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"Self-Improvement"
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How Do Simple Positive Activities Increase Well-Being?
Theory and research suggest that people can increase their happiness through simple intentional positive activities, such as expressing gratitude or practicing kindness. Investigators have recently begun to study the optimal conditions under which positive activities increase happiness and the mechanisms by which these effects work. According to our positive-activity model, features of positive activities (e.g., their dosage and variety), features of persons (e.g., their motivation and effort), and person-activity fit moderate the effect of positive activities on well-being. Furthermore, the model posits four mediating variables: positive emotions, positive thoughts, positive behaviors, and need satisfaction. Empirical evidence supporting the model and future directions are discussed.
Journal Article
To Improve or Not to Improve
T.S. Eliot’s 1915 poem ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ repeatedly registers the need to self-optimize in response to provocations. Yet, the narrator is never able to respond to them in a way that would either improve his personal standing or bring him favorable social recognition. As he never denies the need to improve, the inability transitions into disinterest in the question of improvement itself. This essay argues that the narrator’s (in)ability to support or oppose self-optimization in ‘Prufrock’ indicates a liminal position with respect to the problem, a position in which the self is impassive, indifferent, and perhaps even bored. However, even as this configuration of (in)capacity leading to disinterest is repeatedly brought forth in the poem, it cannot be taken to be ineffectual and pointless. Rather, the apparently endless iteration of the arrangement brings about new possibilities for the imagination of the self—possibilities of the self’s co-existence with contingencies of time, space, and expression.
Journal Article
Remembering : what 50 years of research with famous amnesia patient H.M. can teach us about memory and how it works
\"The psychologist who worked with a famous amnesiac patient for fifty years explains what his studies show about how memory functions and ways to keep the brain sharp. An ordinary man became famous by devoting his life to helping scientists understand his memory, mind, and brain, trusting in the promise that what they learned about him would \"help others.\" His name was Henry Moliason, but until recently, the general public knew him only as H.M. At age twenty-seven, Henry underwent brain surgery to remedy life-threatening epilepsy. This operation inadvertently destroyed his hippocampus, the engine in the brain for forming new memories. Henry suffered catastrophic memory failures for the rest of his life and he became the most studied amnesia patient in the history of the world. Dr. Donald MacKay worked with Henry for fifty years. MacKay's research shows how to keep memories sharp at any age and how to offset the degradation that aging and infrequent use inflict on memory. His studies also reveal the profound importance of memory: Memory decline impacts everything that makes a normal human mind and brain worth having: creative expression, artistic endeavors, awareness, the ability to plan, to comprehend, to detect and correct errors, to appreciate humor, to imagine hypothetical situations, and to perceive novelty in the world. Remembering summarizes other results of the revolution in scientific understanding of mind and memory that began with Henry. Importantly, it makes good on the promise that research with Henry would \"help others\" by focusing on what readers wishing to maintain the everyday functioning of memory, mind, and brain (their own or others') can learn from the still ongoing revolution that Henry inspired\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
The Bad Can Be Good
Benign and malicious envy are a consequence of an unfavorable upward comparison to another individual (i.e., a negative self-other discrepancy). Benign (malicious) envy occurs when people believe the envied individual deserves (does not deserve) his/her advantage. Prior research has shown that benign envy motivates a person to address the self-other discrepancy via self-improvement, whereas malicious envy does not. This research shows that both types of envy, not just benign envy, can motivate self-improvement, provided that the opportunities to do so occur outside the envy-eliciting domain. Benign envy increases the accessibility of the belief that effort determines whether people are rewarded; hence, it motivates process-focused goal pursuit and the use of products that emphasize effortdependent self-improvement. Malicious envy increases the accessibility of the belief that the effort does not determine whether people are rewarded; hence, it motivates outcome-focused goal pursuit and the use of products that emphasize effort-independent self-improvement. Implications and potential extensions in the areas of envy, self-conscious emotions, and goals are discussed.
Journal Article
Memory activity book : engaging ways to stimulate the brain, for people living with memory loss or dementia
More than 70 brain-stimulating activities for people with memory loss or dementia, including Alzheimer's disease. Physical and mental activities along with social interaction may help maintain your brain health and slow the progress of memory loss and dementia, including Alzheimer's disease. They can also provide a meaningful way to connect. This book is packed with fun and creative ideas, from nature walks, gardening, and exercise to arts, crafts, puzzles, and games. Each activity includes step-by-step instructions, the specific benefits, and ways to adapt the activity for different abilities. Designed for people with memory loss or dementia along with their family, friends, and caregivers, AARP's Memory Activity Book is a valuable resource for everyone touched by these conditions.
Book
9. The Holistic Approach to Music Education Throughout the Life Course: News and Perspectives
Music, constituting a great phenomenon of the world, represents an inherent element in the daily life of society, in the consciousness and nature of man, because everything is movement, everything is vibration, everything is sound. The relationship “man-music (arts)” places in the foreground the educational function through which it - educates moral feelings, human qualities, cultivates the spiritual sphere of man. Musical education throughout life is presented as a continuous individual process of spiritual self-improvement of the personality through multiple forms of relationship with the art of music. In this context, musical education is significant to perpetuity - lifelong education, on the three dimensions of the human being: biological, intellectual, spiritual, because it is implicitly based on the undulating character of the universe, the cosmos and human existence.
Journal Article
Brain fitness : the easy way of keeping your mind sharp through qigong movements
The author shares her expertise in tai chi, qigong, and medicine, emphasizing how tai chi and qigong aid in memory, emotional balance, and lifelong learning. This book features an illustrated manual detailing tai chi and qigong exercises to prevent brain aging; and concise, accessible guidance in combining elements of eastern and western medicine to form a new vision of brain health.--Publisher.
Book
Do People Want to Be More Moral?
Most people want to change some aspects of their personality, but does this phenomenon extend to moral character and to close others? Targets (n = 800) rated their personality traits and reported how much they wanted to change on each trait; well-acquainted informants (n = 958) rated targets’ personality traits and how much they wanted the targets to change on those same traits. Targets and informants reported a lower desire to change more morally relevant traits (e.g., honesty, compassion, fairness) compared with less morally relevant traits (e.g., anxiety, sociability, productiveness)—even after we controlled for current trait levels. Moreover, although targets generally wanted to improve more on traits that they had less desirable levels of, and informants wanted their targets to improve more on those traits as well, targets’ moral change goals were less calibrated to their current trait levels. Finally, informants wanted targets to change in similar ways, but to a lesser extent, than targets themselves did. These findings suggest that moral considerations take a back seat when it comes to self-improvement.
Journal Article