PSY336H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Hedonic Treadmill, The Good Life, Duration Neglect
Document Summary
Recap of last week: purpose of positive psychology, to empirically or scientifically study the good life balance out bau/clinical, major determinants of happiness, genetics, circumstances, activities (behavioural, cognitive, or psychological; Looked at year book picture of 114 women from 1958 and 1960: of the 114, 111 were smiling, duchenne-ness varied, duchenne smile = a full-faced smile, smizing. Taken to reflect a more genuine happiness: coded 1-10, m=3. 8, researchers contacted these women and found that duchenne smiles more likely to be married and have satisfying marriages 40 years later. Happiness expressed at time 1 predicts satisfaction with marriage (& marital status) 4 decades later. Peak-end theory: what often influences how positively an experience is encoded/remembered, kahneman (1999, ps in various situations, report throughout and just before end later, summary evaluation. It is not an incorporation of all our memories not a simple sum of all the emotions they had throughout.
