PSYC 305 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Dacher Keltner, Alexithymia, Prosocial Behavior
Document Summary
Some people are more likely to feel happy than others: often termed subjective well-being, 3 components, cognitive appraisal of satisfaction with life, the presence of positive emotions, the absence of negative emotions. Individual differences in happiness: demographic variables account for approx. 10 15% of variance: mccrae & hcosta (1991) happy people tend to be . Spending money on others (prosocial spending) can have a larger positive impact on happiness than spending the same amount on oneself. Rich people are more likely to: cut in front while driving/double park, ignore pedestrians, take candy from a jar marked for children, lie to get money. Alexithymia: a personality construct characterized by difficulty identifying feelings, difficulty describing feelings to other people, and an externally bound cognitive style. Individuals show a marked deficit in experiencing positive emotions, empathy.
