Last changed 12 Jan 2017 ............... Length about 2,000 words (33,000 bytes).
(Document started on 26 Mar 2010.) This is a WWW document maintained by Steve Draper, installed at http://www.psy.gla.ac.uk/~steve/courses/posl4.html. You may copy it. How to refer to it.

Web site logical path: [www.psy.gla.ac.uk] [~steve] [courses] [this page] [PosPsy09-10] [PosPsy10-11] [PosPsy11-12] [PosPsy12-13] [PosPsy2014] [PosPsy2015] [PosPsy2016] [PosPsy2017]

Positive Psychology Level 4 course

By Steve Draper,   Department of Psychology,   University of Glasgow.

This page is an index page in my own web space for the PosPsy course: a psychology level 4 option "Positive Psychology" psych4032, 5052.

The current course 2016-7 course moodle

Past years' courses may be accessed from the following links. The first few are copies of the original web pages: no logins, but the format is crude.

  • PosPsy09-10 group size ≈ 6.
  • PosPsy10-11 group size ≈ 6.
  • PosPsy11-12 group size ≈ 5.
  • PosPsy12-13 group size ≈ 5.

    Some previous years' courses are still in Moodle. When asked to login, use your GUID. You should then be able to enter the course as a guest (though sometimes this is quite slow), and not by enrolling. When you are in the course moodle, the top page lists (if you scroll down) the student groups. You should not be able to enter the forum, but you should be able to enter the wiki, giving an introduction to a positive psychology topic.

  • 2016 course moodle

  • 2015 course moodle

  • 2014 course moodle group size ≈ 3.

  • Unstructured list of some past "wiki" pages as pdfs
  • Moodle hosts the wikis and forums. The important documents are mostly hosted on this page. It also is used to collect some less important additional links for students.

  • Textbooks

  • See also my other pages on PosPsy

  • (WikiP on writing). Rival advice on what kind of writing makes a useful article: should this apply to the wikis for fellow-students?
  • Example exam questions
  • A note on exams and this course

    Last session's (2016) course

    The group coursework: collected handouts

  • List of group members sorted by Name. v.4
  • List of group members sorted by group. v.4
  • Groupwork topics v.3
  • Ho1: Overview of coursework;   Timetable for course activities;   Spec. for homework1
  • (Ho2:)Expanded information on the group coursework

    Last words on the coursework

    Using GoogleDocs as the technology for your group coursework

    Your coursework will be posted into a wiki in Moodle. However, although there is an editor for creating the content in Moodle, it today seems better to use Google docs which is a simpler editor, and is set up for sharing authorship within your group. Below are various bits of help on getting a (free) account there, and using it.

  • How to use the GoogleDocs editor
  • Create a Gmail account     Going to GoogleDocs
  • Going to GoogleDrive     To set up storage     OR     Access your existing GoogleDrive files
  • Instructions for uploading coursework to Moodle

    Session 1: Intro, Gratitude, ABCDE technique

  • Session 1 slides
  • Session 1 audio recording
  • Some refs from lecture 1   Leah Palmer (2014) study
  • mHealth page of contacts and notes

  • More instructions about the homework exercising on critiquing wiki pages
  • Form for critiquing wiki pages

    Session 2: Flow, Burden of Choice

  • Session 2 slides
  • Session 2 audio recording
  • My notes on the concept of "fun". (An interesting issue somewhat related to flow.) You probably want the "short paper".
  • Pronouncing "Csikszentmihalyi": 5 sec. video only.
  • Ho2: More on groupwork
  • (For homework for next time (session 3), see last slide or two from the lecture.)
  • VIA strengths online test

    Session 3: mHealth, Strengths

  • mHealth page of contacts and notes
  • Guest speaker for part of this session: Claire McCallum.
    Passport photo She started (Sept. 2014) a PhD funded for the mHealth area. Naturally it is fundamentally interdisciplinary.

  • Session 3 slides:     Sebastian's slides (by Sebastian Schickhoff)         Claire's slides         Steve's slides
  • Session 3 audio recording

    Session 4: Various topics

  • Session 4 slides
  • Session 4 audio recording

  • Culture, well-being, and health (Phil Hanlon):   Website and podcasts
  • Mindfulness training for students; benefits for learning; Siobhan Lynch: references
  • Green space research

  • Reciprocal wiki critiquing exercise including Wiki critique allocations.
  • Form for critiquing wiki pages

    Session 5: Mindfulness. Exam prep.

  • Guest speaker for part of this session: Rohan Gunatillake.
    Passport photo     About Rohan     21awake     Buddhify     Buddhist geeks

  • Session 5 slides    Rohan's slides
  • Session 5 audio recording (Very low sound level for the guest speaker.)


    Other links

  • some recent refs on Intervention effectiveness (badly edited, as yet).

  • The NHS has a developed approach to "spirituality" in health care. Their use of the word "spirituality" is very broad: in line with PosPsy, although not with most ideas of religion, they define it as anything to do with an individual's way of finding personal meaning: for their life, and for major life events such as the illness of themselves or others.
    NHS Scotland (2009) spiritual care division and report

  • Centre for confidence and well-being Carol Craig's extensive Glasgow site, including some positive psychology resources and good critiques of PosPsy.

  • Culture, well-being, and health (Phil Hanlon):   Papers   Podcasts (videos)   another video

  • Institute of Health and Wellbeing (at GU)     .     .     .     .        

  • My other pages on PosPsy

  • Mindfulness training for students; benefits on learning; Siobhan Lynch

  • On 14 Jan 2012, The Independent's Saturday magazine was a special issue on happiness. Here are the articles:

  • Michael Bready's site

  • For notes on moodle, and warnings that students should be given about editing wikis etc. see (for the moment):
    http://www.psy.gla.ac.uk/~steve/moodle.html#edit

  • My notes on the concept of "fun"

  • Therapeutic writing.

  • PosPsy can improve your social relationships.
    O'Connell, B. H., O'Shea, D. & Gallagher, S. (2016) "Enhancing social relationships through positive psychology activities: a randomised controlled trial" The Journal of Positive Psychology vol.11 no. 2 pp.149-162 doi:10.1080/17439760.2015.1037860

  • Ten ways to banish a bad mood Although this is a popular article in a Tesco magazine, it has links to the academic literature for each point.

  • Layous, K., Lee, H., Choi, I., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2013) "Culture matters when designing a successful happiness-increasing activity: A comparison of the United States and South Korea" Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology vol.44 no.8 pp.1294-1303 doi:10.1177/0022022113487591

  • Gunatillake, Rohan (2016) This is Happening. Redesigning mindfulness for our very modern lives (Macmillan)

    Six books on how technology can be bad for well-being, recommended by Rohan

    Is happiness infectious? i.e. a collective (social) phenomenon

    Some ref.s on volunteering

    Some refs: temporary home for cmcc lecture refs

  • https://www.utwente.nl/igs/ehealth/research/positive-psychology-and-technology/
  • Wiederhold, B. K., & Riva, G. (2012) "Positive technology supports shift to preventive, integrative health" Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 15(2), pp.67-68 doi:10.1089/cyber.2011.1533
  • Riva, G., Banos, R. M., Botella, C., Wiederhold, B. K., & Gaggioli, A. (2012) Positive technology: using interactive technologies to promote positive functioning. "Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking" 15(2), 69-77. doi:10.1089/cyber.2011.0139

    Some posPsy journals

    You can scan these for new ideas in PosPsy.
  • The International Journal of Wellbeing
  • The Journal of Positive Psychology
  • The Journal of Happiness Studies
  • Journal of Applied Psychology: Health and Wellbeing
  • Indian Journal of Positive Psychology
  • Middle East Journal of Positive Psychology
  • Web site logical path: [www.psy.gla.ac.uk] [~steve] [courses] [this page]
    [Top of this page]