18. March 2010 by John Schinnerer.

Amazing new research is coming out showing the fundamental importance of your sense of touch. It is the first sense available to you as a baby. A variety of positive and negative emotions can be understood through brief one second touches to the forearm, even when you cannot see the person touching you.

It may be that touch sends more information than gestures, body language or facial expressions. Touch varies widely in its expression - a hug, a gentle touch on the shoulder, a scratch on the face, a hip check, a high five, a punch to the bicep, a desperate clutch to the forearm. All of these are expressions of touch filled with social and emotional meaning for the person whom receives the touch.

While I follow the latest research on emotion and psychology, I was surprised and delighted to see a study on touch appear in the latest issue of Sports Illustrated (The Metaphysical Significance, Staggering Ubiquity and Sheer Joy of High Fives by Chris Ballard). The study which looked at the effects of touch on performance in the NBA is entitled Tactile Communication, Cooperation and Performance: An Ethological Study of the NBA and comes out of the greatest university in the world - U.C. Berkeley (okay, I’m biased!). Lead researchers of the project are Michael Kraus and Dacher Keltner.

The researchers observed nearly 300 NBA players (across all 30 teams) over a period of 2 months. They catalogued and recorded every touch between players during games. The touches were classified in one of 12 areas including categories such as high fives, head slaps, and jumping shoulder bumps. The results were nothing short of awe-inspiring. The more touches between teammates, the more wins the team had.

The teams that touch the most? The Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics. Both of these teams surpassed the 60 win mark last season. And both teams averaged more than 100 seconds of touching during games. The results held even when the lofty expectations are taken into account for these elite teams.

The teams that touch the least? The Sacramento Kings and the Charlotte Bobcats. They averaged a measly 16.5 seconds and earned only 52 wins last season combined.

How about individual players? Does the power of touch hold at an individual level?

The ’touchiest’ players (i.e., most high fives, chest bumps, head slaps) are also among the NBA’s elite players including Kevin Garnett of the Celtics, Chris Bosh of the Toronto Raptors, Kobe Bryant of the Lakers, and Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks. Garnett averages 15.7 seconds of touching per game which is over two times as much as the entire Sacramento Kings entire team.

Apparently, it’s the leaders of the team that initiate most of the touching in the form of hugs, low fives, fist bumps and more.

Why is there such a powerful effect for the sense of touch?

We know that massages from loved ones not only reduce pain, they also reduce depressive symptoms. Students who are given a compassionate pat on the shoulder are 200% more likely to volunteer for an in class assignment. When your doctor offers a sympathetic touch, it makes you feel as if he has spent twice as much time with you during the visit.

How can one sense be related to such varied and significant events as wins in the NBA, reduction in depression, perception of time, reduction in pain, and promotion of altruistic behavior?

The primary theory is that touch activates the autonomic nervous system which has two branches - the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS).  One helpful metaphor to understand these two is the idea of a car in which the accelerator is like the sympathetic nervous system and the brakes are akin to the parasympathetic nervous system. Positive touches (e.g., kind, compassionate, tender, gentle, sympathetic, etc.) seem to activate the PNS, or the body’s brakes, which helps the body to relax, to experience positive emotions. Negative touches (e.g., a punch, a pinch, scratch or a bite) seems to activate the SNS, or the body’s gas pedal, which prepares the body for the fight or flight response.

In many of us, the SNS is chronically active as if the gas pedal is being pushed continuously. Due to the fast pace of society, the financial demands, the pressure of balancing work, home and personal health, many get into a cycle of chronic low level stress. In this case, the PNS, the relaxation response, is rarely, if ever, activated.

In sports psychology, it is known that the zone, where optimal human functioning occurs, requires a balance between stress and relaxation. In other words, there needs to be a balance between the functioning of the SNS and the PNS. Touch seems to be one way to activate the PNS thereby balancing the pressure of performing in the moment with the relaxation response, allowing athletes to perform at their peak.

Hope you enjoyed this one! I sure enjoyed writing it!

All the best,

John Schinnerer Ph.D.

Guide To Self, Inc.

Positive Psychology Coach

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9. March 2010 by John Schinnerer.

The Well-Being Explosion and What’s Next

Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman states that increasing interest in life satisfaction and well-being is reaching critical mass throughout the world now that economists are involved with measuring Gross Domestic Happiness (GDH) and other key metrics. In a clip from Gallup’s series, “Next Steps: Transforming Americans’ Health and Well-Being,” Kahneman looks at why the study of emotions is likely to be the future of well-being research.

 http://www.gallup.com/video/123914/Well-Being-Explosion-Whats-Next.aspx

It’s a fantastic, uplifting feeling to know that the rest of the world might be beginning to realize the importance of the work on which I’ve been spending the past 15 years of my life. Ever since 1995, I’ve been studying, practicing and teaching the best scientifically-proven methods to alleviate destructive emotions (e.g., fear, anger, sadness) and cultivate more constructive emotions (e.g., awe, pride, love, contentment, curiosity, and more). I’ve written award winning book (Guide To Self: The Beginner’s Guide To Managing Emotion and Thought), spoken to tens of thousands of people and done a daily prime time radio show. It is so rewarding to think that some folks might be understanding the power, importance and ubiquity of emotions.

I’ll check in with you soon!

All the best,

John

John Schinnerer, Ph.D.

Positive Psychology Coach

Guide To Self, Inc.

http://www.guidetoself.com 

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6. March 2010 by John Schinnerer.

Press release from Association of Psychological Science…

Talking Your Way to Happiness: Well-being Is Related to Having Less Small Talk and More Substantive Conversations

Is a happy life filled with trivial chatter or reflective and profound conversations? Psychological scientists Matthias R. Mehl, Shannon E. Holleran, and C. Shelby Clark from the University of Arizona, along with Simine Vazire of Washington University in St. Louis investigated whether happy and unhappy people differ in the types of conversations they tend to engage in. Volunteers wore an unobtrusive recording device called the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) over four days. This device periodically records snippets of sounds as participants go about their lives. For this experiment, the EAR sampled 30 seconds of sounds every 12.5 minutes yielding a total of more than 20,000 recordings. Researchers then listened to the recordings and identified the conversations as trivial small talk or substantive discussions. In addition, the volunteers completed personality and well-being assessments.

As reported in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, analysis of the recordings revealed some very interesting findings. Greater well-being was related to spending less time alone and more time talking to others: The happiest participants spent 25% less time alone and 70% more time talking than the unhappiest participants. In addition to the difference in the amount of social interactions happy and unhappy people had, there was also a difference in the types of conversations they took part in: The happiest participants had twice as many substantive conversations and one third as much small talk as the unhappiest participants.

These findings suggest that the happy life is social and conversationally deep rather than solitary and superficial. The researchers surmise that — though the current findings cannot identify the causal direction — deep conversations may have the potential to make people happier. They note, “Just as self-disclosure can instill a sense of intimacy in a relationship, deep conversations may instill a sense of meaning in the interaction partners.”

News Release

March 4, 2010
For Immediate Release

This past weekend, I presented at a Parenting Conference on Strengths-Based Approaches to parenting. At the conference, a new film, The Race to Nowhere, was screened.The movie brought up a number of pertinent issues regarding the educational system in the United States…

The creation of high degrees of chronic stress in all ages of students (but not all students) due to excessive homework demands.

The excessive homework load seems to be largely due to curriculum which has been pushed down to lower and lower grade, often to the point where the academic requirements are mismatched with the developmental stage of the student.

The well being and happiness of students are not considered relevant in the current educational system.

The current system puts students into a constant forward-looking race to get to the next stage of education. For instance, sixth graders are looking at which foreign language classes to take to get into college; 7th & 8th graders are focused on what to do now to get into the advanced track classes in high school; many high school students are continually focused on what they can do in terms of extracurriculars and AP grades to get into the ‘right’ colleges.

Once in college, students are finding they never learned how to think critically on their own. Rather they were taught to regurgitate facts to do well on standardized tests which assess only a fraction of the whole child’s abilities and skills. 

At some point, many of these students are running headlong into a period of purposelessness and some are even dropping out of college due to depression, anxiety and hopelessness. If you are interested in finding out more about the movie, check out their site at RaceToNowhere.com.

Today, I came across a new study out of Penn State which shows a link between adolescent stress, depression and obesity. Below is a review on the study borrowed from a fantastic psychology site PsychCentral.com.

By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on February 25, 2010

Obesity is a disturbing worldwide trend. In fact, researchers say the effects are so pervasive that unless the issue is controlled, children born today will not live longer than their parents.

A new research finding provides insight on how a mental health issue may trigger obesity among adolescents. In the study, researchers discovered depression raises stress hormone levels in adolescent boys and girls. And, among girls, the stress hormones may lead to obesity.

Accordingly, early treatment of depression could help reduce stress and control obesity.

[snip]

Cortisol, a hormone, regulates various metabolic functions in the body and is released as a reaction to stress. Researchers have long known that depression and cortisol are related to obesity, but they had not figured out the exact biological mechanism.

Although it is not clear why high cortisol reactions translate into obesity only for girls, scientists believe it may be due to physiological and behavioral differences (in girls, estrogen release and stress eating) in the way the two genders cope with anxiety.

“The implications are to start treating depression early because we know that depression, cortisol and obesity are related in adults,” said Susman.

If depression were to be treated earlier, she noted, it could help reduce the level of cortisol, and thereby help reduce obesity.

“We know stress is a critical factor in many mental and physical health problems,” said Susman.

“We are putting together the biology of stress, emotions and a clinical disorder to better understand a major public health problem.”

Susman and her colleagues Lorah D. Dorn, professor of pediatrics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and Samantha Dockray, postdoctoral fellow, University College London, used a child behavior checklist to assess 111 boys and girls ages 8 to 13 for symptoms of depression.

Next they measured the children’s obesity and the level of cortisol in their saliva before and after various stress tests.

[snip]

Statistical analyses of the data suggest that depression is associated with spikes in cortisol levels for boys and girls after the stress tests, but higher cortisol reactions to stress are associated with obesity only in girls. The team reported its findings in a recent issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health.

“In these children, it was mainly the peak in cortisol that was related to obesity,” Susman explained. “It was how they reacted to an immediate stress.”

Source: Penn State University

For full article, click here.

Have a wonderful and stress-free week!

All the best,

John Schinnerer, Ph.D.

Positive Psychology Coach

Author of the award-winning book Guide To Self:

The Beginner’s Guide To Managing Emotion & Thought Guide To Self, Inc.

913 San Ramon Valley Blvd. #280

Danville CA 94526

(925) 575-0258

GuideToSelf.com - Web site

DrJohnBlog.GuideToSelf.com - Award-winning Blog

@johnschin - Twitter

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23. February 2010 by John Schinnerer.

A first of kind study was released this past week by The European Society of Cardiology showing that individuals who experience positive emotions more frequently are less likely to succumb to heart disease (as compared to those who feel positive emotions less frequently or less intensely).

They sent out the following news release regarding the study which appears in European Heart Journal.

Don’t worry, be happy!  Positive emotions protect against heart disease

People who are usually happy, enthusiastic and content are less likely to develop heart disease than those who tend not to be happy, according to a major new study published today (Thursday 18 February).

The authors believe that the study, published in the Europe’s leading cardiology journal, the European Heart Journal [1], is the first to show such an independent relationship between positive emotions and coronary heart disease.

Dr Karina Davidson, who led the research, said that although this was an observational study, her study did suggest that it might be possible to help prevent heart disease by enhancing people’s positive emotions.

However, she cautioned that it would be premature to make clinical recommendations without clinical trials to investigate the findings further.

‘We desperately need rigorous clinical trials in this area. If the trials support our findings, then these results will be incredibly important in describing specifically what clinicians and/or patients could do to improve health,’ said Dr Davidson, who is the Herbert Irving Associate Professor of Medicine & Psychiatry and Director of the Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health at Columbia University Medical Center (New York, USA).

Over a period of ten years, Dr Davidson and her colleagues followed 1,739 healthy adults (862 men and 877 women) who were participating in the 1995 Nova Scotia Health Survey. At the start of the study, trained nurses assessed the participants’ risk of heart disease and, with both self-reporting and clinical assessment, they measured symptoms of depression, hostility, anxiety and the degree of expression of positive emotions, which is known as ‘positive affect.’

Positive affect is defined as the experience of pleasurable emotions such as joy, happiness, excitement, enthusiasm and contentment. These feelings can be transient, but they are usually stable and trait-like, particularly in adulthood. Positive affect is largely independent of negative affect, so that someone who is generally a happy, contented person can also be occasionally anxious, angry or depressed.

After taking account of age, sex, cardiovascular risk factors and negative emotions, the researchers found that, over the ten-year period, increased positive affect predicted less risk of heart disease by 22% per point on a five-point scale measuring levels of positive affect expression (ranging from “none” to “extreme”).

Dr Davidson said: ‘Participants with no positive affect were at a 22% higher risk of ischaemic heart disease (heart attack or angina) than those with a little positive affect, who were themselves at 22% higher risk than those with moderate positive affect.’

‘We also found that if someone, who was usually positive, had some depressive symptoms at the time of the survey, this did not affect their overall lower risk of heart disease.’

‘As far as we know, this is the first prospective study to examine the relationship between clinically-assessed positive affect and heart disease.’

The researchers speculate about what could be the possible mechanisms by which positive emotions might be responsible for conferring long-term protection from heart disease. These include influence on heart rates, sleeping patterns and smoking cessation.

“We have several possible explanations,” said Dr Davidson. “First, those with positive affect may have longer periods of rest or relaxation physiologically. Baroreflex and parasympathetic regulation may, therefore, by superior in these persons, compared to those with little positive affect. Second, those with positive affect may recover more quickly from stressors, and may not spend as much time ‘re-living’ them, which in turn seems to cause physiological damage. This is speculative, as we are just beginning to explore why positive emotions and happiness have positive health benefits.”

She said that most successful interventions for depression include increasing positive affect as well as decreasing negative affect. If clinical trials supported the findings of this study, then it would be relatively easy to assess positive affect in patients and suggest interventions to improve it to help prevent heart disease. In the meantime, people reading about this research could take some simple steps to increase their positive affect.

‘Like the observational finding that moderate wine consumption is healthy (and enjoyable), at this point ordinary people can ensure they have some pleasurable activities in their daily lives,’ she said. ‘Some people wait for their two weeks of vacation to have fun, and that would be analogous to binge drinking (moderation and consistency, not deprivation and binging, is what is needed). If you enjoy reading novels, but never get around to it, commit to getting 15 minutes or so of reading in. If walking or listening to music improves your mood, get those activities in your schedule. Essentially, spending some few minutes each day truly relaxed and enjoying yourself is certainly good for your mental health, and may improve your physical health as well (although this is, as yet, not confirmed).’

In an accompanying editorial by Bertram Pitt, Professor of Internal Medicine, and Patricia Deldin, Associate Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry, both at the University of Michigan School of Medicine (Michigan, USA), the authors pointed out that, currently, no one knew whether positive affect had a direct or indirect causal role in heart disease, or whether there was a third, underlying factor at work, common to both conditions. Nor was it known for certain whether it was possible to modify and improve positive affect, and to what extent.

‘Randomised controlled trials of interventions to increase positive affect in patients with cardiovascular disease are now underway and will help determine the effectiveness of increasing positive affect on cardiovascular outcome and will provide insight into the nature of the relationship between positive affect and cardiovascular disease,’ they wrote.

‘The ‘vicious cycle’ linking cardiovascular disease to major depression and depression to cardiovascular disease deserves greater attention from both the cardiovascular and psychiatric investigators……..These new treatments [to increase positive affect] could open an exciting potential new approach for treating patients with known cardiovascular disease who develop depression. If Davidson et al.’s observations and hypotheses stimulate further investigation regarding the effect of increased positive affect on physiological abnormalities associated with cardiovascular risk, perhaps it will be time for all of us to smile.’

Notes:

[1] ‘Don’t worry, be happy: positive affect and reduced 10-year incident coronary heart disease: The Canadian Nova Scotia Health Survey.’  European Heart Journal. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehp603.

[2] ‘Depression and cardiovascular disease: have a happy day - just smile!’. European Heart Journal. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehq031

We may as well add this to the growing mountain of research documenting the tremendous potential of positive emotions (currently there are more than 65,000 studies documenting the positive impact on optimal human functioning of happiness, life satisfaction, subjective well-being, and positive emotions). Think of it as a matter of degree and frequency that we’re trying to increase. It’s not a black or white issue in which positive psychology is saying you have to be happy all the time. That would be absurd. Rather, the idea is to increase the amount of time (as well as the intensity and duration) you spend in positive emotional states such as contentment, relaxation, curiosity, awe, pride, love, joy, laughter, hope, amusement and so on. And positive emotions is just one of the areas covered by positive psychology.

Have a tremendous day!

John Schinnerer, Ph.D.

Positive Psychology Coach

Author of the award winning ‘Guide To Self: The Beginner’s Guide To Managing Emotion and Thought’

Follow John on Twitter at @johnschin

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10. February 2010 by John Schinnerer.

Posted in Science of love, Hope, National speakers, Danville CA, Emotion & productivity, Emotional mind, Guide To Self Beginners Guide To Managing Emotion, Measuring emotions, Forgiveness, Dr. John Schinnerer, Life coach, Happiness, Positive Psychology | Print | No Comments »

27. January 2010 by John Schinnerer.

Reprinted from PsychCentral.com

By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on January 26, 2010

Perrhaps a new finding is not a surprise to the millions who are following the Tiger Woods fiasco, but despite the rise in power and accomplishments of women, a research study from Spain finds men display less guilt and lower levels of sensitivity than women.

In the study, researchers discovered feelings of guilt are “significantly higher” among women. However, they determined the main problem is not that women feel a lot of guilt (which they do), but rather that many males feel “too little.”

“Our initial hypothesis was that feelings of guilt are more intense among females, not only among adolescents but also among young and adult women, and they also show the highest scores for interpersonal sensitivity,” Itziar Etxebarria, lead author of the study and a researcher at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) said.

The research, published in the Spanish Journal of Psychology, was carried out using a sample from three age groups (156 teenagers, 96 young people and 108 adults) equally divided between males and females.

The team of psychologists asked them what situations most often caused them to feel guilt. They also carried out interpersonal sensitivity tests – the Davis Empathetic Concern Scale, and a questionnaire on Interpersonal Guilt, created purposely for this study.

When it came to comparing the measurements of intensity of habitual guilt of these groups, the researchers saw that this score was significantly higher for women, in all three age groups. “This difference is particularly stark in the 40-50-year-old age group”, points out Etxebarria.

The data also suggest that female teenagers and young women have higher scores than males of the same age. “This is caused by certain educational practices, which demand more of females, and which are sometimes still in use despite belief to the contrary,” claims the scientist.

The authors also found gender differences – similar to those noted for habitual guilt – in the two indices of interpersonal sensitivity, although in the 40-50 age bracket the men’s levels came closer to women’s.

The interpersonal sensitivity of men (especially those aged between 25-33) is “comparatively low.” The experts say a lack of sensitivity could lead to absence or excessive weakness of certain kinds of guilt, such as empathetic guilt, which could be beneficial for interpersonal relationships and for the individual.

Types of guilt

The most common forms of guilt are related to situations where we cause harm to others. Stemming from this, it is normal that this arouses feelings of empathy for the people we may have harmed, which tend to turn into feelings of guilt when we recognize that we are responsible for their suffering.

A previous study, also headed by Itziar Etxebarria, analyzes people’s experiences of guilt, differentiating two components – one of these being empathetic (sorrow for the person we have harmed in some way) and the other anxious-aggressive (unease and contained aggression).

The anxious-aggressive kind of guilt is more common in people who have been raised in a more blame-imposing environment, and who are governed by stricter rules about behavior in general and aggression in particular.

“It seems obvious that this component will be more intense among women, and especially in older women,” says Etxebarria.

The greater presence of this component among women, above all those aged between 40 and 50, explains the marked differences in the intensity of habitual guilt in this age group, “just at the age when males move towards females in the two indices of interpersonal sensitivity analyzed”, she explains.

“Educational practices and a whole range of socializing agents must be used to reduce the trend towards anxious-aggressive guilt among women and to strengthen interpersonal sensitivity among men”, concludes the researcher.

Source: FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology

 Original article may be found here http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/01/26/sensitivity-feelings-of-guilt-low-in-men/10958.html 

Posted in Emotion & learning, National speakers, Awareness, Relationships, Danville CA, Emotion & productivity, Alamo CA, Executive coach, San Ramon CA, Men's emotions, Alexithymia, Dr. John Schinnerer, Measuring emotions, Business & psych, Life coach, Guide to Self, Emotional management, Emotional mind, Morals and values, Bullies | Print | No Comments »

28. October 2009 by John Schinnerer.

NonWestern communal cultures keep biology from having its way with depression

From EurekaAlert.org…

EVANSTON, Ill. — A genetic tendency to depression is much less likely to be realized in a culture centered on collectivistic rather than individualistic values, according to a new Northwestern University study.

In other words, a genetic vulnerability to depression is much more likely to be realized in a Western culture than an East Asian culture that is more about we than me-me-me.

The study coming out of the growing field of cultural neuroscience takes a global look at mental health across social groups and nations.

Depression, research overwhelmingly shows, results from genes, environment and the interplay between the two. One of the most profound ways that people across cultural groups differ markedly, cultural psychology demonstrates, is in how they think of themselves.

“People from highly individualistic cultures like the United States and Western Europe are more likely to value uniqueness over harmony, expression over agreement, and to define themselves as unique or different from the group,” said Joan Chiao, the lead author of the study and assistant professor of psychology in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern.

In contrast, people from collectivist cultures are more likely to value social harmony over individuality. “Relative to people in an individualistic culture, they are more likely to endorse behaviors that increase group cohesion and interdependence,” Chiao said.

Collectivist cultures may give individuals who are genetically susceptible to depression a tacit or explicit expectation of social support. “Such support seems to buffer vulnerable individuals from the environmental risks or stressors that serve as triggers to depressive episodes,” Chiao said.

The study by Chiao and Northwestern graduate student Katherine Blizinsky, “Culture-gene coevolution of individualism-collectivism and the serotonin transporter gene,” will be published online in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

For full release, please click here.

It’s interesting to note that many of the third wave of mental health therapies originate in Eastern cultures, such as mindfulness, nonattachment, nonjudgment, and accepting reality as it is. All of these skills originated in the East via Zen Buddhism or in Buddhism proper. And all of these skills are essential elements of Dialetic Behavior Therapy (DBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT).  All of these therapies have been shown to be effective in dealing with depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, OCD,  eating disorders, and several personality disorders such as the most difficult one to treat (in my opinion) - borderline personality disorder.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

John Schinnerer, Ph.D.

Guide To Self, Inc.

Posted in Awareness, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Mindfulness, The human brain, Men's emotions, National speakers, Danville CA, Borderline Personality, Brain plasticity, Therapist, Emotion & productivity, Alexithymia, Managing Sadness, Guide to Self, Life coach, Dr. John Schinnerer, Measuring emotions, Staying calm, Tips to help anxiety, Managing Anxiety, Emotional management, Emotional mind, Depression, Managing stress | Print | No Comments »

22. October 2009 by John Schinnerer.

ScienceDaily (Oct. 21, 2009) — Women are better than men at distinguishing between emotions, especially fear and disgust, according to a new study published in the online version of the journal Neuropsychologia. As part of the investigation, Olivier Collignon and a team from the Université de Montréal Centre de recherche en neuropsychologie et cognition (CERNEC) demonstrated that women are better than men at processing auditory, visual and audiovisual emotions.

While women have long been thought to outperform men in neuropsychological tests, until now, these findings were inconsistent. To obtain more conclusive evidence, the Université de Montréal researchers did not use photographs to analyze the reaction of subjects. Instead, the scientists hired actors and actresses to simulate fear and disgust. “Facial movements have been shown to play an important role in the perception of an emotion’s intensity as well as stimulate different parts of the brain used in the treatment of such information,” says Collignon, who also works as a researcher at the Université catholique de Louvain’s Institute of Neuroscience in Belgium.

[snip]

The study found that women were superior in completing assessments and responded quicker when emotions were portrayed by a female rather than a male actor. Compared to men, women were faster at processing facial and multisensory expressions.

[snip]

Autism and emotions

In 2002, researchers Baron and Cohen put forth a controversial theory stipulating that autism and Asperger’s syndrome are an extreme in male interpersonal behavior that’s characterized by impaired empathy and enhanced systematizing. “Seeing as our results show that men identify and express emotions less efficiently than women, it supports this theory to a certain extent,” says Collignon.

Differences between men and women

Are women natured or nurtured to be different? Biology may play a role, since there are few opportunities for socialization to shape such gender differences. Evolutionary psychologists have suggested that females, because of their role as primary caretakers, are wired to quickly and accurately decode or detect distress in preverbal infants or threatening signals from other adults to enhance their chances at survival.

For full article, please click here.

At some level, this feels like ‘Well, duh, of course women identify and express emotions more quickly and accurately.’ However, this is not something that has been scientifically proven beyond doubt. This study helps to swing the pendulum in the direction of females being more tuned in to the emotions of fear and disgust.

Cheers,

John Schinnerer, Ph.D.

Guide To Self, Inc.

Posted in Alexithymia, Managing Anxiety, Men's emotions, Emotion & learning, Danville CA, Emotional management, Emotional mind, Dr. John Schinnerer, Measuring emotions, Life coach, Anxiety, Nature vs. nurture, Managing stress | Print | No Comments »

20. October 2009 by John Schinnerer.

ScienceDaily (Oct. 19, 2009) — Most of us won’t respond to the call of adventure while soaking in a relaxing bath. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, we’re more likely to book a weekend at a spa. 

“Imagine you are sitting in a bathtub, listening to calm music with gentle candlelight. Add lavender aroma. Then as you flip through a magazine, you come across an advertisement from an amusement park, promising you an exciting place full of adventurous offerings. How appealing would you find the prospect of visiting this amusement park?” write authors Hakkyun Kim (University of Concordia, Canada), Kiwan Park (Seoul National University, Korea), and Norbert Schwarz (University of Michigan). 

The authors found that people evaluate vacation products with adventurous appeals more favorably when they feel excited rather than peaceful, and vice versa. They found that processing advertising claims depends much on the consistency between the message and the consumer’s mood. 

The authors explain that people who see an advertisement that promises an exciting vacation ask themselves, “Would this vacation really make me feel that way?” They are more likely to think a vacation will really be exciting when they currently feel excited rather than peaceful. In other words, incidental emotions influence the perceived likelihood that the product will deliver on its emotional promises: When the current emotions match the promises of the product, people infer that it may really make them feel that way; but when the current emotions mismatch the promises, the discrepancy between their current feelings and the promises suggests that the product may fail to deliver what it promises. 

The researchers’ results suggest that marketers can facilitate the impression that products will deliver on their promises by displaying them in contexts in which consumers’ pre-existing feelings are likely to match the product’s claims. “Exciting sports events are a better arena for advertising exciting vacations than for advertising serene vacations, not only because an exciting vacation may match the audience’s general preferences, but also because an exciting vacation will match the audience’s current feelings,” the authors conclude.

For full article, please click here.

I suppose this makes accurate emotional measurement all the more important. Check out the work I’ve been doing with Resonance Strategies. Great work for marketing, branding, and change initiatives for those who aren’t too fearful. In the consulting work I’ve done, I’ve foudn that dealing with emotions in a business climate sends most business people running for the hills. It’s not rational, it’s emotional! Despite their fears, emotion is still a larger part of the human mind that reason (roughly 90-10%) and dominates most decision-making.

The next step will be matching internal branding campaigns to employee emotions to ensure greater employee productivity. Do I hear individualized internal branding calling? What about individualized external branding and advertising to match ads to consumer emotions and moods?

Savor the day!

John Schinnerer, Ph.D.

Posted in National speakers, Organizational psychology, Emotional mind, Danville CA, Emotion & productivity, Executive coach, Subliminal messages, Employee engagement, Rational mind, Customer Engagement, Guide to Self, Dr. John Schinnerer, Measuring emotions, Innovative brand research, Unique marketing research, Brand Equity, Chief Marketing Officer, Positive Psychology | Print | No Comments »

20. October 2009 by John Schinnerer.

 From ScienceDaily (Oct. 19, 2009) — Computer scientists from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore are working on the development of an efficient and intelligent facial expression recognition system. The system is capable of locating the face region using derivative-based filtering and recognizing facial expressions using boosting classifier. The portable device is being developed to help autistic children understand the emotions of surrounding people. 

A paper detailing the specifics of the device will be published in the journal Intelligent Decision Technologies. 

Teik-Toe Teoh, Yok-Yen Nguwi and Siu-Yeung Cho of the Centre for Computational Intelligence of the School of Computer Engineering of Nanyang Technological University state that “emotion is a state of feeling involving thoughts, physiological changes, and an outward expression. In this paper, we propose a system that synergizes the use of derivative filtering and boosting classifier. “ 

The portable facial expression recognizer locates the edge of the human face through Gaussian derivatives, Laplacian derivatives and filter out non-face images using Adaboost. Secondly, the feature locator finds crucial fiducial points for subsequent feature extraction and selection processing. Finally, the meaningful features are classified into the corresponding classes.

For full article, click here.

Have a tremendous Tuesday!

John Schinnerer, Ph.D.

A Curious Guy

Lifelong Learner

Well-Versed in the Foundations of Positive Psychology

Posted in Emotion & learning, Danville CA, Emotion & productivity, Emotion recognition software, Emotion and technology, Mindfulness, Dr. John Schinnerer, Emotional mind, Emotional management, Men's emotions, Measuring emotions | Print | No Comments »

15. October 2009 by John Schinnerer.

From PhysOrg.com…

‘An innovative diagnostic technique invented by a Monash University researcher could dramatically fast-track the detection of mental and neurological illnesses.

Monash biomedical engineer Brian Lithgow has developed electrovestibulography which is something akin to an ‘ECG for the mind’. Patterns of electrical activity in the brain’s vestibular (or balance) system are measured against distinct response patterns found in depression, schizophrenia and other Central Nervous System (CNS) disorders.

The vestibular system is closely connected to the primitive regions of the brain that relate to emotions and behaviour, so Lithgow saw the diagnostic potential of measuring and comparing different patterns of electrovestibular activity.

Monash has teamed up with corporate partner Neural Diagnostics to develop and patent electrovestibulography, or EVestG™. It is hoped the simple, quick and inexpensive screening process for CNS diseases will eventually become standard practice in hospitals around the world.

“The patient sits in a specially designed tilt chair that triggers electrical responses in their balance system. A gel-tipped electrode placed in the individual’s ear canal silences interfering noise so that these meaningful electrical responses are captured and recorded,” the Monash researcher said. “The responses are then compared to the distinct biomarkers indicative of particular CNS disorders, allowing diagnosis to be made in under an hour.”

Neural Diagnostics CEO Dr Roger Edwards said the implications of the new technique were huge.

“We are doing the necessary research and development and getting independent expert reports done, but results so far are cause for great optimism,” Dr Edwards said.’

For full article, please click here.

Stay happy!

John Schinnerer, PhD

Executive Coach

Danville CA 94526

Posted in National speakers, Neuropsychology, Hope, Emotion & learning, Danville CA, Executive coach, Emotion & productivity, The human brain, Alexithymia, Guide to Self, Dr. John Schinnerer, Emotional IQ, Anxiety, Managing Sadness, Depression, Measuring emotions | Print | No Comments »

15. October 2009 by John Schinnerer.

From ScienceDaily (Oct. 15, 2009) — ‘Bosses who are in over their heads are more likely to bully subordinates. That’s because feelings of inadequacy trigger them to lash out at those around them, according to new research from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Southern California.

In a new twist on the adage “power corrupts,” researchers at UC Berkeley and USC have found a direct link among supervisors and upper management between self-perceived incompetence and aggression. The findings, gleaned from four separate studies, are published in the November issue of the journal Psychological Science.

With more than one-third of American workers reporting that their bosses have sabotaged, yelled at or belittled them, the new study challenges previous assumptions that abusive bosses are solely driven by ambition and the need to hold onto their power.

“By showing when and why power leads to aggression, these findings are highly relevant as abusive supervision is such a pervasive problem in society,” said Nathanael Fast, assistant professor of management and organization at USC and lead author of the study.

During role-playing sessions, study participants who felt their egos were under threat would go so far as to needlessly sabotage an underling’s chances of winning money. In another test, participants who felt inadequate would request that a subordinate who gave a wrong answer to a test be notified by a loud obnoxious horn, even though they had the option of choosing silence or a quiet sound.

[snip]

“Incompetence alone doesn’t lead to aggression,” said Serena Chen, associate professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and co-author of the study. “It’s the combination of having a high-power role and fearing that one is not up to the task that causes power holders to lash out. And our data suggest it’s ultimately about self-worth.”

[snip]

That said, flattery may not be the best way to soothe a savage boss, the study points out: “It is both interesting and ironic to note that such flattery, although perhaps affirming to the ego, may contribute to the incompetent power holder’s ultimate demise — by causing the power holder to lose touch with reality,” the study concludes.

Journal reference:

1.      Nathanael J. Fast, Serena Chen. When the Boss Feels Inadequate: Power, Incompetence, and Aggression. Psychological Science, 2009; DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02452.x

University of California - Berkeley (2009, October 15). Bosses Who Feel Inadequate Are More Likely To Bully. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 15, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2009/10/091014102209.htm

Bottom of Form

For full article, click here.

Cheers!

John Schinnerer, Ph.D.

Posted in Danville CA, Men's emotions, Emotion & productivity, Corporate Culture, Executive coach, Employee engagement, Anger Management, Victims of bullying, Business & psych, Abusive Coaches, Measuring emotions, Dr. John Schinnerer, Emotional IQ, Guide to Self, Bullies | Print | No Comments »

25. September 2009 by John Schinnerer.

Dr. John Schinnerer

Guide To Self, Inc.

www.GuideToSelf.com

Are business people purely logical? Do employees go through their work day devoid of emotion? Does the stock market rise and fall according to rational principles?

The answer to all these questions is ‘No,’ however many people like to go through their days as if they were true.

Last month, I spoke at a corporate leadership summit. Afterwards, I was selling copies of my book when two businessmen in suits came up. Both men thumbed through a copy of Guide To Self: The Beginner’s Guide To Emotion and Thought. One man purchased a copy and said ‘This looks fantastic.’ The other man teased him saying ‘Oh yes, emotions, you need that kind of help.’ And the derogatory tone of voice in which it was said caused me to think about emotions and how they relate to business. Being ‘emotional’ in a corporate setting is akin to being insane, neither of which is helpful in climbing the corporate ladder.

At the same time, I’ve had numerous discussions with companies looking to market goods or services aimed at improving emotional connections between businesses, customers and employees. This gets at the heart of employee and customer engagement. Engagement is an emotional construct. Nearly every definition of engagement has at its core an emotional component such as enthusiasm, commitment, or trust.

What Is Engagement?

The Corporate Board defines employee engagement as ‘a heightened emotional connection that an employee feels for his or her organization, and that influences him or her to exert greater discretionary effort to his or her work.’ Curt Coffman and Gabriel Gonzalez-Molina, co-authors of Follow This Path, lay out twelve parts to employee engagement. Of these twelve, seven are emotionally-based:

1.      high energy and enthusiasm

2.      an emotional commitment to what the employee does

3.      create positive things to act on (based on constructive emotions)

4.      broaden what he or she does and builds on it (the key theory in positive psychology is broaden-and-build by Barbara Fredrickson)

5.      has a commitment to the company and people that work there (commitment is based largely on an emotional connection)

6.      intentionally builds supportive relationships (positive emotions are the ‘glue’ which hold relationships together)

7.      naturally innovates and works toward efficiency (innovation is more likely to occur when in a positive emotional state)

Most individuals in the corporate world like to maintain the illusion that they are 100% calm, rational and in control. They make the mistake of thinking they are the ‘thinker,’ the part of the mind that is rational, controlled and conscious. In fact, a mere 10% of the human mind is rational. The other 90% of the mind is emotional, unconscious and automatic.  

How Can Engagement Be Measured?

What’s more, recent studies show that there is a way to measure whether or not an individual is flourishing and performing to the best of his or her ability. The cutoff point is a 3:1 ratio of positive emotions to negative emotions. For high-performing executive teams, the cutoff point is 5:1 where there are five times as many positive, supportive comments and open-ended questions as negative comments and ‘I’ statements where people defend their own positions. One way to measure engagement is to look at the ratio of positive to negative emotions that the firm elicits in employees. The higher the ratio of positive to negative emotions, the more engaged the employee.

Zappos – Exponential Employee Engagement

Increasingly, high-performing companies are demonstrating an understanding of the power of positive, constructive emotions to engage both customers and employees mindfully and profitably.  This is most easily seen in those firms that create a competitive advantage via corporate culture, such as Zappos.com, an online retail company which was recently purchased by Amazon for approximately $900 million.

Zappos has shown an uncanny ability to tap into the mind and hearts of its employees using some unusual and counterintuitive practices. One of Zappo’s corporate values is ‘create fun and a little weirdness.’ This allows employees autonomy and freedom to think for themselves and express themselves, both of which endear the firm to the employees. Zappos offers newly hired employees $2,000 to walk away from the job, ensuring that those who refuse the offer to stay are more committed and engaged. Trust is placed in employees at all levels of the corporate hierarchy. This allows phone reps to connect and engage with customers however they deem necessary. This leads to increased customer and employee engagement as both parties tend to enjoy their interactions far more than the typical script-based call center reps and their victims/customers. The favorite book of CEO Tony Hsieh is The Happiness Hypothesis by Jon Haidt, a pillar of positive psychology. Hsieh intentionally cultivates happiness in the workforce as a business goal in and of itself. Courses in positive psychology and happiness are offered to employees in addition to the myriad of business courses.  As a result, the culture increases employee well-being, engagement and eventually, productivity and profitability. A positive, upward spiral results from a culture that has mindfully developed based on values such as open-mindedness, happiness, confidence and humility.

The importance of emotions in culture cannot be overstated. Emotions provide the glue that binds relationships together.  In order to build a high-performing culture, one must be aware of the emotional landscape of employees, regardless of whether they want to cop to being emotional or not.

About the author:

John Schinnerer, Ph.D.

Dr. John Schinnerer is President and Founder of Guide To Self, a company that focuses on coaching individuals and groups to optimal human functioning using positive psychology. Dr. Schinnerer consults with Resonance Technologies, a firm with a patented methodology to quantify emotional responses to workplace issues. Dr. Schinnerer hosted Guide To Self Radio, a daily prime time radio show, in the San Francisco Bay Area. Dr. Schinnerer is also President of Infinet Assessment, a psychological testing company to help firms select the best applicants. Dr. Schinnerer has worked with companies such as UPS, Sutter Health, Erie Insurance Group and Schreiber Foods. He graduated summa cum laude from U.C. Berkeley with a Ph.D. in psychology. His areas of expertise range from positive psychology, to emotional awareness, to moral development to employee selection. Dr. Schinnerer is the award-winning author of “Guide To Self: The Beginner’s Guide To Managing Emotion and Thought.” He has written articles on corporate ethics and EQ in the workplace for Workspan magazine, HR.com, and Business Ethics. He has given numerous presentations, radio shows and seminars to tens of thousands of people for organizations such as SHRM, NCHRA, KNEW and KDIA.

Posted in National speakers, Organizational psychology, The human brain, Danville CA, Emotion & productivity, Employee engagement, Corporate Culture, Morals and values, Happiness, Dr. John Schinnerer, Measuring emotions, Business & psych, Creativity, Guide to Self, Customer Engagement, Emotional IQ, Positive Psychology | Print | No Comments »

17. August 2009 by John Schinnerer.

Sony Computer Entertainment America has filed patents for software which is able to recognise emotions, including, laughter, sadness, joy, anger and boredom.

Uncovered by Siliconera, the patents are not limited to home consoles, although artwork filed by Sony depicts a PlayStation 3 and Bravia TV.

The patents may be related to Sony’s PlayStation 3 motion-tacking technology, first revealed at E3 this year, which follows player movement and can detect facial expressions as well as spatial recognition.

The technology also sounds similar to Microsoft’s Project Natal, and in particular Lionhead’s demo of Milo and Kate – software that as well as following movement, can detect emotional responses through facial and voice recognition.

Full article is available here

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/sony-patents-reveal-emotion-recognition-software

Have a wonderful week!

John Schinnerer, Ph.D.

Guide To Self, Inc.

Danville CA

Positive Psychology Coaching

Posted in Emotion and technology, Emotion & learning, Emotion recognition software, Emotional management, Emotional mind, Dr. John Schinnerer, Happiness, Depression, Measuring emotions | Print | No Comments »

13. July 2009 by John Schinnerer.

A robot, designed by researchers at UCSD, can learn new facial expressions simply by monitoring itself in a mirror, a strange, and slightly eery, step towards computers and robots that learn on their own.

Courtesy of UCSD

The Einstein-like robot was first shown last February at the TED Conference last February. Now, the inventors have taken the next step by programming the robot to ‘learn’ to fine tune its own facial expressions via self-monitoring. The robot is designed by Hanson Robotics. Prior to this upgrade, the robot could demonstrate only the 31 preprogrammed expressions. Now the robot can tweak, modulate and improve upon those preprogrammed expressions creating a nearly limitless facial repertoire. Similar to the movie title ‘Flubber’, the material which the robot’s skin is made of is called ’Frubber’.

The idea was derived from the way in which babies learn vocalizations and expressions. Rather than relying on preprogramming to elicit it’s certain facial expressions, the UCSD robot uses trial and error while getting feedback of its own expressions from a mirror, and thereby slowly learns how certain micromovements lead to full emotional expressions.   The UCSD researchers presented a paper on the momentous feat last month at the 2009 IEEE Conference on Development and Learning.

The press release from UCSD states,

‘Once the robot learned the relationship between facial expressions and the muscle movements required to make them, the robot learned to make facial expressions it had never encountered.’

Creepy, but impressive, nonetheless. I’m not sure how comfortable I feel with the convergence of nanotechnology, emotionally expressive robots, artificial intelligence, cloning technology and the implantation of electronics into humans. It seems quite plausible, as many have argued, that a quick learning, human-like robot could be developed in the next 25 years. The problems seem to start when and if that robot becomes ’self-aware’ and gets a chance to self-replicate. Perhaps that’s needeless worrying, but it seems common sense to me to proceed with caution and mindfulness in these areas.

Have a wonderful week,

Dr. John Schinnerer

Guide To Self, Inc.

Posted in Consciousness, Awareness, Emotion and technology, Guide To Self Beginners Guide To Managing Emotion, Morals and values, Dr. John Schinnerer, Guide to Self, Emotional IQ, Measuring emotions | Print | No Comments »

12. July 2009 by John Schinnerer.

Here is a great article by Andrew Rosenthal of Happier.com which summarizes some of the latest findings in positive psychology regarding happiness - what it takes, what it gives and how to get it.

 ’A wealth of research has been done over the past few years on happiness – why it’s so important to be happy, how to measure your own happiness and of course, how to improve your own happiness. Yet we’re all so busy on a day to day basis, that trying to focus on happiness can seem like a luxury.

It’s important to know why happiness is such a big deal. Here are a few proven by- products of happiness that just might surprise you!…’

Please feel free to read the rest of the article at the source below…

http://www.notjustthekitchen.com/family-relationships/surprising-facts-on-happiness/

Have a positive day!

Dr. John Schinnerer

Guide To Self, Inc.

Posted in Managing Anxiety, Emotional management, Emotional mind, Happiness, Managing Sadness, Resiliency, Science of love, Curiosity, Gratitude, Mindfulness, Customer Engagement, Staying calm, Measuring emotions, Realistic optimism, Forgiveness, Positive Psychology, Dr. John Schinnerer, Creativity, Emotional IQ, Guide to Self, Life coach, Sports Psychology | Print | No Comments »

12. July 2009 by John Schinnerer.

Individuals who focus their awareness on brief moments of positive emotions have greater resilience than those who simpmlyl pass those moments by.

 Barbara Fredrickson’s latest study in the journal Emotion (link below) shows that focusing on micromoments that involve positive emotions (such as joy, interest, curiosity, awe, pride, contentment, relaxation, love, hope and more) leads to greater resiliency. This higher level of resiliency allows such individuals to bounce back from adversity more quickly, with greater energy and more wisdom. It also allows resilient individuals to fight off stress and depression more quickly and efficiently.

 The study focused on capturing respondents’ daily recollections of feelings (e.g., ‘Today, how much curiosity did you feel?’) as opposed to more general, longer-term feelings (e.g., ‘Over the past month, how much curiosity did you feel?’). This led to a  more accurate picture of moment-to-moment feelings and enabled more accurate measurement of momentary vicissitudes.

Focusing on cultivating more positive emotions does not require eliminating ‘negative’ emotions (e.g., fear, anger, sadness). ‘Negative’ emotions are a necessary and important part of life. They cannot be done away with nor do we want to do away with them. One does not need to adopt a Pollyana-ish attitude of eternal optimism to enjoy the benefits of positive emotions.

Simply by focusing on fleeting, fragile, low level intensity moments of positive emotions, one is rewarded with a boost in resiliency.  And in this day and age, who couldn’t use a little more bounciness when faced with life’s ubiquitous challenges?

John Schinnerer, Ph.D.

Guide To Self, Inc.

http://psycnet.apa.org/?fa=main.doiLanding&doi=10.1037/a0015952

Cohn, et. al. Happiness Unpacked: Positive Emotionss Increase Life Satisfaction by Building Resilience. Emotion, 2009; 9 (3): 361

Posted in Resiliency, The human brain, Emotional management, Emotional mind, Mindfulness, Hope, Science of love, Curiosity, Gratitude, Awareness, Happiness, Customer Engagement, Measuring emotions, Managing stress, Realistic optimism, Forgiveness, Dr. John Schinnerer, Creativity, Tips to help anxiety, Emotional IQ, Guide to Self, Life coach, Positive Psychology | Print | No Comments »

6. July 2009 by John Schinnerer.

More and more, advances in technology are enabling emotion-sensing technologies with greater sophistication and accuracy. While software has monitored voices for agitation and pacing of voice in call centers for some time, we are nearing an age of gadgets that sense our moods, emotions, degree of agitation, stress, depression, and more.

Imagine your car sensing you are getting highly frustrated in a traffic jam, so the GPS suggests an alternative route with less traffic.

Picture an entertainment center that reads cues of depression and adjusts your entertainment to pick up your mood (e..g, changing the channel from drama to comedy).

Think of an iPhone that measures galvanic skin response (perspiration) and alters your playlist to calm you down when you show sign of stress or anger.

Computer programs are able to correctly identify the six universal emotions (via Ekman) at a rate of 88%. The average human correctly identifies the same emotions at roughly 49% (slightly less than pure chance).

 So how does the thought of emotion-sensing robots or computer gadgets make you feel?

Think about it from a perspective of interest and curiosity.

Then think about it from a feeling of paranoia and fear.

You may arrive at two completely separate conclusions based simply on your emotional starting point.

Here is the complete story from New Scientist

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327151.400-emotional-robots-will-we-love-them-or-hate-them.html?full=true

Cheers,

Dr. John Schinnerer

Positive Psychology Coach and  Author

www.GuideToSelf.com

Posted in The human brain, Emotional mind, Music psychology, Curiosity, Emotion and technology, Depression, Unique marketing research, Dr. John Schinnerer, Guide to Self, Emotional IQ, Innovative brand research, Measuring emotions | Print | No Comments »

26. February 2009 by John Schinnerer.

Having a strong skeptical personal makeup, I have made a point throughout my career of backing up everything of which I write and speak upon with peer-reviewed scientific studies.  I have sought to put together a comprehensive theory of a happy, thriving and meaningful life. I have worked towards ways to dump out negative, destructive emotions and ways to cultivate positive, constructive emotions.

Many folks ask me for the names of the shoulders of the giants upon whom my work stands. For those individuals, and for others who might be interested, here are a few of the tremendous researchers to whom I am eternally grateful.

Forgiveness based on work of Dr. Fred Luskin, Director of Stanford Forgiveness Project. Dr. Luskin’s work has been successfully applied and researched in corporate, medical, legal and religious settings. He currently serves as a Senior Consultant in Health Promotion at Stanford University.

Positivity and Positive Emotions based on work of Barbara Fredrickson, Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Kenan Distinguished Professor. She is the “genius of the positive psychology movement” according to Martin Seligman. She came up with the ‘broaden and build” theory for positive emotions as well as the 3:1 ratio for a flourishing life. Amazing work.

Mindfulness based on work of Jon Kabat-Zinn, Professor of Medicine Emeritus and founding director of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Realistic Optimism, Happiness, Disputing Catastrophic Thoughts based on the work of Martin Seligman, founder of the field of positive psychology in 2000, devoted his career since then to furthering the study of positive emotion, positive character traits, and positive institutions. Seligman directs the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

Sustainable Happiness based on the work of Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ph.D., professor of psychology at U.C. Riverside. She won the 2002 Templeton Positive Psychology Prize and multiyear grant from NIMH. She recently wrote The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want.

Emotional Awareness based on the work of Paul Ekman, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology at UCSF. Ekman is a world-renowned expert in emotional research and nonverbal communication. His research has been supported by the National Institute of Mental Health for 46 years.

Emotions Within Relationships based on work of John Gottman,  Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Washington, where he founded the Family Research Lab. He is well known for his work on marital stability and divorce prediction, which involves study of emotions (particularly disgust and contempt) and physiology as well as communication. His break-through research on marriage and parenting has earned him numerous national and international awards, including four NIMH Research Scientist Awards.

Moral Development and Positive Psychology based on the work of Jonathan Haidt, one of the world’s foremost authorities on positive psychology (the scientific study of human flourishing) and moral psychology (the study of why people care so much about right and wrong, and sometimes choose to do wrong). He is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia. He is the author of The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding modern truth in ancient wisdom, a widely-acclaimed book about how to construct a life of virtue, happiness, fulfillment and meaning.

Gratitude and Thankfulness based on the work of Robert Emmons, Ph.D. Dr. Emmons is currently a Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Davis. His research focuses on personal goals and purpose, spirituality, the psychology of gratitude and thankfulness, and subjective well-being.  Robert Emmons is the founding editor and editor-in-chief of The Journal of Positive Psychology. Widely regarded as the world’s foremost expert in the study of gratitude, Dr. Emmons was one of the early pioneers in the positive psychology movement.  Dr. Emmons has received research funding from the National Institute of Mental Health and the John M. Templeton Foundation.

Please feel free to take a look at the mountain of papers, books, and talks that these outstanding individuals have done. The world is a better place for them. All the best,
Dr. John L. Schinnerer

Posted in Consciousness, Subconscious mind, Emotional management, Emotional mind, Guide To Self Beginners Guide To Managing Emotion, Men's emotions, The human brain, Hope, Awareness, Mindfulness, Resiliency, Relationships, Morals and values, Ethics, Realistic optimism, Measuring emotions, Forgiveness, Positive Psychology, Counseling, Dr. John Schinnerer, Creativity, Staying calm, Happiness, Emotional IQ, Guide to Self, Life coach, Sports Psychology | Print | No Comments »