Teaching happiness at school: Non-randomised controlled mixed-methods feasibility study on the effectiveness of Personal Well-Being Lessons

The paper presents an educational initiative to develop a separate well-being curriculum for a federation of schools in south-east London. A mixed-methods study was undertaken to evaluate the feasibility of the curriculum run biweekly in Year 7 (age 11–12, N = 96). The study utilised a non-randomised repeated measures design with a control group (N = 68) using general life satisfaction, domain life satisfaction and affect balance as outcome variables. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted with four students, two teachers and the principal of the intervention school. The results indicated significant buffering effect of the intervention in protecting students against the decline of satisfaction with self, satisfaction with friends, positive affect and the increase in negative affect throughout the first year of middle school. The qualitative data shed light on explicit learning, psychological outcomes and challenges associated with the programme. Overall, the data indicate a positive impact of the well-being curriculum.     

Resource diary: A positive writing intervention for promoting well-being and preventing depression in adolescence

Depression in adolescence is a widespread problem and leads to extensive psychosocial impairments. For these reason, a resource diary has been developed as a four-week positive writing intervention. The aims of this intervention were to enhance well-being, to promote emotion regulation and resource realization, as well as to prevent symptoms of depression in adolescence. Seventy-seven students of 8th form were randomized either to a positive writing group (n = 38) or to a neutral writing group (n = 39). At the post-test, the positive writing group showed a lower dysphoric mood, fewer worries and less rumination in comparison with the neutral writing group. No effects on resource realization were detected. This study provides the first evidence of the beneficial effects of positive writing on indicators of well-being and depressive symptoms. In conclusion, the resource diary represents an economical intervention for preventing depression in adolescence.     

Examining explanatory mechanisms of positive and expressive writing: Towards a resource-oriented perspective

This study tested the hypothesis that benefits of positive and expressive writing accrue when the intervention matches or activates the participant’s personal resources. Students were randomly assigned to keep a newly developed resource diary (RD, n = 114), which asked the participants to write about positive experiences and personal resources, or an expressive writing diary (ED, n = 114), which asked the participants to engage with negative emotional experiences, at home on three consecutive days per week for four weeks. Participants keeping the RD perceived significantly more social support and reported a significantly better mood at post-test than participants keeping the ED. Compared to a control group (n = 81) treatment effects of both writing interventions were higher for participants with lower pre-test values of well-being and brooding as well as for participants who wrote in an ‘atmosphere of activated resources.’ It is suggested that research should move away from testing deficit-compensating hypotheses towards a stronger resource orientation.     

Awe’s effects on generosity and helping

It is unclear whether positive emotionality in general, or some specific positive emotions (e.g. other-oriented ones), but not others (e.g. self-oriented and, possibly, stimulus-oriented ones), enhance prosocial thoughts, dispositions, and behavior. We focus here on awe and argue that, although being primarily stimulus-oriented and not necessarily social in its very nature, awe should enhance prosociality for several theoretical reasons. In replicating and extending previous initial research, we found in two online experiments that the induction of awe (video clip or recall), compared to the induction of amusement or a neutral condition, leads to increased prosocial behavioral intentions of generosity (spontaneous sharing of hypothetical gains) and help of a person in need – in hypothetical everyday life situations. Awe’s effect on prosociality was independent from participants’ religiosity (in both experiments) but seemed to be clearer for those in need of such affective stimulation, i.e. less agreeable participants (Experiment 2).     

Addressing the role of personality,ability, and positive and negative affect in positive psychology interventions: Findings from a randomized intervention based on the authentic happiness theory and extensions

The present study explores the role of personality, ability, and affect in a randomized, group-based positive psychology intervention program based on Seligman’s authentic happiness theory and extensions. A total of 100 adults (M = 45.7, SD = 12.8) were randomly assigned to the 12-week intervention program (five training sessions) or a waiting list control group. The intervention consisted of basic information, group activities, and homework assignments. Participants in the intervention group demonstrated higher levels of happiness, pleasure, and engagement after completion of the program. Baseline levels of psychometric intelligence moderated the intervention effectiveness (greater effects for those higher in reasoning, vocabulary, and general intelligence). There were no effects for the big five personality traits. Finally, increases in positive affect before and after the homework assignment were associated with greater levels of happiness after the program. The relevance of these findings for the development of new programs is discussed.     

Behavioral pharmacology of the odor span task: Effects of flunitrazepam,ketamine, methamphetamine and methylphenidate

The Odor Span Task is an incrementing non‐matching‐to‐sample procedure that permits the study of behavior under the control of multiple stimuli. Rats are exposed to a series of odor stimuli and selection of new stimuli is reinforced. Successful performance thus requires remembering which stimuli have previously been presented during a given session. This procedure has been frequently used in neurobiological studies as a rodent model of working memory; however, only a few studies have examined the effects of drugs on performance in this task. The present experiments explored the behavioral pharmacology of a modified version of the Odor Span Task by determining the effects of stimulant drugs methylphenidate and methamphetamine, NMDA antagonist ketamine, and positive GABA_A modulator flunitrazepam. All four drugs produced dose‐dependent impairment of performances on the Odor Span Task, but for methylphenidate and methamphetamine, these occurred only at doses that had similar effects on performance of a simple odor discrimination. Generally, these disruptions were based on omission of responding at the effective doses. The effects of ketamine and flunitrazepam were more selective in some rats. That is, some rats tested under flunitrazepam and ketamine showed decreases in accuracy on the Odor Span Task at doses that did not affect simple discrimination performance. These selective effects indicate disruption of within‐session stimulus control. Overall, these findings support the potential of the Odor Span Task as a baseline for the behavioral pharmacological analysis of remembering.     

Dialogue Between Science and Spirituality: Informational Therapies

Every action, specifically the therapeutic act, is determined by our mental state: love and compassion. Positive thinking, which must lead us in our research and our acts, is based on the fact that therapeutic results are determined by a treatment of the entire human being: “Body–Mind–Spirit,” which is outstretched, according to tradition, on the four levels of consciousness: Plan 7: Body; Plan 6: Metabolism; Plan 5: Mental; Plan 4: Information (Spirituality). Within the context of a chronic condition, homeopathy practice and the use of differentiations factors have been an example of the possible patient's transformation (a journey toward the health state) and of the dialogue between science and spirituality.     

累积生态风险与青少年网络成瘾:心理需要满足和积极结果预期的中介作用

青少年网络成瘾与个体所处的生态背景密切相关。目前已有不少研究探讨家庭、学校、同伴背景中单个或少数风险因素对青少年网络成瘾的影响,但少有研究关注多个背景中生态风险因素的累积对青少年网络成瘾的影响及其心理机制。本研究基于累积风险模型和动机心理学理论,考察累积生态风险对青少年网络成瘾的影响及基本心理需要满足(个体在现实生活中需要被满足的情况)和积极结果预期(个体对网络使用诱因大小的判断)在其中的并行和/或链式中介作用。被试为5所中学的998名青少年。结构方程模型分析表明:(1)在控制了人口学变量后,累积生态风险对青少年网络成瘾具有显著的正向预测作用(呈"负加速模式")。(2)累积生态风险通过显著降低基本心理需要满足(表现出"梯度效应"),进而促进青少年网络成瘾。(3)累积生态风险通过显著提升积极结果预期(呈"负加速模式"),进而促进青少年网络成瘾。(4)累积生态风险对青少年网络成瘾的影响被基本心理需要满足和积极结果预期两条并行路径完全中介。上述结果表明,累积生态风险对青少年网络成瘾具有重要影响,且这种影响是通过需要和诱因两种动机力量一"推"一"拉"的合力来实现。     

Differences in emotion modulation using cognitive reappraisal in individuals with and without suicidal ideation: An ERP study

Difficulties in emotion regulation have been associated with increased suicidal thoughts and behaviours. The majority of studies have examined self-reported use of emotion regulation strategies. In contrast, the current study focused on a direct measure of individuals’ ability to use a specific emotion regulation strategy, cognitive reappraisal, using the late positive potential (LPP), an event-related potential component that reflects attention to emotional stimuli. Specifically, the cognitive reappraisal ability of 33 undergraduate students was assessed via an image-viewing task during which the participants had to passively view, increase or reduce their emotions in response to looking at neutral, positive or dysphoric images. We found that participants with a history of suicidal ideation (SI) had significantly higher LPP when asked to reduce negative emotion in response to dysphoric images, compared to individuals with no history of SI. These findings suggest that difficulties with using cognitive reappraisal, specifically to decrease negative affect, might be linked to suicide risk.