A friend just pointed me to this site on “Positive Psychology”: Authentic Happiness. The name is super cheesy, but it’s a legit psychological research program at Penn and pretty interesting. They have a ton of surveys you can take that give you back interesting info, and they gather your data (with promises of confidentiality yadayada) for the research.
So far I’ve only taken a couple of the inventories (some of them are really long), but the results are interesting and thought-provoking, especially the VIA Signature Strengths Questionnaire. Apparently the idea on that one is that you should spend some time each day doing things that enable you to use your top strengths, and this will make you happier. I haven’t read all the stuff about it so I’m sure there is more to it, but it is definitely worth checking out the site and doing some of the surveys when you have time. Plus, you are contributing to the advancement of knowledge! :-)
Feel free to post your results or your thoughts about the site or the whole “Positive Psychology” thing here. (My VIA Strength results are posted below the “more”, in case you’re one of those people who doesn’t like to know that any of the options are before you check it yourself. But there are 24 possible strengths, so I’m not giving a whole lot away here.)
I’ll probably post more about this later, but for now I’m off to bed, then tomorrow my guys and I are off for a long weekend at the beach and visiting one of my dearest and oldest friends. A very fitting end to a long, hot, work-and-stress-filled summer, before we jump back into the fall semester. I’m packing sunscreen, sand toys for the little one (his first beach trip!), and novels for Mommy. Ohhhhh, decadence!
Pollyanna’s Strengths:
- Judgment, critical thinking, and open-mindedness
- Love of learning
- Caution, prudence, and discretion (hey, I AM Anne Elliott!)
- Capacity to love and be loved
- Appreciation of beauty and excellence
My greatest weaknesses (although, of course, the positive psych people just frame these as “Strength #23 and #24):
23. Industry, diligence, and perseverance
24. Self-control and self-regulation
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August 10, 2007 at 11:52 am
foreverastudent
Here are mine:
1. Love of learning
2. Fairness, equity and justice
3. Appreciation of beauty and excellence
4. Modesty and humility
5. Gratitude
22. Zest, enthusiasm and energy
23. Industry, diligence and perseverance
24. Self-control and self regulation
This test and my results remind me a lot of the Gallup “StrengthsFinder” instrument I told you about a while back in fact two or three of the top five line up pretty closely. Haven’t looked at the rest of the site yet but I’ll check it out.
August 10, 2007 at 5:32 pm
euphrosyne1115
Two hundred and forty questions?!
Oh, you know I’m taking it anyway.
August 10, 2007 at 5:50 pm
euphrosyne1115
Here you go:
1. Curiosity and interest in the world
2. Love of learning
3. Social intelligence
4. Humor and playfulness
5. Judgment, critical thinking, open-mindedness
23. Hope, optimism, and future-mindedness (the anti-Pollyanna?)
24. Self-control and self-regulation
Pretty good, huh?
August 11, 2007 at 11:52 am
foreverastudent
I’m seeing a pattern: we all love to learn new things but may never have the gumption to do anything with what we learn…
All hail the truly bookish!
August 11, 2007 at 2:34 pm
EVillilthing21
Well me being interested in going into psychology for college, i find this a bit interesting. I have heard of positive psychology and it seems to really help those people with low self-esteem. I’m sure I will be learning more about it.
August 29, 2007 at 6:03 am
Alex
Love these! Thanks for a semi-reasonable excuse to stall around this morning.