Promoting Healthy Personality Development & Well-being

     "the absence of symptoms of mental disorders does not assure the presence of positive emotions, life satisfaction or other indicators of well-being. ... An adequate model of well-being will require a better understanding of the role of self-transcendence. In contrast to defensiveness and effortful control, an outlook of unity is expressed in activities such as fluidity in athletic performance, improvisation in musical composition, trustful perception of social support, and generosity in charitable donations, which each activate the most recently evolved parts of the brain, particularly prefrontal poles. Activation of the anterior prefrontal cortex produces feelings of satisfaction even when anticipating adversity or when making meaningful personal sacrifices. ...

     Much more work is needed to develop empirical measures that are able to reliably distinguish the different processes that promote healthy personality development and well-being. We need to better understand the crucial role of self-transcendence along with other dimensions of personality in the development of health and happiness. The great deficiency of emerging classifications of mental disorders is that they embody little or no understanding of the science of well-being."

       Cloninger CR. Healthy personality development and well-being. World Psychiatry 2012; 11(2): 103-4.
 
     "The goal of meditation at its deepest level has been liberation from the egoic self; developing a sense of harmony with the universe; and the ability to increase one's compassion, sensitivity, and service to others. These goals may include, but go beyond, personal self-regulation or self-exploration."

       Shapiro DH. Examining the content and context of meditation; A challenge for psychology in the areas of stress management, psychotherapy, and religion/values. Journal of Humanistic Psychology 1994; 34(4): 101-135. 

 

Psychological Health & Maturity - Increasingly Integrated Adaptation to & Engagement with Reality

     "Allport described the characteristics of psychological maturity as an adaptive set of seven functions: 

     a) self-extension: authentic & enduring involvement in significant life activities, such as work, family life, or community service; 

     b) dependable ways of relating warmly to others, such as tolerance, empathy, trust, and genuineness; 

     c) self-acceptance or emotional security: the ability to regulate & live with one’s emotional states; 

     d) realistic perception & appraisal: seeing the world as it is in contrast to being defensive or distorting reality to conform to one’s wishes; 

     e) problem-centeredness: resourceful problem solving; 

     f) self-objectification: self-awareness allowing a person to know oneself with insight and humor; and 

     g) a unifying philosophy of life, allowing comprehension and integration of one’s goals and values. 

     According to Allport, a healthy person is constantly striving toward unification of personality by integration of all aspects of his/her life."

 

       Cloninger CR. Healthy personality development and well-being. World Psychiatry 2012; 11(2): 103-4.

 

Homes in North End Halifax Nova Scotia

 

Creating our Self-concept through Behavior

     Christopher Bryan PhD, in "Being by Doing" talks about the pivotal impact of "whether or not we understand & see our behaviors as having implications for our self-concepts. 
     As an example, imagine you're out for a walk and you've just finished enjoying a cold drink. And now you're left with this empty can and you'd like to be rid of it. So do you drop it into the first thrash can you come upon? Or do you hold onto it until you can find a place to recycle it?
     A critical factor in determining what you do is whether you see recycling the can as just another behavior OR as a reflection of the kind of person you are. 
     And we make lots of decisions like this. Do we volunteer to help the poor? Help people out when they need it? Donate to charity? Run a marathon? Or take a stand on an important issue? Do we do the thing we should do - the thing that's good for us or good for society - even though it's hard for us, or entails some sacrifice, or expense? OR do we sit back and opt for ease, comfort & convenience instead? An important reason we sometimes do the hard good thing is that we like the way this makes us see ourselves, makes us feel about ourselves. We like to think of ourselves as charitable, caring people, as good Samaritans,
as people who are mentally & physically strong, and as people who stand up against injustice. 
     I'm arguing that a lot of the things we do, especially the sorts of things that involve some personal sacrifice, that are widely approved of, we do because we want to think of ourselves as the kind of person who does those things. Ultimately the reason for this is that in our culture it's really important for individuals to be worthy, competent, moral, and generally deserving of approval. And our behavior feeds into our self-concepts. What we do shapes how we see ourselves. 
     And so when we see behavior having implications for our self-concepts, this provides a way to manage our self-concepts, to pursue the goal of being a worthy person by behaving in ways that are consistent with that view of ourselves. (Of course not all behavior is viewed as relevant to self-concepts.)

     The self is a constant work-in-progress. We’re continually managing our self-concepts through our behavior, acting in ways that allow us to build up our sense of ourselves as competent & worthy. The psychological process can be channeled to influence socially relevant behavior in a wide range of domains.” 
http://kellymcgonigal.com/2012/07/20/how-to-think-like-a-psychologist/ 

North End homes, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Developing a Strong Sense of Efficacy

     "There are 4 major ways of developing a strong sense of efficacy:

     1) The most effective one is through mastery experiences. Successes build a robust belief in one’s efficacy. Failures undermine it. If people have only easy successes they are readily discouraged by failure. Development of a resilient sense of efficacy requires experience in overcoming obstacles through perseverant effort. Resilience is also cultivated by learning how to manage failure so it is informative rather than demoralizing.

     2) The second way of creating and strengthening beliefs of personal efficacy is through social modeling. If people see others like themselves succeed by sustained effort they come to believe that they, too, have the capacity to do so. Competent models also build efficacy by conveying knowledge and skills for managing environmental demands.

     3) Social persuasion is the third way of strengthening people’s beliefs in their efficacy. If people are persuaded that they have what it takes to succeed, they exert more effort than if they harbor self-doubts and dwell on personal deficiencies when problems arise. But effective social persuaders do more than convey faith in people’s capabilities. They arrange things for others in ways that bring success and avoid placing them prematurely in situations where they are likely to fail.

     4) People also rely on their physical & emotional states to judge their capabilities. They read their tension, anxiety, & depression as signs of personal deficiency. In activities that require strength and stamina, they interpret fatigue and pain as indicators of low physical efficacy."

        Bandura A. Swimming against the mainstream: the early years from chilly tributary to transformative mainstream. Behav Res Ther 2004; 42(6): 613-30. 

Saint Lawrence River, Quebec

Efficacy Beliefs Regulate Human Functioning

     "Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you're right!"             Henry Ford
 

     "Efficacy beliefs regulate human functioning through four major processes. They include cognitive, motivational, emotional, and choice processes. Much human behavior is regulated by forethought. Efficacy beliefs affect whether individuals think pessimistically or optimistically, self-enhancingly or self-debilitatingly. Efficacy beliefs play a central role in the self-regulation of motivation. Most human motivation is cognitively generated by goal aspirations and the material, social, and self-evaluative outcomes anticipated for difficult courses of action. People of high perceived self-efficacy set motivating goals for themselves, maintain commitment to them, expect their efforts to produce favorable results, view obstacles as surmountable and figure out ways to overcome them.

     People’s beliefs in their coping efficacy also affect their emotional life and how much stress, anxiety and depression they experience in threatening or disheartening situations. Those who believe they can manage threats and adversities view them as less inimical and act in ways that reduce their aversiveness or change them for the better. People have to live with a psychic environment that is largely of their own making. Many human distresses result from failures of control over perturbing thoughts. Beliefs of coping efficacy facilitate the exercise of control over perturbing and dejecting rumination. Efficacy beliefs play a key role in shaping the courses lives take by influencing the types of activities and environments people choose to get into. Advantageous destinies are shaped by selection of environments known to cultivate valued potentialities and lifestyles. 

     Self-efficacy is a key determinant because it affects behavior both directly and by its influence on these other determinants. As already noted, efficacy beliefs determine goals and aspirations; they shape the outcomes people expect their efforts to produce; and determine how environmental facilitators and impediments are viewed. People of low self-efficacy are easily convinced of the futility of effort in the face of impediments. Those of high self-efficacy view impediments as surmountable through perseverant effort and improvement of self-management skills."

       Bandura A. Swimming against the mainstream: the early years from chilly tributary to transformative mainstream. Behav Res Ther 2004; 42(6): 613-30.

 

Critical Role of Beliefs re One's Own Abilities to Change & Overcome Adversity

     Which is preferable, a mastery- or a helpless-oriented self-regulation strategy? Every parent, health-care professional, and all other educators need to become skilled at fostering an unshakable belief in each individual's ability to help themselves rise above the many & varied adversities that are a natural part of life.
     "Belief in one's efficacy to exercise control is a common pathway through which psychosocial influences affect health functioning. This core belief affects each of the basic processes of personal change - whether people even consider changing their health habits, whether they mobilize the motivation and perseverance needed to succeed should they do so, their ability to recover from setbacks and relapses, and how well they maintain the habit changes they have achieved."             Bandura A. Health promotion by social cognitive means. Health Educ Behav 2004; 31(2): 143-64.
 
     People who assume that fundamental attributes (such as intelligence or personality) are static traits that are relatively fixed & not subject to personal development are said to be "entity theorists." Those who hold that these human attributes are, instead, dynamic qualities that can be cultivated & can be developed & changed incrementally through personal efforts are referred to as "incremental theorists."
     Research shows that belief in one or the other of these theories has a major impact "on immediate self-regulatory responses to setbacks, including a) responding to failure, b) coping with dysphoria, c) overcoming negative stereotypes, & d) managing personal conflict in intimate relationships. 
     If attributes are seen as fixed, then success or failure provides diagnostic information about how much of these fixed attributes one possesses (& will ever possess). Therefore, for entity theorists, failure often signifies that abilities are permanently lacking in some way. Following failure, any self-regulation in which these individuals are engaged is thus likely to focus primarily on suppressing the importance of this failure or on coping as best they can with the negative emotional impact. 
     In contrast, if attributes are seen as malleable, then success or failure provides diagnostic information about the level to which these attributes have thus far developed. Therefore, for incremental theorists, failure may signify that their abilities require improvement through further attention and effort. Following failure, any self-regulation in which these individuals are engaged is thus more likely to focus on determining how to bring about this improvement." 

       Molden DC, Dweck CS. Finding "meaning" in psychology: a lay theories approach to self-regulation, social perception, and social development. Am Psychol 2006; 61(3): 192-203. 

Homer Simpsons Among Us

     Periodically, we're shaken by reports of outrageously primitive behavior by "normal" adults. The latest is a hate letter directed at a young boy with autism in Newcastle, Ontario. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2013/08/20/autistic-boy-family-receives-euthanize-letter-ontario-newscastle.html
     Uncivilized attitudes and behaviors are far more common than we realize - ask anyone who is "different" re ethnicity, color, religion, height, weight, physically or mentally challenged, poor, homeless etc etc.
     So how can "normal" people behave like reptiles? We're all born somewhere on the spectrum of human development between sociopath at one end, and saint (for want of a better word) on the other. Then, under the (favourable or otherwise) influence of parents, other environmental influences, and our own initiatives (or lack thereof), we either mature further, stay the same, or regress. To add to this complicated "work in progress", we occasionally behave "out of character."

     Egocentric / xenophobic is a very small step ahead of sociopathic behavior. I suspect these folks have a sense of their low position on the human maturation spectrum and likely feel frustrated, lack mature coping skills, and may act out by harming others (& the environment eg graffiti, vandalism, arson etc). "Individuals have been shown to use a wide variety of strategies for recovering from blows to their self-esteem, at times even stooping to ... actively sabotage" others. Molden DC, Dweck CS. Finding "meaning" in psychology: a lay theories approach to self-regulation, social perception, and social development. Am Psychol 2006; 61(3): 192-203. These members of our human family clearly need to be taught healthier attitudes / coping skills than Homer Simpson's : "I don't like him - he's different."

Homer Simpson   www.1zoom.net

Wisdom AND True Fulfillment - Successive Counterintuitive Choices

     We live in a time when ensuring personal comfort, convenience & pleasure seems to be of paramount importance. We try to do so by carefully selecting and modifying our external environment, which in turn is supposed to improve our inner environment ie psychosocial well-being. Egocentricity is confused by many - even educated intelligent people - as being appropriate self-care.
     Developmental psychologists and all wisdom traditions view egocentricity as an early (read primitive) stage of human development, something to outgrow NOT aspire to. The wise open-hearted allocentric attitude we choose to bring, moment-by-moment, to deal with whatever's on our plate is what's all-important. As someone recently said, 'Happiness is an inside job!'
     "It does not matter so much what we look at or touch or think, but it matters a lot how we respond to what we are experiencing. Every emotional response is a form of action, and every action has a consequence. We are shaped not so much by what we do, but by how we engage with what we do." Andrew Olendzki

Toronto, Ontario

It Seemed Perfectly Reasonable - At The Time

     We ALL behave completely inappropriately, at least occasionally (some of us rarely, others with alarming consistency).
     From a scientific perspective, these are not "accidents", but the inevitable consequence of all the preceding inputs (causes & conditions). As in a complex billiard shot, every single thing preceding an event, causes the event - be it loud flatulence at a formal dinner, or a shooting rampage.
     Regardless of quality, some people live their whole lives thinking and behaving more or less the same. 
     Some, only near the end of their lives stop to think and realize - "I've been a total ass my whole life. I can't believe people put up with me. How can I make up for being such a shit?"
     A small proportion of people regularly examine their lives - meditate - and intentionally, consciously, continuously upgrade their thinking and behavior, becoming more and more like their role models. Only this last group is truly alive, awake, conscious, living intentionally, evolving, becoming the most they can be, during this brief and precious life. 

     See: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/2013/08/381-each-moment-new-beginning.html

Canadian eh?

     Canadians tend to be easy-going, open-minded and tolerant. Interestingly, some see this as a strength, whereas others interpret it as laziness, a failure to speak up for what one needs - in fact deserves & should demand to have immediately! Those of the latter mindset are, in turn, seen by many Canadians as pushy, crass & self-centered.
     Canada is, relatively speaking, a sparsely populated country. Recently it's been found that the greater the population of a city, the faster people from the city tend to walk. Could it be the same for their perceived urgency for gratification ie self-centeredness?
     Meaningful change towards a higher quality of life is accomplished slowly, internally. Demanding that others and the external environment should conform to our wishes simply won't happen. Self-centeredness (egocentricity) is well-known as an early stage of human development. The sad fact is that many never outgrow this stage. 
     Whatever stage one happens to be in, one assumes to be perfectly reasonable & appropriate. After one has matured beyond a given stage, and has some capacity for self-reflection, one looks back with considerable humility at one's past (relatively primitive) behavior.
     That is why it is so important to be at least conceptually aware of what humans are capable of achieving: well beyond egocentricity, human beings can - and must - mature to (& beyond) allocentric levels. See: http://healthyhealers.blogspot.ca/2013/04/stressed-out-or-centered-choose-one.html

We ARE Capable of Great Peace

     "One can hurtle through the day doing this, that, and the other thing, often simultaneously, with great busyness and pressure, only to relax in the evening by trying to keep up with images that flash across the screen multiple times per second. For many of us, the deep states of tranquil alertness of which the mind is capable are entirely unknown.
    Yes, the chattering, cavorting, cacophonous monkey mind is capable of clever deeds and great mischief, and these things are not entirely without value. But the mind is also capable of settling down, gathering its power, and turning its gaze upon itself, and in such instances it can come to know itself deeply. ... gaining wisdom, and this too is a valuable thing to do. ... a healthy thing to do."           Andrew Olendzki PhD