,TESTBANK FOR Positive Psychology The Science of
Well-Being Second Edition by John M. Zelenski
Notes
1- The file is chapter after chapter.
2- We have shown you few pages sample.
3- The file contains all Appendix and Excel sheet
if it exists.
4- We have all what you need, we make update
at every time. There are many new editions
waiting you.
5- If you think you purchased the wrong file You
can contact us at every time, we can replace it
with true one.
Our email:
, Instructor Resource
Zelenski, Positive Psychology: The Science of Well-Being, 2e
SAGE Publishing, 2024
Instructor questions
Question Banks
for
Positive Psychology: The Science of Well-Being
by
John M. Zelenski
Questions written by
Eve Marie Blouin-Hudon & John M. Zelenski
and edited by John M. Zelenski
Note: This file contains questions designed for instructors and includes approximately three
short answer questions (with text excerpts relevant to answers) and ~15 multiple-choice
questions. Correct answers are indicated with an asterisk.
, Instructor Resource
Zelenski, Positive Psychology: The Science of Well-Being, 2e
SAGE Publishing, 2024
Chapter 1: Describing the science of positive psychology
Short answers
1. What is a third variable problem? What does this problem look like in correlational
designs? In experimental designs?
We cannot conclude a causal link between two things that are correlated because a
‘third variable’ may account for correlation – that third variable may cause both parts
of the correlation. Even when we do not know what the potential third variables are,
we know it is possible that they exist, and so we must avoid narrow causal
interpretations of correlations.
Experimental studies are also not completely immune from the third variable
problem we discussed with the correlational approach. Experiments do a good job of
ruling out some third variables, particularly those that participants would ‘bring to
the study’ (like personality, gender and life histories) because random assignment
makes experimental groups equivalent in these ways (things average out). However,
in psychology, it is very difficult to directly manipulate many of the things we are
interested in studying. Thoughts and feelings are internal, so we usually take an
indirect route (e.g. showing a happy or sad video to manipulate mood). Also, when
we manipulate one thing, we may unintentionally manipulate other things – those
other things are like our dreaded third variables in the correlational approach.
In experimental studies, these potential third variables are called confounds. The
third variable is ‘confounded’ with what the experimenter intended to manipulate.
2. Why are less rigid but appreciative stances on human nature, and positive topics more
descriptive of positive psychology than positive intention of psychologists, and positive
ideology for human nature? Support your statement with relevant examples.
However, ‘good intentions’ does not seem like the best way to define positive
psychology. Many psychologists whose work does not seem to fit under the positive
psychology umbrella still care deeply about improving the lives of others.
, Instructor Resource
Zelenski, Positive Psychology: The Science of Well-Being, 2e
SAGE Publishing, 2024
If we define positive psychology as positive assumptions about human nature, we
risk having positive psychology ‘disproven’. Analogies to other fields help
underscore the issue; is it possible to falsify biology, chemistry or economics in their
entirety? No, even though prominent ideas in those fields have been revised over
time. If positive psychology is defined by rigid assumptions about human nature, it is
difficult for credible science to come from it. We do not want to produce easily
dismissed or agenda-driven ‘evidence’.
Thus, it seems healthy and useful that (positive) psychologists cultivate a sense of
appreciation for human nature, but to do so with some flexibility, open-mindedness
and lucidity. This need not make them different from all other psychologists, but it
does seem a reasonable feature of positive psychology.
In this vein, one way we can define the ‘positive’ in positive psychology is via its
topics, targets and techniques; positive psychology is about positive things. For
example, positive psychology is about forgiveness rather than revenge, joy rather
than sadness, cooperation rather than competition and resilience rather than defeat.
Positive psychology seems to be about the positive poles in dichotomies such as
these.
3. What is the ‘greater than zero’ analogy? Why is this an important feature of positive
psychology?
Greater than zero analogy: Positive psychology is not about bringing people from
negative to 0, but, rather, focussing on what lies in the positive territory of this
metaphorical number line (or literally interpreted as a scale of happiness). When we
focus on terms or topics in the positive zone, it goes beyond word games, instead
prompting new domains of study and application.
Multiple choice
1. Positive psychology is primarily concerned with ______.
a. happiness
b. optimal human functioning
, Instructor Resource
Zelenski, Positive Psychology: The Science of Well-Being, 2e
SAGE Publishing, 2024
c. reducing mental health problems
d. self-help
Ans: B
2. Which of the following was not a common topic of study in mainstream psychology?
a. Mental illness
b. Maladaptive behaviour
c. Irrationality
d. Flourishing
Ans: D
3. The greatest strength of positive psychology has been ______.
a. its ability to rebalance psychology
b. its lack of focus on the negative
c. its ability to study fun subjects
d. its optimistic approach to science
Ans: A
4. In his blog Data Colada, Nelson (2014) described the classic ______ as the phenomenon
where people draw on their own behaviour when judging the behaviour of others.
a. bias effect
b. false consensus effect
c. ego effect
d. psychology effect
Ans: B
5. Positive psychologists typically consider ______ to know whether or not something is
positive.
, Instructor Resource
Zelenski, Positive Psychology: The Science of Well-Being, 2e
SAGE Publishing, 2024
a. habits, choice of career and relationships
b. cognitive ability, personality and perception
c. choices, values and subjective experiences
d. mental health, social functioning and performance
Ans: C
6. Positive psychologists rely on ______ to understand people.
a. strong opinions
b. historical documents
c. the self-help method
d. the scientific method
Ans: D
7. In a longitudinal study by Harker and Keltner (2001), women who expressed more positive
emotions in their photos were more likely to ______.
a. be unmarried by age 27
b. score higher on the traits of affiliation and competence
c. score high on the trait of negative emotionality
d. earn lower incomes at age 30
Ans: B
8. What does the correlation coefficient describe?
a. The causal direction of the association between two things
b. The strength and direction of the association between two things
c. The longitudinal association between two things
d. The likelihood of a ‘third variable’
Ans: B
, Instructor Resource
Zelenski, Positive Psychology: The Science of Well-Being, 2e
SAGE Publishing, 2024
9. An experience sampling study is ______.
a. conducted over multiple points in time
b. synonymous to an experimental design
c. conducted with different age groups
d. the only way to infer causality
Ans: A
10. An important characteristic of an experimental manipulation is that ______.
a. participants are randomly assigned to conditions
b. participants choose their own condition
c. participants are not assigned to any condition
d. there is only one condition
Ans: A
11. Why we do not have to worry about the causal direction of findings in an experiment?
a. Because the experimental manipulation comes after the dependent variable
b. Because participants can choose their condition
c. Because the dependent variable comes after the independent variable
d. Because most experiments are conducted in laboratories
Ans: C
12. What do we call a variable that is the outcome of a manipulation?
a. An independent variable
b. A confound variable
c. A random variable
d. A dependent variable
Ans: D
, Instructor Resource
Zelenski, Positive Psychology: The Science of Well-Being, 2e
SAGE Publishing, 2024
13. The key element of a randomized clinical trial is that ______.
a. it follows the correlational approach
b. it follows the experimental approach
c. the outcome variables are chosen randomly
d. all confounds have been eliminated with certainty
Ans: B
14. An important challenge in showing how positive psychology courses improve well-being
is that ______.
a. there is no evidence that students’ well-being actually improves
b. positive psychology courses tend to have low enrollments
c. most positive psychology instructors are uninterested in the question
d. courses often include both instruction and experiential exercises, either of which might
help
Ans: D
Chapter 2: Positive emotions
Short answers
1. Describe the five most common appraisal dimensions. How are appraisal dimensions
related to positive emotions? Support your statement with relevant examples.
Is the event relevant to my goals or concerns? Is the event consistent or inconsistent
with my goals or concerns? How certain am I? Is the event caused by myself,
someone else or something else? Can I cope with or control the event?
Positive emotions occur when events are appraised as relevant and consistent with
goals.
The other appraisal dimensions can further refine positive feelings into more specific
emotional experiences.
, Instructor Resource
Zelenski, Positive Psychology: The Science of Well-Being, 2e
SAGE Publishing, 2024
Appraisals are not just about objective circumstances; they are interpretations that
depend on the idiosyncratic goals, skills and knowledge of the individual making the
appraisal.
For example, pride involves a sense of personal control and responsibility, whereas
awe is associated with a diminished sense of self and external causes (Shiota,
Keltner, & Mossman, 2007). Each emotion has a recipe with a unique blend of
different appraisals as ingredients.
2. What does the term ‘emotional expression’ imply and why are these expressions
important? How do people typically express emotions? Support your statement with
relevant examples.
The term ‘expression’ implies that they reveal something about internal states.
In this way, expressions help communicate those states to other people.
Emotions can be expressed in vocalizations (sounds) by varying pitch and tone –
even without speech, such as with sighs, giggles and grunts (Juslin & Laukka, 2003;
Sauter, Eisner, Ekman, & Scott, 2010). Gestures, changes in posture and touch can
also signal emotions (Tracy & Robins, 2004), yet most research has focused on the
face.
For example, typical expressions of anger involve contracting the brow, and
tightening muscles around the eyes and mouth.
3. What is the ‘duration neglect’ phenomenon? What results did Redelmeier and Kahneman
(1996) find in their study of remembered pain of colonoscopy procedures?
Remembering self pays little attention to time.
When remembering experiences, moments are not created equally. Our memories
depend particularly on the peak intensity and on how episodes ended.
An hour after the procedure, patients rated the ‘total amount of pain experienced’.
Objectively, patients who experienced longer procedures experienced more pain,
because it lasted longer (see Figure 2.3). However, the study found that actual time
was unrelated to patients’ ratings of ‘total pain’. Total pain ratings depended more on
Well-Being Second Edition by John M. Zelenski
Notes
1- The file is chapter after chapter.
2- We have shown you few pages sample.
3- The file contains all Appendix and Excel sheet
if it exists.
4- We have all what you need, we make update
at every time. There are many new editions
waiting you.
5- If you think you purchased the wrong file You
can contact us at every time, we can replace it
with true one.
Our email:
, Instructor Resource
Zelenski, Positive Psychology: The Science of Well-Being, 2e
SAGE Publishing, 2024
Instructor questions
Question Banks
for
Positive Psychology: The Science of Well-Being
by
John M. Zelenski
Questions written by
Eve Marie Blouin-Hudon & John M. Zelenski
and edited by John M. Zelenski
Note: This file contains questions designed for instructors and includes approximately three
short answer questions (with text excerpts relevant to answers) and ~15 multiple-choice
questions. Correct answers are indicated with an asterisk.
, Instructor Resource
Zelenski, Positive Psychology: The Science of Well-Being, 2e
SAGE Publishing, 2024
Chapter 1: Describing the science of positive psychology
Short answers
1. What is a third variable problem? What does this problem look like in correlational
designs? In experimental designs?
We cannot conclude a causal link between two things that are correlated because a
‘third variable’ may account for correlation – that third variable may cause both parts
of the correlation. Even when we do not know what the potential third variables are,
we know it is possible that they exist, and so we must avoid narrow causal
interpretations of correlations.
Experimental studies are also not completely immune from the third variable
problem we discussed with the correlational approach. Experiments do a good job of
ruling out some third variables, particularly those that participants would ‘bring to
the study’ (like personality, gender and life histories) because random assignment
makes experimental groups equivalent in these ways (things average out). However,
in psychology, it is very difficult to directly manipulate many of the things we are
interested in studying. Thoughts and feelings are internal, so we usually take an
indirect route (e.g. showing a happy or sad video to manipulate mood). Also, when
we manipulate one thing, we may unintentionally manipulate other things – those
other things are like our dreaded third variables in the correlational approach.
In experimental studies, these potential third variables are called confounds. The
third variable is ‘confounded’ with what the experimenter intended to manipulate.
2. Why are less rigid but appreciative stances on human nature, and positive topics more
descriptive of positive psychology than positive intention of psychologists, and positive
ideology for human nature? Support your statement with relevant examples.
However, ‘good intentions’ does not seem like the best way to define positive
psychology. Many psychologists whose work does not seem to fit under the positive
psychology umbrella still care deeply about improving the lives of others.
, Instructor Resource
Zelenski, Positive Psychology: The Science of Well-Being, 2e
SAGE Publishing, 2024
If we define positive psychology as positive assumptions about human nature, we
risk having positive psychology ‘disproven’. Analogies to other fields help
underscore the issue; is it possible to falsify biology, chemistry or economics in their
entirety? No, even though prominent ideas in those fields have been revised over
time. If positive psychology is defined by rigid assumptions about human nature, it is
difficult for credible science to come from it. We do not want to produce easily
dismissed or agenda-driven ‘evidence’.
Thus, it seems healthy and useful that (positive) psychologists cultivate a sense of
appreciation for human nature, but to do so with some flexibility, open-mindedness
and lucidity. This need not make them different from all other psychologists, but it
does seem a reasonable feature of positive psychology.
In this vein, one way we can define the ‘positive’ in positive psychology is via its
topics, targets and techniques; positive psychology is about positive things. For
example, positive psychology is about forgiveness rather than revenge, joy rather
than sadness, cooperation rather than competition and resilience rather than defeat.
Positive psychology seems to be about the positive poles in dichotomies such as
these.
3. What is the ‘greater than zero’ analogy? Why is this an important feature of positive
psychology?
Greater than zero analogy: Positive psychology is not about bringing people from
negative to 0, but, rather, focussing on what lies in the positive territory of this
metaphorical number line (or literally interpreted as a scale of happiness). When we
focus on terms or topics in the positive zone, it goes beyond word games, instead
prompting new domains of study and application.
Multiple choice
1. Positive psychology is primarily concerned with ______.
a. happiness
b. optimal human functioning
, Instructor Resource
Zelenski, Positive Psychology: The Science of Well-Being, 2e
SAGE Publishing, 2024
c. reducing mental health problems
d. self-help
Ans: B
2. Which of the following was not a common topic of study in mainstream psychology?
a. Mental illness
b. Maladaptive behaviour
c. Irrationality
d. Flourishing
Ans: D
3. The greatest strength of positive psychology has been ______.
a. its ability to rebalance psychology
b. its lack of focus on the negative
c. its ability to study fun subjects
d. its optimistic approach to science
Ans: A
4. In his blog Data Colada, Nelson (2014) described the classic ______ as the phenomenon
where people draw on their own behaviour when judging the behaviour of others.
a. bias effect
b. false consensus effect
c. ego effect
d. psychology effect
Ans: B
5. Positive psychologists typically consider ______ to know whether or not something is
positive.
, Instructor Resource
Zelenski, Positive Psychology: The Science of Well-Being, 2e
SAGE Publishing, 2024
a. habits, choice of career and relationships
b. cognitive ability, personality and perception
c. choices, values and subjective experiences
d. mental health, social functioning and performance
Ans: C
6. Positive psychologists rely on ______ to understand people.
a. strong opinions
b. historical documents
c. the self-help method
d. the scientific method
Ans: D
7. In a longitudinal study by Harker and Keltner (2001), women who expressed more positive
emotions in their photos were more likely to ______.
a. be unmarried by age 27
b. score higher on the traits of affiliation and competence
c. score high on the trait of negative emotionality
d. earn lower incomes at age 30
Ans: B
8. What does the correlation coefficient describe?
a. The causal direction of the association between two things
b. The strength and direction of the association between two things
c. The longitudinal association between two things
d. The likelihood of a ‘third variable’
Ans: B
, Instructor Resource
Zelenski, Positive Psychology: The Science of Well-Being, 2e
SAGE Publishing, 2024
9. An experience sampling study is ______.
a. conducted over multiple points in time
b. synonymous to an experimental design
c. conducted with different age groups
d. the only way to infer causality
Ans: A
10. An important characteristic of an experimental manipulation is that ______.
a. participants are randomly assigned to conditions
b. participants choose their own condition
c. participants are not assigned to any condition
d. there is only one condition
Ans: A
11. Why we do not have to worry about the causal direction of findings in an experiment?
a. Because the experimental manipulation comes after the dependent variable
b. Because participants can choose their condition
c. Because the dependent variable comes after the independent variable
d. Because most experiments are conducted in laboratories
Ans: C
12. What do we call a variable that is the outcome of a manipulation?
a. An independent variable
b. A confound variable
c. A random variable
d. A dependent variable
Ans: D
, Instructor Resource
Zelenski, Positive Psychology: The Science of Well-Being, 2e
SAGE Publishing, 2024
13. The key element of a randomized clinical trial is that ______.
a. it follows the correlational approach
b. it follows the experimental approach
c. the outcome variables are chosen randomly
d. all confounds have been eliminated with certainty
Ans: B
14. An important challenge in showing how positive psychology courses improve well-being
is that ______.
a. there is no evidence that students’ well-being actually improves
b. positive psychology courses tend to have low enrollments
c. most positive psychology instructors are uninterested in the question
d. courses often include both instruction and experiential exercises, either of which might
help
Ans: D
Chapter 2: Positive emotions
Short answers
1. Describe the five most common appraisal dimensions. How are appraisal dimensions
related to positive emotions? Support your statement with relevant examples.
Is the event relevant to my goals or concerns? Is the event consistent or inconsistent
with my goals or concerns? How certain am I? Is the event caused by myself,
someone else or something else? Can I cope with or control the event?
Positive emotions occur when events are appraised as relevant and consistent with
goals.
The other appraisal dimensions can further refine positive feelings into more specific
emotional experiences.
, Instructor Resource
Zelenski, Positive Psychology: The Science of Well-Being, 2e
SAGE Publishing, 2024
Appraisals are not just about objective circumstances; they are interpretations that
depend on the idiosyncratic goals, skills and knowledge of the individual making the
appraisal.
For example, pride involves a sense of personal control and responsibility, whereas
awe is associated with a diminished sense of self and external causes (Shiota,
Keltner, & Mossman, 2007). Each emotion has a recipe with a unique blend of
different appraisals as ingredients.
2. What does the term ‘emotional expression’ imply and why are these expressions
important? How do people typically express emotions? Support your statement with
relevant examples.
The term ‘expression’ implies that they reveal something about internal states.
In this way, expressions help communicate those states to other people.
Emotions can be expressed in vocalizations (sounds) by varying pitch and tone –
even without speech, such as with sighs, giggles and grunts (Juslin & Laukka, 2003;
Sauter, Eisner, Ekman, & Scott, 2010). Gestures, changes in posture and touch can
also signal emotions (Tracy & Robins, 2004), yet most research has focused on the
face.
For example, typical expressions of anger involve contracting the brow, and
tightening muscles around the eyes and mouth.
3. What is the ‘duration neglect’ phenomenon? What results did Redelmeier and Kahneman
(1996) find in their study of remembered pain of colonoscopy procedures?
Remembering self pays little attention to time.
When remembering experiences, moments are not created equally. Our memories
depend particularly on the peak intensity and on how episodes ended.
An hour after the procedure, patients rated the ‘total amount of pain experienced’.
Objectively, patients who experienced longer procedures experienced more pain,
because it lasted longer (see Figure 2.3). However, the study found that actual time
was unrelated to patients’ ratings of ‘total pain’. Total pain ratings depended more on
