Well-being Enhancement:

Mindfulness & Positive Psychology Training

Jung-Ho Kim, Ph.D.

Department of Psychology
Duksung Women‟s University
Seoul, KOREA
[email protected]

The 4th Asian Congress of Health Psychology

Taipei, Taiwan
26-31 August 2010
 水昇火降
(Shui Sheng Huo Xiang)

수승화강
(Soo Seug Wha Kang)

Water Up Fire Down

• What is well-being? What is well-being
enhancement?
– Without clear definitions of the concepts we cannot
expect development of scientific research on them.
– Theory based definitions!

• Positive Psychology Strategies

• Mindfulness

• Both are complementary to each other for well-

being enhancement. -> Mindfulness-Positive
psychology Training(MPT)
• What is well-being?

• What is time?

• What time is it?

• Motivational States Theory (MoST):
– Kim(2006); Kim&Kim(1998); Kim,Kim,&Kim(1999)
– Theory of stress and well-being

• Background of MoST
– Lack of communication between the two research
camps => Integration!
– Lack of clear definitions on stress and well-being

• What is well-being? What is stress?

– States of motivations
• States of motivations (MoST)
– (Present vs. Future) * (Frustration vs. Fulfillment)
– Without motivations, no stress, no well-being. =>
Motivation Management

STRESS WELL-BEING

Motivation Frustration Motivation Fulfillment

Motivation Frustration Motivation Fulfillment

Expectancy Expectancy
• Lazarus‟s Model:
– The three kinds of appraisal on the interaction between the
person and the environment
– No appraisal, no stress?
• -> Model of „psychological‟ stress

stressful Neutral benign

(Irrelevant )
Harm

Threat

Challenge
• Lazarus‟s Model: The three kinds of appraisal on the
interaction between the person and the environment
– A benign appraisal :
• the person regards an event as signifying a positive state of
affairs.
– An irrelevant (or neutral) appraisal :
• the person does not consider an event as having any
implication whatsoever for well-being in its present form.
– Stressful appraisals
• are of three types, namely, harm, threat, and challenge,
• all three involving some negative evaluation of one's present
or future state of well-being,
• but challenge providing the least negative and the most
positive feeling tone
• Stressful appraisals
– Harm
• refers to psychological damage that had already
been done.
– Threat
• is the anticipation of harm that has not yet taken
place but may be imminent.
– Challenge
• results from difficult demands that we feel
confident about overcoming by effectively
mobilizing and deploying our coping resources.
• What Lazarus missed
– Challenge
• is the state of motivation fulfillment expectancy,
i.e., well-being,
• not the state of motivation frustration expectancy.
• Mystery:
– Why is challenge classified as a kind of psychological
stress?
– (cf) Eustress of Selye
• Eustress is an inappropriate concept.
• Eustress is not stress but well-being.
• Limitations of Lazarus‟s Model
– His model is limited to psychological stress
– Stress is defined in terms of well-being
• 'psychological' stress: "a particular relationship
between the person and the environment that is
appraised by the person
– as taxing or exceeding his or her resources and
– as endangering his or her well-being" (Lazarus
& Folkman, 1984, 19).
• Adjustment of Lazarus‟s Model into MoST

stressful Neutral benign

(Irrelevant )
Harm ?
Threat Challenge
• Local Stress
– Frustration of a motivation
– Frustration expectancy of a motivation
• Local Well-being
– Fulfillment of a motivation
– Fulfillment expectancy of a motivation
• Global Well-being
– Judgment on the total states of one‟s motivations
• Cognitive judgment
• Emotional judgment
• What is (Global) Well-being?
• (Indices of) Global Well-being
– Subjective Well-being(SWB): Diener, et al.; (<-Kim, et al.)
• Evaluation of one‟s life
• Cognitive Evaluation: Satisfaction with Life Scale(SWLS)
• Affective Evaluation: Positive (High), Negative (Low)
– Psychological Well-being(PWB): Ryff
– Subjective Happiness Scale(SHS): Lyubomirsky
– Steen Happiness Index(SHI): Seligman, et al.
• 3 routes to happiness
– Positive emotion (the pleasant life)
– Engagement (the engaged life)
– Meaning (the meaningful life)
– Self-Regulation Theory(SDT) : Ryan, Deci, et al.,
• 3 Basic Needs:
– Autonomy
– Competence
– Relatedness
 Satisfaction with Life Scale
(Diener et al.)
Below are five statements that you may agree or disagree with. Using the 1 -
7 scale below indicate your agreement with each item by placing the
appropriate number on the line preceding that item. Please be open and
honest in your responding.

7 - Strongly agree
6 - Agree
5 - Slightly agree
4 - Neither agree nor disagree
3 - Slightly disagree
2 - Disagree
1 - Strongly disagree

_____ In most ways my life is close to my ideal.

_____ The conditions of my life are excellent.
_____ I am satisfied with my life.
_____ So far I have gotten the important things I want in life
_____ If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing.
• Are Koreans unhappy?
• Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener at al.)
– -> Motivation Fulfillment: O.K.
– -> Motivation Fulfillment Expectancy: ?
– His scale is not comprehensive.
– (cf) “The world belongs to the discontented.”-John
Pemberton(Founder of Coca-Cola)
– There are people who are not satisfied but
confident of being satisfied.
• According to MoST we need a scale
measuring not only life satisfaction but also
life satisfaction expectancy.
 Life Satisfaction Expectancy Scale
(Kim et al.)
Below are five statements that you may agree or disagree with. Using the 1 -
7 scale below indicate your agreement with each item by placing the
appropriate number on the line preceding that item. Please be open and
honest in your responding.

7 - Strongly agree
6 - Agree
5 - Slightly agree
4 - Neither agree nor disagree
3 - Slightly disagree
2 - Disagree
1 - Strongly disagree

_____ In the future, I expect my life to be close to my ideal.

_____ In the future, my living circumstances will improve.
_____ In the future, I will be more satisfied with my life.
_____ In the future, I will accomplish more things that are important in my life
_____ In the future, I will grow and improve.
 Psychological Well-Being(PWB)
(Ryff)
• psychological well-being as consisting of 6 dimensions:
– autonomy,
• a sense of self-determination, independence, and freedom from norms
– environmental mastery,
• the ability to manage life and one‟s surroundings
– personal growth,
• open to new experiences as well as having continued personal growth
– positive relations with others,
• high quality, satisfying relationships with others
– purpose in life,
• having life goals and a belief that one‟s life is meaningful
– self-acceptance.
• a positive attitude toward oneself and one‟s past life
• Some problems
– Validity
• Assumptions
• Measurement
– Strength vs. States of motivations
– Ground of the 6 dimensions
 Subjective Happiness Scale(SHS)
(Lyubomirsky)
For each of the following statements and/or questions, please circle the point on the scale that you
feel is most appropriate in describing you.

1. In general, I consider myself:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
not a very a very
happy happy
person person
2. Compared to most of my peers, I consider myself:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
less more
happy happy
3. Some people are generally very happy. They enjoy life regardless of what is going on, getting the
most out of everything. To what extent does this describe you?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
not at great
all deal
4. Some people are generally not very happy. Although they are not depressed, they never seem as
happy as they might be. To what extent does this describe you?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
not at great
all deal
Note: Item #4 is reverse coded.
 SDT & MoST
• No scale measuring global well-being
• Combination of SDT * MoST
– 3 basic motivations(needs) + other
motivations
• 3 basic needs are too basic and are only
„psychological‟ needs.
– States of motivations
• Management of Motivations is essential for well-being
enhancement.
– Without motivations, no stress, no well-being.
– (Even though we have motivations) Without activation
of motivations, no stress, no well-being.
• Rumination of stress intensifies stress.
• Counting one‟s blessings prolongs one‟s well-
being.
• Local Well-being Enhancement
– Fulfilling motivations.
– Anticipation of fulfilling motivations.
• Global Well-being Enhancement
– Reducing motivation frustration & motivation
frustration anticipation
– Increasing motivation fulfillment & motivation
fulfillment anticipation
• Which motivations to discard?
• Which motivations to pursue?
– Harmony (Balance) of fulfillment among
motivations
• (cf) relativity of value
• Well-being enhancement ,
– Increasing motivation fulfillment.
• Resources
– Material Resources
– Social Resources
– Skills
» Communication skills, etc.
– Increasing activation of motivation fulfillment.
• Gratitude
– Anticipation of fulfilling motivations.
• Self-efficacy
• hope
– Reducing motivation frustration
– Reducing motivation frustration anticipation
 MoST
• Stress Management -> Stress/Well-being Management (= Motivation
Management)
– Reducing/Eliminating/Preventing Stress
• Reduction/Elimination/Prevention of Motivation Frustration
– Modification of Motivations
• Reduction/Elimination/Prevention of Motivation Frustration
Anticipation
– Modification of Motivations
– Increasing Well-being
• Increase of Motivation Fulfillment
– Modification of Motivations
• Increase of Motivation Fulfillment Anticipation
– Modification of Motivations
– Reducing/Eliminating/Preventing stress can be helpful in increasing
well-being.
– Increasing well-being can be reducing/eliminating/preventing stress.
 Positive Psychology Strategies
• Focus on enhancement of positives (happiness, health, flourishing, etc)
– rather than elimination or reduction of negatives(pains, symptoms,
troubles, traumas, disorders, etc.)
• (i.e.,) Focus on enhancement of well-being (motivation fulfillment and
motivation fulfillment expectancy)
– rather than elimination or reduction of stress (motivation frustration and
motivation frustration)
• Directly building positive resources may successfully counteract negative
symptoms and may also buffer against their future reoccurrence. (Seligman,
et al., 2006, 774)
• Enhancing human positives
– Hedonic WB
– Eudaimonic WB
• Positive psychotherapy(PPT) : Seligman et al.
• Increasing (the 3 elements of well-being)
– Positive emotion
• Positive emotion about the present(e.g., satisfaction or
gratification from immediate pleasure), past(e.g., satisfaction,
contentment), and future(e.g., hope, optimism)
• Learning the skill to amplify the intensity and duration of
these emotions
– Engagement
• Identify people‟s highest talents and strengths(e.g., creativity,
and then help them to find opportunities to use these
strengths more
– Meaning
• Using one‟s signature strengths and talents to belong to and
serve something than the self (e.g., family, community,
religion, nation)
• Correlation Data
– The pursuit of meaning and engagement were robustly
correlated with higher life satisfaction (rs = .39 and .39,
respectively) and lower depression (rs = .32 and .32,
respectively)
– The pursuit of pleasure was only marginally correlated with
higher life satisfaction (r = .18) and lower depression (r = -.15).
• PPT intervention
– PPT delivered to groups significantly decreased levels of mild-to-
moderate depression through 1-year follow-up
– PPT delivered to individuals produced higher remission rates
than did treatment as usual and treatment as usual plus
medication among outpatients with major depressive disorder
• Positive psychotherapy(2): Peseschkian, et al.
• Well-being list technique: Kim et al.
• Happiness enhancement techniques: Lyubomirsky
– Based on experimental research
• Solution-focused therapy: de Shazer; Berg; O'Connell &
Palmer)
• Hope therapy: Lopez, et al.
 Possible Problems of Positive Psychology
Strategies
• Positivity vs. Growth
• Possible misunderstanding/side-effects of positive psychology
– Obsession to positivity
• Suppression/denial of his negativity
• „Secret‟?
– Compelled positivity (Pushing positivity to others)
– Too much is not better than too little.
• 過猶不及(과유불급)
• Fall into neither side.
– Positivity is not possible without negativity
– (cf) appropriate negativity (Fredrickson et al.)
• 僧璨(승찬), the 3rd patriarch of Zen Buddhism : 信心銘(신심명)
– 至道無難(지도무난) Getting Tao is not difficult.
– 唯嫌揀擇(유혐간택) Only keep off discrimination.
– 但莫憎愛(단막증애) Just stop liking and disliking.
– 通然明白(통연명백) Then it would be clear.
• Harmony of Motivations for Global Well-being
– Cultural differences
– Individual differences
– Is fulfillment of one motivation is more important or better that
that of other motivation?

• Success?
• Serving something than the self?

• 寒山 (한산 Hahn-sahn) & 拾得 (습득 Seup-deuk)

– Chinese legendary (fool) sages

• Tennis Experience
• Tennis Experience
– No regret in life --- Good life?
– “I wouldn‟t have any regrets if I died right now.”
• Is this real?
• Living in a dream (world)?
– „Inception‟
• Living in a dream of a dream of a dream?
– Changzu(莊子) – Butterfly
• How do you know this is real?
 MINDFULNESS
<special kind of attention>

• Bare Attention -> Bare Awareness

– which is devoid of the activation of any motivation and cognition
– except keeping the object of attention in mind.
• Meta-Attention -> Meta-Awareness
– Attention on our experience which is product of our common attention
– Make a distance between our awareness and experience
– If attention on our experience make no distance between our awareness
and experience, we may call it neurotic attention.
• (ex) public speech phobia
– (Without a distance nobody can see anything.)
• Keep us objective on our experience
• (cf) Common Attention
– Our prior motivations and cognitions influence our information-
processing.
 Kinds of Mindfulness
• Breathing Mindfulness
• Action Mindfulness
• Choiceless Mindfulness
• Monitoring Mindfulness
 Breathing Mindfulness
• Objects of mindfulness:
– Sensations of Breathing
• touch, warmth, wetness, etc.
• Stopping our motivations and cognitions
– Take a rest!
– P.I.D.(Put It Down): During B-M forget anything, whatever it is.
– Let It Be
– Let It Go
• Effortless Effort
– Don‟t push it to hard.
• <Benefits>
• Give us peace
• Return the scale of weighing scales to 0(zero).
• Give us chance to watch our motivations and cognitions
• Make us to train/manage our attention (-> mind)
• Stress/Symptom-evoking motivations/cognitions are deconditioned.
 Action Mindfulness
• Objects of mindfulness:
– Sensations of Our Daily Routine Action
– (ex) washing dishes, brushing teeth, cleaning rooms,
taking a shower, eating, drinking, walking, putting an
entrance machine of MRT with a coin, etc.
• Stopping our motivations and cognitions
– Take a rest!
– Just do the action and watch the sensations made by
the action.
• <Benefits>
• The same with those of B-M
• You can generalize mindfulness more into your
daily life.
 Choiceless Mindfulness
• Just Sitting (只管打座 지관타좌)
– Just standing is also O.K.
– Just doing nothing but distanced-watching
• Objects of mindfulness:
– Not specified
– Just watch anything occurring in your mind
• Don‟t attach anything from your motivations-cognitions to the
sensations.
• (ex) in the MRT: sound of train moving, announcement, talking,
cell-phone user‟s voice, touch of the seat, your mind‟s talking,
etc.
• (ex) in a silent place: sitting, breathing, your mind‟s talking, etc.
• If any motivation-cognition arises, just watch it.
• <Benefits>
• The same with those of A-M
• You can practice mindfulness skill more deeply.
 Monitoring Mindfulness
• Do whatever you do with mindfulness.
• Reserve some mental resources for mindfulness
• In some case mindfulness cannot be strong
because most of mental resources are invested
to what we are doing, such as studying, talking,
etc..
 General Benefits
• Get an objective perspective
– A sensation is a sensation, not me.
– An emotion is an emotion, not me.
– A cognition (thought, judgment, memory,
imagery) is a cognition(…..), not me.
– A motivation is a motivation, not me.
• Get free from symptoms/stress
 Potential Problems of Mindfulness
• Vegetative Mindfulness
• Mindfulness is only an element of 8 right
ways(8 正道) to practice
• Life is composed of all kind of things.
• Life is full of contradictions
• Life is like a drama.
– (cf) Who would prefer watching a drama whose hero or
heroine lives only happy and peaceful life?

• Positivity is shining because of negativity.

• We just accept and go. And we accept and go.

• We should not attach to even positives.

• 應無所住以生其心(응무소주이생기심) - Diamond Sutra(金剛
經)
• Do it without attachment.

• Both mindfulness and positive psychology strategies will

make complementary contribution to human well-being. =>
• 知足(지족)
– 知: knowing(realizing)
– 足: being contented
• 常樂(상락)
– 常: always
– 樂: be happy

• 知足常樂
– 足: foot
Thank You

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