Deck 12: Life Above Zero

Question 1

An essential theme within positive psychology, discussed at the beginning of Chapter 12 (section titled Positive Psychology Revisited), is that

A) a positive attitude is the foundation of a good life.
B) health and happiness are more than the absence of illness and unhappiness.
C) social relationships are the foundation of a good life.
D) money doesn't buy happiness.

Answer 1

health and happiness are more than the absence of illness and unhappiness.

Question 2

A distinctive feature of the groundbreaking studies by Corey Keyes is that his "complete state model of mental health"

A) includes direct measures of positive and optimal functioning.
B) infers mental health from the absence of mental illness.
C) defines discrete categories of mental health and mental illness.
D) examines cultural variations in the meaning of mental health and illness.

Answer 2

includes direct measures of positive and optimal functioning.

Question 3

Corey Keyes' "complete model of mental health" describes

A) how the presence or absence of mental illness can be used to infer mental health.
B) discrete categories of mental illness and mental health.
C) a clear line of divide between mental illness and mental health.
D) a continuum running from mental illness to flourishing.

Answer 3

a continuum running from mental illness to flourishing.

Question 4

According to your textbook authors, what is "new" and unique about positive psychology is that it has

A) helped clarify the relative independence of the "good" and the "bad."
B) shown the valuable lessons that can be learned from tragedy.
C) shown the health and happiness benefits of a positive outlook.
D) rejected psychology's emphasis on the negative and replaced it with an emphasis on the positive.

Question 5

Your text authors note that it is important to place consideration of the specific meaning of a good life in the context of

A) personality and genetic differences.
B) differences in values and religious orientation.
C) different cultures and stages of lifespan development.
D) life events and availability of resources and opportunities.

Question 6

Martin Seligman combines the major elements of hedonic and eudaimonic perspectives in describing a three-part analysis of happiness. According to Seligman the three components of a happy life are

A) positive emotion, resilience, and transcendence.
B) a pleasant life, an engaged life, and a meaningful life.
C) a pleasant life, a healthy life, and a virtuous life.
D) frequent positive emotion, infrequent negative emotion, and life satisfaction.

Question 7

In thinking about the means to a good life, Lyubormirsky and Sheldon suggest three reasons to be pessimistic about people's ability to increase their long-term happiness. These are

A) consumer society, unequal access to resources, and psychology's negative focus.
B) ignorance, fear of change, and the inertia of current lifestyles.
C) genetics, personality, and adaptation to emotional events.
D) genetics, conformity, and lack of research.

Question 8

Goal research and recent studies by Lyubormirsky and Sheldon suggests that long-term increases in happiness may be possible when people

A) find and pursue their true passions.
B) plan for and pursue goals that are autonomously chosen and match their personal characteristics.
C) develop goals that balance intrinsic and extrinsic needs.
D) avoid being drawn in to the empty goals of our consumer culture.

Question 9

Positive psychotherapy (PPT), developed by Seligman and his colleagues to treat depression,

A) emphasizes the importance of approach, rather than avoidance, goals.
B) is based on Fredrickson's broaden and build theory of positive emotions.
C) follows Carol Ryff's eudaimonic model of psychological well-being.
D) is built on developing people's signature strengths by encouraging virtuous behavior.

Question 10

"Minding a close relationship" is analogous to

A) gardening - a watchful eye and constant effort and attention.
B) parenting in the summer months - kids need fun things to do.
C) savoring - special moments are appreciated and mutually enjoyed.
D) gourmet cooking - the ingredients and how they are combined are critical to success.

Question 11

In successful "minding of close relationships," attribution involves

A) viewing positive behaviors as internally caused and negative behaviors as externally caused.
B) viewing negative behaviors as externally caused and positive behaviors as internally caused.
C) special communication that enhances closeness and intimacy.
D) developing acceptance and respect.

Question 12

Authenticity and what Harter calls mutuality both suggest that in successful relationships both partners

A) need to sacrifice their own needs for good of the relationship.
B) should "lose" themselves in the relationship.
C) are able to balance autonomy and connectedness.
D) offer genuine rather than defensive criticism of the other.

Question 13

In contrast to mindfulness, mindlessness refers to a state of consciousness

A) very similar to the flow experience in which we are totally absorbed in an activity.
B) in which people are likely to act "crazy" or "reckless."
C) in which we lose our sense of self and identity.
D) governed by rule and routine, with little awareness of what is happening "right now."

Question 14

Brown and Ryan make a connection between mindfulness and goal research. These researchers believe that mindfulness may be particularly important for

A) overriding automatic behaviors, increasing autonomous choices, and regulating goal directed behavior.
B) preventing people from living in the past by orienting them toward future goals.
C) becoming more aware of the "emptiness" of the goals many people pursue.
D) shifting people's orientation from avoidance goals to approach goals.

Question 15

Mindfulness refers to

A) how people interpret, judge, and perceive the world around them.
B) an open and receptive, present-centered attention focused on the way things "are" before we judge and evaluate.
C) letting go of our rational thinking to increase awareness of our intuitions and gut feelings.
D) to increasing our sensitivity, empathy, and sympathy in our relationships with others.

Question 16

With regard to changes in people's life values, research on posttraumatic growth (PTG) and terror management theory (TMT)

A) both show the same effect - life-value change.
B) show the same effect - but PTG changes are significantly larger.
C) show opposite effects - PTG changes life values and terror management affirms life values.
D) both show no life-value changes.

Question 17

The study by Cozzolino and his colleagues used a death reflection condition in which people were asked to imagine their own death, engage in a life review, and imagine how their family would react to their death. The death reflection condition was meant to parallel the essential features of

A) the mortality salience manipulation in terror management theory research.
B) the stages of dying described by Kübler-Ross.
C) near-death experiences that lead to a life review.
D) a "mindful" consideration of death.

Question 18

What changes occurred for participants in the death reflection condition (imagining your death in a fire) used in the studies by Cozzolino and his colleagues?

A) shift to more extrinsic and materialistic values
B) shift to more intrinsic value, such as relationships and less materialism
C) increased need to affirm self-esteem and religious/spiritual beliefs
D) poor comprehension and recall of information on coping with death provided by the researchers

Question 19

What is the essential nature of mindfulness meditation? As described by Kabat-Zinn, mindfulness meditation is

A) a practical way to see life's problems through a clear mind.
B) a spiritual and religious practice based on Eastern religion.
C) all-encompassing and requires major life changes.
D) all of the above

Question 20

The point of your textbook's examples concerning sunsets, photography, baseball, and trout fishing was to suggest that mindfulness

A) requires highly specialized skills and years of experience.
B) is relatively rare in most people's everyday experience.
C) is not foreign to people's experience and that mindfulness learned in a limited context may develop into a generalized ability.
D) involves observation, reflection, evaluation, and above all introspection.

Question 21

Kabat-Zinn describes seven qualities or attributes of mindfulness awareness that are cultivated during mindfulness meditation. Non-judging means

A) being aware of how our judgments of good and bad color our view of the world.
B) taking a neutral and non-judgmental stance toward ourselves, others, and the world.
C) stopping our constant "good/bad" evaluation of the world.
D) learning to be less defensive and critical in our judgments of others.

Question 22

Kabat-Zinn describes seven qualities or attributes of mindfulness awareness that are be cultivated during mindfulness meditation. What does he mean by beginners mind?

A) being aware that when you first start out you need to be patient
B) not striving to achieve a particular result
C) accepting who you are right now
D) being willing to see everything for the "first time"

Question 23

Kabat-Zinn describes seven qualities or attributes of mindfulness awareness that are be cultivated during mindfulness meditation. What does he mean by letting go?

A) giving up our fantasies and wishful thinking
B) giving up our former self so that a new self may develop
C) becoming less attached to our most recurring thoughts during meditation so that we might come to understand them
D) relinquishing our attachment to the external basis of our well-being

Question 24

Recent studies by Brown and Ryan using the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) have

A) validated the scale in a sample of Zen practitioners.
B) shown mindfulness to be related to both subjective and eudaimonic well-being.
C) found positive relationships between MAAS scores and measures of autonomy, competence, and relatedness.
D) all of the above

Question 25

According to the second author of your text (a practicing psychotherapist), psychotherapy is a form of mindfulness coaching because people in emotional trouble

A) need help in becoming aware of the feelings and undesirable aspects of their personality that they work so hard to suppress.
B) need a way to calm their painful emotions before psychotherapy can begin.
C) must see clearly what their problem is before psychotherapy can be begin.
D) must take ownership of their problems rather than blame them on others or life circumstances.

Question 26

Cognitive therapy developed by Aaron Beck to treat depression may have much in common with disidentification within meditative practice, because both cognitive therapy and disidentification involve stopping the tendency to

A) believe that all your problems are your own fault.
B) identify with one's thoughts rather than reality.
C) blame others or life circumstances rather than looking honestly at yourself.
D) split the self into desirable and undesirable parts rather than viewing the self as an integrated whole.

Question 27

Critics of positive psychology argue that one advantage of Eastern ideas is that they

A) provide a more specific "nuts and bolts" view of the "what" and "how" of a good life.
B) can enrich Western understandings of a good life because they are so radically different from them.
C) offer a more comprehensive and in-depth picture of both the "what" and the "how" of a good life.
D) are based more heavily on spirituality which is noticeably absent from Western self-improvement approaches.