International Symposium on Quality of Life and Well-being of People with Disabilities: Theory, Research & Implementation - Sep.

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1 International Symposium on Quality of Life and Well-being of People with Disabilities: Theory, Research & Implementation - Sep. 9-11, 2013 Looking Forward to Tomorrow: The buffering effect of a daily optimism intervention Hadassah Littman-Ovadia, PhD Ariel University & Dina Nir, PhD Ono Academic College

2 The State of Psychology Today Good! Not good!! 2

3 Positive Psychology The scientific investigation of optimal human functioning. Its aim is to understand and promote the enabling conditions that allow people, organizations, and communities to flourish and become happier, more productive, and more fulfilled 3

4 With Positive Psychology The State of Psychology Today Is good enough!! 4

5 Experimental literature reveals compelling evidence: Health: Happy people live longer, have a stronger immune system, are less sick. Work Skills: Happy people are more creative thinkers, productive, goal persistent, efficient problem solvers, superior at conflict resolution, exhibit helping behavior towards workers and customers, and are better at negotiating and sales. Benefits: Happy people find jobs faster, receive better appraisals, get better jobs, are more satisfied with their job, more committed to organization, and take less sick leave. And.make more money! (Baron, 1990; Estrada et al., 1997; Forgas 1998, George, 1990; George & Bettenhausen, 1990; Isen, 1999; Judge & Ferris, 1993; Lyubomirsky, King, Diener, 2005; Madjar et al.,2001; Pruitt & Carnevale 1993) 5 Happiness Leads to Success

6 Aim - Enhance well-being and living a good and fulfilling life. Effective interventions - are shown to lower depressive symptoms and increase well-being over time. Examples of validated Interventions: 6 Validated Interventions Count your Blessings - Think of three good things that happened today. Gratitude visit - Write a letter to someone that changed your life. Personal Strengths - Learn what your strengths are and use them. Acts of Kindness - Do something that helps another person vs. simply doing something fun. Appreciation of Beauty - write about three aspects of beauty you observed during the week (nature, human-made, human behavior). (Diessner, Rust, Solom, Frost & Parsons, 2006; King, 2001; Peterson, Park, & Seligman, 2005; Snyder & Lopez, 2007)

7 Our proposed Optimism Intervention: Count your future blessings Inspired by Seligman s famous intervention. We designed a simple, self-applied, daily cognitive activity that focuses on future experiences therefore tapping optimism/pessimism. Think of and write down three good things (activities, people or events) that await you tomorrow Stands in contrast to most optimism interventions that treat clinical populations and require professional guidance in a 8 to 12 weeklong course (e.g. CBT, mindfulness, MBSR). 7

8 Optimism A global expectation that good things will be plentiful in the future and bad things scarce (Peterson & Seligman, 2004; Scheier & Carver, 1985, Snyder, 2002). 8

9 Optimism, Pessimism and Well-being Optimism = One of 24 character strengths and is the most highly correlated with life-satisfaction (r =.48.59; Park, Peterson, & Seligman, 2004). The benefits of Optimism: Positive mood, longevity, popularity with peers, academic success, perseverance in the face of adversity, athletic achievement, active coping, effective problem solving, and happiness (Aspinwall, Richter, & Hoffmann, 2001; Peterson & Seligman, 2004; Peterson & Steen, 2002; Snyder, 1994; Snyder & Lopez, 2002). The detriments of Pessimism: Depression, a sense of helplessness, contemplate suicide, self-reported physical health symptoms, likelihood of becoming ill, and severity of illness (Carver & Scheier, 2002; Snyder, 1994; Snyder & Lopez, 2002; Peterson & Seligman, 2004; Scheier & Carver, 1985, 1987). 9

10 Optimism Intervention (OI) - Hypotheses H1: Participants in the OI condition will show increased levels of optimism, positive affect, and life-satisfaction relative to participants in the control group. H2: Participants in the OI condition will show decreased levels of pessimism, negative affect, and emotional exhaustion relative to participants in the control group. H3: Dispositional optimism moderates the effects of the OI on all outcome measures (i.e., optimism, pessimism, positive affect, negative affect, life satisfaction, and emotional exhaustion). 10 Content analysis of qualitative data: What future activities do people automatically think about before they go to sleep?

11 Study A week long online study every night before going to sleep (n=77; 36 in OI group & 41 in control group): Optimism Group: Think of and write down three good things (activities, people or events) that await you tomorrow Participants completed 6 measures tapping positive and negative outcomes at 3 time points: T1 (Pre-intervention), T2 (after a week of listing future activities before going to sleep), and T3 (one month later). 11

12 Quantitative Results To test our 3 hypotheses Individual Growth Curve Modeling was used (IGCM; Singer & Willett, 2003). Hypothesis 1 was not supported: Our OI did not increase optimism, positive affect, or life satisfaction over time, or relative to the control condition. Hypothesis 2 was supported: Our OI did reduce pessimism (b = -.27, p <.05), negative affect (b = -.21, p <.05), and emotional exhaustion (b = -.26, p <.05) over time. These significant reductions were observed immediately after the 7-day intervention (T2), and persisted over time until T3 a month later! 12

13 Quantitative Results Hypothesis 3 was partially supported: Higher initial optimism increased the effect of the OI condition, but not the effect of control condition, by reducing emotional exhaustion (b = -.26, p <.05), negative affect (b = -.38, p <.05), and by increasing optimism (b =.34, p <.001). 13

14 Qualitative Results What do people think about before they go to sleep? 1,617 descriptions of future activities (756 from OI group and 861 from control group). Common themes were identified by open-coding of participants descriptions => 13 categories emerged. Two judges independently sorted the descriptions into the 13 categories, achieving good inter-rater reliability, Kappa =

15 Categories Examples Relationship & Pleasurable Activities 1. Activities with Family 15 Have lunch with my mom; Go to the pool with my family; Give my kids a real big hug in the morning I miss them. 2. Activities with Partner Have a picnic in the park with my husband; Meet my boyfriend; I ll see Anna!. 3. Activities with Friends ** Enjoy a night out with the girls; Going to see a play with a friend; Have my friends over to watch the soccer finals. 4. Sports & Hobbies Go to the gym; Play soccer; Salsa lesson!. 5. Rest *** 6. Everyday Pleasures*** Sleep in late; Have a quiet restful afternoon; Lay back and watch a TV series I love; Just have a lazy time and read my book. Enjoy the beach and sun; Wear the new clothes I bought at Forever 21 ; Tomorrow morning we will wake up to freshly baked bread. 7. Enjoyable Tasks*** I'll finally submit my project!!; Groom our new adorable dog. 8. Special Events Go to my cousin's wedding; We ll all be together for the holiday dinner. Everyday Tasks : "To Do lists" & Work/School Tasks 9. Household Tasks*** 10. Food Related Tasks Make dinner; Buy groceries. 11. Errands 12. Work Tasks** No correlations were found between initial optimism or pessimism, and the type of activity. Do all the dishes in the morning - I just can t deal with them now; Clean the house; Do the laundry. Call the IRS; Talk to my landlord; Go to the garage to get my car fixed; Add water to the windscreen wipers. Finish the report on employee working-hours; Get a document from the accounting Dept. Talk to an employee about a problematic event that took place last week. 13. School Tasks*** Get up early and study; Do the exercise in statistics; Study for an exam in Sociology.

16 16 Optimism Intervention Condition Relationship & Pleasurable Activities 1. Activities with Family Have lunch with my mom; Go to the pool with my family; Give my kids a real big hug in the morning I miss them. 2. Activities with Partner Have a picnic in the park with my husband; Meet my boyfriend; I ll see Anna!. Enjoy a night out with the girls; Going to see a play with a friend; Have my friends over to 3. Activities with Friends 72% watch the soccer finals. 4. Sports & Hobbies Go to the gym; Play soccer; Salsa lesson!. Sleep in late; Have a quiet restful afternoon; Lay back and watch a TV series I love; Just 5. Rest have a lazy time and read my book. Enjoy the beach and sun; Wear the new clothes I bought at Forever 21 ; Tomorrow 6. Everyday Pleasures morning we will wake up to freshly baked bread. 7. Enjoyable Tasks I'll finally submit my project!!; Groom our new adorable dog. 8. Special Events Go to my cousin's wedding; We ll all be together for the holiday dinner. Everyday Tasks : "To Do lists" & Work/School Tasks Do all the dishes in the morning - I just can t deal with them now; Clean the house; Do the 9. Household Tasks laundry, take. 10. Food Related Tasks Make dinner; 28% Buy groceries. Call the IRS; Talk to my landlord; Go to the garage to get my car fixed; Add water to the 11. Errands windscreen wipers. Finish the report on employee working-hours; Get a document from the accounting Dept. 12. Work Tasks Talk to an employee about a problematic event that took place last week. 13. School Tasks Get up early and study; Do the exercise in statistics; Study for an exam in Sociology.

17 Relationship & Pleasurable Activities 1. Activities with Family 17 Control Condition Have lunch with my mom; Go to the pool with my family; Give my kids a real big hug in the morning I miss them. 2. Activities with Partner Have a picnic in the park with my husband; Meet my boyfriend; I ll see Anna!. Enjoy a night out with the girls; Going to see a play with a friend; Have my friends over to 3. Activities with Friends 39% watch the soccer finals; 4. Sports & Hobbies Go to the gym; Play soccer; Salsa lesson!. Sleep in late; Have a quiet restful afternoon; Lay back and watch a TV series I love; Just 5. Rest have a lazy time and read my book. Enjoy the beach and sun; Wear the new clothes I bought at Forever 21 ; Tomorrow 6. Everyday Pleasures The cognitions people elicit by default when they morning we will wake up to freshly baked bread. think about the next day are mostly To do lists and work or study tasks. 7. Enjoyable Tasks I'll finally submit my project!!; Groom our new adorable dog. 8. Special Events Go to my cousin's wedding; We ll all be together for the holiday dinner. Everyday Tasks : "To Do lists" & Work/School Tasks Do all the dishes in the morning - I just can t deal with them now; Clean the house; Do the 9. Household Tasks laundry, take. 10. Food Related Tasks Make dinner; 61% Buy groceries. Call the IRS; Talk to my landlord; Go to the garage to get my car fixed; Add water to the 11. Errands windscreen wipers. Finish the report on employee working-hours; Get a document from the accounting Dept. 12. Work Tasks Talk to an employee about a problematic event that took place last week. 13. School Tasks Get up early and study; Do the exercise in statistics; Study for an exam in Sociology.

18 Conclusion and Future Research Conclusion: Contemplating positive near-future events has a buffering effect against negative cognitions and emotions. And, against our default thinking about to-do lists and tasks. Limitations: (1) Empty control group (2) larger no-academic sample. Future research: 1. Can contemplating positive near-future induce people to take positive action (i.e., plan future positive events for themselves)? 2. Can this intervention reduce work-related burnout and pessimism? 3. What are the psychological mechanisms that underlie these results? - Perhaps the reduction of general future-related anxiety. 18

19 Take Away Message: Reshaping the way we think Our Default Thinking : Tasks and To-Do s Optimism Intervention: focusing on everyday, simple pleasurable activities 19

20 Current and future research Disability Illness Chronic Pain Well-being Happiness Daily Optimism Intervention 20

21 21 Thank you!