaviorism
B) Cognitive psychology
C) Psychoanalysis
D) Positive psychology

Question 20

Martin Seligman developed positive psychology

A) in response to criticism from cognitive psychologists.
B) as a counterweight to the discipline's negatively oriented history.
C) to make the discipline of psychology more popular among the general public.
D) as a political strategy designed to appease nonclinical psychologists.

Question 21

A mood is

A) an emotion.
B) less distinct than an emotion.
C) a specific response to an experience.
D) less long-lasting than an emotion.

Question 22

Isen and colleagues found that people who saw a funny film before solving a problem creatively were_____ than those seeing a neutral film.

A) slower at solving the problem
B) faster at solving the problem
C) more likely to solve the problem correctly
D) solved the problem faster, but incorrectly

Question 23

Daniel is in a good mood. He is likely to be all of the following EXCEPT

A) more agreeable.
B) more helpful.
C) more aggressive.
D) a better decision-maker.

Question 24

Joan is relaxing on the beach and feeling contented. She is experiencing

A) zeitgeist.
B) a positive emotion.
C) the negative emotion of worrying about things like skin cancer.
D) a positive mood.

Question 25

According to Pronin and Jacobs, people feel_____ when thoughts are quick and varied and_____when thoughts are plodding and repetitive.

A) excited; anxious
B) elated; dejected
C) depressed; anxious
D) anxious; depressed

Question 26

Carol heard a sound in the dark bushes behind her psychology building as she went to her car one evening. She began to feel fear. She was MOST likely experiencing a

A) negative mood.
B) positive emotion.
C) hallucination
D) negative emotion.

Question 27

When people reflect upon past experiences of satisfaction or contentment, they are

A) living in a fantasy.
B) able to recall a subjective state.
C) unable to move from a neutral state to a more positive one if it has been too far in the past.
D) probably suffering from a delusional disorder.

Question 28

_____are powerful, largely uncontrollable feelings, accompanied by physiological changes.

A) Positive emotions
B) Emotions
C) Traits
D) Moods

Question 29

Besides good feelings, faster thoughts are also linked with

A) depression.
B) fear.
C) greater risk taking.
D) self-generated mood states.

Question 30

Thoughts that are faster than usual are associated with_____moods, and thoughts that are too fast are associated with_____moods.

A) positive; manic
B) depressive; manic
C) manic; anxious
D) anxious; manic

Question 31

According to Pronin and Jacobs, thought speed is one property of a more general concept called

A) mental motion.
B) thought variability.
C) affect.
D) mood adjustment.

Question 32

Which of the following statements regarding potential reasons for why negative emotions have been studied more exhaustively in the field than positive emotions is LEAST accurate?

A) Negative emotions have survival value.
B) Negative emotions are involved in fight or flight.
C) Negative emotions are less frequent than positive emotions.
D) Negative emotions have evolutionary significance.

Question 33

Positive subjective experiences tend to be

A) focused in the present.
B) rarely researched.
C) unaffected by sensual pleasures.
D) exclusive to the state of happiness.

Question 34

Fredrickson and Branigan's study found that people who watched a film clip eliciting a feeling of_____wrote more items on an activity list afterward than those who viewed a neutral eliciting film.

A) joy
B) anger
C) contentment
D) fear

Question 35

Joseph kept thinking about the argument he had the day before. He found himself feeling more and more worried that he had spoken too harshly, replaying the conversation over and over in his mind, thinking about what else he might have said. He is engaged in something called

A) dejection.
B) rumination.
C) depression.
D) mental motion.

Question 36

Beth is feeling contented with her life. She is more likely to_____than her friend Deanna, who is just going to work and home without much emotional reaction.

A) focus on what makes her happy
B) have a reduced range of possible actions
C) think of future possible activities
D) think of anything that might change her activities

Question 37

Positive emotions can broaden people's cognitive responses by promoting beneficial

A) nonspecific-action tendencies.
B) broaden-and-build tendencies.
C) thought-action tendencies.
D) specific-action tendencies.

Question 38

_____consist of pleasant responses to events that promote connections with others, including subjective states such as euphoria.

A) Positive emotions
B) Negative emotions
C) Positive moods
D) Negative moods

Question 39

The CEO of a hip menswear company is known for his relatively unconventional approaches to running an organization. One of his popular practices is "comedy and coffee" every single Monday. After employees settle into the office between 8:30 a.m. and 9:15 a.m. or so, he summons them over a loudspeaker to the theatre at 9:30 a.m. He shows a movie scene that somehow connects with the week's goals. Employees are shown the scene again, he explains the connections, and employees are challenged to think creatively once they are back in their work pods. Teams work independently and then come together before 10 a.m. MOST likely the CEO shows the comedy scene

A) so that employees experience positive emotion.
B) to encourage a positive institution.
C) because positive affect helps people think unconventionally.
D) to slow down the mental motion of employees.

Question 40

Suppose you have to lead a discussion session in your Introduction to Psychology class. Your professor is grading you according to the total number of novel ideas your classmates offer during your 15-minute discussion session. Aside from bribing your classmates with chocolate, which of the following is MOST important for you to implement?

A) Instructions to share as many good ideas as they have.
B) Instructions to think of a time in which someone wronged them.
C) Instructions to evaluate their idea before sharing it aloud.
D) Instructions to share any idea that comes to mind.

Question 41

Maryanne was told to take a psychology course for her general education requirements. She didn't think she had any interest in psychology, but went along with the choice for the sake of her class schedule and educational goals. Maryanne has discovered that she reads the text and often forgets about the time when studying. As she writes her final paper, she realizes she has not been bored (as she had feared when signing up) and that she has been challenged to improve her knowledge and abilities. Maryanne has developed something intrinsically rewarding called

A) action capable.
B) skill challenged.
C) flow.
D) a passing grade.

Question 42

Positive emotions broaden people's cognitive responses by promoting new and beneficial_____in which established ways of positive thinking are associated with particular acts or behaviors.

A) thought-action tendencies
B) emotion-eliciting tendencies
C) specific-action tendencies
D) neutral emotional state tendencies

Question 43

In the discussion of flow-inducing activities, which of the following does NOT belong?

A) Sports.
B) Chores.
C) Studying.
D) Driving.

Question 44

Flow is something only true artists can experience.

Question 45

People are most likely to experience flow when they are

A) at work.
B) at play.
C) at home.
D) any of these.

Question 46

When flow is achieved, it

A) becomes intrinsically rewarding regardless of the initial reason for the activity.
B) is unlikely to occur again in the same type of activity.
C) is due to an intentional effort.
D) is better to have a high level of skill and low activity for full potential.

Question 47

Louie is a musician who finds playing his violin intrinsically rewarding, and at times, it fully involves him in the present. This feeling of flow is also described as all of the following EXCEPT

A) losing yourself in an activity.
B) being in the zone.
C) minimalist performance.
D) losing a sense of time.

Question 48

Fredrickson, Joiner, and Levenson have supported the , which posits that positive emotions aid the mind and the body by recovering a sense of balance and flexibility following an episode experience of_____emotion.

A) undoing hypothesis; positive
B) broaden-and-build model; negative
C) broaden-and-build model; positive
D) undoing hypothesis; negative

Question 49

Subjective experiences tend to be future focused.

Question 50

Individuals who are so happily engaged in a challenging or interesting activity that they seem to "lose themselves" in it are experiencing the psychological phenomenon called

A) flow.
B) positive emotion.
C) oneness.
D) hope.

Question 51

According to one model of flow, when an activity is monotonous and repetitive, the person is most likely to feel

A) flow.
B) apathy.
C) boredom.
D) anxiety.

Question 52

Imagine that you are reading an autobiography for your Personality Psychology course. You are reading about a former President of the United States (POTUS) who successfully kept his recurring depression under wraps and out of the media's eye during his two presidential terms. One technique, unbeknownst to him, was accomplished by his chief of staff. The teleprompter was modified in some way, but the book does not specify how. Based on the research presented in this chapter, it is MOST likely that the chief of staff did which of the following to the teleprompter?

A) The teleprompter speed was made slower.
B) The teleprompter speed was made faster.
C) The teleprompter text was made larger.
D) The teleprompter text was made smaller.

Question 53

Simone is a budding gymnast. She has been competing for the last five years. Her parents found out that you are becoming more familiar with the Csikszentmihalyi's research on flow, and ask for your advice. In order to help Simone experience the pleasurable state of flow more frequently, you are MOST likely to suggest which of the following to Simone's parents?

A) Have Simone engage in the most challenging floor exercises she has yet to master fully.
B) Have Simone repeat the floor exercises she has long ago mastered.
C) Have Simone practice reasonable but adequately challenging stunts.
D) All of these can equally elicit the flow state.

Question 54

In general, research on personality and flow has found__________; so, it would be reasonable to predict__________.

A) no relationship between personality and flow; anyone can equally experience flow.
B) an inverse relationship between neuroticism and flow; fewer flow experiences among those high in neuroticism.
C) a negative correlation with conscientiousness; highly conscientious people will experience flow more often.
D) that flow experiences can modify personality traits; flow causes more positive personality traits.

Question 55

According to a model of the flow state,_____exists when challenge is too high.

A) relaxation
B) worry
C) boredom
D) anxiety

Question 56

A classmate is taking a Marketing class and has an assignment in which he needs to establish a catchy, but effective slogan for a local gym. An effective slogan in this case is one that could lead to more memberships, more member visits, or both. You mention that Frederickson's "broaden-and-build" model is an appropriate framework for his slogan. Which of the following slogans, in theory, would be MOST appropriate for increasing memberships sold and member visits?

A) "Pump iron and look better naked."
B) "Gym. Tan. While someone else does your laundry."
C) "Exercise. It's how it makes you feel."
D) "Do cardio! (Because you need to.)"

Question 57

According to the undoing hypothesis, if Art meets with Henry after a tough exam, discussing their shared anxiety will undo the effects of the stressor more quickly.

Question 58

The broaden-and-build model proposes that_____people's outlooks and then builds on subsequent learning to develop future emotional and intellectual resources.

A) flow broadens
B) negative emotions broaden
C) positive emotions broaden
D) flexibility broadens

Question 59

To find flow naturally and develop your creative potential, you must find

A) an activity that is not too difficult.
B) a challenging activity that matches your skill level.
C) a challenging activity that is higher than your skill level.
D) any activity you find engaging.

Question 60

Flow is the state of being in which a person

A) experiences a physically challenging and intrinsically rewarding activity.
B) becomes fully involved and engaged in the present time by some interesting, challenging, and intrinsically rewarding activity.
C) automatically engages in an activity that requires little thought or focus.
D) engages in a clear distinction between self and environment.

Question 61

Denise lost her home and all her belongings in a flood. She recognized that her family and others she knows are the most important things in her life. She feels ready to start a new life with her family. This is an example of

A) posttraumatic growth.
B) unrealistic thinking.
C) shock disorder.
D) learned helplessness.

Question 62

_____refers to a cultivated perspective in which people are sensitive to context and focused on the present.

A) Mindlessness
B) Meditation
C) Mindfulness
D) Meaninglessness

Question 63

Joseph goes to his activities every day on autopilot. He gets everything done without much thinking and accomplishes a great deal. His state of mind is termed

A) mindfulness.
B) meditation.
C) mindlessness.
D) meaningless.

Question 64

is a positive individual trait that refers to people's expectations that their goals can be achieved in the future.

A) Wishful thinking
B) Agency
C) Pathway
D) Hope

Question 65

The quality of mindful meditation called_____is being both feeling and understanding the situation of another person in the present time.

A) sympathy
B) empathy
C) letting go
D) openness

Question 66

In positive psychology, the term_____refers to the power to focus on, value, and even boost the enjoyment of almost any experience.

A) resilience
B) savoring
C) mindfulness
D) hope

Question 67

The intensity of savoring is affected by all of the following EXCEPT

A) duration.
B) stress reduction.
C) balanced self-monitoring.
D) simplicity.

Question 68

One form of_____is a disciplined, continuous, and focused contemplation of some object or subject.

A) mindlessness
B) medicated
C) meandering
D) meditation

Question 69

According to Langer, to become more mindful, people need to do all of the following EXCEPT

A) resist the impulse to reduce or control uncertainty in daily life.
B) ignore novel features in their situations and environment.
C) become less prone to evaluate themselves and others.
D) try to override their propensity to perform automatic behavior.

Question 70

Pat is reliable and works to achieve particular ends. Pat is said to possess

A) a positive personality.
B) a subjective state of positivity.
C) similar qualities to most people.
D) positive traits.

Question 71

Positive individual traits can be taught.

Question 72

Some qualities associated with mindful meditation include all of the following EXCEPT

A) nonjudging.
B) trust.
C) sympathy.
D) acceptance.

Question 73

Positive individual traits

A) are people's expectations that their goals can be achieved in the future.
B) account for why some people are happier and psychologically healthier than other people.
C) are a source of distorted judgment.
D) are a learned state of mind.

Question 74

According to Snyder, goal-directed expectations have two components of

A) hope and resilience.
B) gratitude and spirituality.
C) positive individual traits and hope.
D) agency and pathways.

Question 75

_____is a positive trait that is a person's ability to recover and often prosper following some consequential life event.

A) Hope
B) Gratitude
C) Resilience
D) Optimism

Question 76

When people characterize a divorce as a positive experience, it is often evidence that they have achieved posttraumatic growth.

Question 77

People in a state of mindfulness are most likely to be engaged in which of the following?

A) Performing familiar actions.
B) Evaluating the behavior of others.
C) Trying to reduce the uncertainty in a situation.
D) Noticing novel features of a situation.

Question 78

_____involve(s) a person's judgment that his or her goals can be achieved and_____refer(s) to beliefs that successful plans can be crafted to reach the goal.

A) Pathways; optimism
B) Agency; optimism
C) Agency; pathways
D) Pathways; agency

Question 79

Studies by Csikszentmihalyi determined that around_____of people never have a flow-like experience.

A) 5%
B) 15%
C) 25%
D) 35%

Question 80

An important quality of positive traits like agreeableness and reliability is the assumption that they can be

A) shared.
B) reciprocated.
C) taught.
D) eliminated.