Seligman et al., 2005: Reflecting on positive events and identifying signature strengths increased happiness and reduced depressive symptoms among website visitors for six months
Reference:
Seligman, M. E., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress: empirical validation of interventions. American psychologist, 60(5), 410.
Download PDFSummary:
Asking visitors to a website on “happiness exercises” (1) to “write down three things that went well each day and their causes every night for a week” or (2) to take an online survey of “character strengths,” where they received individualized feedback on their top five strengths, and were then asked to “use one of these top strengths in a new and different way every day for one week,” as compared to writing down early memories every day for a week, increased happiness and reduced depressive symptoms over six months.
Psychological Process:
What Desired Meaning is At Stake?
What is the Person Trying to Understand?
Selves (My Own and Others')Approach to Desired Meaning
What about it?
Changing beliefs about emotions, states, and the valence of the self-conceptHow?
Psychological Question Addressed
Do I think and feel positively about myself?Do I think and feel positively about myself?Psychological Question Addressed
Do I think and feel positively about myself?Psychological Process 2:
Psychological Process 3:
Social Area:
Well-Being
Intervention Technique:
Active reflection, on a positive aspect of self; Prompting with information