Multiple Choice (1 point a 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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Chapter 2 - The Meaning and Measure of Happiness
18. Positive psychologists argue that national statistics describing how we are doing as a society provide a misleading view of happiness and health because they
A. only measure economic changes.
B. do not involve large enough samples.
C. do not measure happiness and positive mental health or functioning directly.
D. are biased by middle class values.
19. Positive psychologists argue that statistics on the objective facts of people's lives give a misleading view of well-being because
A. the facts of people's lives are not strongly related to their subjective interpretations.
B. the facts do not capture all the relevant objective features of an individual's life.
C. of the many regional and cultural differences that are glossed over by summary statistics.
D. the facts are biased towards the "haves" and do not fairly represent the life circumstances of the "have-nots."
20. The difference between hedonic and eudaimonic conceptions of happiness boils down to the difference between
A. pleasure/happiness and meaning/personal expressiveness.
B. pleasure and happiness.
C. short-term and long-term satisfaction.
D. serving the self and serving others.
21. The word "daimon" in eudaimonia refers to
A. happiness.
B. true self or spirit.
C. God or a transcendent power.
D. personal fate.
22. According to Waterman's studies, eudaimonic enjoyment results from activities that create feelings of
A. relaxation, excitement, and happiness that make us forget our problems.
B. personal expressiveness, meaning, challenge, competence, and growth.
C. spirituality and awe.
D. triumph and superiority.
23. When Waterman had people rate their 5 most self-defining activities according to their level of hedonic and eudaimonic enjoyment, he found that the hedonic and eudaimonic ratings
A. were largely unrelated.
B. showed almost complete overlap.
C. showed substantial overlap (50 to 66%).
D. were negatively correlated.
24. In a series of studies, Laura King and her colleagues examined the relationship between positive affect (e.g., happiness) and sense of meaningfulness or life purpose. Overall, these studies found that
A. the experience of positive affect was consistently related to meaningfulness.
B. positive affect and meaningfulness were unrelated.
C. the experience of positive affect or happiness detracted from a sense of meaningfulness.
D. meaningfulness and happiness showed an inconsistent relationship.
25. Subjective well-being (SWB) is defined and measured by
A. happiness and health.
B. personal expressiveness and happiness.
C. life satisfaction and positive affect .
D. life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect.
26. Harker and Kletner examined the type of smile women showed in their women's college yearbook photographs and related smile-type to life outcomes 30 years later. What kind of smile predicted what life outcomes?
A. Non-Duchenne smilers were generally unhappy and depressed.
B. Duchenne smiles were related to greater health and happiness and more stable and satisfying marriages.
C. Duchenne smiles predicted success and happiness, but were confounded with the effects of physical attractiveness.
D. Duchenne and non-Duchenne smiles only predicted people's general feelings about life and not their actual competence, marital stability/satisfaction or health.
27. The controversy regarding affect (emotion) concerns whether or not positive and negative affect
A. are two ends of a single dimension or two independent dimensions of emotional experience.
B. measures are valid and reliable or contaminated by self-report biases.
C. are adequate representations of people's complex emotional experiences.
D. are both necessary to define happiness or if positive affect is sufficient.
28. According to research by Diener and his colleagues, happiness is built more on the 1.___________of positive emotions than on their 2.______________ .
A. 1. diversity 2. intensity
B. 1. intensity 2. frequency
C. 1. frequency 2. intensity
D. 1. intensity 2. diversity
29. The peak-end rule says that the impact of an emotional experience is determined by
A. the duration and peak-end intensity of the experience.
B. the peak of emotional intensity and the ending intensity and not the duration of the experience.
C. the average of the lowest and highest peak intensity.
D. only the duration because peak and ending intensity make little difference.
30. Experience Sampling Methods (ESM) involve
A. recording "real time" changes in emotional experience and retrospective recording shortly after events occur (e.g., daily diary).
B. global ratings of critical life events that sample the most important experiences in people's lives.
C. recordings of people's emotions and actions by neutral observers.
D. thematic statistical analysis of people's self-reported "best" and "worst" life experiences.
31. The day reconstruction method developed by Kahneman and his colleagues asks people to
A. record their emotional reactions during the day using a small hand- held computer.
B. reconstruct their day as a sequence of episodes or scenes in a film and giving each episode a short name.
C. reconstruct their day around those activities that had the greatest emotional impact.
D. reconstruct their day by specifying what happened and how they felt during each hour after they awoke.
32. The different information that may be gained through Experience Sampling Measures compared to Global Self-Report Surveys is highlighted in the Kahneman et al. study using the day reconstruction method. According to global surveys, raising children is a significant source of 1.________________ for most people. In contrast, Kahneman et al. found that women's day to day (ESM) positive emotional ratings of "taking care of my children" were 2.______________ .
A. 1. regret and frustration 2. very high
B. 1. happiness 2. dependent on the support they got from their husbands.
C. 1. life satisfaction 2. lower than watching TV, shopping or fixing meals
D. 1. life satisfaction 2. were only high on the weekends when they could spend quality time with their kids.
33. According to your text's comparison of Experience Sampling Methods (ESM) and Global Measures, each measure has a "maximal sensitivity" to different influences on well-being. Which of the following best describes these different sensitivities?
A. ESM is most sensitive to stable personality trait influences, while global measures are more sensitive to situational influences.
B. ESM is most sensitive to individual differences in well-being and global measures are more sensitive to commonalities among people.
C. ESM is most sensitive to psychological variables and global measures to social variables.
D. ESM is most sensitive to situational influences and global measures are most sensitive to stable personality trait influences.
34. A criticism made of the hedonic definition and measure of subjective well-being by eudaimonic researchers such as Carol Ryff is that the hedonic view
A. does not specify the basis and meaning of well-being.
B. tells us if people are happy, but not why people they are happy.
C. does not distinguish between happiness and health.
D. all of the above
35. In the model of positive or complete mental health developed by Ryff and Keyes, the dimensions of psychological well-being and social well-being attempt to measure and define the
A. specific aspects or markers of positive functioning.
B. positive side of mental illness.
C. strengths and weaknesses of people dealing with emotional problems.
D. the psychological ingredients for successful mental illness recovery.
36. Self-determination theory specifies three needs as the foundation for well-being. These are
A. autonomy, self-esteem, and nurturance.
B. independence, esteem, and belongingness.
C. autonomy, competence, and relatedness.
D. autonomy, self-esteem, and success.
37. In their 14-day diary study of "what makes a good day," Reis, Sheldon, and colleagues found that needs for relatedness and autonomy were more likely to be satisfied
A. on Friday night.
B. on weekends.
C. in the period following an event that increased a sense of competence.
D. in the period following a decreased sense of competence.
38. In their 14-day diary study of "what makes a good day," Reis, Sheldon and colleagues examined the relationship of need fulfillment to well-being and happiness. Results showed that
A. only trait measures of need fulfillment were related to well-being.
B. only state measures of need fulfillment were related to well-being.
C. both trait and state measures of need fulfillment were related to well- being and relatedness needs had the most impact on daily well-being.
D. both trait and state measures of need fulfillment were related to increased well-being and competence needs had the most impact on daily well-being.
39. According to your textbook authors, a basic difference between hedonic and eudaimonic approaches to understanding happiness and well-being is that
A. hedonic approaches are "research driven" and eudaimonic approaches are "theory driven."
B. hedonic approaches are "theory driven" and eudaimonic approaches are "research driven."
C. hedonic approaches emphasize quantitative measurement and eudaimonic approaches emphasize qualitative measurement.
D. hedonic approaches emphasize qualitative measurement and eudaimonic approaches emphasize quantitative measurement.
41. Based on studies examining the relationship between hedonic and eudaimonic measures of happiness and people's everyday understanding of the meaning of a good life, your textbook authors argue that hedonic and eudaimonic views
A. are two distinct and largely independent ideas about the meaning of happiness.
B. are complementary and interrelated.
C. cannot be compared because relevant research is lacking.
D. have recently been integrated into a single new model of happiness.
Essays ( 3 points a question)
Describe 2 reasons why clinical psychologists are becoming interested in positive psychology.
How does positive psychology complement rather than oppose traditional psychology?
How are hedonic and eudaimonic conceptions complementary and interrelated?