Unit 3 Cognitive Focused Approaches
Unit 3 Cognitive Focused Approaches
This unit will discuss the nature, methods, and benefits of the cognitive approaches in positive
psychology.
Essential Questions:
What are the cognitive-focused approaches in positive psychology and how are they
beneficial to an individual?
Intended Learning Outcomes:
Discuss the nature, methods, and benefits of the cognitive-based approaches in positive
psychology
Diagnostic Assessment:
1. What are the key characteristics of cognitive-focused approaches?
2. In your own words, define Mindfulness, Optimism and Hope.
Cognition is defined as all processes by which the sensory input is transformed, reduced,
elaborated, stored, recovered, and used. It is concerned with these processes even when they
operate in the absence of relevant stimulation, as images and hallucinations (Ulrich Neisser).
In this unit we will discuss the approaches involved in acquiring knowledge and understanding
through thought, experience and our senses. You’ll be presented with concepts that Positive
Psychology presents as human strengths that helps them overcome obstacles and succeed.
Seeing Our Futures Through Self-Efficacy, Optimism, and Hope
People would have different picture of their future be in what they expect next week or the
coming years. The unknown gives us the opportunity to look forward that something better and
to move on from our past. This however is highly impacted by perspective and this we will
understand better as we go through the next bullets:
1. Self-Efficacy
Bandura (1997, p. vii) defined self-efficacy as “peoples’ beliefs in their capabilities to produce
desired effects by their own actions.” Similarly, Maddux (2009a, p. 336) has described self-
efficacy as “what I believe I can do with my skills under certain conditions.” For Bandura,
what needs to be done in order to reach a goal (outcome expectancies) are viewed as far less
important than when a person analyzes his or her capability to complete the necessary actions
(efficacy expectancies); consistent with his perspective, studies have shown that outcome
expectancies do not add much to efficacy expectancies when predicting various human actions
(Maddux, 1991).
Self-efficacy is a learned human pattern of thinking rather than a genetically endowed one. It
begins in infancy and continues throughout the life span. Self-efficacy is based on the premises
of social cognitive theory, which holds that humans actively shape their lives rather than
passively reacting to environmental forces (Bandura, 1986; Barone, Maddux, & Snyder, 1997a).
Social cognitive theory, in turn, is built on three ideas. First, humans have powerful symbolizing
capacities for cognitively creating models of their experiences. Second, by observing themselves
in relation to these cognitive models, people then become skilled at self-regulating their actions
as they navigate ongoing environmental events. Thus, cognitive reactions influence the
surrounding environmental forces that, in turn, shape subsequent thoughts and actions (i.e., there
is a back-and-forth interchange of environmental and thinking forces). Third, people (i.e., their
selves) and their personalities are a result of these situation-specific, reciprocal interactions of
thoughts →environment → thoughts. Given these social cognitive ideas, therefore, a developing
child uses symbolic thinking, with specific reference to the understanding of cause-and-effect
relationships, and learns self-efficacious, self-referential thinking by observing how she or he can
influence the surrounding circumstances (Maddux, 2009a).
goals.
Setting of Life Goals: Happiness is defined as the situation where expectations are met by
reality. To achieve happiness, you first have to have some expectations. You define your
expectations with a personal life plan. It is not just about managing you need to put money in
perspective and prioritize your goals by creating a total life plan. Fill out a goal setting worksheet
and you will then know how to prioritize the monies on your budget and balance sheet
spreadsheets. "You've got to be careful if you don't know where you're going, 'cause you might
not get there." (Yogi Berra) Plan your life so that you do not miss out. It could be the most
important step you take in building your personal finances for a successful and happy life.
Goals give us focus. This is especially important when we’re depressed or down on ourselves. At
those times, we need to take our focus off the current situation and focus or re-focus on the
overall goals and dreams… or maybe set some new goals. Setting goals is a lifelong process that
needs to be renewed and reviewed all the time…at least once every few months.
Identify an overall goal or dream (let’s say that you would like to be a healthier)
Break the goal down into specific goals (like losing 24 lbs.)
Set a deadline (like lose 24 lbs in 6 months)
Break it down into monthly and weekly goals (4lbs. per month or 1lb. per week)
Determine daily tasks (not eating desert or minimizing your calorie intake or running 3
times per week for mile to achieve your goals).
2. Optimism
A stable tendency “[to] believe that good rather than bad things will happen.” (Scheier
and Carver (1985). They assumed that when a goal was of sufficient value, then the
individual will produce an expectancy about attaining the goal.
Optimism is derived from the Latin optimum, “best”. Being optimistic in the typical
sense of the word, ultimately means one expects the best possible outcome from any
given situation.
Learned Optimism
In the Seligman theory of learned optimism, the optimist uses adaptive causal attributions to
explain negative experiences or events. Thus, the person answers the question, “Why did that
bad thing happen to me?” In technical terms, the optimist makes external, variable, and specific
attributions for failure-like events rather than the internal, stable, and global attributions of the
pessimist.
Stated more simply, the optimist explains bad things in such a manner as:
(1) to account for the role of other people and environments in producing bad outcomes (i.e., an
external attribution)
(2) to interpret the bad event as not likely to happen again (i.e., a variable attribution);
(3) to constrain the bad outcome to just one performance area and not others (i.e., a specific
attribution).
Seligman’s theory implicitly places great emphasis upon negative outcomes in determining one’s
attributional explanations. Therefore, as shown in Figure, Seligman’s theory uses an excuse-like
process of “distancing” from bad things that have happened in the past, rather than the more
usual notion of optimism involving the connection to positive outcomes desired in the future.
Within the learned optimism perspective, therefore, the optimistic goal directed cognitions are
aimed at distancing the person from negative outcomes of high importance.
Optimistic Explanatory style is different, though related to, the more traditional, narrower
definition of optimism. This broader concept is based on the theory that optimism and pessimism
are drawn from the way people explain events. There are three dimensions within typical
explanations, which include internal versus external, stable versus unstable, and global versus
specific. Optimistic justifications toward negative experiences are attributed to factors outside
the self (external), are not likely to occur consistently (unstable), and are limited specific life
domains (specific). Positive experiences would be optimistically labeled as the opposite: internal,
stable, global.
There is much debate about the relationship between
explanatory style and optimism. Some researchers argue
that there is not much difference at all; optimism is just
the lay term for what scientists call explanatory style.
Others argue that explanatory style is exclusive to its
concept and should not be interchangeable with
optimism.
Go to this link to get to know more It is generally thought that, though they should not be
about optimism used interchangeably, dispositional optimism and
explanatory style are at least marginally related.
Ultimately, the problem is simply that more research must be done to either define a "bridge" or
further differentiate between these concepts
<Excerpt from an Academia Source>
3. Hope
Hope Theory
Averill, Catlin, and Chon
(1990) define hope in cognitive terms as
appropriate when goals are (1) reasonably
attainable (i.e., have an intermediate level
of difficulty), (2) under control, (3) viewed
Click picture to learn more about the hope
as important, and (4) acceptable at social
theory and moral levels.
Breznitz (1986) proposed five metaphors to capture the operations of hope in response to
stressors, with hope as (1) a protected area, (2) a bridge, (3) an intention, (4)
performance, and (5) an end in itself. He also cautioned that hope may be an illusion akin
to denial.
Erik Erikson (1964, p. 118) defined hope as “the enduring belief in the attainability of
fervent wishes” and posed dialectics between hope and other motives, one of the
strongest and most important being trust/hope versus mistrust, which is the infant’s first
task. Another broad dialectic, according to Erikson (1982), pertains to the generativity of
hope versus stagnation.
For Gottschalk (1974), hope involves positive expectancies about specific favorable
outcomes, and it impels a person to move through psychological problems. He developed
a hope scale to analyze the content of 5-minute segments of spoken words. This hope
measurement has concurrent validity in terms of its positive correlations with positive
human relations and achievement and its negative relationships to higher anxiety,
hostility, and social alienation.
Basing his definition on the coping of prisoners of war, Marcel (see Godfrey, 1987)
concluded that hope gives people the power to cope with helpless circumstances.
Mowrer (1960) proposed that hope was an emotion that occurred when rats observed a
stimulus that was linked with something pleasurable. Mowrer also described the
antithesis of hope, or fear, which he said entailed a type of dread in which the animal
lessened its activity level and that, as such, fear impedes their goal pursuits.
Staats (1989, p. 367) defined hope as “the interaction between wishes and expectations”
Staats and colleagues developed instruments for tapping the affective and cognitive
aspects of hope. To measure affective hope, the Expected Balance Scale (EBS; Staats,
1989) entails 18 items for which respondents use a 5-point Likert continuum. To measure
cognitive hope, the Hope Index (Staats & Stassen, as cited in Staats, 1989) focuses on
particular events and their outcomes and contains the subscales of Hope-Self, Hope-
Other, Wish, and Expect. The Hope Index contains 16 items, and respondents use a 6-
point Likert continuum (0 = Not at all to 5 = Very much) to rate both the degree to which
they “wish this to occur” and “expect this to occur.”
Stotland (1969) explored the role of expectancies and cognitive schemas and described
hope as involving important goals for which there is a reasonably high perceived
probability of attainment. Using Stotland’s (1969) model, Erickson, Post, and Paige
(1975) designed a hope scale that consists of 20 general and common (i.e., not situation-
specific) goals. This hope scale yields scores of average importance and average
probability across these goals. There is little reported research, however, using this
scale.
Can Hope Be Measured?
In 1991, Snyder, Harris, et al. developed a 12-item trait measure for adults ages 16 and
older in which 4 items reflect pathways, 4 items reflect agency, and 4 items are
distracters. Respondents respond to each item on an 8-point Likert continuum.
The Children’s Hope Scale (CHS; Snyder, Hoza, et al., 1997) is a six-item self-report
trait measure appropriate for children age 8 to 15. Three of the six items reflect pathways
thinking, and three reflect agency thinking. Children respond to the items on a 6-point
Likert continuum.
The State Hope Scale (SHS) developed by Snyder and colleagues (Snyder, Sympson, et
al., 1996) is a six item self-report scale that taps here-and-now goal-directed thinking.
Three items reflect pathways thinking, and three items reflect agency thinking. The
response range is 1 – Definitely false to 8 = Definitely true.
Self-efficacy, optimism, and hope provide the momentum needed to pursue a good life.
Therefore, we encourage you to use the self-efficacy, optimism, and hope you already possess to
improve functioning in important domains of your life.
Love
Build new confidence in your relationships by observing someone who is quite skilled in
managing friendships and romantic relationships. Emulate his or her behavior as
appropriate.
Approach your next visit with extended family with a flexible explanatory style. When
positive events occur, be sure to identify your role in the family success.
Set goals for important relationships that will help you grow closer to others. Be sure to
identify multiple pathways and sources of agency for pursuing these aims.
Work
Develop new skills for work or school by attending training or study sessions that will
help you approach your assignments with increased confidence.
When a new project is assigned to you, expect that the best will happen. Nurture those
optimistic thoughts daily as you work toward successful completion of the project.
Break down a big task into small goals and direct your energy toward pursuing small goal
after small goal.
Play
Watch an hour of educational television for children. Attempt to identify the many
messages designed to enhance self-efficacy.
Play a board game or a sport with a friend and attempt to respond to a poor outcome with
a flexible explanatory approach.
Identify a personal goal associated with your favorite leisure activity that you hope to
attain in the next month. Identify and procure all the resources you need to make progress
toward that goal.
It refers to the phenomenon whereby something new is created which has some kind of
subjective value (such as an idea, a joke, a literary work, a painting or musical
composition, a solution, an invention etc.). It is also the qualitative impetus behind any
given act of creation, and it is generally perceived to be associated with intelligence and
cognition.
It is the process of generating novel ideas and is the basic force for all inventions. The
process of creation involves seeing new relations between concepts and things and
determining unique solutions to problems. The creative process is about seeing new
associations between objects and concepts and the creative person is marked by traits of
originality, nonconformity and high levels of
knowledge.
2. Wisdom
A brief self-report measure of wisdom that includes Likert-type items recently was
constructed and validated for inclusion in the Values in Action Classification of Strengths
(Peterson & Seligman, 2004). The items are not linked to any of the aforementioned
theories, however, and they tap five aspects of wisdom: curiosity, love of learning, open
mindedness, creativity, and perspective. Although all respondents complete the wisdom
items, only people who have wisdom as one of their top five strengths (out of 24) receive
feedback on their capacity for wise living.
A longer self-report measure called the Wisdom Development Scale (Brown & Greene,
2006) also shows promise as a measure of wisdom. it includes dimensions for self-
knowledge (6 items), altruism (14 items), inspirational engagement (11 items), judgment
(11 items), life knowledge (9 items), life skills (11 items), and emotional management (9
items).
The Wise Thinking and Acting Questionnaire (WITHAQ; Moraitou &Efklides, 2012) is
an assessment that specifically taps the cognitive facet of wisdom. This scale contains
three subscales: Practical Wisdom, Integrated Dialectical Thinking, and Awareness of
Life Uncertainty, and has been found to be psychometrically sound with both older and
young adults.
3. Courage
Courage is the (1) magnificence, the planning and execution of great and expansive
projects by putting forth ample and splendid effort of mind; (2) confidence, that through
which, on great and honorable projects, the mind self-confidently collects itself with sure
hope; (3) patience, the voluntary and lengthy endurance of arduous and difficult things,
whether the case be honorable or useful(4) perseverance, ongoing persistence in a well-
considered plan (Cicero)
Peterson and Seligman (2004) conceptualized courage as a core human virtue comprising
such strengths as valor (taking physical, intellectual, and emotional stances in the face of
danger); authenticity (representing oneself to others and the self in a sincere
fashion);enthusiasm/zest (thriving/having a sense of vitality in a challenging situation);
and industry/perseverance (undertaking tasks and challenges and finishing them).
In a similar model, O’Byrne et al. (2000) identified the three types of courage as physical,
moral, and health/change (now referred to as vital courage). Physical courage involves
the attempted maintenance of societal good by the expression of physical behavior
grounded in the pursuit of socially valued goals (e.g., a firefighter saving a child from a
burning building). Moral courage is the behavioral expression of authenticity in the face
of the discomfort of dissension, disapproval, or rejection (e.g., a politician invested in a
“greater good” places an unpopular vote in a meeting). Vital courage refers to the
perseverance through a disease or
disability even when the outcome is
ambiguous (e.g., a child with a heart
transplant maintaining his or her intensive
treatment regimen even though the
prognosis is uncertain).
4. Mindfulness
Mindfulness has
“sati” was roughly translated to “mindfulness.”
The practice was popularized in the West
through the work of Jon-Kabat Zinn. Zinn
created Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction to
treat pain, anxiety, and stress, and he ultimately
brought mindfulness into mainstream clinical
practice (Psychology Today)
Click picture to learn more about
Buddhism
Mindfulness is one form of meditation. Meditation utilizes various practices to quiet the
mind or achieve a higher level of consciousness, one of which is mindfulness.
Mindfulness can be cultivated within or outside of formal meditation and woven into any
activity, such as taking a walk or being engaged in conversation (Psychology Today).