Study note | Harvard Positive Psychology

After the first class regarding for the definition of positive psychology, I learnt that if you apply the positive psychology in life, your life can be changed completely. The way you think, the way to act on things.

The second lesson is focus on the reason why we choose positive psychology. Professor Tal begins with the data showing the ratio of papers of psycho illness vs those of happiness or other positive emotions. The ratio is unexpected high which is21:1. It means that for every paper that focus on positive psychology, there are may be more than 21 papers focus on so-called negative psychology. What impresses me most during the lesson is the mini experiment Professor Tal used. He displayed a picture(I couldn't see) and ask the student to count how many geometrics students could found in this picture within 30s. After 30s, the students were asked some other questions, not as the same as the previous one, related to the pictures. Only quite few students paid attention and could actually answer the questions. Therefore, he brought up the statement that 'Questions create reality'.

I was shocked by his simple and succinct conclusion. Even though, I didn't see the actual picture he used in the class, it reminds me of one of classic experiments The invisible Gorilla. The Gorilla experiment showed that our limit of intuition, but expiring from this class, it can also prove that if we are not asking the right question(finding the gorilla instead of counting the missed passing). By asking question, our attention and energy will focus on the question related things and other things will become invisible to us at all.

In the class, Professor Tal set an example. "What is the first question a couple would ask after their honeymoon period? It always be 'what will we do to improve our relation?'" By asking that question, we unconsciously to put all our attentions on the couples imperfections, contradictions, shortcomings, and so on. And that would impact the relationship a lot and would possibly destroy a relationship. If we want to be more positive, we need to focus on positive things by asking the right question.

I could still remember Professor Tal's saying in the first class,"how to asking the right question, is not only essential for academy, research, conversation. It's more important to finding the right answer." Now, it has additional meaning that right questions will guide our energy flows to the right place.

Sentence of the day

Questions create reality.