Positive Psychology Resources

What is Positive Psychology? Wikipedia positive psychology page. [ted id=312] What (and Why) is Positive Psychology, an overview paper by psychologists Shelly Gable and Jonathan Haidt. Positive Psychology Books 1. The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom – The book which introduced me to positive psychology. Book summary. 2. Stumbling on Happiness – … Read more

Child Achievement and Problem-Solving: Two Experimental Studies

What goal types are most effective for encouraging performance and happiness in children? In this study, two personality variables and three experimental conditions were investigated. Those with a high motive to achieve success performed better and reported higher satisfaction and happiness than those with a high motive to avoid failure. In addition, those with a … Read more

Self-control as a Protective Factor Against Overweight Status in the Transition to Adolescence

“Children who were rated 1-point higher on a 3-point self-control scale were 26% less likely to be overweight as adolescents.” Multiple factors determine a child’s weight status, of whether they are healthy or overweight. This study assessed whether self-control was one of those factors. 844 children were watched from age 9 to 15. Those who … Read more

Deliberate Practice Spells Success : Why Grittier Competitors Triumph at the National Spelling Bee

In this study, the specific reasons why grittier spelling bee finalists reach higher rounds was assessed. The observation that grit correlates with spelling bee performance had already been made. Grit was found to predict two behaviors which in turn lead to increased performance – more practice, and better practice. More practice is self-explanatory – the … Read more

Positive Predictors of Teacher Effectiveness

Teaching difficult students can be taxing – suggesting that emotional health and perseverance (e.g. grit) may predict teacher performance in poor neighborhoods. In this study, Teach For America teachers, who are required to teach in mostly poor neighborhoods, were assessed for 4 qualities: grit, life satisfaction, optimism, and performance. Performance was objectively assessed by averaging the academic gains of … Read more

Self Control

Have you ever seen those cartoons where a character has an devil on one shoulder telling it all the bad things it should do; and an angel on the other shoulder telling it all the good things it should do and the reasons it shouldn’t do them. I have always thought of self-control as that … Read more

Role of Test Motivation in Intelligence Testing

IQ tests, in their ideal form, accurately measure intelligence. In the real world, they don’t, for several reasons. First, many portions of an IQ assessment test crystallized knowledge – that is, they test for facts that have already been memorized. Although knowledge is a component of intelligence, intelligence, as it is usually used, means, ‘how fast can this person learn?’ The … Read more