DaveShearon

MAPPing Away

I'm back at Penn for the 3rd on-site session in the MAPP program.  From here on out, the sessions are three days, like this one, or just two.  And, for me (and I think for many of my classmate), that has a downside in that the class is made up of such accomplished, interesting, and bright people that we enjoy the time together as a opportunity to get to know each other.

Today was 11 hours in the classroom and dinner with my cohort.  I'm going to work a bit before bed, but gotta change gears a little.

Laura King was a guest lecturer today.  If you know any students at Missouri, tell 'em to take her class.  She's quite a presenter!  Substantively, the thing that got through to me the clearest was on research that shows that a person who is happy can generally see  meaning in their lives; a person who is unhappy cannot.  So, for folks in a religious context who feel down, depressed, or sad and go looking for meaning, it usually isn't going to work.  On the other hand, if they build up happiness (and there are ways to do that), they will likely perceive the meaning already in their lives and the opportunity for more meaning.  If on the other hand, they go searching for "the meaning of it all," they are unlikely to find either meaning or happiness.

Obviously, my posting here is way down.  I'm just too engaged elsewhere.  I'm writing (tons), but it is all either in the MAPP program or at work.  Just  no time to post much.  Should anyone happen by this site who is interested in the MAPP program or Positive Psychology, drop me an e-mail and I'll be glad to correspond -- I just cannot spend much time writing posts that may or may not interest anyone.

Hope all is well for anyone who stops by!

Different notes for different folks

In class the other day, I noticed the differences in notes in my area.  My mind map is on the left, a classmate's on the right, and below is another classmate's approach.  That's a tablet pc, by the way.  I don't know if I write down as much info when I mindmap, but I enjoy it better, enjoy looking at my notes later, and can more quickly get back into what was going on in the class.  I like it.

Braves - Pos Psy in action!

Before the playoffs began, I highlighted an AJC article on how positive Bobby Cox is.  Then the Braves get hammered in the opening game with Houston.  Now, in today's AJC:

One day after the Braves looked comatose in another playoff game, Smoltz and Brian McCann acted like two electric paddles in an operating room. Smoltz didn’t look anything like a guy who had been having shoulder problems of late. He yielded a run in the first inning, then shut down Houston in the next six. McCann, his rookie batterymate, clubbed a three-run homer off a future Hall of Famer in his first postseason at-bat.

The Braves dumped the Astros 7-1 to even their divisional playoff series at a game apiece. So much for how this team would react in yet another postseason survival test.

This accords with research; one of the characteristics of folks and organizations with an optimistic explanatory style is how they bounce back from adversity.  In sports, this can manifest as bouncing back from a disappointing performance with an excellent one. 

Positive psychology faces the challenge of explaining the difference between its findings and all the "sounds good but ain't been tested" self-improvement programs on the market on the one hand and new-ageish "follow your bliss" on the other.  I suspect pos psy has a challenge ahead in making those distinctions.  Why?  Because the self-improvement stuff is written with an ear to "sounding good."  Seven of this, three of that, a "fundamental principle" from which all else derives.  It appeals to logic rather than to experience -- and logic sells.  It just sounds business-like.  Pos psy, however, is science.  It's built empirically.  Sure there are underlying theories, but the basis is emprical -- what works.  Or doesn't.  And exactly how well it works.  And in what circumstances.  Those are facts and they can be applied, but they're always going to have the rough, "work-in-progress" feel of reality, not the slick finish of popular nostrums.

Pos psy may also come out sounding far more new-ageish than might be good for it, again because it's built on careful testing of real approaches, and simple approaches are easier to test.  Anybody want to suggest a method for actually testing all the components of "Seven Habits..."?  As an example, the "Three Blessings" behavior works in lots of ways, and it's impact has been measured, but it sounds both simple and trite.  "Write down at the end of each day three good things that happened and why."  That's pretty much it.  Of course, if you're working with a coach or in a group, there are ways to think about patterns in what you record and tie it in to other insights.  Sounds simple.  Works.  Can be done with sophistication.  That's pos psy as I'm goming to see it.

Positive Psychology in the London Times

The London Times had a good article on positive psychology last Sunday.  In the final session a the International Positive Psychology Summit hosted by Gallup (which, coincidentally, was last Sunday also), Jim Clifton, CEO of Gallup noted the interest in positive psychology in England and Europe generally.  Could this end up like Dr. Edward Deming's work on quality, invented here, ignored here, adopted and perfected abroad?

Cox is positive, why not you?

The Masters in Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) cohort finished our second on-site session on Sunday.  This one was five days in DC at the Gallup Institute and included the Positve Psychology Summit.  Great experience.  After the summit ended, we had a final session, and in part of that, Dr. Seligman reviewed optimism.  During that talk, he mentioned that the research his team had done on optimism and sports had shown an important effect.  (See my book note on Learned Optimism, Chapter 9: Sports).  What wasn't in the book, however, is that the optimism of the coach goes a long way to explaining the total effect.  Then Monday's Atlanta Journal Constitution had a article on Bobby Cox and the job he's done in a season where 30% of the Braves at-bats have been by rookies.  Good article.  Here's a small segment:

''He's a positive guy'

When they made it to the major leagues, when they realized a fantasy that was born their first day of T-ball, these players suddenly met up with a manager who was more rah-rah than any youth coach they ever encountered. When the game is on, Cox takes up his corner roost in the dugout and lets loose nine innings of constant chatter. It is a tack Cox will adopt even through the pressures of the postseason.

"What they hear from him is constant support, constant affirmation, constant compliments, because that's his style," general manager John Schuerholz said. "He's a positive guy. Even in the midst of difficulties, he's a positive guy."

Said the free-swinging Francoeur, who looked for a while as if he were going to go an entire career without ever drawing a walk, "He might think, What the heck did that guy just swing at? But he's not going to say it to you when you come back. I'm sure he's thinking it."