Positive Psychology — Even Gloomy People Can Be Contented
Ken M. Sheldon is Academic Supervisor at the HSE International Laboratory of Positive Psychology of Personality and Motivation. He talked to HSE English News about his collaboration with HSE and about working in an international environment.
— You are a professional on motivation. So, what were your motives in joining HSE last year?
— I would be dishonest if I didn’t say that the money was part of the attraction! But I am glad to say that it has been a real pleasure getting to know the researchers at the lab, and that I am very happy with the progress of our many different projects. I suspected this would occur, which was my main motivation: to develop interesting new research questions, and answer them.
— How would you describe the current project you're working on?
— We are currently writing up a lot of data that we collected last year, at multiple locations in Russia and the U.S. We completed and submitted one paper on freedom and responsibility, and will soon be completing and submitting three other papers.
— How is it going in terms of working in international environment, in multicultural office?
— Very well. My main complaint concerns the devaluation of the Rouble! We have had a few communication difficulties in the lab, but not many, and nothing serious.
— You've been interested in factors which help people to be sustainably happy for quite a long time. What is your background? Could you be a psychoanalyst now after all these years in scientific research?
— This is a question we are not addressing directly in our Russian projects, although it is in the background. We have some relevant data so maybe we will get to that. No, I could not be a psychoanalyst, that takes years of specialized training, and is not a research kind of job.
— What are your professional plans and goals for 2015-2016?
— Keep doing what we’re doing! I will spend more time in Moscow next summer, where we will further develop our articles together.
— Have you worked out your own secret for happiness? What would you recommend to achieve a positive attitude to life?
— It is trite: Do what you love, and this will keep the positive experiences coming in, that are required to maintain us in the upper half of our potential “set range” for happiness. Even a gloomy person (by temperament) can at least be contented, if he or she can do this.
Anna Chernyakhovskaya, specially for HSE News service
See also:
'I Want Science to Help Me Explore New Horizons'
Eliana Monahhova worked as a journalist for various media outlets, but after realizing she frequently wrote long-form pieces on the psychology of the human brain, she decided to change her career focus. In this interview with the HSE Young Scientists project, she discusses the perception of fake content, shares her dream of meeting Robert Sapolsky, and talks about her upcoming YouTube channel.
Psychologists from HSE University Discovered How Love for Animals Affects Relationships with People
Researchers from HSE University have identified a connection between attachment to pets and attitudes toward nature and other people. The study found that the more joy people derive from interacting with their pets, the more they want to help others. However, love for animals is not always associated with concern for nature. The findings were published in the Social Psychology and Society journal.
Psychologists Study Daydreaming in Russian Cultural Context
Researchers at HSE University, having examined the role of daydreaming in the Russian cultural context, conclude that constructive daydreaming can help people with gaining insight into their life's trajectory, fostering personal growth, discovering existential meaning, enhancing psychological wellbeing, and cultivating a balanced temporal perspective. The study findings have been published in Cultural-Historical Psychology.
Workaholism Helps Young Narcissists Boost New Venture Performance
An international team of researchers including Professor Galina Shirokova, Director of the Strategic Entrepreneurship Centre at HSE University in St Petersburg, and her students Nailya Galieva and Diana Doktorova, examined the impact of narcissism on young entrepreneurs' success. The authors have demonstrated that a company founder's workaholism can amplify the influence of narcissism on a new venture's performance.
Plurilingualism Compensates for Low Extraversion in Nurturing Creative Skills
Researchers at the HSE Laboratory for Linguistic, Intercultural, and Creative Competencies have examined the role of the Big Five personality traits in moderating the development of creativity among individuals who use multiple languages and have intercultural experiences. It has been found that acquiring multiple languages and engaging with diverse cultures can enhance an individual's creativity and compensate for some deficiencies in communicative abilities. That said, language practices are likely to foster creativity only in mentally stable individuals. The paper has been published in the International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism.
Attainment of Happiness in Psychologically Mature Individuals Linked to Pursuit of Meaning
Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl believed that the quest for meaning constitutes a fundamental and intrinsic motivation for all human beings. Some other authors suggest that the need for meaning or purpose only emerges at higher levels of personality development. According to a team of psychologists from HSE and the University of Paris Nanterre, individuals who have achieved higher levels of ego development are inclined to relinquish hedonistic motives in favour of cultivating mindfulness and embarking on a quest for meaning. These findings have been published in Frontiers in Psychology.
Married Men Less Prone to Workplace Burnout
Greater marital satisfaction lowers the risk of professional burnout, with this correlation being more pronounced among men than women. This is a conclusion made by HSE psychologists after conducting a study on the effect of social interactions on workplace burnout on a sample of 203 employees from several Russian companies. According to the researchers, gaining a better understanding of the specific aspects of burnout experienced by individuals makes it possible to address this syndrome more effectively. The paper has been published in Organizational Psychology.
HSE Psychologists Propose New Approach to Building Soft Skills
Researchers at HSE's School of Psychology have used the findings of studies into creativity and multilingualism to develop 'Plurilingual Intercultural Creative Keys’ (PICK), a new programme which integrates both aspects into the teaching and learning process. The study results have been published in Psychology. Journal of the Higher School of Economics.
Card File: Plurilingual Creativity
Fluency in foreign languages has multiple advantages in terms of cognitive abilities, communication skills, cultural awareness, and career advancement. But can bilingualism and plurilingualism (knowledge of multiple languages and related cultural contexts) contribute to creative thinking and one's ability to generate new ideas? Studies have shown that linguistic, intercultural and creative competencies are interrelated, and their synergy can give rise to plurilingual creativity. The following overview is based on several papers by Anatoly Kharkhurin, Director of the HSE Laboratory for Linguistic, Intercultural and Creative Competencies.
Readers Found to Rely on Word Spelling Rather Than Sound in Reading
Skilled readers are known to extract information not only from the word they are looking at but from the one directly following it. This phenomenon is called pre-processing. Researchers from the HSE Centre for Language and Brain analysed the eye movements of primary school children and adults during silent reading and found both groups to rely on orthographic, rather than phonological, information in pre-processing an upcoming word. The study has been published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.