Chapter 6 Vocab

Person's instinctive response to a stimulus; characterized by a sense of arousal.

Positive emotions expand what an individual feels like doing at any given time. This expansion is called broadening of an individual's momentary thought-action repertoire. Positive emotions also allow people to build resources through the increasing of creative problem solving and recognition of personal resources.

Mental health is defined as high levels of emotional, psychological, and social well-being and the absence of mental illness symptoms.

type of experience within the positive or negative affective state.

feeling state resulting from the appraisal of an external object as salient to our own well-being.

presence of positive affect and the absence of negative affect, as well as satisfaction with life.

Human flourishing, or happiness associated with living a life of virtue.

pleasurable experience resulting from engagement in an interesting activity that properly matches or challenges a person's skills and abilities.

theories suggesting that happiness may be a more stable personality trait or a characteristic that is genetically based.

broadening of a specific action tendency to include cognitive as well as physical responses to an emotion.

General, free-floating feelings that last longer than an emotion. Thought to be tied to expectations of future positive or negative affect.

suggesting that happiness lies in the reduction of tension through the satisfaction of goals and needs.

humans seek to reduce tension by gratifying instinctive needs regardless of the consequences.

suggesting that happiness is produced by engaging in certain activities or working toward a goal.

state of well-being characterized by self-acceptance, personal growth, purpose in life, environmental mastery, autonomy, and positive emotions.

state of well-being characterized by acceptance, actualization, contribution, coherence, and integration with others.

tendency to act in a specific manner that follows an emotion. Most famous is the "fight or flight" response.

person's individual judgment about his or her current status in the world. Often used synonymously with happiness.

direction of affect: positive (pleasant) or negative (unpleasant).