Sustainable Change in Long-Term Positive Affect

长期积极影响的可持续变化

• 批准号: 6725147
• 负责人: Sonja Lyubomirsky
• 金额: $ 19.74万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-01-01 至 2008-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6725147
• 关键词: European; behavior modification; behavioral /social science research tag; behavioral genetics; behavioral medicine; caucasian American; clinical depression; clinical research; emotions; human subject; human therapy evaluation; immigrant; lifestyle; longitudinal human study; patient oriented research; psychotherapy; quality of life; racial /ethnic difference; southeast Asian; university student

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Long-term positive affect (the core component of happiness or well-being) is a central criterion of mental health and has been found to be associated with numerous tangible benefits, such as enhanced physical health, heightened vocational and social functioning, superior coping skills, and even longer life. Although enhancing people's levels of positive affect thus appears to be a worthy scientific goal, a surprisingly modest amount of scientific research has focused on how well-being can be increased, let alone sustained. Moreover, the broad conclusion of the existing work is that the pursuit of happiness may be futile. Two major findings support this pessimism - the idea of a genetically -determined set point for well-being, and the notion of a hedonic treadmill. Both of these ideas suggest that, even after intensely positive life events or circumstantial changes, people are fated to return to their previous "baseline" of well-being. Nevertheless, emerging research findings give reason for optimism regarding the possibility of sustainable well-being increases. How can this paradox be resolved? The research question motivating this application is "By what mechanisms can a level of well-being higher than a person's genetically-determined set point be achieved and sustained?" We believe that durable increases are indeed possible and focus our investigation on identifying the mechanisms of sustainable change in long-term positive affect. Accordingly, we present a new conceptual model of well-being, which proposes that an individual's chronic happiness level is governed by three classes of factors - (1) his or her genetically-determined set point (or set range) for happiness, which is relatively immune to influence, (2) happiness-relevant circumstantial factors (such as location, income, and marital status), which are difficult but not impossible to change, and (3) intentional cognitive, motivational, and behavioral activities that can influence well-being, and are feasible but effortful to deploy. Seven longitudinal studies (8 mos. to 2 yrs.) are proposed, which comparatively examine the immediate and longer-term effects of applying three promising happiness-boosting activities: 'counting one's blessings," "visualizing best possible selves,' and 'committing acts of kindness." The studies will include undergraduate samples, as well as community adult, and immigrant South Korean and Russian samples. In addition, we will test whether the model can be applied to clinically depressed individuals, as most depression interventions have focused on remedying distress, rather than increasing well-being directly. Several moderators (dedicated activity enactment, optimal timing and variety of activity enactment, personality-activity fit, interpersonal support, and basic circumstances) and one mediator (accumulated positive daily experiences) of activity-based happiness increases will be examined.

描述（由申请人提供）：长期积极影响（幸福或幸福的核心组成部分）是心理健康的核心标准，并被发现与许多有形的好处相关，例如增强身体健康、提高职业能力和社会功能、卓越的应对技巧，甚至更长的寿命。尽管提高人们的积极情感水平似乎是一个有价值的科学目标，但令人惊讶的是，很少有科学研究集中在如何提高幸福感上，更不用说维持幸福感了。此外，现有研究的广泛结论是，追求幸福可能是徒劳的。两项主要发现支持了这种悲观主义——由基因决定的幸福设定点的想法，以及享乐跑步机的概念。这两种观点都表明，即使在经历了强烈积极的生活事件或环境变化之后，人们也注定要回到之前的幸福“基线”。尽管如此，新出现的研究结果让我们有理由对可持续福祉增加的可能性持乐观态度。如何解决这个悖论呢？ 推动该应用的研究问题是“通过什么机制可以实现并维持高于一个人基因决定的设定值的幸福水平？”我们相信持久的增长确实是可能的，并将我们的调查重点放在确定长期积极影响的可持续变化机制上。 因此，我们提出了一种新的幸福概念模型，它提出个人的长期幸福水平受三类因素控制 - (1) 他或她的基因决定的幸福设定点（或设定范围），即相对不易受到影响；(2) 与幸福相关的环境因素（如地点、收入和婚姻状况），这些因素很难但并非不可能改变；(3) 能够产生良好影响的有意认知、动机和行为活动-存在，以及是可行的，但部署起来很费力。七项纵向研究（8 个月至 2 年）提出，比较研究应用三种有前途的幸福促进活动的直接和长期影响：“计算自己的祝福”，“想象最好的自己”和“做出善行”。这些研究将包括此外，我们将测试该模型是否可以应用于临床抑郁症个体，因为大多数抑郁症干预措施的重点是缓解痛苦，而不是增加痛苦。将检查基于活动的幸福感增加的几个调节因素（专门的活动制定、活动制定的最佳时机和多样性、个性活动契合度、人际支持和基本情况）和一个调解因素（积累的积极的日常经验）。 。