Positive Psychology Summit 2000
Building a Positive Human Future
October 13 – 15, 2000
The Gallup Organization
Washington, DC
Purpose and Schedule of Events
Positive Psychology articulates a vision of a positive human future that is empirically sound, understandable, and attractive. It investigates the actions that lead to well being, to positive individuals, and to flourishing corporations and communities. Positive Psychology documents the kinds of lives that lead to fulfillment, the kinds of families that result in the healthiest children, the work environments that support the greatest productivity and satisfaction, and the policies that result in the strongest civic commitment.
Until recently psychology gave us only scant knowledge of what makes life worth living. Psychology understood quite a bit about how people survive and endure under conditions of adversity. But such an exclusive focus on pathology and victims is of decreasing relevance to a nation at peace, in economic surplus, and in relative social harmony. The new field of Positive Psychology is about how normal people might flourish under benign conditions – the thriving individual and the thriving community. Positive Psychology changes the focus of psychology from preoccupation with repairing the worst things in life to building the best things in life.
The field of Positive Psychology at the subjective level is about positive experience: well being, optimism, hope, happiness, and flow. At the individual level it is about the character strengths – the capacity for love and vocation, courage, interpersonal skill, aesthetic sensibility, perseverance, forgiveness, originality, future-mindedness, and genius. At the group level it is about the civic virtues and the institutions that move individuals toward better citizenship: leadership, responsibility, parenting, altruism, civility, moderation, tolerance, and work ethic.
The theme of the Positive Psychology Summit 2000, sponsored by the Gallup Corporation and held in its new Washington headquarters, is "Building A Positive Human Future." Its focus will be on well being, the character strengths, and the civic virtues at home, in schools, and in the workplace.
Summit Program Committee:
Ed Diener, Chair
Martin E. P. Seligman
Don Clifton
Jim Clifton
Preliminary Schedule of Events
Friday, October 13
6:00 pm – 6:30 pm
Welcome and Introduction - Don Clifton & Ed Diener
6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Positive Psychology: A Progress Report - Martin E.P. Seligman
7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Cocktail Reception
Saturday, October 14
8:00 am – 8:45 am
First, Break All The Rules - Marcus Buckingham
8:45 am – 9:30 am
Human Progress Through Non-Zero Sum Interactions - Robert Wright
9:45 am – 11:15 am: SIMULTANEOUS SYMPOSIA
A. Benefits of Positive Affect at Work: Alice Isen
Creating Meaning in Work: Jobs, Careers, Callings - Amy Wrzesniewski
Satisfying Work - Barry Staw
B. The Struggle to Be Strong: Resilience as Process - Sybil & Steve Wolin
11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Evaluating Experience: Moments and Memories - Daniel Kahneman
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Lunch Session: Bag Lunch
Mastery and Performance Beliefs - Carol Dweck
Doing Good for Self and Society: The Psychology of Volunteerism - Mark Snyder
2:15 pm – 3:45 pm: SIMULTANEOUS SYMPOSIA
A. Positive Processes - Chaired by Barry Schwartz
What the Motivated Mind Sees: The Nature of Resilient Relationship Beliefs - Sandra Murray
The Tyranny of Freedom - Barry Schwartz
Self-Control: A Key to Success and Well-Being - Roy Baumeister
B. Learned Optimism in the Workplace - Karen Reivich & Andrew Shatte
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
The Blank Slate, The Noble Savage, and The Ghost in the Machine - Steve Pinker
Sunday, October 15
8:30 am – 9:15 am
Is Happiness a Virtue? The Personal and Societal Benefits of Positive Emotions - Ed Diener
9:30 am – 11:00 am: SIMULTANEOUS SYMPOSIA
A. Affect and Positive Psychology - Chaired by Dacher Keltner
Elevation and the Positive Moral Emotions - Jon Haidt
Laughter, Smiling, and the Sublime - Dacher Keltner
Emotion Regulation: Making the Most of Our Emotions - James Gross
B. Positive Interventions - Corey Keyes
Hope as the Essence of Positive Change - C. R. Snyder
Making Hope Happen Via Brief Interventions - Shane Lopez
The Role of Positive Youth: Development for Successful Transitions to Adulthood - Jacquelynne Eccles
11:15 am – 12:15 pm
The Importance of Positive Self-Image and Group Image - Claude Steele
12:45 pm – 1:45 pm
Lunch Session: Bag Lunch
Pheromones and the Embodiment of Social Support - Martha McClintock
1:45 pm – 3:15 pm
Emotion Forecasting and Recall - Chaired by Timothy Wilson
Mispredicting Happiness - Dan Gilbert
A Cautionary Note: The Pursuit of Happiness Can Be Self-Defeating - Jonathan Schooler
Why Happiness is Like Food - Timothy Wilson
3:30 pm – 4:30 pm
Empirical Models of the Determinants of Subjective Well-Being - Robert Manchin & Elemer Hankiss