#3: eudamonic wellbeing & hedonic and eudamonic approaches:

Eudamonic wellbeing is centered around meaning and the actualization of human potential. This potential or psychological wellbeing includes: self-acceptance, positive relations, personal growth, environmental mastery, purpose in life and autonomy. Eudamonic wellbeing contrasts hedonic wellbeing. In eduamonic wellbeing the focus is on autonomy, social relations, competence and meaning versus pleasure and materials in hedonic wellbeing. Today in class, we had to find examples of hedonic and eduamonic wellbeing in songs, movies, reality t.v. shows and quotes. This assignment required us to apply the terms to real situations, which helped me understand the concepts better. For our reality t.v. shows we chose The Bachelorette as an example of hedonic wellbeing, as the main character looks for a partner she may base her decisions on how her pleasure/materialistic needs are being met. For eudamonic, we chose Naked and Afraid. Out in the wild with two tools, they learn that happiness can occur without many things, the form a team and they find their true character and meaning of life in nature.

#2: hedonic happiness & bottom-up and top-down arguments:

Hedonic happiness or the attainment of subjective wellbeing, is based on three components: 1) Satisfaction w/ life, 2) High positive affect, and 3) Low negative affect. With hedonic wellbeing, a person's satisfaction is based on pleasure. However, social comparisons and the adaption theory have an influence on how people view their satisfaction. The discrepancy theory states that people strive for the ideal, but social comparisons limit ones satisfaction. When someone accomplishes something they feel good, but once they compare their achievements to others it goes away. The adaptation theory is where one has a natural set point and moments/things can make their satisfaction go above or drop below their set point. After an event, positive or negative, an individual will go back to their set point after three months. If someone bought a car they would be on a higher wave, but after awhile that satisfaction would start to drop due to the time and money spent on the car, or getting used to their car and not appreciating it as much, this is an example of the adaptation theory. Bottom-up refers to the idea that something causes wellbeing versus top-down where the wellbeing/happiness causes an outcome. For example, if someone got a job, bottom-down would say they're happy because they got the job compared to top-down saying, they're happy and therefore got the job.

#1: positive psychology & differences from other areas of psychology:

Positive psychology is the study of what makes humans flourish and how our positive emotions and thoughts influence our health and lives. Positive psychology doesn't look only at what makes one just happy, but ones wellbeing as well. Wellbeing is made up of positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning and achievements. Positive psychology is not limited to the individual--ones social connections are important, and this field has also helped society and researchers see new angles/perspectives. There are similarities to other areas of psychology as it developed after the humanistic approach and the ideas of participation. Positive psychology for example uses the scientific method, something that is important to this theory. Additionally, positive psychology differentiates itself by studying psychological depth, and contrasting Freud by seeing that there are more to humans than just the negative. Other areas of psychology focus on the negatives: the mental diseases/illnesses and how to cure them. Positive psychology looks at all dimensions, the strengths and weaknesses. Our group decided to write out our idea of the definition of what positive psychology entails. We then drew branches representing the components that build up positive psychology. We showed that their is individual steps that need to be met, but also showed the importance of community and interpersonal relationships and the social aspect that needs to be met. We included the resilience & coping to acknowledge the strength that people have.