UNIT 4 GROWTH AND

ACTUALIZING SELF:-
RESILIENCE - refers to humans amazing ability to bounce
back and even thrive in the face of serious life challenges.

This human capacity many people may not know they

possess until confronted with trauma / crisis.

Human resilience is a foundation of well-being.

 RESILIENCE:-
MASTEN, 2001, DEFINED RESILIENCE AS “ A class of
phenomenon characterized by good outcomes inspite of
serious threats to adaptation or development”.

Ryff and Singer, 2003, defined resilience as “ maintenance,

recovery or improvement in mental or physical health
folllowing challenge”.
 RESILIENCE:-
Sources of Resilience -
People encounter a variety of challenges in the journey
of life like raising kids, relocation, divorce, illness,
physical declines late in life,etc.

Resilience is characterized by “ bouncing back” from

negative experiences within a relatively short period of time.
 WORK
Many people may wake up dreading to go to work, whereas
others who are GAINFULLY EMPLOYED may look forward to
it. Thus GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT is work having following 9
benefits -
1. variety in duties performed
2. a safe working environment (Harter et al - 2002)
3. earning for the family and oneself (dev of POSITIVE
PARENTING PROGRAM - TRIPLE P - self, family & work)
4. purpose derived from it
5. happiness and satisfaction
 WORK

6. positive engagement and involvement

7. a sense of performing well and meeting goals (career self-efficacy)
8. companionship of and loyalty to fellow workers and bosses
9. a working environment that respects diversity.

Ref - Snyder et al - 2nd edition - 2011 - chapter 16 - pg 417 - 457.

 WORK
HAVING or BEING A GOOD BOSS -
Studies found the following top 10 characteristics of VERY BEST
BOSSES -

1. they give clear goals and job duties to employees

2. deliver corrective feedback
3. are genuine and authentic in their interactions
4. are ethical
5. honest and model integrity
 WORK
6. they find employee talents and strengths and build on them
7. trust workers and build trust
8. can take feedback about themselves
9. set high but reasonable standards for employees
10. have personal awareness and strive towards diversity and cultural
competency.

Thus a boss plays an important role in yielding positive outputs.

 WORK
THE STRENGTHS BASED APPROACH TO WORK -
The leaders of Gallup suggested that instead of improving and FIXING
employee skills, money and energy is better spent in MATCHING
employees with their strengths and talents (Hodges and Clifton 2004).

Thus there are 3 STAGES IN STRENGTHS BASED APPROACH TO

GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT -
1. identify talents
2. integration of talents into employee’s self-image
3. actual behavioural change - to attribute success to talents.
 WORK
CAPITAL AT WORK - like economic, human, social and positive
psychological.

HUMAN CAPITAL - employees at all levels in an organisation. WHAT

THEY KNOW - like - experience, education, skills, knowledge and ideas.

POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL - newest form - by Luthans et al

2004 - WHO THEY ARE - like - efficacy/confidence, hope, optimism
and resilience.
 WORK

THE DARK SIDE of work leads to - workaholics, burnout and job losses.

HOW TO IMPROVE WORK -

1. making the job better
2. applying for a new job
3. the power to change for more happiness......
 EDUCATION
Schooling plays a major role in promoting tenets of positive
psychology and schooling is an older word for EDUCATION.
Lyndon Johnson believed strongly in the power of schools as “the
great equalizer” of people.
THE COMPONENTS OF POSITIVE SCHOOLING -
- care, trust and respect for diversity (teachers as role models)
- goals (content) - Carol Dweck - to give direction to learning efforts
of students
- plans, motivations and hope to implement the goals.
- Finally the societal contributions - to share one’s learning with
other people.
 EDUCATION
Ref - Snyder et al - 2nd edition - 2011 - chapter 15 - pg 385 - 415.

An example of positive schooling - THE STRENGTHS QUEST PROGRAM

- by Donald Clifton - to develop and engage high school and college
students so that they may succeed in their academics and also their
lives in general. The question addressed was - “ What would result if
we studied what is right rather than wrong with people?”

This program begins by students doing Clifton Strengths Finder.

 EDUCATION
Then students go through these 3 stages -
1. students identify their talents
2. they integrate their areas of interest
3. they start reflecting on their own performance and begin to “own”
them

TEACHING AS A CALLING -
a strong motivation for a person to repeatedly take a course of action
that is intrinsically satisfying. (teaching as a passion and an art).
 EDUCATION
GIVING BACK TO TEACHERS -

- teachers help improve students’ learning

(so practice the ongoing lessons taught at school)
- be respectful of others’ viewpoints
- volunteer to assist in some school activities
- donate old books to the school library
- pay back to the society through good actions......
 UNIT 4 - AGING
The concept of SUCCESSFUL AGING was propagated
by Robert Havighurst 1961 and he spoke of “adding
life to years”

Further in 2002 Vaillant viewed successful aging as

involving joy, love and learning.

Ref - Snyder et al 2nd edition 2011 - chapter 5 - pg

108 - 113.
 AGING
More work in this area was by John Rowe from 1988 to 1996 - THE
MAC ARTHUR FOUNDATION STUDY OF SUCCESSFUL AGING - listed 3
components of successful aging as -
- avoiding disease
- engaging with life
- keeping physical and cognitive functioning intact (Rowe and Kahn
1998).
Williamson and Christie 2009 stated that these 3 components help in
“maintaining a lifestyle that involves normal, valued and beneficial
activities”.
 AGING
ENGAGING WITH LIFE - focused upon by positive psychologists.
Life engagement has two components (Rowe & Kahn, 1998):
- Social support (receiving support from people around you)
- Productivity (giving back to the society in some way)

Social support works best when it is mutual i.e. the support given is
balanced by support received.
Two kinds of support are important for successful ageing:
- Socioemotional support (liking and loving)
- Instrumental support (actual help when someone is in need)
 AGING
Successful aging may be explained using Erik Erikson’s theory of
psycho-social development.
There are cultural differences witnessed in the conceptualization of
successful aging.

In a study by Unger, McAvay, Bruce, Berkman and Seeman (1999), it

was observed that respondents with more social ties showed less
decline in functioning over time.
 AGING
Some more research evidence -

Men have been found to receive emotional support primarily

from their spouses, whereas women tend to draw more
heavily on their friends, relatives and children for emotional
support (Gurung et al).

Research also indicates that interruptions of physical activity

regimens often precipitate declines in overall well-being.
 AGING
Precursors of successful aging -
Vaillant (2002) used physical, psychological and occupational indicators of
successful aging rather than relying solely on subjective evaluation.
Lifestyle predictors of healthy aging include -
- Not smoking or stopping smoking while young
- coping adaptively with mature defenses (altruism, humor)
- Not abusing alcohol - Exercising
- Maintaining a healthy weight
- Having a stable marriage
- Being educated - to list a few.
 AGING
Positive emotional experiences in early life may contribute to
successful aging.

Successful aging may not be measured against only one universal

criterion. Rather it should be studied from a cultural perspective.

Thus positive psychology is well on its way to identifying and sharing

meaningful information about how to live a better life esp in older
adulthood......