Can I get happier Interventions to increase well-being - Lecture 4 PDF

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Can I get happier? Interventions to increase well-being Sin, N. L., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2009). Enhancing well‐being and alleviating depressive symptoms with positive psychology interventions: A practice‐friendly meta‐analysis. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 65(5), 467-487; Lyubomirsky, S., & Layous, K. (2013). How do simple positive activities increase well-being?. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 22(1), 57-62

Interventions.pdf

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What is a Positive Psychology Intervention? A scientific method used to test the efficacy of an activity in increasing happiness

Examples of Types of Pos-Psy Interventions Strengths Positive writing Life-coaching Goal Training Kindness Optimism

Mindfulness Talking to strangers

Today’s Lecture Testing what makes us happy Your intervention project: Kindness Mindfulness Gratitude Do pos-psy interventions work? How can we optimise their effects?

Testing What Makes Us Happy Basic Methodology of Positive Psychology Intervention

Designing a PPI: Researcher Decisions Recruitment

Comparison group Administration of intervention Measures of well-being – what and when? Manipulation check – did participants do what was asked?

Recruitment Target population? Self selected vs. non self selected? - self-selected: chose to take part (willing volunteers), non self selected: have to take part Do you tell the truth about the purpose of the study? What are the pro’s and con’s of using a self-selected sample (i.e., participants are willing volunteers)? What are the pro’s and con’s of recruiting people to participate in a “happiness study”? - pros self-selected participants are more motivated; cons: you may not be truthful if you are doing it for credits What ethical issues might arise if you chose to recruit participants in this way? deception can occur

Comparison Group

Measures of Well-Being Establishing a reliable baseline?

Which measures to take and when? What else might it be useful to measure?

Instructions for Participants Example Instructions from “kindness intervention“: “In our daily lives, we all perform acts of kindness, generosity, and thoughtfulness—both large and small—for others. Examples include cooking dinner for friends or family, doing a chore for a family member, paying for someone’s coffee in line behind you, visiting an elderly relative, or writing a thank you letter. Tomorrow, you are to perform three nice things for others, all three in one day. These acts of kindness do not need to be for the same person, the person may or may not be aware of the act, and the act may not be similar to the acts listed above. Next week, you will report what nice things you chose to perform.” - (Nelson, Layous, Cole, & Lyubomirsky ,2016)

Manipulation Check Did you do what you were asked to do?

Your Intervention Project Choose a happiness intervention (from a list provided) and try it on yourself (or someone close to you). 6-page report a review of the literature relevant to your chosen intervention explain why you chose that intervention, and why you thought it might work track your well-being over time, and report some basic results reflect on the success of the intervention See “Intervention paper assessment guide” on Moodle for details

Intervention Project Timeline Week 2 (Homework Task): Complete measures of WB. Week 6 (9/11): Workshop - Design your intervention

Week 7 (15/11 – 20/11) : Carry out your Intervention. End of week 7 (21/11): Complete measures of WB. Week 8 (25/11) OR (26/11): Mini lecture - interventions results and analysis Week 9: (30/11) Drop in session to discuss intervention paper

Interventional activities for you to test Acts of Kindness Mindfulness Gratitude

Defining Acts of Kindness “Actions intended to benefit others” (Curry et al., 2018) “A prosocial behaviour is any act with the goal of benefitting another person, and may include everyday kindnesses (e.g., bringing food to an elderly relative), as well as larger efforts to improve the world (e.g., volunteering at a nursing home)” (Nelson, Layous, Cole, & Lyubomirsky , 2016)

Different kindness interventions Other-focused kindness: Do acts of kindness for others (e.g., cooking dinner for others, visiting an elderly relative, paying for someone’s coffee) World kindness: Do acts of kindness to improve the world (e.g., donating to a charity, picking up litter, volunteering) Counting kindness: Keep track of each act of kindness you do and write down the daily number of these acts Recalling kindness: Recall a kind act Ninja kindness: Do other-focused acts of kindness but without being detected (e.g., Send an anonymous gift to a friend; leave a £ in the vending machine)

Kindness and Well-Being Pro-social spending leads to greater happiness than personal spending (lecture 3).

Meta-analysis findings: kindness interventions have a small-to medium effect on WB (Curry et al., 2018). Kindness can benefit recipients well-being and receiving kindness can prompt kindness – i.e., “Paying it Forwards” (Pressman, Kraft & Cross, 2015)

Self-focused vs. other-focused behaviour

Conclusion: Treat others not yourself

Defining Mindfulness “Mindfulness refers to a state of consciousness that is characterised by the selfregulation of attention towards present moment experiences coupled with an accepting, non-judgemental stance towards these experiences” - (Bishop, et al., 2004)

How mindful are you?

The Great Raisin Experience https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2Eo56BLMjM

Different ways to practise mindfulness 1) Breathing 2) Body Scan 3) Mindful walking 4) Mindful eating 5) Loving Kindness Meditation Talis Aspire: How to look after your mental health using mindfulness” (see p.11)

Mindfulness Resource on Moodle Mindfulness sessions led by trained practitioner @Essex On Moodle: https://moodle.essex.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=7649 Contemplative Community @ Uni of Essex Scroll down to “Practising: how can you engage in contemplative practice?”

Introductory Guided Meditations (Body scans, breath work, LKM + more. Varying lengths 3 minutes to 35 minutes)

Mindfulness & Well-Being Trait mindfulness is positively correlated with: positive affect, life satisfaction, and negatively correlated with depression, anxiety and frequency of medical visits - (Brown & Ryan, 2003) 41 patients with early stage prostrate and breast cancer underwent 8 week mindfulness course benefitted from significantly lower levels of mood disturbance & stress (Brown & Ryan, 2002) Meta-analysis (N=209) found small to moderate effects of mindfulness in treating anxiety and depression compared to other active treatments (Bassam et al., 2013) BUT mindfulness may not always be a positive experience for everyone (Farias & Wikholm, 2016)

A Specific type of mindfulness: Savouring “The ability to intensify and prolong positive feelings deliberately by increasing one’s awareness and appreciation of positive experiences.” - (Bryant & Veroff, 2007)

How can I savour good feelings? Different savouring strategies Behavioural display (“Show it”) Mental time travel (“Remember or anticipate it”) Being present (“Pay attention to it”) Capitalising (“Share it”) (Quoidbach et al, 2010)

Savouring & well-being Restricted access

Unlimited access

(''Don't eat chocolate during the next week''

(''Eat as much as you comfortably can'')

(Quoidbach & Dunn, 2012)

Savouring: “I was mindful of the chocolates taste and texture while eating it” “I was looking forward to eating the chocolate” “I plan to tell someone about the chocolate” Research Assistant rated behavioural expressions of chocolate enjoyment

Practising Gratitude – what is it? “The appreciation of what is valuable an meaningful to oneself; it is a general state of thankfulness and/or appreciation” (Sansone & Sansone, 2010)

Different Gratitude Strategies Counting your blessings (at the end of the week, writing down three things for which you were grateful) Journaling about things for which to be grateful Writing/sending a letter to someone for whom you are grateful Writing thank you notes Thinking about someone for whom you are grateful Practicing saying “thank you” in a sincere and meaningful way

If religious, praying about your gratitude

Gratitude & well-being: an intervention study Emmons & McCullough (Study 1; 2003): 10 week study 201 students randomly assigned to either: List 5 blessings per day, once a week List 5 hassles per day once a week List 5 personally impactful events per week Gratitude condition vs. hassles & life events: Felt better about their lives More optimistic about immediate future (next week) Fewer physical complaints Spent more time exercising BUT did *not* differ in scores on PA & NA

Gratitude – links to well-being Trait gratitude linked with personality attributes related to WB, and uniquely linked to SWL (Wood et al., 2008) Gratitude interventions performed as well as, but not better than a psychologically active comparison (Davis et al., 2016)

Do Pos-Psy Interventions Work? Can PPIs improve subjective well-being? Meta Analyses 1. Yes, based on 51 studies: r =.29 (Sin & Lyubomirsky, 2009) 2. Yes, based on 39 studies: r =.17 (Bolier et al., 2013) 3. Yes, based on replicating above 2 meta-analyses more stringently: r =.10 (White, Utti & Holder, 2019) (r =0.1 ‘small’ ; r = 0.3 ‘medium’ ; r = 0.5 ‘large effect size’)

Revisiting The Happiness Pie

Intentional activities offer the most promising route to pursue happiness as they are: episodic and less vulnerable to adaptation (Lyubomirsky, Sheldon & Schkade, 2005)

Optimising the effects of an intervention Positive-Activity Model: 1. Activity Features (e.g. dosage, variety) 2. Person Features (e.g. motivation, effort) 3. Person-activity fit (Lyubomirsky & Layous, 2013)

Activity Features: Dosage Dosage: How often and in what time frame E.g., 5 acts in 1 day every week OR 1 act a day every week?

Dosage: The case of gratitude

(Lyubomirsky, Sheldon & Schkade, 2005)

Activity Features: Variety Should I do the same acts each week or a vary them?

Person-Features Motivation Effort Demographic variables (e.g., age, sex) Personality Initial affective states Culture (Lyubomirsky & Layous, 2013)

Person-Features: Mindsets

Person-Activity Fit Activity Features x Person Features = ☺ But what does “fit” look like? When the activity is perceived as feeling natural, enjoyable, and valued, and not as driven by guilt or because you feel pressured into doing it (Person-Activity Fit Diagnostic; Lyubomirsky, 2007) But what does “fit” look like? (Snow, 1977)

Capitalisation for “comfort zone” people? “I take comfort in familiarity” “My friends say that I am predictable”

Compensation for “experimental” people? “I believe that variety is the spice of life” “I actively pursue experiences I’ve not had before” (Churchyard & Buchanan , 2017) Supportive findings Value-environment fit predicts higher WB Person-activity fit → adherence to activity→higher WB

Non supportive findings Participants matched to a positive activity were not happier than participants randomly assigned to one Positive activities were most effective when they differed from an individuals dominant orientation

Readings: Required Sin, N. L., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2009). Enhancing well‐being and alleviating depressive symptoms with positive psychology interventions: A practice‐friendly meta‐analysis. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 65(5), 467-487 Lyubomirsky, S., & Layous, K. (2013). How do simple positive activities increase well-being?. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 22(1), 57-62....