Positive Psychology and luck experiences Session 4 Positive
- Slides: 25
Positive Psychology and ‘luck’ experiences Session 4 Positive Subject Emotions and Experience
The psychology of ‘luck’ • Part One… § Defining ‘luck’ § Lay definitions § Psychologists’ assumptions • Part Two… § How can Positive Psychology help in understanding experiences of ‘luck’? • Increasing ‘good luck’ • Dealing with ‘bad luck’
What is ‘luck’? • In pairs or groups of three: § How do you use the term ‘luck’ § What kinds of events are described as lucky or unlucky? § How important is ‘luck’ in your life? § Can you suggest a working definition of ‘luck’?
What is ‘luck’? • Dictionary definition: Noun: success or failure apparently brought by chance rather than through one’s own actions; chance considered as a force that causes good or bad things to happen; something regarded as bringing about or portending good or bad things: Oxford English Dictionary (2012). Oxford University Press. http: //oxforddictionaries. com/definition/luck
What is ‘luck’? • ‘Luck’ in psychological theory § Attribution theory • Psychologists traditionally assume: § Luck is ………. . § Luck is …………. . (e. g. , Weiner, 1986)
What is ‘luck’? • However, people often perceive luck quite differently: § Luck is ………… • ‘I am a lucky person’ (e. g. , Pritchard & Smith, 2004; Smith, 1998)
• Imagine you’re waiting in a bank when an armed robber enters and fires a shot… the bullet hits you in the arm. • Would you describe this as lucky or unlucky?
Lucky by comparison? • Events might be regarded as lucky by comparison § Counterfactual thinking § Social comparison
Luck as controllable ‘Making your own luck’ 2004 • Wiseman (2003): § Maximise chance opportunities § Listen to hunches § Expect good fortune § Turn bad luck into good
• Maximise chance opportunities § Build and maintain a strong ‘network of luck’ § Develop a relaxed attitude § Open to opportunities when they arise • Listen to your hunches § Best decisions often made on gut feelings • Expect good fortune § Positive expectations mean • More likely to attempt to achieve goals • More likely to persevere § Self-fulfilling prophecies • Expect interactions with others to be successful • Turn bad luck into good § Take the longer perspective
‘network of luck’ (Wiseman, 2004) • • Moore Williams Davies Ryan Roberts Walker Reid Scott • • Campbell Taylor Hughes Baker Byrne Thomas Wilson
The role of positive psychology? • • • Positive emotions Gratitude Optimism Trust ‘Environmental mastery’ Resilience
Broaden and build theory and ‘luck’ experiences? • Positive emotions – Broaden attention, thinking and action? • Broadened attention – Noticing chance opportunities • Broadened thinking – Recognising opportunities as relevant and beneficial – Making connections (coincidences) • Broadened action – Action that capitalises on opportunity Chance favours the prepared mind - Louis Pasteur
Speculations about relationship between positive emotions, attention and ‘luck’ experiences? • Broadened attention – Softening the focus attention – Widening peripheral attention • Expectancy effects – Seeing what you’re looking for – Priming • Seeing the unexpected – Inattentional blindness
Broaden and build theory and ‘luck’ experiences? • Positive emotions build lasting resources… – benefits may not be perceived as connected with the positive emotion so seen as fortuitous • Non-linear effects – subsequent experiences disproportionate to initial experience of positive emotion • ‘Luck’ an ‘epiphenomenon’ of positive emotions? – Although ‘luck’ experience could in turn create positive emotions… Individual experiences reverberate across other individuals and in interpersonal transactions Positive emotions broaden modes of thinking and action. These resources can function as reserves to help people survive and thrive. Overtime this builds their enduring personal and social resources. Fredrickson (2003)
Gratitude and luck • Seeing oneself as lucky can imply being grateful § (e. g. , Teigen , 1997) • Gratitude can help coping with ‘bad luck’ experiences • Might gratitude help create ‘good luck’ experiences? § If so, maybe due to the emotional and interpersonal benefits (e. g. , Emmons & Mc. Cullough, 2003)
Optimism, trust and luck • Perceived luckiness positively correlates with optimism (no surprise…? !) § Does optimism lead to perceived luckiness? … or… § Is ‘believing your lucky’ the cause of an optimistic outlook? • Can optimism create ‘luck’ experiences? § Self-fulfilling prophecy • The role of trust
‘Environmental mastery’ and luck • Environmental mastery § Important aspect of positive functioning § “Capacity to manage effectively one’s life and surrounding world” (Ryff & Keyes, 1995; p. 720) § Includes taking advantage of environmental opportunities • Does ‘mastery’ include relinquishing control? § Locus of control § Illusion of control
What about ‘bad luck’? • Turning bad luck into good (Wiseman, 2004) § Counterfactual thinking • Resilience § Coping with adversity § Benefit finding § Finding positive meaning in adversity
Further explorations of ‘luck’? • Extending ‘The Luck Factor’ approach § Other ways of measuring ‘luckiness’? § Non- ‘correlational’ research? • Empirical assessment of non-academic literatures § Law of Attraction § ‘Cosmic Ordering’
References Emmon, R. A. , & Mc. Cullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 377 -389. Fredrickson, B. L. (2003). Positive emotions and upward spirals in organisations. In Cameron, K. S. , Dutton, J. E. , & Quinn, R. E. (Eds). (2003). Positive Organizational Scholarship. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc. Pritchard, D. , & Smith, M. (2004). The philosophy and psychology of luck. New Ideas in Psychology, 22, 1 -28. Ryff, C. D. , & Keyes, C. L. M. (1995). The structure of psychological well-being revisted. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 719 -727. Schutz, W. (1979). Profound Simplicity. London: Turnstone Books. Smith, M. D. (1998). Perceptions of One’s Own Luckiness: The Formation, Maintenance, and Consequences of Perceived Luckiness. Unpublished Ph. D thesis. Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire. Teigen, K. H. (1997). Luck, envy and gratitude: It could have been different. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 38, 313 -323. Weiner, B. (1986). An Attribution Theory of Achievement, Motivation and Emotion. New York: Springer. Wiseman, R. (2004). The Luck Factor. London: Random House.
A final thought… Yin and Yang of Choice “…the world is simple, there are paths in the universe, a natural flow that makes my choice, simple and obvious. I discover these natural paths when I am open and receptive, when I sense what is inside and what is outside my body…. ” Will Schutz (1979). Profound Simplicity, p. 78.
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