Deck 1: What Is Positive Psychology

Question 1

A basic premise of positive psychology is that the field of psychology

A) is out of balance with too much focus on negative human behaviors.
B) needs more effective methods for treating mental illness.
C) has not examined how every "negative" contains a "positive."
D) has placed too much emphasis on genetic determinants, leaving little room for positive change.

Answer 1

is out of balance with too much focus on negative human behaviors.

Question 2

Sigmund Freud had much to do with the belief that

A) positive behaviors are as common as negative ones.
B) human nature is basically good, but society prevents this goodness from being expressed.
C) positive human behaviors have negative motivations underlying them.
D) unconscious motivations for goodness are overridden by self- interested conscious motives.

Answer 2

positive human behaviors have negative motivations underlying them.

Question 3

The idea that the "bad is stronger than the good" comes from research showing that

A) a single negative event can overwhelm a person's coping defenses.
B) negative information and behaviors command more attention and have greater impact than positive ones.
C) it is only through negative life events that people develop the capacity for goodness and achieve health and happiness.
D) from the perspective of evolution, human nature is basically self- centered and focused on self-perpetuation.

Answer 3

negative information and behaviors command more attention and have greater impact than positive ones.

Question 4

For positive psychologists, one problem with the disease model is that it

A) has diverted attention away from genetic causes of mental illness.
B) places too much emphasizes on biological causes and drugs as treatment.
C) has been largely ineffective in defining and treating mental illness.
D) implies that the mental health is the simply the absence of mental illness.

Question 5

Within psychology's recent history, ____________ psychology has been one of the stronger voices for a more positive approach to the study of human behavior.

A) evolutionary
B) psychoanalytic
C) humanistic
D) existential

Question 6

The most recent studies in health psychology are of particular interest to positive psychologists because they suggest that

A) positive emotions may effect our health in ways that are essentially opposite from those for negative emotions.
B) negative emotions are not nearly as damaging to our health as previously thought.
C) positive emotions help during recovery, but do not appear to effect the basic functioning of the immune system before the onset of illness.
D) positive emotions are not connected to our basic biological make-up, but rather develop as a result of experience.

Question 7

Researchers in the Nun Study assessed positive and negative emotions by

A) having nuns keep daily diaries of their emotional experiences.
B) interviewing church officials who knew each nun.
C) mailing questionnaires to each nun in the study.
D) emotional coding of autobiographical sketches written early in the nun's life.

Question 8

The major finding of the Nun Study was that

A) the presence of negative emotions, but not the presence of positive emotions, predicted longevity.
B) cheerful and upbeat nuns lived significantly longer that less cheerful nuns.
C) positive emotions predicted the quality but not the quantity of life.
D) only those nuns who used their positive outlook as a coping resource lived longer.

Question 9

Human resilience refers to

A) neutral response in the face of tragedy.
B) good outcomes despite serious threats and challenge.
C) the ability to recover after working through a traumatic event.
D) the point dividing a distressful from an adaptive response to challenge.

Question 10

One of the more noteworthy findings of survey researchers studying subjective well-being or happiness is that the connection between money and happiness is

A) stronger than we imagine.
B) not evident even among the very poor.
C) overall, very weak except for the very poor.
D) dependent on how a person uses her or his money.

Question 11

Social psychologists have documented one of the most important contributions to well-being, which is

A) the powerful connection between relationships with others and personal happiness.
B) the genetic basis of a happy temperament.
C) the universality of the meaning of happiness.
D) the powerful connection between economic growth and the happiness of a society.

Question 12

To achieve its goal of restoring balance to the discipline of psychology, positive psychology needs further development in research and theory focused on

A) positive behaviors and descriptions of positive mental health.
B) the positive side of negative behaviors.
C) the origins of negative behaviors.
D) how to overcome the negative effects of the disease model.

Question 13

Seligman's three-part description of happiness describes a pleasant life, an engaged life, and a meaningful life. In his analysis a meaningful life derives from

A) events and personal qualities associated with happiness.
B) involvement in activities that express our strengths and interests.
C) going beyond self-interest through involvements in something larger than the self, such as serving others.
D) the inevitable tragedies of life.

Question 14

Your textbook authors define positive psychology as the scientific study of personal qualities, life choices and circumstances, and sociocultural conditions that promote a life well-lived defined by what criteria?

A) happiness, productivity and personal achievement.
B) personal effectiveness, quality relationships and success.
C) happiness, health, and success.
D) happiness, positive health, meaningfulness, and virtue.

Question 15

The emergence of positive psychology in the late 1990s had much to do with cultural trends, or zeitgeist, captured in the phrase

A) tired of the negative.
B) the paradox of affluence.
C) the misery index.
D) money doesn't buy happiness.

Question 16

Is positive psychology opposed to traditional psychology?

A) No - the concern is with what has not be studied not what has been studied.
B) No - positive psychology is just a new area of psychology with no desire to change he field as a whole.
C) Yes - the hope is to replace "negative" traditional psychology with positive psychology.
D) Yes - traditional psychology has done little to help people lead better lives.

Question 17

Does positive psychology serve the status quo by emphasizing the lack of connection between material resources and happiness? Your textbook authors argue the answer is

A) yes, because of the subjective nature of happiness as defined by positive psychologists.
B) no, because issues of happiness, unhappiness, and the distribution of resources within a society are two separate issues.
C) yes, because research shows that the very poor and the very rich are equally happy.
D) no, because everyone has an equal opportunity in our society.