PSYC20037 Introduction to Positive Psychology Assignment 1 Sample

PSYC20037 Introduction to Positive Psychology

Task Description:

The purpose of this written reflection is to demonstrate your understanding of a positive psychology theoretical model and how it may be applied in your own life. This short written task provides an opportunity for you to demonstrate your skills in critical reflection, and your ability to produce a clear and concise written piece.

Please note, this assessment task must be completed individually – it is an independent assessment piece, meaning that you cannot work with other students to complete it.

In the Week 1 Moodle Workbook, Martin Seligman;s PERMA model of wellbeing is introduced. For Assessment 1, you will reflect on the PERMA model and write a 600-word personal critical reflection. You will:

1. Reflect on how the PERMA model - Seligman;s conceptualisation of wellbeing – compares and contrasts with your own personal understanding of wellbeing prior to beginning this unit. For example, in what ways does Seligman’s PERMA model reinforce or challenge your pre-existing world beliefs? What are the points of alignment and points of difference? What were your insights when reflecting on this? Your experiences and insights will need to draw upon relevant theory and evidence; i.e., your comparative analysis must be supported by at least five reputable academic references; a minimum of three of these academic references must be resources that have been referred to in the Unit Moodle workbooks.

2. Next, consider how you can apply the PERMA model to your own life to understand and enhance your personal wellbeing. Write about (a) how the PERMA elements are currently represented in your life, and/or (b) ways that they are not currently part of your life.

3. To gain a clearer picture of how PERMA is currently represented in your life, the next step of this assessment is to complete a wellbeing measurement tool which has been designed to assess a person’s levels of PERMA. Access the PERMA Profiler on the University of Pennsylvania’s Authentic Happiness website (you will need to register to complete this measurement tool). The website will then display your results on the PERMA Profiler. After examining these results, reflect upon what the results mean to you. For example, how did the results relate to your perceptions of your own wellbeing? Did the measurement instrument provide the results you expected?

4. Finally, create one SMART goal (a Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time- bound goal) for yourself, based on one or more PERMA elements and your insights from completing the PERMA Profiler, that you can implement in your life to further enhance your personal wellbeing. Your choice of goal should be informed by empirical research about strategies for enhancing wellbeing, and thus this section should include reputable academic references. For your chosen goal, explain how it meets the SMART criteria, and provide one relevant visual element (e.g., photograph, drawing, diagram, illustration, graph or map) to represent your goal which supports your written reflection. Your visual element needs to be original; i.e., no google images or stock images permitted.

Solution

Seligman's PERMA model

After encountering with the Seligman's PERMA model as highlighted in the question, I would like to state that my understanding of wellbeing was having the main focused around subjective feelings of happiness and satisfaction (Kovich et al., 2023). However, the PERMA model gave me a more proper framework which actually challenged the simple view of mine. It was having its focus on five important elements: Positive emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment (Farmer, & Cotter, 2021). Upon reflection, I would like to say here that my previous understanding was very much limited, which was focused on some of the simple aspects of happiness. Seligman's model introduced me to get the idea of eudemonic wellbeing, which has been found to include many of the aspects such as engagement, meaning, and relationships (Feng et al., 2020). This actually helped in suggesting the fact that true wellbeing has been found to go with pleasure. This kind of understanding helped me in understanding the connection of many kinds of aspects of life and the need for having a balanced approach in order to achieve good wellbeing.

Application of PERMA Model to my life

The application of the PERMA model to my life includes the process of assessing how each element is currently represented by also checking and identifying areas for improvement. I also found positivity in my life by all the moments of joy and gratitude, and I was able to get it more by having some of the daily practices like mindfulness or keeping a gratitude journal. I found myself to be engaged within activities I enjoy, but I will be able to look out for more opportunities (Mendes et al., 2020). This will be related to the flow experiences that challenge and absorb me fully. Relationships play an important role in my life, but I will be able to invest more time and effort into having some of the deeper connections with loved ones. I would also like to say here that finding the true meaning in my work and hobbies helped me in getting a sense of purpose, yet I will always check on some of the activities that will be getting aligned more closely with my values and passions. By reflecting on these aspects, I will be able to identify and check some of the areas for growth and develop strategies to increase my overall wellbeing MBA assignment expert.

Representation of PERMA in current life

After completing the PERMA Profiler on the University of Pennsylvania's Authentic Happiness website, I got more levels of information into the main components of my wellbeing as per the Seligman's model (Goh et al., 2022). The results provided a more objective assessment of my levels of Positive emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment. More than that, the PERMA Profiler helped in being one of the most important tool for evaluating my wellbeing and identifying areas for growth. It gave me proper information that checked on my efforts to increase my overall quality of life and achieve a more balanced state of wellbeing.

SMART Goals

My SMART goal is to increase daily engagement in meaningful activities, as I have understood by reflecting on the PERMA model. To achieve this, I will be tracking all my engagement in activities using a daily journal, by starting with the addition of one new meaningful activity per day.

References:

Farmer, N., & Cotter, E. W. (2021). Well-being and cooking behavior: using the positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment (PERMA) model as a theoretical framework. Frontiers in psychology, 12, 560578. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.560578/full

Feng, X., Lu, X., Li, Z., Zhang, M., Li, J., & Zhang, D. (2020). Investigating the Physiological Correlates of Daily Well-being: A PERMA Model-Based Study. The Open Psychology Journal, 13(1). https://openpsychologyjournal.com/VOLUME/13/PAGE/169/ABSTRACT/

Goh, P. S., Goh, Y. W., Jeevanandam, L., Nyolczas, Z., Kun, A., Watanabe, Y., ... & Jiang, J. (2022). Be happy to be successful: A mediational model of PERMA variables. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 60(3), 632-657. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1744-7941.12283

Kovich, M. K., Simpson, V. L., Foli, K. J., Hass, Z., & Phillips, R. G. (2023). Application of the PERMA model of well-being in undergraduate students. International Journal of Community Well-Being, 6(1), 1-20. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42413-022-00184-4

Mendes, J., Medeiros, T., Silva, O., Tomás, L., Silva, L., & Ferreira, J. A. (2022). PERMA model of well-being applied to Portuguese senior tourists: A confirmatory factor analysis. Sustainability, 14(13), 7538. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/13/7538