Unit 2

Key Topics
• Theories, Causes, and Impact of Happiness and Wellbeing
• Evolutionary perspectives in the obstacles to happiness
• Strategies for enhancing happiness and subjective wellbeing
• Emotion-focused coping
Introduction
 Important Terms
• Affect is a person’s immediate, physiological response to a stimulus, and it is
typically based on an underlying sense of arousal. Specifically, Professor Nico
Frijda (1999) reasoned that affect involves the appraisal of an event as painful
or pleasurable and the experience of autonomic arousal.
• Emotions involve judgments about important things, judgments in which,
appraising an external object as salient for our own well-being, we
acknowledge our own neediness and incompleteness before parts of the world
that we do not fully control (Nussbaum, 2001).
• Subjective well-being involves the subjective evaluation of one’s current status
in the world. More specifically, Diener (2013) defines subjective well-being as a
combination of positive affect (in the absence of negative affect) and general
life satisfaction (i.e., subjective appreciation of life’s rewards).
 Subjective Well-Being and Happiness
• Understanding subjective well-being and studying the factors
affecting it are the central objectives of positive psychology.
Happiness and well-being refer to both positive feelings, such as joy
or serenity, and to positive states such as those involving flow or
absorption.
• Happiness is understood as how much one likes one’s life and the
evaluation of one’s life positively. The main element in this definition
is subjective evaluation of life, also referred to as ‘satisfaction’ with
life. In a broad sense, the word happiness is synonymous with 'quality
of life' or 'well-being'.
 Perspectives on Wellbeing
• Hedonism comes from the Greek word hedone, which means
pleasure. Hedonic happiness is about maximizing pleasure and
minimizing displeasure. It is a subjective form of wellbeing, measured
by cognitive evaluations of life satisfaction and by the predominance
of positive affect.
• The Greek word eudemonia combines the words eu, meaning good,
and daemon, meaning lesser god, guiding spirit, or tutelary deity.
Eudemonia has been translated as happiness, wellbeing, welfare,
thriving, fulfillment, or flourishing (Deci & Ryan, 2008; Huta &
Waterman, 2014; Heintzelman, 2018).
Happiness has certain common components:

1. Hedonism theory of happiness:- The idea of Hedonic Happiness

dates back to the 4th century B.C. When a Greek philosopher
"Aristippus", taught that the ultimate goal in life should be to
maximize pleasure.

Psychologist who study happiness from hedonic perspective

conceptualize hedonia term of pleasure of both the mind and body.
In this view, happiness involves maximizing pleasure & minimising
pain.

Hedonism works on pleasure. Anything that gives pleasure to the

individual is happiness, there is no concern of other aspect of emotions.
Every individual has its own definition of happiness, The basic
consideration is presence of positive emotions.

This theory was criticised by Martin Seligman, that it is not possible for
the individual to find happiness every time, to be happy always and have
positive emotions.
2. Eudaimonic theory of happiness:- The concept of Eudaimonia dates
back to the 4th century B.C. when "Aristotle" first proposed it in his work
Nicomacheans Ethics.

According to Aristotle, to achieve happiness, one should live their life in

accordance with their virtues. He claimed that people are constantly
striving to meet their potential and be their best, which leads to greater
purpose and meaning.
Happiness is not only the presence of positive emotions but also the
absence of negative emotions.

Every individual has certain potentials, traits and values deep-rooted in

himself.

We always want to actualize our potentials and seek happiness from it.
Happiness is expression of these potentials of a person.

According to this theory we are seeking happiness with the expression

of ourself.
Having certain potentials and actualization of potentials is happiness.
This actualization of potentials is related to the theory of Maslow (self
actualization is the highest need).

•Hedonic is a subjective •Eudaimonic is psychological well

wellbeing. being
•Presence of positive •Sense of control or autonomy.
mood and absence of •Feeling of meaning and purpose.
negative mood. •Personal expressiveness.
•Satisfaction with various •Feelings of belongingness.
domains of life, example: •Social contribution.
work, leisure. •Competence
•Global life satisfaction. •personal growth and self-acceptance.
Models of Wellbeing
 Tripartite Model of Subjective Wellbeing
• Diener and Ryan (2009) present wellbeing as a general evaluation of
an individual’s quality of life in terms of three key components:
• Life satisfaction, which is composed of an assessment of how well one’s life
measures up to aspirations and goals
• Positive affect (pleasurable feelings)
• Negative affect (painful feelings)
 PERMA Model
• Seligman’s (2011) model proposes that wellbeing has several
measurable elements, each contributing to wellbeing. The PERMA
model identifies five essential elements to wellbeing:
• Positive emotions include a wide range of feelings, not just happiness
and joy
• Engagement refers to involvement in activities that draws and builds
upon one’s interests
• Positive Relationships are all important in promoting positive emotions
• Meaning also known as purpose, and prompts the question of “why”
• Achievement / accomplishment are the pursuit of success and mastery
Theoretical Perspectives on Happiness
 Major Theories
• Need and goal satisfaction theories focus on the idea that the
reduction of tensions, satisfaction of needs, and moving towards a
valued goal leads to happiness.
• Process or activity theories state that engagement in an activity
provides happiness. Csikszentmihalyi (1975) suggested that
people are happiest when they are engaged in interesting activities that
match their level of skill. He calls this the state of ‘flow’.
• Genetic and personality predisposition theories argue that subjective
well-being is influenced by personality dispositions. Some of these
important traits are extraversion, neuroticism, hope, dispositional
optimism etc.
 Measurement of Happiness
• Many theories have been formulated related to the sources of happiness.
Subjective well-being (SWB) is the degree of how one views his/her life as a
whole, or some particular domain of one's life. SWB can be studied by asking
people how they feel.
• One way to measure an individual's SWB is through questionnaires. The
questionnaires may include single-item or multiple-item questions which ask the
respondents to rate their level of happiness. Some of the popular measures of
happiness are:
• Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ) (Hills & Argyle, 2002)
• Satisfaction with Life Scale (Deiner, Emmons, Larsen and Griffin, 1985)
• PANAS Scale (Watson, Clark, Tellegen, 1998)
• The Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) (Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1997)
 Indian Perspective on Happiness
• The philosophy of Chaarvaaka is a materialist view which states that the
fulfilment of desires leads to pleasure. It reflects the hedonistic perspective. A
second perspective is based in transcendental view of reality. Happiness and well-
being according to this view is subjective and this view aims for the well-being of
everyone in the universe. A third perspective is the collectivist perspective.
• The Vedic and Upanishadic texts defined the ultimate truth with reference to
permanent and impermanent. To realize the Atman and to know that Atman and
Brahman are the same was considered as the path to liberation or moksha.
• The pursuit of desires (kaama), wealth (artha), values (dharma) and liberation
(moksha) is considered as the main aim of life. The Indian tradition focuses a lot
on giving (daan) and helping those in need. In the Indian philosophy well-being
and good life are to be achieved more in terms of restraint, and detachment.
Causes of Happiness
 Personality Traits
• Personality studies of happiness show that happy and unhappy people have
distinctive personality profiles (Diener et al., 1999). Happy people in western cultures
are found to be extraverted, optimistic, having high self-esteem and an internal locus
of control. In contrast, unhappy people are found to be high on neuroticism. However,
a significant relationship has not been found between intelligence and happiness.
• Cultural factors partially determine the types of personality factors associated with
happiness. In western individualistic cultures such as the USA, self-esteem and acting
in congruence with one’s personal beliefs and personality factors is associated with
high levels of subjective well-being. However, subjective well- being is not correlated
with these factors in eastern collectivist societies. Therefore, it can be said that
cultural values partially determine personality traits that affect subjective well-being,
probably because these traits are associated with achieving culturally valued goals
(Triandis, 2000)
 Culture
• Specific cultural and socio-political factors have also been found to
play an important role in determining happiness (Triandis, 2000). In
cross-cultural studies consistently been a relationship is found
between subjective well-being and living in a stable democracy.
Cultures in which there is social equality have higher mean levels of
subjective well-being. Subjective well-being is greater in individualist
cultures than in collectivist cultures. Happiness is also associated with
important features of government institutions. Subjective well-being
is higher in welfare states; in countries in which public institutions run
efficiently: and in which there are satisfactory relationships between
the citizens and bureaucracy members.
 Relationships
• Married people have been found to be happier than unmarried
people, be they divorced, separated or never married (Myers, 2000).
• Close ties between parents and children, between siblings, and
between extended family members enlarge the social support
network of an individual and contribute towards well-being.
• Maintaining a few close confiding relationships has been found to
correlate with happiness and subjective well-being (Argyle, 2001).
 Religion and Spirituality
• Moderate correlations have been found between happiness and
involvement in religious activity in North American studies (Myers,
2000). This could be due to the following reasons:
• First, religion provides a belief system through which people to
find meaning and hope (Seligman, 2002).
• Second, the involvement religious activities like visiting the place
of worship, doing charity etc provides people with social support.
• Third, involvement in religion leads to a healthier lifestyle.
 Geographical Location
• Well-being has been found to be associated with being in natural rather
than artificial environments. People report positive feelings in
geographical locations where there is vegetation, water and panoramic
views (Ulrich et al., 1991).
• Good weather induces positive moods. When the sun is shining, when
it’s warm but not too warm, and when there is low humidity, people
report more positive moods (Cunningham, 1979).
• Moderate correlations have been found between the quality of housing
and life satisfaction. Indicators of the quality of housing include
geographical location, rooms per person, room size and availability of
heating (Andrews and Withey, 1976).
 Wealth
• In a study by Professor Ed Diener (2000), it was found that across
nations happiness and wealth correlate about r=0.6.
• Happiness rates are low in Russia and Turkey and high in Ireland,
Canada, Denmark and Switzerland. This is probably because people in
poorer countries are dissatisfied that they do not have the luxuries
available in more developed countries.
 Health and Exercise
• While subjective ratings of personal health correlate with happiness,
objective health ratings made by physicians do not correlate with
happiness (except where people are severely disabled) (Diener et al.,
1999). The immune systems of happy people work more effectively
than those of unhappy people (Stone et al., 1994).
• In the short term, exercise induces positive mood states and in the
long term regular exercise leads to greater happiness (Sarafino, 2002).
 Productivity
• Employment status, job satisfaction, and goal-directed activity are all
associated with subjective well- being and there is also an association
between education and happiness in certain circumstances.
• Employed people are happier than those who are unemployed, and
people in professional and skilled jobs being happier than those in
unskilled jobs (Argyle, 2001).
• Education level is positively correlated with happiness and this
relationship is particularly strong for low- income groups in developed
countries and populations in poorer countries (Diener et al., 1999).
Impact of Happiness
 Productivity
• Barbara Fredrickson (2002) developed the broaden-and-build theory of
positive emotions. This theory explains how positive affective experiences
lead to personal well-being, personal growth and development. Negative
emotions narrow the momentary thought-action repertoires because of
which people act in a self-protective way.
• In contrast, positive emotions broaden momentary thought-action repertoires
and offer opportunities for building personal resources. This leads to the
potential for personal growth and change due to positive emotions,
cognitions and actions. Positive emotions also lead to increased social
support, artistic and scientific creations, and successful problem-solving.
Empirical evidence offers substantial support for the broaden and-build
theory of positive emotions (Fredrickson, 2002).
 Longevity
• Evidences from longitudinal studies show that happiness has
important effects on longevity. In a follow- back study of 180 nuns in
the USA, Diener et al, (2001) found that the happiness expressed in
essays that the nuns wrote as they entered the order was associated
with their longevity. Of the happiest quarter, 90 per cent lived past
the age of 85 compared with only 34 per cent of the least happy
quarter.
• Ostir et al. (2000) in a longitudinal study of more than 2000 Mexican
Americans over 65 years of age found that after two years, positive
emotions, at the start of the study predicted who lived or died, and
who showed greater functional independence or disability.
Evolutionary Perspectives
on Obstacles to Happiness
 Habituation

• We have evolved in a way that we are designed to quickly habituate

or adapt to situations that give us pleasure because it was adaptive
for our hunting and gathering ancestors (Buss, 2000).
• ‘Hedonic treadmill’ (Brickman and Campbell, 1971) is a process of
rapid adaptation in which people react strongly to both positive and
negative recent events with sharp increases or decreases in
happiness. However, in most cases they return to their happiness set-
point over relatively short periods of time.
 Negative Social Comparisons
• We compare ourselves with other people in terms of health, personal
attractiveness and that of our partners and children, wealth, social
status, academic achievement, and so forth. This process of social
comparison is adaptive because it helps us to have the best resources
and propagate our genetic line.
• However, when we measure our success against the standards
presented in the media, this can lead to unhappiness as we cannot
attain those standards (Buss, 2000).
 Inequitable Reactions

• We are also designed in evolutionary terms so that losses lead to

more intense emotional experiences than gains of the same
magnitude, because this was adaptive for our ancestors (Buss, 2000).
 Adaptive but Distressing Emotions
• As a species we have evolved in such a way that we are designed to
have certain distressing emotions such as anxiety, depression,
jealousy or anger in certain circumstances because these reactions
were adaptive for our ancestors (Buss, 2000).
 Strategies for Enhancing
Happiness and Subjective Well-
Being
 Enhancing Happiness
• Fava et al. (1998) and Licher et al. (1980) have all developed and evaluated
community-based training programmes for enhancing happiness which
include elements of the overall set of happiness-enhancement strategies.
• Seligman has developed a highly effective program to promote optimism in
children and adults (Seligman, 1998). He developed a curriculum for school
children to inculcate an optimistic explanatory style in them which is known
as the Penn Resiliency Program (PRP). It works on the idea that inculcating
optimism in young people might serve to protect them from developing
depression.
• Seligman formulated the PERMA theory to summarize Positive Psychology's
findings. According to him, humans are happiest when they have these 5
components.
• Two positive psychologists in the west of England came
together few years ago to develop the Happiness
Training Plan, an audio programme of practical
strategies for a happier life, which was launched at the
2008 Happiness Lectures at the University of Bristol.

• Drawing on positive psychology research and personal

experience of overcoming depression, Chris and Miriam
formulated twelve practical strategies for a happier life.
1. Dr. Chris
Johnstone
A medical doctor
who has prepared the use
of positive psychology
through his work as an
addiction’s specialist.
• Miriam Akhtar
is a coach and consultant
who discovered positive
psychology when she
produced one of the first
programmes on the
science of happiness for
BBC Radio 4.
1 – Express Gratitude
Practice switching focus from the glass half empty to
the glass half full by savouring the good things you have
in your life.

Expressing gratitude, for

example, by keeping a
gratitude journal, is a
powerful way to develop
happiness.
2 – Use Your Strengths

• Identifying your natural talents and finding new

ways of using your strengths is a route to long-
lasting happiness.

3 – Live With Purpose

• Finding a sense of purpose, a direction in life, brings

together two of the three pillars of happiness –
meaning & engagement. Identify your life purpose
and take steps towards bringing it into reality.
4 – Find Your Power

• This strategy is about finding the motivation to

move past obstacles and feeling empowered to
achieve goals.
• Using the cycle of dream, plan, do and review is
a way to overcome stuckness and make positive
change.
5 – Get Physical

• Physical activity stimulates the production of

“happy hormones”. Research shows that physical
activity can be more effective than anti-
depressants in depression recovery.
6 – The Happiness Diet

• Food influences mood, in

particular through the impact
of blood sugar on emotional
state.
• To produce serotonin, the brain
chemical associated with good
mood, you need to eat foods
containing the amino acid
tryptophan, found in chicken,
fish, beans and brown rice.
7 – Learning Optimism

• One of the most

powerful ways to boost
happiness is by learning
the skills of optimism.
• Pessimism is a fast track to depression but the
good news is that it is possible to develop
greater optimism through techniques like
reframing and disputing pessimistic thoughts.
8 – Bounceback-ability

• Some people seem to have the ability to bounce

back from adversity and turn a minus into a plus.
• This strategy is about building up reservoirs of
resilience to cope with life’s hard times and the
use of “hitting rock bottom” as a trigger for a
positive life change.
9 – Improving Relationships

• “No man is an island”, so the saying goes and it is

true when it comes to happiness.
• Research shows that one of the characteristics of
the happiest people in the world is that they
have good, close relationships. Nurture your
relationships and they will grow.
10 – Spiritual Happiness

• Spirituality is to do with our

relationship with the bigger
picture and acting for the whole
rather than the individual.
• According to research, people
with some form of spiritual
practice have higher levels of
happiness.
• Eight weeks of mindfulness meditation, for instance, can lead to
greater activity in the left, pre-frontal cortex, the seat of positive
emotions in the brain.
11 – Rest & Renewal

• Modern lifestyle may not allow much time for

rest and renewal but without it, you risk
becoming depleted and depressed.
• Renewal involves attending to your needs,
restocking your reserves and finding the right
balance between activity and rest – too much of
either leads to sub-optimal/inferior living.
12 – The Fun Factor

• Make a “playlist” of things you enjoy and

prioritize spending time doing them.
• Use all your senses to enjoy the pleasures of the
here and now.
• Having fun isn’t just about boosting happiness
after-hours, it can also stimulate creativity and
productivity in the workplace.
 The 12 Happiness Enhancing
Strategies (Lyubomirsky, 2008)
• Counting your blessings • Savoring life’s joys
• Cultivating optimism • Committing to your goals
• Avoiding overthinking and social • Developing coping strategies
comparison • Learning to forgive
• Practicing acts of kindness • Practicing religion and
• Nurturing Relationships spirituality
• Doing more activities that truly • Taking care of your body
engage you
Emotion Focused Coping
 Emotion Focused Coping
Problem-focused coping includes such strategies as defining the problem, generating and weighing
alternative solutions, and following a plan of action. Emotion-focused coping includes processes
such as avoidance, denial, seeking emotional support, and positive reappraisal, acceptance, and
turning to religion, wishful thinking, emphasizing the positive, self-blame, tension reduction, and
self-isolation. Lazarus and Folkman observed that, people use both coping approaches in almost all
difficult situations. They assumed that coping processes were neither inherently maladaptive nor
adaptive and emphasized the importance of keeping coping efforts conceptually distinct from
coping outcomes (e.g., psychological adjustment). In their view, the efficacy of coping efforts must
be investigated within the situational context.
• Emotion-focused coping is a stress management technique aimed at reducing the
impact of stressors on a person’s emotions. Rather than changing the external
problems contributing to stress, emotion-focused coping strategies aim to reduce
the resulting emotional distress. This can also be described as
emotional regulation or distress tolerance. While the external stressor doesn’t
change, the impact of emotions does.

• Emotion-focused coping can be used in an adaptive or maladaptive way. When

used adaptively, such as with journaling, meditation, or breathing techniques,
emotion-focused coping is a very effective tool for reducing the negative impact of
stressors and regulating emotion. However, when used in a maladaptive way, such
as with denial, avoidance, or toxic positivity, emotion-focused coping is not as
helpful.
• Any type of coping strategy that involves trying to change your emotional
reaction to a stressful event can be considered emotion-focused coping. The
concept was first introduced in the 1980s by Richard Lazarus and Susan
Folkman.

• If you experience anxiety, sadness, anger, or fear during an

event that’s out of your control, emotion-focused coping can help you manage
these emotions by reducing their effect on you.

• Although there’s not much recent research on emotion-focused coping, some

older studies indicate that it can sometimes help people become more
prepared for life’s hardships.

• In a 2015 study, emotion-focused coping, also called emotional approach

coping, was associated with:

• increased positive thinking

The researchers of this study concluded that people who often relied on
emotion-focused coping developed more resilience and higher levels of general
well-being.
However, not all research supports emotion-focused coping as the best way to
deal with stress. In fact, this coping strategy has faced some controversy
because, in some studies, it’s linked to negative outcomes.

It’s important to note, though, that some of these studies have focused on
maladaptive emotion-focused coping only, like avoidant behaviors. For example,
some people cope with a problem by not thinking about it or keeping busy. In
general, avoidance isn’t considered an effective coping response.
• Other types of emotion-focused coping strategies that may not be effective include: denying the issue,
suppressing (pushing down) emotions, giving up on the situation, and using substances to deal with
painful emotions
• Emotion-focused coping strategies aren’t all about avoidance, though. They can also involve confronting,
exploring, and understanding your feelings about a situation.
• This type of emotional approach to coping can be effective when managing: burnout, (per 2013 research
), chronic pain, (according to a 2002 study), stress, according to 2012 research, suicidal thoughts in
adolescents, per a 2018 study
• Problem-focused coping, on the other hand, seems to be more effective for depression and loneliness,
based on findings in a self-reported study from 2013 and a review of scientific literature from 2018,
respectively.
• Again, though, some of these studies on problem-focused coping compare it to only maladaptive
emotion-focused coping strategies, like avoidance and denial, rather than beneficial strategies.
 Benefits of emotion-focused coping include:
• Being better able to emotionally regulate: Emotion-focused coping can help with
emotional regulation by allowing a person to process through and decrease difficult emotions.
• Reduces toxic stress: By regulating emotions like anxiety, anger, and frustration, one can
decrease the levels of stress-related hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol. These
hormones can be dangerous over time and contribute to health problems.
• Helps you be more present in the moment: Mindfulness, one of the more common types
of emotion-focused coping, helps with attention and awareness of the present moment without
judgment. Staying in the moment can help reduce the effects of stress and overwhelm.
• Allows for clearer thinking: When a person is emotionally dysregulated, the emotional part
of the brain, known as the limbic system, takes over, and the part that is responsible for
critical thinking, the pre-frontal cortex, goes offline. Emotional regulation helps activate the
executive center in the brain, allowing for more clear and focused thinking and problem-
solving.
• Reduces negative emotions: Negative emotions like sadness and anger are healthy and a
normal part of life. However, getting stuck in those emotions over the long term can become
unhealthy, and processing those emotions can pave the way for more positive emotions to
emerge.
• Allows for healthy emotional expression: Emotion-focused coping tools like journaling or
 Understanding Emotion Focused Coping
• Annette Stanton, a positive psychologist at the University of
California, considered the adaptive potential of emotion-focused
coping (i.e., regulating the emotions surrounding a stressful
encounter), she found that there was a problem in how emotions
were defined and measured in some of the research.
• Stanton, Danoff-Burg, Cameron, and Ellis (1994) found that scales
assessing emotion-focused coping contained items in which the
respondent had to engage in self-deprecation or admit to
experiencing distress or psychopathology whenever he or she
acknowledged experiencing intense emotion.
 Emotional Approach and Emotional Avoidance
• Stanton, Parsa, and Austenfeld (2002, p. 150) stated that “coping through
emotional approach might be said to carry adaptive potential, the realization
of which may depend on . . . the situational context, the interpersonal
milieu, and attributes of the individual.” What they call emotional approach
involves active movement toward, rather than away from, a stressful
encounter. This distinction between emotional approach and emotional
avoidance is supported by the existence of two neurobiological systems that
govern approach (i.e., appetitive) and avoidance behavior.
• The behavioral activation system regulates our appetitive motivation,
which helps us realize emotional or behavioral rewards, whereas the
behavioral inhibition system functions to help us avoid negative events and
punishment (Depue, 1996).
Emotion Focused Coping Strategies
 Crying
• Crying may support both the body and mind by restoring emotional
balance, dulling pain, and activating the parasympathetic nervous
system. Some benefits of crying include:
• Detoxifies the body
• Helps self-soothe
• Dulls pain
• Improves mood
• Helps recover from grief
• Restores emotional balance
 Humor
• Humor can be conceived as a quality of being amusing, comic and light-hearted. Martin has
cited The Oxford English Dictionary that defines humor as a quality of action, speech, or
writing which excites amusement; oddity, jocularity, facetiousness, comicality, fun.
• Further it can be considered as a faculty of perceiving what is ludicrous or amusing, or of
expressing it in speech, writing, or other composition; jocose imagination or treatment of a
subject (Simpson and Weiner, 1989).
• When we look at the various definitions of humor we find that humor has been defined as
process, event as well as a behavior. Thus a humorous act or event is something that
instigates fun. As a process humor could mean all those processes, which lead to the
perception of a situation as funny and humorous. There could be individual differences in this
capacity, for example same event may be perceived as an act having different level of
humorousity.
• The cognitive way of looking at humor could be defining it as the
tendency of particular cognitive responses to provoke laughter,
physical reaction, and provide amusement.
• Humor serves three main psychological purposes: (1) cognitive and
social benefits of the positive emotion of mirth, (2) uses of humor
for social communication and influence, and (3) tension relief and
coping.
• Researchers have shown that humor leads to the development and
enhancement of positive mood and affect.
 Components of Humor
According to Martin (2007) from a psychological perspective the humor process can be divided into four
essential components:
• Social Context: in which humor originates is that of playfulness. Its a way for people to interact in a
playful manner.
• Cognitive-perceptual process: involves an idea, image, text, or event that is in some sense incongruous,
odd, unusual, unexpected, surprising, or out of the ordinary. Giora (1991) has considered surprise effect
as one of the main ingredient of humor. According to him funniness results where expectations were
violated. We are not amused if we guess the joke. The element of surprise is necessary for the creation
of humor.
• Emotional response: creates a positive emotional response, generally in the form of a pleasant mood or
experience. Researchers have shown that humor leads to the development and enhancement of positive
mood and affect (Szabo, 2003). Brain imaging and physiological studies show that humorous and comic
cartoons activate the reward and pleaser center in the limbic system.
• Behavioral aspects: reflected in smile or laughter. Apart from playfulness, the behavioral aspects may
play a therapeutic role by bringing positive mood, promoting social inclusion, developing or
strengthening new and existing relations, creating new social connections and bringing high energy and
motivation at no cost.
 Theories of Humor
• The Freud's theory of humor was most popular in the 1950s and 1960s however it declined with the rise of
cognitive revolution in 1970s.
• According to classical psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud, humor, like dreams, denote our repressed
feelings and hidden desires. Freud laid the foundation of psychoanalytic theory of humor in his 1905 book,
‘Jokes and their relation to the unconscious’ and later in his journal article, Humor in 1928. The psychoanalytic
perspective maintains that our threatening impulses find an outlet in public in the form of humor. Freud
offered a formal analysis of jokes that he called jokes-work (on the line of dream-work). As Freud perceived
human beings mainly made up of threatening instincts and impulses, which are censored by society, a viable
duct like humor is needed to find out socially acceptable way to bring them outside.
• However, all types of jokes do not have sexual and instinctive overtones. So, Freud made a distinction between
innocent jokes and tendentious jokes. According to him innocent jokes do not fulfill any deep psychological
purposes or function. Such kind of jokes may denote playfulness or wit. On the other hand, tendentious jokes
serve the underlying deep psychological functioning by bringing the repressed feelings and sexual urges in
socially acceptable form. For example, the tendentious jokes contained, aggression and hostility in a disguised
manner.
 Theories of Humor
• Critics of psychoanalytic theory of humor have criticized it for the over use of its
classical and outdated ideas and painting every human picture of behavior with
sexual and instinctive overtones. There is no denying to the fact that there is no
dearth of jokes with sexual and aggressive overtones but not all jokes fall into
that category. As there is no methodological basis of Freudian psychoanalytic
theory of jokes and humor and the presence of sexual or aggressive pent-up
feelings and emotions do not necessarily give rise to dirty or double meaning
jokes. For example, cracking jokes even dirty jokes might not release sexual
tension, rather they may increase it. On the other hand, humor could be sublime,
relieving and most important entertaining.
 Theories of Humor
• According to incongruity theory all humor is based on the perception
or recognition of incongruity-a contrast in reality and actual
perception. Incongruity theory is closer to violation of expectation
paradigms. According to it humor is created in situations in which
expectations and outcomes are different. So, if you wish to create
humor then according to incongruity theory create a plot and offer
twist to it. However, critics of the incongruity theory maintain that all
the humor cannot be explained by the unexpectedness, twist and
violation of expectations.
 Theories of Humor
• Superiority theory believes that humor results from a sense of superiority and high self-esteem. Also,
people with high self- esteem use more and more humor. For example, if you notice a doctor and a
patient in a communication where patient is seriously concerned about his or her disease or problem so
much so that it looks very grave and intimidating than it is the doctor who cracks little humor to defuse
the gravity of concern of the patient. When a student feels threatened by nearing examination or class
test for which he or she is not prepared and discusses his problem with his parent or teacher then what
people in superior positions (parent or teacher) do? They console, motivate- and if nothing works -
create humor.
• The sense of superiority must not be confused with the casual attitude about the situation like a careless
friend suggesting us not to worry about the examination at all and have fun. According to the 17th-
century philosopher Thomas Hobbes’ humor originates when a superior person interacts with a weak or
inferior person and experiences a sudden glory. In the words of Hobbes "the passion of laughter is
nothing else but sudden glory arising from some sudden conception of some eminency in ourselves, by
comparison with the infirmity of others, or with our own formerly” (Human Nature, Ch. 8).
 Theories of Humor
• There are other variations of the superiority theory offered by those
scholars who completely do not agree with the views of Hobbes.
• One such variation is known as the inferiority theory given by Robert
Solomon (2002). According to Solomon, rather than a stemming from
a sense of sudden glory or superiority humor can originate from a
sense of self-deprecation, self-critical attitudes or simply an attitude
to take oneself not so seriously. According to Smuts (2010) Solomon’s
inferiority theory of humor raises a central objection against the
Superiority theory, namely, that a feeling of superiority is not a
necessary condition of humor.
 Theories of Humor
• According to relief theory humor works as a relieving mechanism from the buildup
tension, frustration and anxiety.
• The relief theory is physiological and psychological in nature in that it takes into
account the influence of various physiological processes like the role of brain (for
example amygdala)- in dealing with emotions and neural chemistry on the one hand
and catharsis of pent-up feelings and emotions through humor on the other hand.
• For example, a person who is feeling very tense or nervous in front of public during a
public speech can be relieved by and put at ease by use of humor either by himself or
any other person in the party. If you're a student and preparing your presentation for
the first time and if you are feeling a bit nervous then a good strategy could be to
begin your presentation with a note of humor.
 Benefits of Humor

Physical Benefits Mental Health Benefits Social Benefits

• Boosts immunity • Adds joy and zest to life • Strengthens relationships
• Lowers stress hormones • Eases anxiety and fear • Enhances teamwork
• Decreases pain • Relieves stress • Helps defuse conflict
• Relaxes muscles • Improves mood • Promotes group bonding
• Prevents heart disease • Enhances resilience
 Talking
• Talking about our problems and verbalizing our negative feelings to
friends has been a source of relief for centuries. In different forms of
psychotherapy, from psychoanalysis to existential and cognitive-
behavioral approaches, the vital component is the bond of trust
between client and therapist that supports clients’ self-disclosure, the
process of sharing their problems, and emotional pain.
• Studies have shown that simply talking about our problems and
sharing our negative emotions with someone we trust can be
profoundly healing—reducing stress, strengthening our immune
system, and reducing physical and emotional distress (Pennebaker,
Kiecolt-Glaser, & Glaser, 1988).
• James Pennebaker (1989) conducted a study in which students told to write
about an assigned topic for 15 minutes daily, over four consecutive days. They
were instructed that once they began writing, they had to continue without
stopping, without regard to spelling, grammar, or sentence structure. Participants
were then randomly assigned to either an experimental or a control group.
• The participants of the experimental group were asked to spend each daily
session, writing about traumatic experience in their lives. For the next four days,
they were asked to write their feelings and thoughts about their most traumatic
experiences of life. Participants in the control group were asked to write about
non emotional topics.
• The most profound result of these writing studies was people’s seemingly intuitive drive to
disclose.
• Participants in the experimental group enjoyed the writing process and found it to be
extremely ‘valuable and meaningful’. Most surprising were the painful array of tragic and
depressing stories about which these predominantly upper middle class college students
wrote.
• The physiological long-term effects (beginning at least 2 weeks after the studies) were
overwhelmingly valuable. Participants in the experimental group had significantly reduced
numbers of physician visits in the next year (in comparison to those in the control group).
The immediate effects were not overtly positive, many reported crying or being deeply upset
by the experience. They felt distressed and unhappy as they re-experienced the negative
emotions again.
• Similar beneficial outcomes have been found for participants in the
writing-about-trauma condition as measured by basic biological
processes related to immune functioning (Pennebaker, Kiecolt-Glaser,
& Glaser,1988; Petrie, Booth, & Pennebaker, 1998), of and positive
influences on behavior-including increases in job offers received by a
group of engineers after a massive layoff and increases in grades for
incoming college students.
Reluctance to disclose trauma due to reasons like:
Even though writing or talking about traumatic events has so many benefits, many people are reluctant to do it.
1. The Role of Inhibition:
Not talking about emotionally traumatic events was ultimately unhealthy. Not expressing about thoughts,
feelings and behavior linked to emotional upheaval-is a form of inhibition. Inhibition acts as a general stressor
that can cause or exacerbate psychosomatic processes and thereby lead to long-term health problems (Traue &
Deighton, 1999). Reducing inhibition as demonstrated by studies showing that confiding subsequently reduced
illness (Mumford, Schlesinger, Glass, Patrick, & Cuerdon, 1998).
People who do not confide have greater risk for both major and minor health problems. In the earlier
researchers it was found that out of approximately 24,000 respondents to a survey in a popular magazine, 22%
of females and 11% of males reported that they had a traumatic sexual experience prior to age 17. These
people also were more likely to have been diagnosed with cancer, and to have high blood pressure, ulcers and
the flu (Pennebaker, 1997). Subsequent studies have established that regardless of the type of trauma
experienced, whether or not the trauma has been discussed strongly impacts health.
When students were asked to write about imaginary traumas as though they lived through them, they
evidenced similar health benefits as compared with individuals who wrote about their own trauma (Greenberg,
Stone, Wirtman, 1996)
2. The Role of Cognitive Processes:
The cognitive roots of the paradigm can be seen in Gestalt psychologists’ views on perception. When
individuals experience trauma, they temporarily become disconnected from their self. It also involves the
inhibition of the thoughts and feelings related to the trauma.
Gestalt views represent our innate need to integrate the various facets of an event into a more coherent
whole. A major problem is the anxiety of not attaining completion and not understanding a cause-and-
effect explanation for traumatic disturbances.
Zeigarnik’s (1927/1938) and Freud’s and more recent research findings suggest that individuals tend to
ruminate, talk and dream about things that are not resolved in their minds, or about tasks that are not
completed.
Because we are motivated to complete our goal-related thoughts, these thoughts remain active when the
task cannot be finished or resolved (Martin &Tesser, 1989).
Furthermore, the more one tries to suppress these thoughts, paradoxically, the more frequently will they
return to mind (Wegner, 1994).
Constructing a story facilitates individuals a sense of control over their lives. The beauty of the narrative is
that it allows us to tie all changes in our life together into a broad, comprehensive story.
3. The importance of social dynamics:
This involves social repercussions, which have been described by Emile Durkheim (1951). An inherent benefit
of forming a narrative involves being able to translate one’s life story into an understandable language.
Not being able to express one’s emotional upheavals disconnects people from their social worlds. No matter
what reason a person does not disclose, keeping a secret detaches one from society.
Suppressing thoughts regularly creates a cognitive burden that makes it difficult to make sense of what
happened.
Thus, the keeper of the secret will be more guarded, and the surrounding people who will be unaware of the
individual’s thoughts and feelings cannot offer sympathy or help. As a result, the individual becomes isolated,
as Durkheim describes it ‘less socially integrated’.
Social integration is one of the keys to both psychological and physical health. Durkeim (1951) argued that the
less socially integrated people were, the more likely they were to commit suicide.
Others have demonstrated that feelings of loneliness and isolation are associated with more health problems.
On the other hand, social integration is understood as a sense of belonging, cohesion, and security with
others. It also incorporates the sense of coherence that one obtains in creating a synchrony in behaviors,
beliefs, and language both within individuals and with their social group.
• It has been found that the nature of a person's writing is important.
When people relive upsetting events without focusing on meaning
they report poorer health as compared to those who focus on
meaning.
• The kind of language used has a lot of influence on whether writing
will be beneficial or not.
 Emotional Storytelling
• Emotional storytelling is the act of written disclosure. It is also referred to
as the Pennebaker paradigm. There could be several explanations for the
benefits of talking or writing about traumatic emotional experiences:
• Emotional catharsis: expressive writing helps in releasing bottled up emotions
related to the traumatic incident.
• Confronting previously inhibited emotions: expressive writing may help an
individual confront their previously inhibited emotions.
• Cognitive processing: expressive writing helps in developing a coherent narrative
which helps in reorganizing traumatic memories and leads to better adaptation.
• Repeated exposure: repeated exposure may lead to extinction of negative
emotional responses.
 References
• Baumgardner, S. R. & Crothers, M. K. (2014). Positive Psychology.
Pearson Education
• Snyder, C. R., & Lopez, S. J. (2007). Positive Psychology: The Scientific
and Practical Explorations of Human Strengths. Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage Publications, Inc.