Last Day

Last Day Bonfire

Today we went out Vestamager to a nature reserve. It was a really nice time to get out into the nature, and I thought the contrast between the city and nature was also really interesting to see.

We talked about two main theories regarding happiness and nature. One was from an evolutionary perspective, which proposed that we gain wellbeing from nature because that is what our ancestors lived in. There has barely been any time evolutionarily for us to adjust to the city culture, so we find the greatest wellbeing in the type of environment we evolved in. The other theory was from a neurological perspective, which believes that we gain wellbeing from being in nature due to the fact that we don't have as many stimuli as we do when we are in a big city. When we go to work we get a spike of stress, and when we come back, we may never fully come down to relaxed state, so we might be continually increasing our stress levels.

Another topic we talked about was healing gardens. Jonatan told of instances in which people with PTSD were allowed to work in gardens and they showed improvement from it. It could be the case that they are gaining both hedonic and eudamonic wellbeing, in that they are feeling more at peace and they are also gaining meaning and autonomy from the work they are doing in the garden. He also described the criteria for being a healing garden, which included many species of animals, openness, peace, and the feel of being in a different world. The nature reserve that we were at definitely had a relaxing feel to it.

We were able to chop wood and also made some bread on spears, which was interesting. At the end we had a chance to reflect on the entire course. I definitely enjoyed my time being in the course, and I feel that my favorite aspect of the course was our instructor, Jonatan. I know the ideas of hedonic and eudamonic happiness will stick with me. I also enjoyed being able to experience different aspects of Danish culture, such as going to the park in Copenhagen and talking with Danes. Overall, I'm really glad I took the course, and I feel that I got a lot out of it.

Final Presentations

Final Presentations

Today we had the second round of presentations for our second project. All of the presentations were very well done, and I got a lot out of the comparisons between Denmark and the US. One presentation topic I thought was interesting had to do with the drinking culture between Denmark and the US. The group presented the ideas that in Denmark it is okay to drink some alcohol at 16, and the heavier alcohol at 18. In the US, the drinking age of 21 tends to make people be secretive about their drinking, especially when they are younger, below the legal limit. One topic that they brought up that I found interesting was how there was a movement against alcohol, in that it became more taboo to be seen drinking or drunk. I had not thought about it before, but coming to Denmark has definitely made it more apparent that in the US, it is almost looked down upon to be drunk, while in Denmark, it is a part of the culture and there is a lot smaller percentage of people that completely abstain from alcohol in Denmark than there is in the US. Probably the most conspicuous difference between the two drinking cultures is how it is legal to drink in public, e.g. the metro, on the street, here in Denmark, but that it is illegal to do so in the United States. The drinking culture here seems a lot more open and valued, while in the US it is almost demonize drinking in general. I think that drinking can be helpful to a culture when used appropriately. While it is not necessary in social settings, I feel that it can help improve the connectivity between the people at a social gathering, as they are more open to communicate with each other. Obviously, there a serious potential for abusing alcohol, but I feel like in Denmark people accept and value alcohol in a respectful way, using it to have fun and not as a crutch or an escape from every day life.

Meeting the Danes

Meeting the Danes

 Today, we had the opportunity to talk to some of the Danes that Jonatan brought in to help us understand cultural differences. For the first part of the day, we made a poster of what we thought wellbeing meant in regards to the Danes - for ours we focused on the biking culture, as well as the prevalence of alcohol in the culture - as well as rating the US and Denmark on the five dimensions of Hofstede's theory. Following this, we did an activity with a group of students and a Dane in which we were given different scenarios related to being on an island. The Dane that was in our group was a guy named Nils. He was very interesting to talk to as he told us of how he did a lot of activities related to surviving in the wilderness, as well as teaching kids to be able to survive in the wilderness, so he had a lot of good input on the activity. For instance, for the first round, we had to pick five items off a list of about 15 based on what would be most useful for us. We then talked through different scenarios that related to Hofstede's five dimensions. For instance, we came up with a scenario for the Power Distance dimension relating to someone in the group on the island declaring that they were going to be in charge and how we would deal with that. During this time we also got to talk to Nils about different aspects of Danish culture. One thing that I found very interesting was his take on the tax system. He described how he totally supports the tax system, as it gives everyone the opportunity to live without the stress of having to deal with different unknown factors in life - illness, education, etc. He told us of how he had friends who have dealt with a lot of different illnesses - ranging from a bum knee to brain tumors. He said that even though he was happy, he liked being able to help out people that needed it. I asked him what he thought of the idea that high taxes hinders people's ambition for achievement. He said that he did not think this was true at all, that the average income for the Danish people has collectively increased - not just for those at the top but for everyone in general. He also said that he doesn't believe that the tax system hinders productivity or innovation, and gave different examples of things that are coming from Denmark - he referenced the quote from Bill Gates: “I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.” He said that the Danes can be innovative because they don't need to be excessive in what they make.

For the last part of class, the Danes rotates groups and we got a chance to ask questions. We were able to talk to a medical student named Anna. We also asked her about her thoughts on the tax system, and she also said that she totally agrees with it, saying that she really likes the security that the tax system gives. She also talked about her schooling as a medical student, which was interesting to me as I'm pre-medical student now. She told us of how after high school she applies to a medical school and there she did three years of the equivalent of undergraduate and then she has three more years of actual medical school. After that she said she has more years of specialty before she can start practicing. We also talked about the political system and the political candidates.

I really enjoyed having the opportunity to interact with more Danes and find out more about their take on the Danish culture. I wouldn't doubt that it was a little intimidating for them to come in and have to answer so many questions, but I feel that I got a lot out of it.

Lesson 8 - Situated Learning

Situated Learning

Etienne Wegner proposed the idea of Situated Learning and communities of practice. The idea is based around the definition of learning as "learning how to act" in a specific group - a community of practice. The theory involves three topics: the idea that knowledge is socially constructed, that learning happens in communities of practice, and the roles of competent and peripheral legitimate participants in communities. The idea that knowledge is socially constructed reflects that the truth is whatever we decide to be true. The concept of communities of practice is based on the idea that learning takes place all of the time and encompasses all aspects of experience. Learning in communities of practice four different ideas: meaning, practice, community, and identity. The meaning is necessary for the members of a community to stay engaged, while the practice allows for community to share what they are doing and why. The community itself allows the group to feel bonded together, and also allows for the individuals of the community to get an identity from it. A community of practice exists when a group has a common goal, has a shared repertoire of stories, traditions, etc., and has mutual engagement - a demand for collaboration.

The third idea was that of the competent and the legitimate participants of communities. The metaphor given in class was that the competent participant of a community is like batman, while the legitimate peripheral participant of the community is like robin. The legitimate peripheral participant is legitimate because he or she is accepted by the group, and is peripheral because he or she hasn't quite found his or her place. That is, this person is still learning the rules of engagement for the community and has not become competent. A third kind of person - the joker in the analogy - may be excluded from the group and may start a new group where he or she is the competent participant.

 For a class activity, we discussed the three topics of Situated Learning Theory in the context of being a DIS student. For instance, we described the definition of wellbeing for a DIS student to be meeting new people and learning a new culture. We gave examples of shared repertoire as knowing Jonatan, and traveling together, while for examples of mutual engagement, we put down partying, taking trips together, and sharing meals. We described a competent participant of the DIS community to be someone who can dress for the weather, and who wants to try new things. This exercise was helpful in illustrated the concepts of Situated Learning Theory in a context that we could all understand.

Lesson 7 - Cultural Differences in Well-being

The Happy Movie

Before we left to see what was going on for Constitution Day, we watched a portion of the Happy movie. This was a documentary about what makes people happy, but shows the differences between culture. For instance, it was described how in Japan, work is emphasized to the point where there have been deaths due to overworking. Another story was about a woman who was very beautiful when she was younger, but then endured an accident with a truck that left her physically disfigured. She described how her feelings about life changed from wanting to end it, to embracing it and feeling more fulfilled in life than she had before the accident.

One family that was depicted was a family in Louisiana, who did not have a lot of material wealth, but still described themselves as being very happy. They described how they would get together at least once a week with the extended family and eat together - sometimes with food that they caught themselves. Two theories can be used to help understand these cross-cultural aspects of well-being: one from Hofstede, who focused on the values behind well-being, and one from Geertz, who focused on the meaning behind well-being. Hofstede proposed several aspects on which a culture could be graded on in terms of their values in reference to well-being. For instance, one value is short vs. long term orientation. This family could be viewed as having more short term orientation, because they were not looking months in advance on what they wanted to do, but rather they focused on getting together on a weekly basis to eat together. Geertz looked at the difference between thin and thick descriptions, and described how thick descriptions can be used to understand the meaning behind cultural differences. In the case of the family from Louisiana, their eating together points towards a deeper idea of the importance they place on time they spend together, which means that they are spending less time working. It can be seen that this family doesn't need a lot of material wealth, and thus is not distracted by trying to obtain the most things, but rather focuses on enjoying time with one another.

Constitution Day

Constitution Day

 We got to go to the celebration of Denmark's Constitution Day, June 5th. The most striking thing was the ease in which we were able to get into the area in which the event was held. Having gone to see the President in the US a few years ago where people were getting in line over 8 hours in advance and had to pass through very thorough security, it was a very conspicuous difference to be able to get in line and be through it in under five minutes with very light security. From this, it can be seen that trust in people's intentions while seeing the most important people in Denmark is a lot higher than in the US - that there is less of a threat from the people in the crowd towards these people. It was also very interesting to be able to see the Queen speak. It was the 100 year anniversary of women's suffrage in Denmark, and the Queen spoke about that. Although we weren't able to understand what was being said, it could be seen that the people enjoyed the Queen's speech and what she was saying. Being able to see these important people was a very memorable experience.

Lesson 6 - New Groups and Cultural Differences

New Groups

The first thing we did for the day was to get into new groups. While it was great working with our old group, it will be great to get a chance to work with new people. Additionally, we took some time to look at how our new group wanted to work, and wrote down a contract for that.

 

The things we wanted to do were to start working earlier in order to give us time to review and edit our work, as well as divide the work evenly to make it efficient. We decided that the Studenterhuset would be our place to work and that working in person would be the most efficient. We also acknowledged that we need to make sure to have fair debating and that we will need to compromise.

Nudging

The main concept we covered for the day was nudging, which is the idea that you can use positive reinforcement and indirect suggestions in order to influence people's behavior, without overtly telling them what to do. Nudging happens all of the time in business and advertising, as these companies want us to use their products and services.

Well-being In Products

In order to analyze cultural differences in products and companies, we went out into the city in our study groups and analyzed a difference US business that is also in Copenhagen. We went to KFC and looked at the differences there. We found that it was a lot cleaner and looked a bit more upscale. We tried some of the food there and found that the quality of the food was better. Additionally, we found the menu had some small changes, such as the addition of salads and shakes, and the exclusion of biscuits. These changes must have some significant or consequences in the well-being of people in Copenhagen who would come to the store. For instance, they might value the quality of the food and the atmosphere of the area more than in the US - for them, these things might increase their well-being.

When talking with the class afterwards, we each got into different groups to discuss the differences we saw throughout the different stores and shops. Some of the recurrent themes were of better quality products and healthier choices. From these observations, one could infer that quality and health may have more meaning to the well-being of Danes than to Americans. 

Lesson 4 - Wellbeing and Resilience

Well-being and resilience in convicts

On Monday, June 1st, we talked about wellbeing, problems and solutions, and resilience. The main idea that defines resilience when a person overcomes hardship and is able to thrive afterward despite that hardship. However, this definition becomes difficult to label specific situations, as there is no clear definition of what a hardship is, or what thriving is after such a hardship. For instance, if a person is able to get away from a culture that typically does not value education and finds a way to get educated, has he overcome hardship in order to thrive? Thriving may be seen as doing better than expected after hardship, but there is no easy way to determine if someone is doing better than expected.

An additional idea covered on Monday was the idea of problems and solutions. In order to solve a problem, the problem must be clearly defined and understood. Only in this way is someone able to find a proper solution. However, even if a problem is believed to be understood, there is still the possibility of ascribing the wrong solution to it. For instance, if a child is acting up in class, a solution may be to punish that child in order for them to behave properly. This may not be a proper solution as the child may be acting up from problems at home, and thus the solution of punishment is not getting to the root of the issue. This is a major problem in the criminal system. For instance, many people who commit a crime have a mental illness. By punishing that individual, he or she is being deprived of the proper treatment for the ailment he or she has.

Another idea that was brought up Monday was the theory of planned behavior. Unlike the previous belief that people do what they decide to do, the theory of planned behavior proposes that there are different components that affect when some acts on a decision they have made to do something. Three things that feed into the intention to do something are: the attitude towards the behavior, the subjective norm, and the perceived behavioral control. These three things feed into the intention, which then feed into the behavior.

 Cafe Exit

We took a trip to Cafe Exit on Monday and learned about their program to help ex-convicts assimilate back into society. We were able to listen to Hans, a founder of the program, speak about his experiences.

One major thing that Hans talked about was how hard it is for someone who has been in prison for a long time to come back into society. Hans himself was in prison for 10 years, and he said that experience made him realize how the limited resources of an ex-convict makes life extremely hard. For example, he mentioned how someone who just got out of prison and just got an apartment wouldn't know how to begin to move their furniture into the new apartment. It's the little, every day things in life that cause great difficulty in an ex-con, which may end up becoming too much for him or her to bear - the end result being a person returning to prison, where they have the competence to function in every day life.

It was very striking to see the differences in well-being between someone that has been a part of society their entire life and someone who has started to come back into society after a period of serving time. In some aspects, the standard of what constitutes well-being changes to be that of just being able to complete the every day tasks in a meaningful way. Additionally, while some people may find well-being in continuously striving for promotions in their career, a person that has just come out of prison may have the goal of just finding a job. It appears to be an overwhelming amount to take on in order to assimilate back into society after serving time. One thing that Hans mentioned was that some people like to come to the cafe and just sit and talk. He believes that this program gives these convicts someone who will actually listen to them and their problems - compared to social workers, who he said may only get into a fight with the convict from not being able to understand their position.

I feel that Cafe Exit is providing a really good service, not only to the convicts but society as a whole. As Hans mentioned, being able to help out these convicts will lessen their chances of returning to prison, which only takes a toll on society. It is unfortunate that the government will agree with the program, but won't give it any money. As Hans said, Cafe Exit relies heavily on the work of volunteers. He mentioned that they have over a hundred volunteers, without whom the Cafe would not be able to perform its job.

The prison system seems to be a very good example of how the solutions of problems may not actually be solving the problem. It also shows how the well-being of individuals changes based on their life circumstances. As Hans mentioned, a lot of these convicts have not come from a loving household, never having received a hug. As he said, it seemed that prison was their destiny from birth. I believe that Cafe Exit is doing a very good job in giving these convicts a chance to show their resilience - giving them aid in order to push through the difficulty of making a life back in society after being in prison.

Lesson 5 - Presentations and Evaluation

Evaluations on Presentations and Group Work

 Today in class we gave our presentations for the photo project. I thought that everyone did a very good job on their presentation, and one thing that I found interesting was the diversity in the kinds of projects, i.e. what kind of information was presented and how they presented it. Seeing other groups definitely gave me ideas on different ways we could have approached the project.


Following the presentations, we had a chance to reflect on our presentations and our group work. For both the top and the bottom panels, the left box was where we put ideas on what we could get rid of, while the middle box is where we put ideas for what we could continue, and the right box is where we put our thoughts on what we should add to next time. The top panels were ideas for our presentation, while the bottom panels are where we wrote things for our group work.

For our presentations, the main thing we wanted to get rid of was extraneous information while we were giving the presentation. We believed we could have been more concise in the information we presented. We thought we could continue how we made the slides, as they were simple and concise, while we also thought we had good discussion questions and a good division of topics between people. The main area that we focused on is what we could add to the project for next time. One main thing was the thought that we should have rehearsed everything more. We felt that giving ourselves more time for rehearsal would have allowed us to give a better presentation. Some other things we wanted to add were a more creative activity - we thought our discussion went well but we could have made it more creative - as well as include more research studies in the background. Starting the PowerPoint right away, as well as making a more thorough presentation, were also things we thought to add for next time.

For our group work, the main thing we wanted to get rid of was inefficiency in walking and having too long of sessions. A few things that we did that we liked this time was going through the entire presentation together, as well as making a group outline. We also liked the time that we spent as a group going to the library and getting lunch. Again, the biggest area for reflection was on what we could add for next time. We wanted to do better scheduling, to make things more efficient, as well as divide the topics during the work more efficiently. We also thought that we could talk to different groups to see what they were going to do to get some ideas on ways we could approach the project. The last ideas that we thought we could add were just making the work more efficient by starting earlier, taking more breaks, and having more meetings.

Overall, we were satisfied with the job we did on the paper and presentation, but we felt that there was a lot that we could do differently to make the future project better. This evaluation was definitely helpful in helping us see how we felt about the job we did and ways we could improve.

Lesson 3 - Eudamonic Wellbeing

What is eudamonic wellbeing?

Eudamonic wellbeing is focused on psychological wellbeing, and believes that wellbeing lies in the actualization of human potential. There are three different definitions or equivalent terms to the actualization of human potential: psychological wellbeing, authentic happiness, and the self-determination theory. Psychological wellbeing is made up of the ideas of self-acceptance, positive relations, personal growth, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and autonomy. It believes that a person must strive to satisfy these six areas in order live a fulfilling life. Seligmann argues for the theory of authentic happiness, which is made up of the pleasant life (hedonic happiness), the good life (flow) and the meaningful life. Finally, self-determination theory posits that a fulfilling life is created by fulfilling three areas: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. While these three theories believe that the actualization of human potential is created by different areas, there are several ideas that are common across theories. Some important ideas that appear in multiple theories are the importance of social relationships, competence in working with and affecting the environment, personal growth and finding a state of flow, finding purpose or meaning in life, and autonomy. Overall, it focuses on meaningful areas in life that promote self-actualization and fulfillment on a deeper level than hedonic happiness.

What is the different between hedonic and eudamonic happiness?

The main difference between the two ideas of happiness is that hedonic happiness is based on positive emotions, while eudamonic happiness is psychological states that support human actualization. This is illustrated in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, in that the bottom two layers of physiological needs and safety needs aid in hedonic wellbeing, while the top three layers of love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization are involved in eudamonic wellbeing.

In order to further understand hedonic and eudamonic happiness, we did five different activities exploring the ideas of the two types. In the first, we looked for quotes that represented either hedonic or eudamonic happiness. For the quotes regarding hedonic happiness, we wrote down those that focused on promoting happiness, such as "Don't worry, be happy." For the eudamonic quotes, we found those that included goals and purpose, as well as those that focused on personal relationships, since these were some important ideas regarding eudamonic happiness.

In another activity, we had to identify songs and movies that could represent hedonic and eudamonic happiness. For the hedonic music and movies, we put down "Down worry, be happy" and "Half-baked," since these focus on enjoying life and don't necessarily include much about meaning or purpose life. On the other hand, for the music and movies that represent eudamonic happiness, we put down "Firework" and "Toy Story," as these pieces include the aspect of finding one's identity and meaning.

Additionally, we needed to create concepts for reality shows that would demonstrate these two types of happiness. For a show that exhibits hedonic happiness, we described a show that would have couples competing to win a prize. The reasoning behind using a concept such as this to demonstrate hedonic happiness is that one main theory is hedonic happiness is the social comparison theory - that people feel happy when they compare favorably to others. This concept then includes the aspect of winning a prize as a couple, so that they are comparing well against others. For a eudamonic happiness show, we wrote down the concept of bringing a group of people into the wild to survive. We used this idea because it demonstrated the ideas of autonomy, competence, and social relatedness.

For a fourth activity, we had to write down three different workshop ideas that could be done at a camp for young kids. For one idea, we described an activity where people grab hands randomly to form a human knot and then they must work to form a circle of people. This activity would represent eudamonic happiness in that this activity would require competence and social connections. For the other two activities, we described an activity where everyone would write down three good things about each other person, and one where they would describe three good things that happened to them that day. The first activity would demonstrate both kinds of happiness in that it would promote positive affect for hedonic happiness, and it would also improve social relatedness for eudamonic happiness. The last activity would be hedonic, improving positive affect.

The last activity was a comparison between the two kinds of happiness. For this activity, we just jotted down the different main points for each, mentioned above, and criticisms. The main criticism for hedonic would that it would be shallow - only focusing on pleasure. The main criticism for eudamonic happiness would be that it doesn't take into account this emotional happiness.

In summary, eudamonic happiness focuses on deeper satisfaction in life through the actualization of human potential. This actualization could be achieved or supported by different areas in someones life, through competency, autonomy, social relations, as well as others. This then is in contrast to hedonic happiness, which focuses more on the happiness and pleasure in life.
 

Lecture 2 - Hedonic Happiness

Hedonic happiness is made up of three parts: life satisfaction + high positive affect + low negative affect. Life satisfaction is derived from the similarity of your reality to the ideal that you have for your situation. That is, if you are living a life that you imaged you should be living, you will have high life satisfaction. High positive affect means that you will have a lot of good emotions and good feelings, while low negative affect means that your life will be free from negative emotions and feelings. Therefore, life satisfaction is the cognitive component of subjective wellbeing, while high positive affect and low negative affect are the emotional components of SWB.

There are two arguments regarding SWB. Bottom-up arguments focus on the idea that certain characteristics or actions of people cause them to be happy, while top-down arguments are centered around the idea that wellbeing causes people to act a certain way. Many different circumstances revolving around subjective wellbeing could potentially be explained by either a top-down or bottom-up approach. For example, people getting married may cause them to be happy, while at the same time, happy people may be more likely to get married. In any case, both approaches focus on the cause-effect relationships that take place involving wellbeing, although they have opposing explanations.

Lesson 1 - What is positive psychology and how is it different form other areas of psychology

What is positive psychology? How is different from other areas of psychology?

Positive psychology studies a wide variety of topics that range from happiness and optimism, to personal growth and strength. It focuses on developing the strengths of individuals instead of trying to reduce the negativity or cure mental illness. A large amount of work in psychology has gone into finding ways to alleviate the negative symptoms and thought patterns associated with mental illness. While this has been a fruitful path of study, producing an in depth understanding of many mental illnesses, as we as many beneficial treatments for them, the focus on working with the negative side of human cognition also limits the experience in that reducing the negative can at best lead to a neutral experience. Positive psychology aims to not only allow people to live without negative affect, but to move beyond that so people can truly thrive and get the most out of life. Positive psychology does have some criticisms in the arguments that it is not a quantitatively rigorous field of study. Additionally, people argue that focusing on the positive leaves the negative side of human emotion unattended and untreated, resulting in an incomplete psychology study. While some of the criticism make valid points, positive psychology does aim to provide a sound empirical study of psychological states, moving to understanding and describing beneficial cause-effect relationships in human experience. Overall, while positive psychology may have its own weaknesses, it offers a path to understanding how to get the most out of human life. Every person has in common the desire to avoid pain and suffering and move to pleasure and happiness. While other psychological fields of study have focused on the avoidance of pain, positive psychology aims to study the other half of the basic human desires.

In our poster, we focused on a couple different focus areas of positive psychology: finding a balance between different areas, such as pleasure, engagement and meaning, to promote a fulfilling life, and the idea that we can analyze the positive psychology of someone through their past, present, and future.

One of drawings is a house with stairs leading from the basement to the top of the house. This drawing is meant to represent the idea that positive psychology is focused on moving from a neutral state to a positive state, instead of reducing the negative aspects of a person's experience. For example, a person's experience may be quantitatively measured on a scale from negative to positive, such as from -8 to 8. A large portion of psychology today is focused on reducing mental illness, or reducing the negative affect of people, for instance, going from a -8 to a -3. Positive psychology differs in this regard in that it is not just trying to reduce negative, but also trying to move beyond into the positive.

Additionally, we drew a lotus in order to represent the balance that positive psychology states must be obtained in order to achieve a fulfilling life. The balance must be between engagement, pleasure, and meaning. The balance of these three aspects of life experience are imperative to experiencing a fulfilling life.

The final drawing was meant to represent a timeline of psychology and how there have been different branching that have diverged in different directions. For instance, a lot of philosophical ideas about living a virtuous life came from the Greeks, such as Aristotle. There has been waves of different psychological ideas that have come throughout history, including humanistic, behaviorism, and others.

Some aspects that were not drawn but noted on the board included the idea that positive psychology focuses on strengths rather than weaknesses of people - going back to the goal of moving people into a positive mindset instead of just reducing their negative affect. Additionally, positive psychology also notes that a person's experience can be seen in their past, present and future. Other aspects that were not written but are also applicable to the study of positive psychology are three nodes: the subject node, which focuses on the past, present and future experience of a person, the individual node, which focuses on individualistic characteristics, and the group node, which focuses on sociological factors.

In summary, the main idea behind positive psychology is that instead of focusing only on dealing with the negative side of human cognitive thought - which inevitably results in a ceiling to what we can experience as humans - we need to push beyond and find ways to get the most out of life.