PART 2: THE FOUNDATIONS OF FUTURESELVES

FUTURESELVES & SCIENCE

Sapolsky, R. M. (2017). Behave: The biology of humans at our best and worst. Penguin Books.

“Why do we do the things we do? Over a decade in the making, this game-changing book is Robert Sapolsky’s genre-shattering attempt to answer that question as fully as perhaps only he could, looking at it from every angle. Sapolsky’s storytelling concept is delightful but it also has a powerful intrinsic logic: he starts by looking at the factors that bear on a person’s reaction in the precise moment a behavior occurs, and then hops back in time from there, in stages, ultimately ending up at the deep history of our species and its evolutionary legacy. And so the first category of explanation is the neurobiological one. A behavior occurs–whether an example of humans at our best, worst, or somewhere in between. What went on in a person’s brain a second before the behavior happened? Then Sapolsky pulls out to a slightly larger field of vision, a little earlier in time: What sight, sound, or smell caused the nervous system to produce that behavior? And then, what hormones acted hours to days earlier to change how responsive that individual is to the stimuli that triggered the nervous system? By now he has increased our field of vision so that we are thinking about neurobiology and the sensory world of our environment and endocrinology in trying to explain what happened. Sapolsky keeps going: How was that behavior influenced by structural changes in the nervous system over the preceding months, by that person’s adolescence, childhood, fetal life, and then back to his or her genetic makeup? Finally, he expands the view to encompass factors larger than one individual. How did culture shape that individual’s group, what ecological factors millennia old formed that culture? And on and on, back to evolutionary factors millions of years old. The result is one of the most dazzling tours d’horizon of the science of human behavior ever attempted, a majestic synthesis that harvests cutting-edge research across a range of disciplines to provide a subtle and nuanced perspective on why we ultimately do the things we do … for good and for ill. Sapolsky builds on this understanding to wrestle with some of our deepest and thorniest questions relating to tribalism and xenophobia, hierarchy and competition, morality and free will, and war and peace. Wise, humane, often very funny, Behave is a towering achievement, powerfully humanizing, and downright heroic in its own right”

Human Brain Project. (2021, March 18). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Brain_Project

The Human Brain Project (HBP) is a European flagship project with a 10-year horizon aiming to understand the human brain and to translate neuroscience knowledge into medicine and technology. To achieve such aims, the HBP explores the multilevel complexity of the brain in space and time; transfers the acquired knowledge to brain-derived applications in health, computing, and technology; and provides shared and open computing tools and data through the HBP European brain research infrastructure. We discuss how the HBP creates a trans disciplinary community of researchers united by the quest to understand the brain, with fascinating perspectives on societal benefits.

BRAIN Initiative. (2021, March 3). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BRAIN_Initiative

The White House BRAIN Initiative is a collaborative, public-private research initiative announced by the Obama administration on April 2, 2013, with the goal of supporting the development and application of innovative technologies that can create a dynamic understanding of brain function

Friston, K. (2018). Am I self-conscious? (Or does self-organization entail self- consciousness?) Frontiers in Psychology, 9, Article 579.

Is self-consciousness necessary for consciousness? The answer is yes. So there you have it—the answer is yes. This was my response to a question I was asked to address in a recent AEON piece (https://aeon.co/essays/consciousness-is-not-a-thing-but-a-process-of-inference). What follows is based upon the notes for that essay, with a special focus on self-organization, self-evidencing and self-modelling. I will try to substantiate my (polemic) answer from the perspective of a physicist. In brief, the argument goes as follows: if we want to talk about creatures, like ourselves, then we have to identify the characteristic behaviors they must exhibit. This is fairly easy to do by noting that living systems return to a set of attracting states time and time again. Mathematically, this implies the existence of a Lyapunov function that turns out to be model evidence (i.e., self-evidence) in Bayesian statistics or surprise (i.e., self-information) in information theory. This means that all biological processes can be construed as performing some form of inference, from evolution through to conscious processing. If this is the case, at what point do we invoke consciousness? The proposal on offer here is that the mind comes into being when self-evidencing has a temporal thickness or counterfactual depth, which grounds inferences about the consequences of my action. On this view, consciousness is nothing more than inference about my future; namely, the self-evidencing consequences of what I could do.

Ericsson, A., & Pool, R. (2016). Peak: Secrets from the new science of expertise. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

From the world’s reigning expert on expertise comes a powerful new approach to mastering almost any skill.

Anders Ericsson has made a career studying chess champions, violin virtuosos, star athletes, and memory mavens. Peak distills three decades of myth-shattering research into a powerful learning strategy that is fundamentally different from the way people traditionally think about acquiring new abilities.

Ericsson’s findings have been lauded and debated, but never properly explained. So the idea of expertise still intimidates us—we believe we need innate talent to excel, or think excelling seems prohibitively difficult. Peak belies both of these notions, proving that virtually all of us have the seeds of excellence within us—it’s just a question of nurturing them properly. Peak offers invaluable, often counterintuitive advice on setting goals, getting feedback, identifying patterns, and motivating yourself. Whether you want to stand out at work, improve your athletic performance, or help your child achieve academic goals, Ericsson’s revolutionary methods will show you how to improve almost any skill that matters to you.

Peak offers more than just practical guidance, though. It demystifies the feats of many outstanding performers, from musical virtuosos to science prodigies to brain surgeons to entrepreneurs to professional athletes. It also offers compelling evidence that our schools are taking the wrong approach to education. And it shows us a convincing new view of the enormous potential we all possess.

Coyle, D. (2009). The talent code: Unlocking the secret of skill in maths, art, music, sport, and just about everything else. Random House.

Journalist Coyle travels the world to discover the truth about talent in this fascinating account that studies how individuals can “unlock their full potential and bring their talents to light.” The discoveries put forth by Coyle come down to three main elements: coaching, motivation and practice. While these hardly seem like breakthroughs, Coyle’s discovery process proves fascinating. Providing detailed examples from a variety of different sources, Coyle’s work becomes as motivational as the stories he presents. John Farrell reads with a voice that is at once firm yet highly identifiable. The resulting recording serves as a fine instructional guide for those searching for how to fulfill their dreams.

Ericsson, A., & Pool, R. (2016). Peak: Secrets from the new science of expertise. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

From the world’s reigning expert on expertise comes a powerful new approach to mastering almost any skill.

Gladwell, M. (2008). Outliers: The story of success. Little, Brown and Company.

In this stunning new book, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of “outliers”–the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different?

His answer is that we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are from: that is, their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing. Along the way he explains the secrets of software billionaires, what it takes to be a great soccer player, why Asians are good at math, and what made the Beatles the greatest rock band.

Eagleman, D. (2020). Livewired: The inside story of the ever-changing brain. Canongate.

Neuroscientist Eagleman extols the dynamic nature of the human brain, describing it as “a cryptic kind of computational material, a living three-dimensional textile that shifts, reacts, and adjusts itself.” At birth, human brains possess a limited number of built-in abilities but an immense amount of flexibility. During growth, people effectively “rewrite” brain circuitry as they adapt to their body, their experiences, and the outside world. Eagleman dubs this brain-modeling power and proficiency “livewired.” He explores dreams, memory, illusions, and synesthesia. At times, his discussion intersects with philosophy: “The enemy of memory is not time, it’s other memories.” The bionic retinal chip (to treat blindness), the cochlear implant (for deafness), and how the brain decodes sensory data from the environment are reviewed. The resiliency of an adept armless archer and a child with only half a brain are spotlighted, while Eagleman enjoys pop-culture allusions such as Star Trek’s Borg, Spider-Man villain Doc Ock, and the film Memento. Weighing in at about 3 pounds, the human brain, Eagleman avers, is a biological dynamo that remains, in many ways, a magnificent mystery.

Suddendorf, T., & Corballis, M. C. (2007). The evolution of foresight: What is mental time travel, and is it unique to humans? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 30(3), 299-313.

In a dynamic world, mechanisms allowing prediction of future situations can provide a selective advantage. We suggest that memory systems differ in the degree of flexibility they offer for anticipatory behavior and put forward a corresponding taxonomy of prospection. The adaptive advantage of any memory system can only lie in what it contributes for future survival. The most flexible is episodic memory, which we suggest is part of a more general faculty of mental time travel that allows us not only to go back in time, but also to foresee, plan, and shape virtually any specific future event. We review comparative studies and find that, in spite of increased research in the area, there is as yet no convincing evidence for mental time travel in nonhuman animals. We submit that mental time travel is not an encapsulated cognitive system, but instead comprises several subsidiary mechanisms. A theater metaphor serves as an analogy for the kind of mechanisms required for effective mental time travel. We propose that future research should consider these mechanisms in addition to direct evidence of future-directed action. We maintain that the emergence of mental time travel in evolution was a crucial step towards our current success.

We would be amiss if we did not cite evidence for prospection is animals. While the evidence to date is weak, the strongest argument for future cognition is an evolutionary argument indicating that his may be a property that is only developed in primates: Roberts, W. A. (2012). Evidence for future cognition in animals. Learning and Motivation, 43(4), 169-180.

Evidence concerning the possibility of mental time travel into the future by animals was reviewed. Both experimental laboratory studies and field observations were considered. Paradigms for the study of future anticipation and planning included inhibition of consumption of current food contingent on future receipt of either a larger quantity or more preferred food, choice between quantities of food contingent on future pilfering or replenishment of food, carrying foods to different locations contingent on future access to those locations, and selection of tools for use to obtain food in the future. Studies of non-human primates, rats, black-capped chickadees, scrub-jays, and tayras were considered. It was concluded that current evidence favors future cognition in animals, and some theoretical issues concerning this ability were discussed.

Gilbert, D. T., & Wilson, T. D. (2007). Prospection: Experiencing the future. Science, 317(5843), 1351-1354.

All animals can predict the hedonic consequences of events they’ve experienced before. But humans can predict the hedonic consequences of events they’ve never experienced by simulating those events in their minds. Scientists are beginning to understand how the brain simulates future events, how it uses those simulations to predict an event’s hedonic consequences, and why these predictions so often go awry.

Averbeck, B. B., & Costa, V. D. (2017). Motivational neural circuits underlying reinforcement learning. Nature Neuroscience, 20(4), Article 505.

Reinforcement learning (RL) is the behavioral process of learning the values of actions and objects. Most models of RL assume that the dopaminergic prediction error signal drives plasticity in frontal-striatal circuits. The striatum then encodes value representations that drive decision processes. However, the amygdala has also been shown to play an important role in forming Pavlovian stimulus-outcome associations. These Pavlovian associations can drive motivated behavior via the amygdala projections to the ventral striatum or the ventral tegmental area. The amygdala may, therefore, play a central role in RL. Here we compare the contributions of the amygdala and the striatum to RL and show that both the amygdala and striatum learn and represent expected values in RL tasks. Furthermore, value representations in the striatum may be inherited, to some extent, from the amygdala. The striatum may, therefore, play less of a primary role in learning stimulus-outcome associations in RL than previously suggested.Reinforcement learning (RL) is the behavioral process of learning the values of actions and objects. Most models of RL assume that the dopaminergic prediction error signal drives plasticity in frontal-striatal circuits. The striatum then encodes value representations that drive decision processes. However, the amygdala has also been shown to play an important role in forming Pavlovian stimulus-outcome associations. These Pavlovian associations can drive motivated behavior via the amygdala projections to the ventral striatum or the ventral tegmental area. The amygdala may, therefore, play a central role in RL. Here we compare the contributions of the amygdala and the striatum to RL and show that both the amygdala and striatum learn and represent expected values in RL tasks. Furthermore, value representations in the striatum may be inherited, to some extent, from the amygdala. The striatum may, therefore, play less of a primary role in learning stimulus-outcome associations in RL than previously suggested.

Szpunar, K. K., Shrikanth, S., & Schacter, D. L. (2018). Varieties of Future-Thinking. The Psychology of Thinking About the Future, 52-67.

Why do people spend so much time thinking about the future, imagining scenarios that may never occur, and making (often unrealistic) predictions? This volume brings together leading researchers from multiple psychological subdisciplines to explore the central role of future-thinking in human behavior across the lifespan. It presents cutting-edge work on the mechanisms involved in visualizing, predicting, and planning for the future. Implications are explored for such important domains as well-being and mental health, academic and job performance, ethical decision making, and financial behavior. Throughout, chapters highlight effective self-regulation strategies that help people pursue and realize their short- and long-term goals.

Buckner, R. L., & Carroll, D. C. (2007). Self-projection and the brain. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11(2), 49-57.

When thinking about the future or the upcoming actions of another person, we mentally project ourselves into that alternative situation. Accumulating data suggest that envisioning the future (prospection), remembering the past, conceiving the viewpoint of others (theory of mind) and possibly some forms of navigation reflect the workings of the same core brain network. These abilities emerge at a similar age and share a common functional anatomy that includes frontal and medial temporal systems that are traditionally associated with planning, episodic memory and default (passive) cognitive states. We speculate that these abilities, most often studied as distinct, rely on a common set of processes by which past experiences are used adaptively to imagine perspectives and events beyond those that emerge from the immediate environment.

Mitchell, J. P., Schirmer, J., Ames, D. L., & Gilbert, D. T. (2011). Medial prefrontal cortex predicts intertemporal choice. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 23(4), 857-866

Despite increases in the human life span, people have not increased their rate of saving. In a phenomenon known as ‘temporal discounting’, people value immediate gains over future gains. According to a future self-continuity hypothesis, individuals perceive and treat the future self differently from the present self, and so might fail to save for their future. Neuroimaging offers a novel means of testing this hypothesis, since previous research indicates that self- vs other-judgments elicit activation in the rostral anterior cingulate (rACC). Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging, we predicted and found not only individual differences in rACC activation while rating the current vs future self, but also that individual differences in current vs future self activation predicted temporal discounting assessed behaviorally a week after scanning. In addition to supporting the future self-continuity hypothesis, these findings hold implications for significant financial decisions, such as choosing whether to save for the future or spend in the present.

D’Argembeau, A., Stawarczyk, D., Majerus, S., Collette, F., Van der Linden, M., & Salmon, E. (2010). Modulation of medial prefrontal and inferior parietal cortices when thinking about past, present, and future selves. Social Neuroscience, 5(2), 187- 200.

Recent functional neuro imaging studies have shown that reflecting on representations of the present self versus temporally distant selves is associated with higher activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC). In the current fMRI study, we investigated whether this effect of temporal perspective is symmetrical between the past and future. The main results revealed that the MPFC showed higher activity when reflecting on the present self than when reflecting on past and future selves, with no difference between past and future selves. Temporal perspective also modulated activity in the right inferior parietal cortex but in the opposite direction, activity in this brain region being higher when reflecting on past and future selves relative to the present self (with again no difference between past and future selves). These findings show that differences in brain activity when thinking about current versus temporally distant selves are symmetrical between the past and the future. It is suggested that by processing degrees of self-relatedness, the MPFC might sustain the process of identifying oneself with current representations of the self, whereas the right inferior parietal cortex might be involved in distinguishing the present self from temporally distant selves.

Ersner-Hershfield, H., Wimmer, G. E., & Knutson, B. (2008). Saving for the future self: Neural measures of future self-continuity predict temporal discounting. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 4(1), 85-92.

Despite increases in the human life span, people have not increased their rate of saving. In a phenomenon known as ‘temporal discounting’, people value immediate gains over future gains. According to a future self-continuity hypothesis, individuals perceive and treat the future self differently from the present self, and so might fail to save for their future. Neuro imaging offers a novel means of testing this hypothesis, since previous research indicates that self- vs other-judgments elicit activation in the rostral anterior cingulate (rACC). Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging, we predicted and found not only individual differences in rACC activation while rating the current vs future self, but also that individual differences in current vs future self activation predicted temporal discounting assessed behaviourally a week after scanning. In addition to supporting the future self-continuity hypothesis, these findings hold implications for significant financial decisions, such as choosing whether to save for the future or spend in the present.

Beaty, R. E., Benedek, M., Kaufman, S. B., & Silvia, P. J. (2015). Default and executive network coupling supports creative idea production. Scientific Reports, 5, Article 10964.

The role of attention in creative cognition remains controversial. Neuroimaging studies have reported activation of brain regions linked to both cognitive control and spontaneous imaginative processes, raising questions about how these regions interact to support creative thought. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we explored this question by examining dynamic interactions between brain regions during a divergent thinking task. Multivariate pattern analysis revealed a distributed network associated with divergent thinking, including several core hubs of the default (posterior cingulate) and executive (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) networks. The resting state network affiliation of these regions was confirmed using data from an independent sample of participants. Graph theory analysis assessed global efficiency of the divergent thinking network, and network efficiency was found to increase as a function of individual differences in divergent thinking ability. Moreover, temporal connectivity analysis revealed increased coupling between default and salience network regions (bilateral insula) at the beginning of the task, followed by increased coupling between default and executive network regions at later stages. Such dynamic coupling suggests that divergent thinking involves cooperation between brain networks linked to cognitive control and spontaneous thought, which may reflect focused internal attention and the top-down control of spontaneous cognition during creative idea production.

Andrews-Hanna, J. R., Reidler, J. S., Sepulcre, J., Poulin, R., & Buckner, R. L. (2010). Functional-anatomic fractionation of the brain’s default network. Neuron, 65(4), 550-562.

The default mode network (DMN) is engaged in a variety of cognitive settings, including social, semantic, temporal, spatial, and self-related tasks. Andrews-Hanna et al. (2010; Andrews-Hanna 2012) proposed that the DMN consists of three distinct functional–anatomical subsystems—a dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (dMPFC) subsystem that supports social cognition; a medial temporal lobe (MTL) subsystem that contributes to memory-based scene construction; and a set of midline core hubs that are especially involved in processing self-referential information. We examined activity in the DMN subsystems during six different tasks: 1) theory of mind, 2) moral dilemmas, 3) autobiographical memory, 4) spatial navigation, 5) self/other adjective judgment, and 6) a rest condition. At a broad level, we observed similar whole-brain activity maps for the six contrasts, and some response to every contrast in each of the three subsystems. In more detail, both univariate analysis and multivariate activity patterns showed partial functional separation, especially between dMPFC and MTL subsystems, though with less support for common activity across the midline core. Integrating social, spatial, self-related, and other aspects of a cognitive situation or episode, multiple components of the DMN may work closely together to provide the broad context for current mental activity.

Levitin, D. J. (2014). The organized mind: Thinking straight in the age of information overload. Penguin Books.

Daniel J. Levitin, Ph.D., uses the latest brain science to demonstrate how people with “organized” minds excel–and how readers can use their methods to regain a sense of mastery over the way they organize their homes, workplaces, and lives.

The History of Futureselves in Psychology

Jung, C. G. (2013). The undiscovered self. Routledge.

Written three years before his death, The Undiscovered Self combines acuity with concision in masterly fashion and is Jung at his very best. Offering clear and crisp insights into some of his major theories, such as the duality of human nature, the unconscious, human instinct and spirituality, Jung warns against the threats of totalitarianism and political and social propaganda to the free-thinking individual. As timely now as when it was first written, Jung’s vision is a salutary reminder of why we should not become passive members of the herd.

Adler, A. (2013). The practice and theory of individual psychology, Vol. 133. Routledge.

2011 Reprint of 1925 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. This book is a compilation of twenty-eight lectures and other papers written by the chief exponent of the “organ inferiority” theory of the neuroses and psychoses during the years from 1908 to 1920. Each paper deals with a special phase either of theory or practice of the individual method of attacking the inferiority mechanisms which the author believes and asserts he has conclusively demonstrated to be the basis of all forms of neuroses and developmental failures. The basic principle for the understanding and practice of the “individual-psychological method” is the tracing of all symptoms occurring in an individual case back to their “lowest common denominator,” which is the real psychical situation of the patient’s earliest childhood, the psychic foundations of the neurosis and its symptoms having been perpetuated unchanged from childhood. This was one of Adler’s key publications, along with “Understanding Human Nature” and “What Life Should Mean to You”. In his lifetime, Adler published more than 300 books and articles.

Rogers, C. R. (1951). Client-centred therapy: Its current practice, implications, and theory. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

The recent development of the techniques of client-centered counseling is interpreted, the attitude and orientation of the counselor, the relationship as experienced by the client, and the process of therapy are discussed. The opinion of the non-directive therapist about transference, diagnosis and applicability is given. Fields of application are studied, the author writes about student-centered teaching, Elaine Dorfman about play therapy, Nicholas Hobbs about group-centered psychotherapy, and Thomas Gordon about group-centered leadership and administration. Professor Rogers continues with a chapter about the training of counselors and therapists, and concludes with a theory of personality and behavior.

TEDx Talks (2012, December 6). What’s your prison? Paul Wood at TEDxAuckland [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjjlsW1MDmc

At the age of 18, Paul was a high-school dropout in prison for murder. While spending time in maximum security he discovered the life enriching quality of learning. This led him to voraciously pursue both formal and informal means of education. He acquired both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Psychology and Philosophy whilst in prison and by the time he was released he was two years into a Doctorate in Psychology. Paul is now a respected coach and consultant who uses his knowledge and experience to assist individuals and organisations achieve their developmental goals. Paul will be using his own journey to illustrate and discuss the universal ingredients of successful personal change and growth.

Maslow, A. (1954). Motivation and personality. Harper & Row.

In this book Maslow presents a systematic theory and application of motivation and personality which he has derived from a synthesis of 3 approaches: holistic, dynamic, and cultural. Of the 18 chapters, 13 represent expanded, revised, or edited versions of previously published articles. Topics include: psychological approach to science; problem centering vs. means centering in science; holistic-dynamic theory of personality; theory of human motivation; basic needs: their role in theory, “instinctoid” nature, and hierarchical order; psychopathogenesis and threat; self-actualization; unmotivated and purposeless reactions; psychotherapy, health, and motivation; normality, health, and values; toward a positive psychology.

Nevis, E. C. (1983). Using an American perspective in understanding another culture: Toward a hierarchy of needs for the people’s republic of China. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 19(3), 249-264.

Analyzes cultural assumptions underlying Chinese management practices in order to construct a Chinese hierarchy of needs. This analysis compares Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as applied to the US with the Chinese hierarchy. Outcomes of the Cultural Revolution in China included an emphasis on the group rather than the individual, an emphasis on shared outcomes—regardless of performance, and an emphasis on farming rather than manufacturing. Thus, an important cultural concept underlying Chinese management practices is that being a good member of society and putting group goals before individual needs should govern all practices. In contrast to the group-oriented, central control assumptions of China, American culture has developed out of assumptions stressing individualism and a limited state. While Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, from an American perspective, puts self-actualization at the top, followed by self-esteem, belonging (social), safety, and physiology, a Chinese hierarchy puts self-actualization in the service of society at the top, followed by safety, physiology, and belonging. Data from surveys of Chinese workers and graduate students support such a model. The application of a hierarchy-of-needs model to other cultures is outlined.

Mittlemann, W. (1991). Maslow’s study of self-actualisation. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 31(1), 114-135.

Discusses Maslow’s (1970) study of self-actualizing people. It is proposed that the individuals Maslow studied were not distinguished from others by the fact that they were self-actualizing, but rather by the fact that they were very open. The idea of openness is used, along with Maslow’s description of his self-actualizing people, to delineate an ideal of human character.

Levinson, D. J. (1978). Eras: The anatomy of the life cycle. Psychiatric Opinions, 15(9), 39-48.

Presents a developmental scheme of the human life cycle, especially for males, including the following overlapping stages: (a) pre-adulthood, from birth to 22 yrs; (b) early adulthood, from 17 to 45; (c) middle adulthood, from 40 to 65; (d) late adulthood, from 60 to 85; and (e) late, late adulthood, from 80 on. The last stage is tentative and little defined, and the age ranges are averages for a physically healthy population. The tasks, roles, problems, and rewards of each stage and the transition periods are described, with greatest detail being given to the early- and middle-adult stages.

Erikson, E. H., & Erikson, J. M. (1998). The life cycle completed (extended version). W.W. Norton & Company. (Original work published in 1982).

For decades Erik H. Erikson’s concept of the stages of human development has deeply influenced the field of contemporary psychology. Here, with new material by Joan M. Erikson, is an expanded edition of his final work. The Life Cycle Completed eloquently closes the circle of Erikson’s theories, outlining the unique rewards and challenges—for both individuals and society—of very old age.

Harter, S., Bresnick, S., Bouchey, H.A., & Whitesell, N.A. (1997). The development of multiple role-related selves during adolescence. Development and Psychopathology, 9(4), 835-853.

The organization of the adolescent self-portrait is discussed within a framework that focuses on the construction of multiple self-representations across different relational contexts. Contradictions between self-attributes in different contexts create conflict, beginning in mid-adolescence when cognitive-developmental structures allow one to detect but not resolve opposing attributes. Conflict is greater across roles than within roles. Moreover, for certain roles (e.g., self with mother vs. self with father) conflict is higher. Females, particularly those with a feminine gender orientation, report greater conflict involving attributes in more public contexts. Opposing self-attributes also raise concerns for adolescents about which attributes reflect true versus false self-behaviors. Conflict is more frequent for opposing attributes that pit true against false self-characteristics. False self-behavior is associated with liabilities including devaluation of false self-attributes, low self-esteem, and depressive reactions. Perceived support across relational contexts is highly predictive of favorable evaluations of attributes, high self-esteem, and true self-behavior within corresponding contexts. Strategies for resolving potential contradictions in self-attributes would appear to emerge as one moves into late adolescence and adulthood, when multiple self-representations are perceived as both appropriate and desirable, and the individual can achieve some degree of integration through higher level abstractions and the narrative construction of his or her life story.

Higgins, E.T. (1987). Self-discrepancy: A theory relating self and affect. Psychological Review, 94(3), 319-340; Higgins, E.T. (1989). Self-discrepancy theory: What causes people to suffer? Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 22, 93-136.

The basic premise of self-discrepancy theory is that it is the relations between and among different types of self-beliefs or self-state representations that produce emotional vulnerabilities rather than the particular content or nature of the actual self or of any other individual self-belief. To distinguish among different types of self-state representations, self-discrepancy theory proposes two psychological parameters: the domains of the self and the standpoints on the self. The chapter presents the reports of associations between particular types of discrepant self-beliefs and particular kinds of discomfort that are generally consistent with the predictions of self-discrepancy theory. However, the effect of the magnitude of different types of self-discrepancies on the intensity of different kinds of discomfort has been tested. For the vulnerability associated with a particular self-belief pattern to eventuate in an episode—that is, an occurrence of suffering—the self-belief pattern must be activated. The chapter explains the various factors that can increase the likelihood that a stored construct will be activated. One source of activation is the applicability of the construct to a stimulus event. According to self-discrepancy theory, the interrelations among attributes constituting an actual/ownself-guide discrepancy represent, as a whole, a negative psychological situation that functions as a construct. Thus, the negative psychological situation represented by such a discrepancy and the emotional-motivational state associated with it are more likely to be activated when the negative psychological situation is applicable to a stimulus event than when it is nonapplicable.

Van Hook, E. & Higgins, E. T. (1988). Self-related problems beyond the self- concept: Motivational consequences of discrepant self-guides. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55(4), 625-633.

In 2 studies, we tested the hypothesis that people who possess conflicting standards or self-guides are vulnerable to a particular type of psychological discomfort. We found that Ss possessing discrepant self-guides experienced significantly more frequently the cluster of emotional–motivational problems predicted to be related to a chronic double approach–avoidance conflict (feeling muddled, indecisive, distractible, unsure of self or goals, rebellious, confused about identity) than did Ss without such a discrepancy. Evidence is presented that this specific relation is independent of self-concept-related beliefs and problems. However, evidence is also presented that self-guide–self-guide discrepancies influence the nature of the self-concept, which may reflect Ss’ chronic difficulties with self-assessment along a dimension described by this type of discrepancy

Phillips, A. G., & Silvia, P. J. (2010). Individual differences in self-discrepancies and emotional experience: Do distinct discrepancies predict distinct emotions? Personality and Individual Differences, 49(2), 148-151.

Self-Discrepancy Theory (SDT) proposes that ideal-self discrepancies predict dejection/depression and ought-self discrepancies predict agitation/anxiety, but individual differences research has rarely found clear support for this pattern. After considering methodological and statistical reasons for these mixed findings, the present research tested SDT’s predictions using a multivariate structural equation model with latent predictors and outcomes (n = 245 college students). SDT was broadly but incompletely supported: ought discrepancies uniquely predicted anxious affect, but both ideal and ought discrepancies predicted depressed affect.

Carver, C. S., Lawrence, J. W., & Scheier, M. F. (1999). Self-discrepancies and affect: Incorporating the role of feared selves. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25(7), 783-792.

The authors examined ought, ideal, and feared self-discrepancies as predictors of agitation- and dejection-related affects. Overall, discrepancy from feared selves predicted anxiety and guilt, preempting the role of discrepancies from ought selves; ideal and feared discrepancies both predicted depression. Further analyses revealed interactions between actual-ought and actual-feared discrepancies in predicting anxiety and guilt. Among participants who were relatively near their feared selves, discrepancies from ought selves were unrelated to these affects. In contrast, among those whose feared selves were more distant, ought discrepancies did predict agitation-related affect, consistent with self-discrepancy theory. Discussion centers on a view in which an avoidance motive (feared self) dominates anxiety and guilt if the feared element is nearby but in which an associated approach motive (ought self) dominates anxiety and guilt if the feared element is more remote.

Carver, C. S., Reynolds, S. L., & Scheier, M. F. (1994). The possible selves of optimists and pessimists. Journal of Research in Personality, 28(2), 133-141.

We investigated the possible selves reported by 81 college students who also completed a measure of dispositional optimism. Possible selves were sorted into content domains and were also rated for their degree of positivity vs negativity. Optimism correlated positively with the positivity of the expected selves that subjects reported, but not with the positivity of either hoped for or feared selves. This pattern suggests that pessimists do not lack high hopes or aspirations for themselves, but that the hopes seem not to be translated into expectations. A subsidiary analysis suggested that less optimistic subjects had more diverse hoped for selves than did more optimistic subjects. This finding suggests that pessimists, being more doubtful about their future, may hedge their bets by having a wider array of mentally represented aspirations than optimists.

Diener, E., Seligman, M. E. P., Choi, H., & Oishi, S. (2018). Happiest people revisited. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 13(2), 176-184. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691617697077

In a past Psychological Science article, Diener and Seligman (2002) explored the characteristics of extremely happy individuals and found that strong social relationships characterized the entire group. The study was popular, perhaps because the authors focused on the very happiest people, not merely on correlations across the entire spectrum of subjective well-being. In the current study, we replicated and extended the earlier paper here by examining, in a world sample, the differences between the happiest individuals and unhappy and averagely happy people. We largely replicated earlier findings; basic need fulfillment and social resources were two ingredients for high subjective well-being. Replicating and extending the earlier findings, we found that, compared with the averagely happy people, the happiest people were more likely to come from societies high in subjective well-being and social capital. To achieve very high happiness, it is helpful not only to have desirable personal circumstances, but also to live in a prosperous happy society with strong social support. As in the original study, although a few characteristics seemed virtually necessary for subjective well-being (SWB), no characteristic guaranteed it. We also uncovered variables separating the groups that might be outcomes of SWB, for example, helping others, exercising, and not smoking.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2017). Finding flow [Audiobook]. Hachette Audio.

Part psychological study, part self-help book, Finding Flow is a prescriptive guide that helps us reclaim ownership of our lives. Based on a far-reaching study of thousands of individuals, Finding Flow contends that we often walk through our days unaware of and out of touch with our emotional lives. Our inattention makes us constantly bounce between two extremes: During much of the day, we live filled with the anxiety and pressures of our work and obligations, and during our leisure moments, we tend to live in passive boredom. The key, according to Csikszentmihalyi, is to challenge ourselves with tasks requiring a high degree of skill and commitment. Instead of watching television, play the piano. Transform a routine task by taking a different approach. In short, learn the joy of complete engagement. Though they appear simple, the lessons in Finding Flow are life altering.

Seligman, M. E., Railton, P., Baumeister, R. F., & Sripada, C. (2016). Homo prospectus. Oxford University Press.

In this remarkable convergence of research in philosophy, statistics, decision theory, psychology, and neuroscience, Homo Prospectus shows how human prospection fundamentally reshapes our understanding of key cognitive processes, thereby improving individual and social functioning. It aims to galvanize interest in this new science from scholars in psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy, as well as an educated public curious about what makes humanity what it is.

Fukukura, J., Helzer, E. G., & Ferguson, M. J. (2013). Prospection by any other name? A response to Seligman et al. (2013). Perspectives on Psychological Science, 8(2), 146-150.

We stand in agreement with Seligman et al. (2013, this issue) that prospection is an important psychological process, but we disagree that it has been neglected within the psychological literature. We further question some of the broader claims made by the authors regarding conscious decision making and free will. We argue that future-oriented cognition is fully consistent with deterministic accounts of cognition, including automaticity, and that prospection does little to advance the position of free will.

Peterson, J. B. (2002). Maps of meaning: The architecture of belief. Routledge.

Why have people from different cultures and eras formulated myths and stories with similar structures? What does this similarity tell us about the mind, morality, and structure of the world itself? From the author of 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos comes a provocative hypothesis that explores the connection between what modern neuropsychology tells us about the brain and what rituals, myths, and religious stories have long narrated. A cutting-edge work that brings together neuropsychology, cognitive science, and Freudian and Jungian approaches to mythology and narrative, Maps of Meaning presents a rich theory that makes the wisdom and meaning of myth accessible to the critical modern mind.

Peterson, J. B. (2021). Beyond order: 12 more rules for life. Penguin Books.

In 12 Rules for Life, clinical psychologist and celebrated professor at Harvard and the University of Toronto Dr. Jordan B. Peterson helped millions of readers impose order on the chaos of their lives. Now, in this bold sequel, Peterson delivers twelve more lifesaving principles for resisting the exhausting toll that our desire to order the world inevitably takes.

In a time when the human will increasingly imposes itself over every sphere of life—from our social structures to our emotional states—Peterson warns that too much security is dangerous. What’s more, he offers strategies for overcoming the cultural, scientific, and psychological forces causing us to tend toward tyranny, and teaches us how to rely instead on our instinct to find meaning and purpose, even—and especially—when we find ourselves powerless.

While chaos, in excess, threatens us with instability and anxiety, unchecked order can petrify us into submission. Beyond Order provides a call to balance these two fundamental principles of reality itself, and guides us along the straight and narrow path that divides them.

Self-Authoring Suite. (2020.) https://selfauthoring.com/

The Past Authoring Program helps you remember, articulate and analyze key positive and negative life experiences.

The Present Authoring Program has two modules. The first helps you understand and rectify your personality faults. The second helps you understand and develop your personality virtues.

The Future Authoring Program helps you envision a meaningful, healthy and productive future, three to five years down the road, and to develop a detailed, implementable plan to make that future a reality.

Put your past to rest! Understand and improve your present personality! Design the future you want to live! The Self Authoring Suite will improve your life.

Vilhauer, J. (2014). Think forward to thrive: How to use the mind’s power of anticipation to transcend your past and transform your life. New World Library.

Anticipating a positive future is the key to well-being and mental health. Yet when many people think of the future, they experience anxiety, depression, fear, and self-doubt. Unaware of how to change the future, most people are trapped in a cycle of re-creating their past. But your past does not have to define who you are or where you are going — you can break free. Future Directed Therapy (FDT) is a new psychotherapy that helps people create their future with awareness and choice, with skills based on cutting-edge cognitive science. Think Forward to Thrive is filled with information and step-by-step exercises to help you:

Hardy, B. (2020). Personality isn’t permanent. Belichi Ogugua.

In Personality Isn’t Permanent, Dr. Benjamin Hardy draws on psychological research to demolish the popular misconception that personality—a person’s consistent attitudes and behaviors—is innate and unchanging. Hardy liberates us from the limiting belief that our “true selves” are to be discovered, and shows how we can intentionally create our desired selves and achieve amazing goals instead. He offers practical, science-based advice to for personal-reinvention, including:

• Why personality tests such as Myers-Briggs and Enneagram are not only psychologically destructive but are no more scientific than horoscopes

• Why you should never be the “former” anything–because defining yourself by your past successes is just as damaging to growth as being haunted by past failures

• How to design your current identity based on your desired future self and make decisions here-and-now through your new identity

• How to reframe traumatic and painful experiences into a fresh narrative supporting your future success

• How to become confident enough to define your own life’s purpose

• How to create a network of “empathetic witnesses” who actively encourage you through the highs and lows of extreme growth

• How to enhance your subconscious to overcome addictions and limiting patterns

• How redesign your environment to pull you toward your future, rather than keep you stuck in the past

• How to tap into what psychologists call “pull motivation” by narrowing your focus on a single, definable, and compelling outcome

The book includes true stories of intentional self-transformation—such as Vanessa O’Brien, who quit her corporate job and set the Guinness World Record for a woman climbing the highest peak on every continent in the fastest time; Andre Norman, who became a Harvard fellow after serving a fourteen-year prison sentence; Ken Arlen, who instantly quit smoking by changing his identity narrative; and Hardy himself, who transcended his childhood in a broken home, surrounded by issues of addiction and mental illness, to earn his PhD and build a happy family.

Filled with strategies for reframing your past and designing your future, Personality Isn’t Permanent is a guide to breaking free from the past and becoming the person you want to be.

Hardy, B. (2020). 30-day future self program. https://30dayfutureself.com/

This course contains science-based strategies for:

Transforming your trauma and better utilizing your past.
Connecting with and clarifying your long-term future self.
Strategizing more effectively toward your Future Self.
Systemizing and routinizing your Future Self to make success inevitable.
Stripping-out everything in your life that distracts from your Future Self.
Overcoming every obstacle between you and your Future Self.

Hill, N. (2011). Think and grow rich. Hachette Books.

Think and Grow Rich has been called the “Granddaddy of All Motivational Literature.” It was the first book to boldly ask, “What makes a winner?” The man who asked and listened for the answer, Napoleon Hill, is now counted in the top ranks of the world’s winners himself.

The most famous of all teachers of success spent “a fortune and the better part of a lifetime of effort” to produce the “Law of Success” philosophy that forms the basis of his books and that is so powerfully summarized in this one.

Cheng, Q., & He, G. (2017). Deciding for future selves reduces loss aversion. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 1644.

In this paper, we present an incentivized experiment to investigate the degree of loss aversion when people make decisions for their current selves and future selves under risk. We find that when participants make decisions for their future selves, they are less loss averse compared to when they make decisions for their current selves. This finding is consistent with the interpretation of loss aversion as a bias in decision-making driven by emotions, which are reduced when making decisions for future selves. Our findings endorsed the external validity of previous studies on the impact of emotion on loss aversion in a real world decision-making environment.

Parfit, D. (1971). Personal Identity. The Philosophical Review. 80(1), 3-27.

If a man’s brain could be divided and each 1/2 housed in a new body and if the 2 newly constituted bodies survived, would the new persons be identical with one another and with the original? This question cannot be answered, but nothing important is lost as a result. What matters in the continued existence of a person are for the most part relations of degree. It is concluded that the language of identity should be given up.

P. D. Joshi, N. J. Fast. Power and Reduced Temporal Discounting. Psychological Science, 2013; DOI: 10.1177/0956797612457950

Decision makers generally feel disconnected from their future selves, an experience that leads them to prefer smaller immediate gains to larger future gains. This pervasive tendency is known as temporal discounting, and researchers across disciplines are interested in understanding how to overcome it. Following recent advances in the power literature, we suggest that the experience of power enhances one’s connection with the future self, which in turn results in reduced temporal discounting. In Study 1, we found that participants assigned to high-power roles were less likely than participants assigned to low-power roles to display temporal discounting. In Studies 2 and 3, priming power reduced temporal discounting in monetary and nonmonetary tasks, and, further, connection with the future self mediated the relation between power and reduced discounting. In Study 4, experiencing a general sense of power in the workplace predicted actual lifetime savings. These results have important implications for future research.

Possible Selves

Markus, H., & Nurius, P. (1986). Possible selves. American Psychologist, 41(9), 954- 969.

Introduces the concept of possible selves (PSs) to complement current conceptions of self-knowledge. PSs represent individuals’ ideas of what they might become, what they would like to become, and what they are afraid of becoming, and thus provide a conceptual link beteen cognition and motivation. PSs are the cognitive components of hopes, fears, goals, and threats; they give the specific self-relevant form, meaning, organization, and direction to these dynamics. It is suggested that PSs function as incentives for future behavior and to provide an evaluative and interpretive context for the current view of self. The nature and function of PSs and their role in addressing several persistent problems (e.g., the stability and malleability of the self, the unity of the self, self-distortion, the relationship between the self-concept and behavior) are discussed. (143 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Erikson, M. G. (2007). The meaning of the future: Toward a more specific definition of possible selves. Review of General Psychology, 11(4), 348-358.

Possible selves are traditionally defined as conceptions of our selves in future states. The author discusses the way the theory is used in the literature and argues that there is a need for a clearer definition, because there appear to be a number of common misinterpretations regarding possible selves. Important features of possible selves are discussed, in particular their nature as experienced meaning, their relation with the rest of the self-concept, and their social and cultural nature. It is suggested that agency is an important aspect of possible selves and that they can be seen as narratives. The clearer definition suggested is that possible selves are conceptions of our selves in the future, including, at least to some degree, an experience of being an agent in a future situation. Possible selves get vital parts of their meaning in interplay with the self-concept, which they in turn moderate, as well as from their social and cultural context.

Experiments demonstrating how one copes with two brains operating within a person who has had corpus callosum severed are available online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMLzP1VCANo and demonstrate the effect far better than words could ever express.

To reduce the severity of his seizures, Joe had the bridge between his left and right cerebral hemisphers (the corpus callosum) severed. As a result, his left and right brains no longer communicate through that pathway. This video shows what happens as a result.

Fadiman, J., & Gruber, J. (2020). Your Symphony of Selves: Discover and Understand More of Who We Are. Simon and Schuster.

Offering groundbreaking insight into the dynamic nature of personality, James Fadiman and Jordan Gruber show that each of us is comprised of distinct, autonomous, and inherently valuable “selves.” They also show that honoring each of these selves is a key to improved ways of living, loving, and working.

Explaining that it is normal to have multiple selves, the authors offer insights into why we all are inconsistent at times, allowing us to become more accepting of the different parts of who we and other people are. They explore, through extensive reviews, how the concept of healthy multiple selves has been supported in science, popular culture, spirituality, philosophy, art, literature, and ancient traditions and cite well-known people, including David Bowie and Beyoncé, who describe accessing another self at a pivotal point in their lives to resolve a pressing challenge.

Instead of seeing the existence of many selves as a flaw or pathology, the authors reveal that the healthiest people, mentally and emotionally, are those that have naturally learned to appreciate and work in harmony with their own symphony of selves. They identify “the Single Self Assumption” as the prime reason why the benefits of having multiple selves has been ignored. This assumption holds that we each are or ought to be a single consistent self, yet we all recognize, in reality, that we are different in different situations.

Offering a pragmatic approach, the authors show how you can prepare for situations by shifting to the appropriate self, rather than being “switched” or “triggered” into a sub-optimal part of who you are. They also show how recognizing your selves provides increased access to skills, talent, and creativity; enhanced energy; and improved healing and pain management. Appreciating your diverse selves will give you more empathy toward yourself and others. By harmonizing your symphony of selves, you can learn to be “in the right mind at the right time” more often

Information foraging (2020, October 18). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_foraging

Information foraging is a theory that applies the ideas from optimal foraging theory to understand how human users search for information. The theory is based on the assumption that, when searching for information, humans use “built-in” foraging mechanisms that evolved to help our animal ancestors find food. Importantly, a better understanding of human search behavior can improve the usability of websites or any other user interface.

Cross, S. E., & Markus, H. R. (1994). Self-schemas, possible selves, and competent performance. Journal of Educational Psychology, 86(3), 423-438.

College students were classified as either schematic for being a good problem solver (i.e., they believed they were very good in this area, and this ability was very important to their self-evaluation) or aschematic for this ability (i.e., they believed they had moderate ability in this area, and this ability was of moderate to low importance to their self-evaluation). In Study 1, schematic and aschematic Ss performed equally well in an initial problem-solving test; however, aschematic Ss did not enjoy the task and had negative possible selves related to logical ability active in working memory. In Study 2, aschematic Ss maintained competent performance on a problem-solving test only when given failure feedback on an earlier test. The results point to the importance of the self-concept in the development and maintenance of competence.

Silver, E., & Ulmer, J. T. (2012). Future selves and self-control motivation. Deviant Behavior, 33(9), 699-714.

Self-control is well established as a predictor of crime and deviance. Little is known, however, about the motivation to exert self-control, or the degree to which individuals perceive self-control to be relevant or necessary. This is because the “self” in self-control theory is under-theorized. We argue that self-control over criminal and deviant behavior is influenced by the desired and feared conceptions people have of themselves in the future. We argue that people’s projections of their future selves engender commitments to lines of action, which mobilize the motivation to exercise self-control. By developing a more detailed conception of the “self” in self-control theory, we hope to orient criminology more fully to the importance of individuals’ projected future selves and intended lines of action for understanding the relationship between self-control and criminal behavior.

Bak, W. (2015). Possible selves: Implications for psychotherapy. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 13(5), 650-658.

The paper is devoted to the therapeutic applications of theories and research concerning self-regulation issues. The key concept here is possible selves, defined as an element of self-knowledge that refers to what a person perceives as potentially possible. The main idea of using knowledge about possible selves in psychotherapy is based on their functions as standards in self-regulatory processes. The problem of the changeability of possible selves and self-standards is analyzed in the context of their role in behavior change. The paper also presents the assumptions of Self-System Therapy – a newly developed cognitive therapy for depression, drawing directly on self-regulation theory and research.

Oyserman, D., Bybee, D., Terry, K., & Hart-Johnson, T. (2004). Possible selves as roadmaps. Journal of Research in Personality, 38(2), 130-149.

Possible selves, expectations, and concerns about the coming year, can promote feeling good (‘‘I may not be doing well in school this year, but I will next year.’’) or can promote regulating for oneself (‘‘I may not be doing well in school this year, but to make sure I do better next year, I have signed up for summer tutoring.’’). We hypothesized that improved academic outcomes were likely only when a possible self could plausibly be a self-regulator. Hierarchical regression analyses supported this conclusion, with more support for the influence of self-regulation on change in behavior and academic outcomes than on affect regulation. N ¼ 160 lowincome eighth graders improved grades, spent more time doing homework, participated in class more, and were referred less to summer school (controlling for fall grades and the dependent variable of interest) when academic possible selves were plausibly self-regulatory.

Hoyle, R. H., & Sherrill, M. R. (2006). Future orientation in the self‐system: Possible selves, self‐regulation, and behavior. Journal of Personality, 74(6), 1673-1696.

Possible selves are representations of the self in the future. Early theoretical accounts of the construct suggested that possible selves directly influence motivation and behavior. We propose an alternative view of possible selves as a component in self‐regulatory processes through which motivation and behavior are influenced. We demonstrate the advantages of this conceptualization in two studies that test predictions generated from theoretical models of self‐regulation in which the possible selves construct could be embedded. In one study, we show how viewing possible selves as a source of behavioral standards in a control‐process model of self‐regulation yields support for a set of predictions about the influence of possible selves on current behavior. In the other study, we examine possible selves in the context of an interpersonal model of self‐regulation, showing strong evidence of concern for relational value in freely generated hoped‐for and feared selves. These findings suggest that the role of possible selves in motivation and behavior can be profitably studied in models that fully specify the process of self‐regulation and that those models can be enriched by a consideration of future‐oriented self‐representations. We offer additional recommendations for strengthening research on possible selves and self‐regulation.

vanDellen, M. R., & Hoyle, R. H. (2008). Possible selves as behavioral standards in self-regulation. Self and Identity, 7(3), 295-304.

We investigated a potential mechanism by which possible selves affect behavior by considering them in the context of control-process models of self-regulation. After a hoped-for or feared self in the health domain was made salient, participants were provided with opportunities to behave in ways that would address any unwanted discrepancy between the salient possible self and the current self. In order to ensure that behavior was in the service of self-regulation, we compromised the self-regulatory capacity of some participants and, after the opportunity to behaviorally regulate, assessed negative affect. We expected evidence of behavioral self-regulation only for participants with adequate self-regulatory capacity and heightened negative affect in participants who did not behaviorally self-regulate. The results generally supported our hypotheses when a feared self in the health domain was made salient. We attribute the failure to find effects for a salient hoped-for self to the general lack of discrepancy between hoped-for and current selves in the health domain for university students. These findings extend past research on the role of possible selves in self-regulation by conceptualizing possible selves as a component in control-process models of behavioral self-regulation.

Vieth, A. Z., Strauman, T. J., Kolden, G. G., Woods, T. E., Michels, J. L., & Klein, M. H. (2003). Self-System Therapy (SST): A theory-based psychotherapy for depression. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 10(3), 245-268. https://doi:10.1093/clipsy/bpg023

Title: Self-System Therapy (SST): A theory-based psychotherapy for depression

Abstract:

This article introduces Self-System Therapy (SST), a brief, structured psychotherapy for the treatment of depression. SST conceptualizes depression as a failure of self-regulation and is intended for individuals whose depression and/or premorbid functioning are characterized by particular problems in self-regulation. This article provides an overview of SST, including its origins in basic and clinical research on self-discrepancy theory and self-regulation, the hypothesized etiological role of self-regulation in depression, the primary components of the treatment, and comparisons of SST with other psychotherapies for depression. The general structure of a course of treatment with SST is outlined, and a case example is presented to illustrate the goals and strategies of each phase

Bak, W. (2015). Possible selves: Implications for psychotherapy. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 13(5), 650-658

Ruvolo, A. P., & Markus, H. R. (1992). Possible selves and performance: The power of self relevant imagery. Social Cognition, 10(1), 95-124.

Three studies with 217 undergraduate women examined the relation between performance and the representation of what is possible for one’s self in the future (ITF). Across the studies, those who imagined themselves as successful ITF outperformed those who imagined themselves as unsuccessful (ITF). Ss who imagined themselves as successful ITF and Ss who performed successfully quickly endorsed a variety of positive, success-relevant possible selves. For Ss who imagined failure, positive, success-relevant possible selves were less accessible. In general, those who imagined failure as a result of their own efforts were simply less certain that positive self-relevant outcomes were possible for them. Results suggest that representations of the self may be importantly implicated in motivation and performance.

Ruvolo, A. P., & Markus, H. R. (1992). Possible Selves and performance: The power of self relevant imagery. Social Cognition, 10(1), 95-124.

Possible selves are elements of the self-concept that represent what individuals could become, would like to become, and are afraid of becoming. These representations of the self in the future are hypothesized to be an important component of effective performance. In Study 1, subjects either imagined being either successful in the future because of hard work, imagined being unsuccessful in the future despite hard work, or were given a positive mood inducement. These imagery manipulations were intended to increase the accessibility of specific possible selves. On a task involving effort and one involving persistence, subjects who imagined being successful performed the best. In Study 2, subjects either imagined being successful, imagined being unsuccessful, imagined another person being successful, or were put in a good mood. The success imagery group was relatively fast to accept positive, success-relevant possible selves as descriptive, and also relatively fast to reject negative, failure-relevant possible selves. These differences suggest that self-representations of future success were more readily accessible in the working self-concepts of these people than self-representations of future failure. In Study 3, people imagined themselves as either successful or unsuccessful in the future and imagined that either work or luck was responsible for these outcomes. Again, those in the “success due to work” condition were relatively fast to endorse positive, success-relevant possible selves and reject negative, failure-relevant possible selves. This group also worked the longest on a persistence task and scored the highest on a task-measuring effort. Together, the results suggest an important role for future-oriented representations of the self in performance.

Cantor, N., Markus, H., Niedenthal, P., & Nurius, P. (1986). On motivation and the self-concept. In R.M. Sorrentino, & E.T. Higgins (Eds.), Handbook of Motivation and Cognition: Foundations of Social Behaviour (pp. 96-121). Guilford Press.

an understanding of motivation and its connection to an individual’s specific actions requires an investigation of the self-relevant cognitive instigators of goal-directed behavior / in the cognitive approach that has characterized the study of the self in recent years, the self-concept has been investigated as a system of knowledge structures about the self / in the present analysis, we will pursue this approach and focus on the knowledge structures associated with the individual’s personally significant goals, plans, motives, values, hopes, fears, and threats / the emphasis here will be on those elements of self-knowledge that incite and direct people’s self-relevant actions and thus are directly relevant to motivation and expand the description of life tasks and possible selves / present a variety of empirical work to demonstrate that these elements of self-knowledge are accessible, can be reported and reflected on by the individual, and are implicated in individuals’ strategies of action / attempt to specify the path from global motives to specific behavior, with emphasis at each turn on the self-relevant cognitive components of this motivated activity

Cross, S., & Markus, H. (1991). Possible selves across the life span. Human Development, 34(4), 230-255.

173 adults (aged 18–86 yrs) described their hoped-for (e.g., powerful, glamorous, esteemed) and feared (e.g., fat, out-of-shape, unwanted) possible selves. Differences were found across age groups in the categories of possible selves mentioned most frequently and in Ss’ evaluations of these possible selves. Ss scoring low in life satisfaction generated different possible selves than Ss high in life satisfaction. Possible selves are conceptualized as psychological resources that are instrumental in motivating and defending the self throughout the course of adult development.

Englert, P. (1999). Possible selves in New Zealand. [Conference presentation]. Industrial and Organisational Symposia of the New Zealand Psychology Society Annual Conference, Otago, New Zealand.

To examine differences in the way that different groups of young people think about their future as dependant on factors such as employment status and ethnicity.
To identify items suitable for a Possible Selves counseling tool for young job seekers that identified that people are more than work and that full time sustainable unemployment is not for all.

Linville, P. W. (1985). Self-complexity and affective extremity: Don’t put all of your eggs in one cognitive basket. Social Cognition, 3(1), 94-120.

Developed and tested a model relating complexity of self-representation to affective and evaluative responses, based on the hypothesis that the less complex a person’s cognitive representation of the self, the more extreme will be that person’s swings in affect and self-appraisal. Exp I, with 59 undergraduates, showed that those lower in self-complexity experienced greater swings in affect and self-appraisal following a failure or success experience. Exp II, with 31 undergraduates, showed that those lower in self-complexity experienced greater variability in affect over a 2-wk period. Findings are discussed in terms of self-complexity as a buffer against the negative effects of stressful life events and in terms of the thought patterns of depressed persons. Results suggest that level of self-complexity may provide a promising cognitive marker for vulnerability to depression.

Englert, P. (2015, August 26). Practitioner? Academic? Pracademic. [LinkedIn page]. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/practioner-academic-pracademic-paul-englert

When asked whether I define myself as an academic or a practitioner, I invariably say neither. Rather I’m best defined by what is known as a pracademic, a person who is both an academic and active practitioner in their area. As a pracademic I pride myself for favouring neither academia nor consulting, but rather see them as complementary; together enhancing my overall skills as an applied psychologist. The blending of academia and practice is central to being an effective lecturer and consultant.

Here are five key reasons for why being a pracademic means being the best that I can be in my field:

Remaining update-to-date with the field: Being a lecturer makes it mandatory to know the latest research in your field. The university system makes this relatively easy with access to journals, guest seminars and departmental updates, all of which ensure that one is at the cutting edge.
Ensuring that the latest research is practical: As an applied I/O psychologist, my clients demand that I take research and make it practical for them. A whole different type of rigour is required to ensure the research can be applied. The combined effect is that I’m forever both learning and testing to ensure that both clients and students get the best outcome.
Ensuring that I gain deep knowledge on a given area: When lecturing, the level of understanding that you have on an area must be deeper than the average end user of that research. To teach a subject I must know it intimately. Ultimately I must understand it to a level that I can explain it easily to others. This is applicable to my role as a lecturer and as a consultant. Too often both students and clients are not provided the detailed knowledge required to understand concepts fully. This is something that I can’t get away with as a pracademic.
Ensuring that my knowledge of the foundations in the discipline remain sound: One of the many side benefits of lecturing is that it forces me to go back to the foundations of psychology and ensure that my understanding is sound. The net effect is that I always learn some nuance of a theory that has application within my role as a practitioner. Psychology is not unlike most disciplines: the foundation is the key.
Ensure that I remain culturally and technologically contemporary: Lecturing brings me smack-bang into the world of youth culture and continually opens my eyes to how fast the world is changing. Psychology does not exist in a vacuum. Understanding the relevance of theories in modern society not only improves my practice, but opens my eyes to what is possible in the field which I may not have thought of.

Winell, M. (1987). Personal goals: The key to self-direction in adulthood. Routledge.

This chapter describes some specific propositions about personal goals and goal hierarchies as a means of explicating a living systems view of phenomena related to self-directed functioning. Professionally, psychotherapy treatments often attempt to cultivate aspects of self-direction. Based on a host of literature on topics related to self-direction, it was hypothesized in this study that people who have clear goals in life would experience more personal effectiveness and satisfaction. Attention to personal goals is a way of focusing on the importance of self-direction for effective and happy living. A personal goal hierarchy was presented as the key feature of self-direction. The living systems framework is an exceptionally useful tool for conceptualizing and investigating such influences because of its unique emphasis on the importance of self-direction and self-regulation in human functioning and the central role it gives to self-organizing and self-constructing processes in human development.

Carver, C. S., Reynolds, S. L., & Scheier, M. F. (1994). The possible selves of optimists and pessimists. Journal of Research in Personality, 28(2), 133-141.

Oyserman, D., & Markus, H. (1990a). Possible selves in balance: Implications for delinquency. Journal of Social Issues, 46(2), 141-157; Oyserman, D., & Markus, H. (1990b). Possible selves and delinquency. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59(1), 112-125; Oyserman, D., & Saltz, E. (1993). Competency, delinquency, and attempts to attain possible selves. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65(2), 30-374.

An approach to the initiation, maintenance, and cessation of delinquency is outlined in which an adolescent’s possible selves play a pivotal role. Possible selves are the individual’s self-relevant expectations for the future. They include what a person hopes to become, expects to become, and fears that he or she might become. With respect to action control, a particularly important aspect of adolescents’ configuration of possible selves is the balance between their expected possible selves and their feared possible selves. Balance occurs when expected possible selves (e.g., “I will get a good job”) are offset by countervailing feared possible selves in the same domain (e.g., “I could be unemployed and on the street”). Without balance between expected and feared selves in important domains, both the initiation and the maintenance of deliquent activity are more likely. The dynamic interaction between the social environment, expectations of the self, and delinquency involvement is highlighted.

Gergen, K. (1991). The saturated self: Dilemmas of identity in contemporary life. Basic Books.

Today’s ever-expanding communication technologies force us to relate to far more people and institutions than ever before, in a multiplicity of forms—on the telephone, in person, across time and space. And each of these demands a different conception of ourselves. More than at any other time in history, each of us is not one self but many. So intense is our social saturation, argues Kenneth Gergen, that we take on the personas and values of the people with whom we communicate. The result is an erosion of our sense of objective truth, a multifaceted assault on our notions of the “true and knowable,” the unified moral core.

In this powerful and provocative work—early drafts of which have provoked intense discussion here and abroad—Gergen explores these profound changes in self-concept and their implications for cultural and intellectual life. His wide-ranging survey—ranging from anthropology to psychoanalysis, from film and fiction to literary theory—probes the prospects and perils for a world in which the self is never what it seems and truth lies in the stance of the beholder and the relationships of the moment. The book vividly describes the mobile, urban, affluent “knowledge class,” which, according to Gergen, is at the vanguard of the new era.

Because this book confronts headlong many of the central issues in contemporary intellectual debate—deconstructionism, poststructuralism, and relativism—it is sure to attract wide attention.

Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. Science, 185(4157), 1124-1131.

This article described three heuristics that are employed in making judgments under uncertainty: (i) representativeness, which is usually employed when people are asked to judge the probability that an object or event A belongs to class or process B; (ii) availability of instances or scenarios, which is often employed when people are asked to assess the frequency of a class or the plausibility of a particular development; and (iii) adjustment from an anchor, which is usually employed in numerical prediction when a relevant value is available. These heuristics are highly economical and usually effective, but they lead to systematic and predictable errors. A better understanding of these heuristics and of the biases to which they lead could improve judgments and decisions in situations of uncertainty.

Frankl, V. E. (1985). Man’s search for meaning. Simon & Schuster.

Man’s Search for Meaning is a 1946 book by Viktor Frankl chronicling his experiences as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps during World War II, and describing his psychotherapeutic method, which involved identifying a purpose in life to feel positive about, and then immersively imagining that outcome.

Higgins, E. T. (1987). Self-discrepancy: A theory relating self and affect. Psychological Review, 94(3), 319-340.

This article presents a theory of how different types of discrepancies between self-state representations are related to different kinds of emotional vulnerabilities. One domain of the self (actual; ideal; ought) and one standpoint on the self (own; significant other) constitute each type of self-state representation. It is proposed that different types of self-discrepancies represent different types of negative psychological situations that are associated with different kinds of discomfort. Discrepancies between the actual/own self-state (i.e., the self-concept) and ideal self-states (i.e., representations of an individual’s beliefs about his or her own or a significant other’s hopes, wishes, or aspirations for the individual) signify the absence of positive outcomes, which is associated with dejection-related emotions (e.g., disappointment, dissatisfaction, sadness). In contrast, discrepancies between the actual/own self-state and ought self-states (i.e., representations of an individual’s beliefs about his or her own or a significant other’s beliefs about the individual’s duties, responsibilities, or obligations) signify the presence of negative outcomes, which is associated with agitation-related emotions (e.g., fear, threat, restlessness). Differences in both the relative magnitude and the accessibility of individuals’ available types of self-discrepancies are predicted to be related to differences in the kinds of discomfort people are likely to experience. Correlational and experimental evidence supports the predictions of the model.

Kappes, H. B., & Oettingen, G. (2011). Positive fantasies about idealized futures sap energy. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47(4), 719-729.

Positive fantasies that idealize the future are found to be inversely related to achievement over time: the more positively the fantasies are experienced, the less effort do people invest in realizing these fantasies, and the lower is their success in achieving them.

Oyserman, D., Destin, M., & Novin, S. (2015). The context-sensitive future self: Possible selves motivate in context, not otherwise. Self and Identity, 14(2), 173-188.

Imagining one’s possible future self can motivate action but whether motivational power resides

more in positive or more in negative future identities is not clear. We predicted that motivational

power resides not in these positive or negative future identities but in the ﬁt between context and

future self. We varied ﬁt in four experiments by having students read about college as a success-

likely or failure-likely context and then write about their desired or undesired possible future

identities. Which aspect of the future self was motivating depended on context. Motivation was

higher in success-likely contexts if desired rather than undesired possible futures came to mind and was higher in failure-likely contexts if undesired rather than desired possible futures come to mind.

Hill, A. L., & Spokane, A. R. (1995). Career counseling and possible selves: A case study. The Career Development Quarterly, 43(3), 221-232.

Process-oriented case analyses, which are the natural next step in understanding career interventions, are beginning to reveal subtle process changes across sessions. In this case, a 37-year-old physical therapist, who expressed dissatisfaction with her current position, participated in 8 sessions of individual career counseling with an experienced doctoral-level career psychologist. The Possible Selves Questionnaire (PSQ; Markus, 1987), the Symptom 90-R Checklist (Derogatis, 1983), and the Career Decision Scale (Osipow, 1987) were administered at pretesting, after 4 sessions, and at posttesting. Four client- and 2 counselor-process measures were also administered following each session. Results revealed expected changes in traditional outcome measures, and an increase followed by a decrease in future possible selves. Anxiety and vocational information seeking followed a sine-shaped pattern, and sleep disturbance increased at midcounseling and posttesting. Session depth and smoothness were highest when anxiety and information seeking were lowest. These findings, which coincide with other case study results, were integrated using an activation theory model of career intervention in which moderate anxiety serves as a motivator for constructive behavior change.

Scheier, M. F., Weintraub, J. K., & Carver, C. S. (1986). Coping with stress: Divergent strategies of optimists and pessimists. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1257-1264.

Previous research has shown that dispositional optimism is a prospective predictor of successful adaptation to stressful encounters. In this research we attempted to identify possible mechanisms underlying these effects by examining how optimists differ from pessimists in the kinds of coping strategies that they use. The results of two separate studies revealed modest but reliable positive correlations between optimism and problem-focused coping, seeking of social support, and emphasizing positive aspects of the stressful situation. Pessimism was associated with denial and distancing (Study 1), with focusing on stressful feelings, and with disengagement from the goal with which the stressor was interfering (Study 2). Study 1 also found a positive association between optimism and acceptance/resignation, but only when the event was construed as uncontrollable. Discussion centers on the implications of these findings for understanding the meaning of people’s coping efforts in stressful circumstances.

Kuiper, N. A., Olinger, L. J., MacDonald, M. R., & Shaw, B. F. (1985). Self-schema processing of depressed and nondepressed content: The effects of vulnerability to depression. Social Cognition, 3(1), 77-93.

Investigated the nature of self-referent information processing in individuals cognitively vulnerable to depression but nondepressed. Depression was assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory, and vulnerability to depression was assessed with the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale. 113 college students were required to make 2 types of ratings on depressed- and nondepressed-content personal adjectives. Half of the adjectives in each content category were rated for a semantic attribute, whereas the other half were rated for degree of self-reference. These ratings were then followed by an incidental-recall period, in which Ss recalled as many of the adjectives as possible. Consistent with predictions generated from a content-specific self-schema model, nonvulnerable nondepressives exhibited the greatest incidental recall for nondepressed content adjectives receiving a prior self-referent judgment. Also consistent with this model, vulnerable depressives showed enhanced self-referent recall for both types of content. These results suggest a view of self in mild depressives that incorporates both normal and pathological content. Vulnerable nondepressed individuals, however, did not show any evidence of negative self-schema processing. Instead, their recall pattern for self-referent material was highly consistent with the results displayed by nonvulnerable nondepressives

Greenwald, A. G., & Pratkanis, A. R. (1984). The self. In R. S. Wyer, Jr. & T. K. Srull (Eds.), Handbook of social cognition, Vol. 3 (pp. 129–178). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.

This chapter, is written in the spirit of two prior reviews—William James’s (1890) chapter on “The Consciousness of Self” in his Principles of Psychology, and Gordon W. Allport’s 1943 article, “The ego in contemporary psychology.” Like James and Allport, we have set out to shape a usable, psychological concept of the self by mixing conceptual analysis and empirical review. Also, like them, we find it convenient to subdivide our treatment into several aspects, or functions of the self. For each of these subdivisions of the topic, we start by summarizing the relevant positions of James and Allport. We then review subsequent developments in theory and research most of these achieved within the last decade with the aim of extending and revising James’s and Allport’s conclusions.

Bandura, A., & National Institute of Mental Health. (1986). Prentice-Hall series in social learning theory. Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Prentice-Hall.

An exploration of contemporary advances in social learning theory with special emphasis on the important roles played by cognitive, vicarious, and self-regulatory processes.

Leondari, A., Syngollitou, E., & Kiosseoglou, G. (1998). Academic achievement, motivation and future selves. International Journal of Adolescence & Youth, 7 (2), 165- 177; Ruvolo, A. P., & Markus, H .R. (1992). Possible selves and performance: The power of self relevant imagery. Social Cognition, 10(1), 95-124.

Examined the relation between possible selves, academic performance, motivation, self-esteem and persistence on task. The assumption was that envisioning a desired end-state produces information processing favouring the desired state and, as a consequence, the action seems more likely and people are able to construct more efficient plans. We hypothesized that academic performance is best for Ss who are able to produce well-elaborated, vivid pictures of future selves. It was also predicted that Ss whose working self-concept was dominated by a well-elaborated future self would have higher self-esteem, show greater task persistence and be more motivated. Gender differences were also explored. Tests used included the Rosenberg Self-esteem Inventory and the Achievement Motivation Questionnaire. The sample consisted of 289 14–15 yr old high-school students of both sexes. The statistical analysis revealed that those who endorsed specific, elaborated positive selves outperformed the other groups in academic achievement. There was also indication that this group of students showed more persistence on task. Results are discussed in terms of their importance for the motivational role of possible selves in achievement situations.

Inglehart, M. R., Markus, H., & Brown, D. R. (1989). The effects of possible selves on academic achievement – A panel study. In Forgas, J. P. & Innes, J. M. (Eds.), Recent advances in social psychology: An international perspective (pp. 469-477). Elsevier Science Publishers.

The field of social psychology was one of the largest broad disciplinary areas represented at the Congress, and the papers selected for this volume give a fresh and exciting overview of the current state of the discipline. The volume aims to present a well-integrated and balanced survey of contemporary social psychology that may be read as a book in its own right or used as an up-to-date work of reference. This volume surveys the most recent developments in social psychology with over fifty papers by outstanding researchers from all over the world. The major research areas covered include attitudes, values and beliefs, attribution research, social cognition, emotion and affect, social perception, judgment and decisions, interpersonal behaviour and communication, groups, leadership, social influence processes, the self, personality and social adaptation, socialisation and cross-cultural psychology. The volume contains both empirical and theoretical papers and is aimed at students and researchers in social psychology and in neighbouring disciplines, such as cross-cultural, cognitive, developmental, personality and clinical psychology, social work and sociology.

Oettingen, G., & Mayer, D. (2002). The motivating function of thinking about the future: Expectations versus fantasies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(5), 1198-212.

Two forms of thinking about the future are distinguished: expectations versus fantasies. Positive expectations (judging a desired future as likely) predicted high effort and successful performance, but the reverse was true for positive fantasies (experiencing one’s thoughts and mental images about a desired future positively). Participants were graduates looking for a job (Study 1), students with a crush on a peer of the opposite sex (Study 2), undergraduates anticipating an exam (Study 3), and patients undergoing hip-replacement surgery (Study 4). Effort and performance were measured weeks or months (up to 2 yrs) after expectations and fantasies had been assessed. Implications for the self-regulation of effort and performance are discussed

Kihlstrom, J. F., & Cantor, N. (1984). Mental representations of the self. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 15 (pp. 1-47). Academic Press.

The study of the self is now of concern to almost every part of social psychology. This chapter attempts to adopt two complementary theoretical perspectives in cognitive psychology and pursue their implications for research and for theory on the structure and function of the self-concept. These implications should be construed as hypotheses rather than conclusions. It concerns with the cognitive aspects of the self, however, there are problems that must be confronted. Self-assessment is represented by a process involving the direct look up of features associated with the self concept. Because of the widespread implications and the great interest in the self throughout the behavioral sciences, research and theorizing in this field have inevitably followed different approaches. In the chapter, the relatively new information-processing perspective and the way the concepts and methods employed in the study of memory and information processing generally contribute in important ways to understand the self-concept is reviewed. The self-concept may be construed as a set of features that are characteristic of the person and also distinguish him or herself from other individuals.

Niedenthal, P. M., Setterland, M. B., & Wherry, M. B. (1992). Possible self- complexity and affective reactions to goal-relevant evaluation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63(1), 5-16.

The complexity of people’s self-concept appears to be inversely related to the intensity of their reactions to evaluative feedback about present goals and abilities (Linville, 1985, 1987). The idea that the complexity of individuals’ possible self-concept similarly mediates reactions to feedback regarding future goals was investigated. Two preliminary studies suggested that complexity of the actual self only explains 20% to 30% of the variance in possible self-complexity. Three studies were conducted. Support was found for the idea that possible self-complexity mediates affective reactions to evaluative feedback about future goals and actual self-complexity mediates affective reactions to evaluative feedback about present goals. The findings underscore the independent roles of the organization of actual and possible self-concepts in affective processes.

Ryff, C. D., & Keyes, C. L. M. (1995). The structure of psychological well-being revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(4), 719-727.

A theoretical model of psychological well-being that encompasses 6 distinct dimensions of wellness (Autonomy, Environmental Mastery, Personal Growth, Positive Relations with Others, Purpose in Life, Self-Acceptance) was tested with data from a nationally representative sample of adults (N = 1,108), aged 25 and older, who participated in telephone interviews. Confirmatory factor analyses provided support for the proposed 6-factor model, with a single second-order super factor. The model was superior in fit over single-factor and other artifactual models. Age and sex differences on the various well-being dimensions replicated prior findings. Comparisons with other frequently used indicators (positive and negative affect, life satisfaction) demonstrated that the latter neglect key aspects of positive functioning emphasized in theories of health and well-being.

Seligman, M. E. (2012). Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and wellbeing. Atria Books.

With this unprecedented promise, internationally esteemed psychologist Martin Seligman begins Flourish, his first book in ten years—and the first to present his dynamic new concept of what well-being really is. Traditionally, the goal of psychology has been to relieve human suffering, but the goal of the Positive Psychology movement, which Dr. Seligman has led for fifteen years, is different—it’s about actually raising the bar for the human condition.

Flourish builds on Dr. Seligman’s game-changing work on optimism, motivation, and character to show how to get the most out of life, unveiling an electrifying new theory of what makes a good life—for individuals, for communities, and for nations. In a fascinating evolution of thought and practice, Flourish refines what Positive Psychology is all about.