Do Positive Psychology Exercises Work? A Replication of Seligman et al. (2005)
Results: Repeated measures analyses showed that the PPEs led to lasting increases in happiness, as did the positive placebo. The PPEs did not exceed the control condition in producing changes in depression over time.
Conclusions: Brief, positive psychology interventions may boost happiness through a common factor involving the activation of positive, self-relevant information rather than through other specific mechanisms. Finally, the effects of PPEs on depression may be more modest than previously assumed.
Thanks for the link. The four treatment conditions look REALLY similar to me (see pages 384-285). They're all exercises that make you think about good things in your life:
Expectancy control (early memories): “[...]Every night over the next week, set aside about 10 minutes before bed [...] to log on to this website to write about an early memory.”
Positive placebo (positive early memories, in addition to rationale above): “[...]
Every night over the next week, set aside about 10 minutes before bed [...] to log on to this website to write about an early positive memory.”
Three good things (Seligman et al., 2005): “[...] log on to the website daily for seven days to list three things that went well on that day and why they happened.”
Using signature strengths in a new way (Seligman et al., 2005): “This exercise consists of two parts. You will take a questionnaire that gives you feedback about your strengths. This will take about 45 minutes. The next day you will be asked to use these strengths in new ways every day for one week [...]”
So regardless of whether the specific exercises are uniquely useful, it seems like it's valuable to make yourself focus on the positive stuff.
