Positive Character How to improve human behavior? – Environment – Character – Heredity Monism prevailed Pluralism: All three being major contributors in different situations…

Seligman’s Argument While we excuse bad behavior as caused by the environment We don’t excuse good behavior as beyond the individuals doing Excusing individual for their behavior means we are drawn to our past not to our future

Seligman’s Argument “This led psychology to focus on victims and negative emotions and alienation and pathology and tragedy.” Responsibility is a necessary process in within Positive Psychology Undo malignant circumstances and shape character

Intelligence Related to speed Achievement = Skill x Effort Learning to slow think – Exercise our executive function – Improve our focusing and planning – Ignore distractions

Intelligence Mental speed reflects how much knowledge is on automatic… Mental Acceleration is how much new stuff is learned per unit of time devoted to learning. Character → Self-discipline → Deliberate practice → Expertise Self-discipline out predicts IQ for academic success by 2 to 1.

GRIT – An extreme trait of self-discipline – Persistence + a high passion for an objective More education ?↑? GRIT ?↑? More education Older people have more GRIT

Achievement = Skill X Effort Fast Thinking (Skill, Knowledge) time for slow Slow Thinking → Planning and Creativity Rate of Learning → faster accumulation of Knowledge Effort = Time on the task, is a function of GRIT and others, self-control is one

SIGNATURE STRENGTHS Not the same thing as talents Moral traits Can be built Voluntary and involve choices Cannot be squandered Result of choices Evoke admiration

SIGNATURE STRENGTHS VIA Signatures Strengths test on the Authentic Happiness website. – Register – questionnaires and evaluations are free – The VIA is on the bottom of the left hand column – Alternatively, version on page 243 of Flourish.

SIGNATURE STRENGTHS Exercise: – Create a designated time in your schedule – Exercise one or more of your signature strengths in a new way – Write about your experience – How did you feel ?

More Likely Cause Of Death What Would You Guess To Be The Ratio More likely cause of death… AB StrokesAll Accidents TornadoesAsthma Lightning strikeBotulism DiseaseAccidental death AccidentsDiabetes

More Likely Cause Of Death More likely cause of death… AB Strokes 2-1All Accidents TornadoesAsthma 20-1 Lightning strike 52-1Botulism Disease 18-1Accidental death AccidentsDiabetes 4-1

More Likely Cause Of Death More likely cause of death… AB Strokes 2-1All Accidents More Tornadoes MoreAsthma 20-1 Lightning strike 52-1Botulism More Disease 18-1Accidental death More Accidents 300-1Diabetes 4-1

“The lesson is clear: estimates of causes of death are warped by media coverage.” Daniel Kahneman

The Media

DON’T BELIEVE WHAT YOU READ “The man who does not read the newspaper is uninformed; the man who reads the newspaper is misinformed.” Mark Twain

DON’T BELIEVE WHAT YOU READ “The first rule of journalism is not to let the truth in the way of a good story”

The Bad News Media studies: – Bad news far outweighs good news – 17 negative news reports – For every 1 good news report Evolution – People react more quickly to negative words and pictures – Negativity Bias

2 FOR 1 SALE… Watching the market and Well-being Behavioral studies show that in emotional terms a loss of $1 offsets a gain of $2. Data for the Dow from – Daily ↑ 51.6% of days; ↓ 48.4% of days – Monthly ↑ 57.5% of months; ↓ 42.5% of months – Yearly 52 ↑ years 28 ↓ – not quite 2 to 1

Daniel Kahneman “If owning stocks is a long-term project for you, following their changes constantly is a very, very, bad idea. It’s the worst possible thing you can do, because people are so sensitive to short-term losses. If you count your money every day, you’ll be miserable.”

Market Watch The portfolios of investors who trade the most underperform the holdings of those who trade the least by 7.1% per year. Trading is Hazardous to Your Wealth, Journal of Finance, vol. 55, no. 2 April 2000

Next Week Last two weeks Present, emotion happens without having to think about it Past, how we think about past events determines how we feel about them and our satisfaction with our life. Next week we turn to how we think about the future and its influence on whether or not we flourish