A program to increase happiness: Further studies.

“Pioneers in this field (e.g., Fordyce, 1977, 1983) found that happiness levels could be increased by “shotgun” interventions involving multiple exercises.”

“As noted earlier, Fordyce (1977, 1983) conducted several happiness intervention studies in which he taught 14 happiness-relevant strategies to students as part of their coursework.”

“For instance, in an early set of studies, Fordyce (1977, 1983) demonstrated in seminal studies that a multipronged program successfully raised individuals’ happiness for an extended period of time.”

“…futile, they based this argument on between-subjects evidence that life events matter little for SWB. Similarly, when researchers develop programs to increase happiness (e.g., Fordyce, 1977, 1983), they often argue that people can become happier if they imitate the characteristics of happy people.”

“Fordyce (1977, 1983) was among the first empirical researchers to develop and test a happiness intervention.”

“Research programs have been undertaken on the structure of well-being (Eid, 2008), happiness interventions (Fordyce, 1983; Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, & Schkade, 2005; Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005), the relation between material circumstances and happiness (Veenhoven, 1994), and the benefits…”

“(Galnoor, 1977), to allow us to add nothing here. For our purposes, the important point is that the very same psychological processes that make it possible to rightly persuade people of things that are true, good and beautiful, also make it possible to wrongly persuade people of their opposites, falsehoods, evil and u…”

“Finally, imagining success at one’s life goals can improve performance (Pham & Taylor, 1999), boost psychological adjustment (Rivkin & Taylor, 1999), and bring to bear a variety of benefits associated with positive thinking (Fordyce, 1983).”

“And even more exciting, a number of recent studies report interventions based on this accumulated research knowledge, to significantly increase the happiness-levels of normal adults (Fordyce, 1977, 1983; Fraser et al, 1985; Lichter e? a/., 1980).”

“Theories of achievement emotions have produced interventions that reduce worries about test taking through expressive writing (e.g., Ramirez & Beilock, 2011), or that enhance happiness and well-being through personal improvement exercises (e.g., Fordyce, 1977, 1983).”

“Writing in the APA's Journal of Counseling Psychology, Fordyce (1977, 1983) reported seven studies (with follow-up between 2 weeks and 18-months), involving 14 activities to increase happiness, all compared to control conditions; such work is remarkably similar to the contemporary interventions that have been consider…”

“First, some researchers have had preliminary success, albeit short-term, in using interventions to enhance happiness (e.g., Schulz, 1976; Fordyce, 1977, 1983; Lichter et al., 1980; Fava, 1999; Sheldon et al., 2002).”

“In another study, Fordyce (1983) found that the behaviorally focused ‘lifestyle’ components of the Fundamentals program had a more rapid effect on measures of well-being and could account for the gains made by the full program, at least for those participants who showed a weakness in this area.”

“However, other researchers have found that interventions can increase happiness over the long term (Fordyce, 1977, 1983; Lichter, Haye, & Kammann, 1980; Sheldon, Kasser, Smith, & Share, 2002), so it is plausible that increasing experiential consumption would increase happiness.”

“Fordyce [68,69] showed that behavioral programs—interventions designed as a series of exercises modeled from the characteristics of happy people—have a positive effect on personal contentment.”

“First, some researchers have had success in using interventions to increase happiness (e.g., Fava, Rafanelli, Cazzaro, Conti, & Grandi, 1998; Fordyce, 1977, 1983; Langer & Rodin, 1976; Lichter, Haye, & Kammann, 1980; Sheldon, Kasser, Smith, & Share, 2002).”

“Fordyce (1977, 1983) published two landmark studies on interventions for increasing happiness in students.”

“This measure has been shown to be reliable and valid [14] and to be sensitive to change over time [15,16].”

“This postulation is supported by several studies by Fordyce (1977, 1983) which found that happinessincreasing activities were effective to the extent that they corresponded to the needs and weaknesses of the individual (Lyubomirsky et al. 2005).”

“Other reasons for optimism include the fact that psychotherapy can have a measurable and lasting positive impact upon peoples’ mood and adjustment (Smith, Glass, & Miller, 1980), the fact that some well-being interventions have shown a degree of success (Fava, Rafanelli, Cazzaro, Conti, & Grandi, 1998; Fava et al., 20…”

“…the capacity to increase one’s own happiness may sound too good to be true, the development and understanding of happiness-boosting strategies have come a long way since Fordyce (1977, 1983) published his first successful attempts at intentionally increasing happiness levels in his classrooms.”

“It makes you think, well where do I fit in expressing love and having love for other people.”

“We selected the eight skills based on evidence from previous multiple-component programs (e.g. Fava and Ruini, 2003; Fava et al., 1998; Fordyce, 1981, 1983; Seligman et al., 2006) as well as studies of single skills (e.g. Emmons, 2007; Langston, 1994; Lyubomirsky et al., 2005), and our own program…”

“…have measured happiness 6 months (Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005), 9 months (Lyubomirsky, Dickerhoof, Boehm, & Sheldon, 2008, Study 1), and even 18 months later (Fordyce, 1983), it is unclear whether participants were still engaging in their assigned exercises for that period of time.”

“Beginning with Fordyce’s pioneering programme to increase personal happiness (Fordyce, 1977, 1983), so-called ‘positive psychology interventions’ (PPIs1) now range from those promoting gratitude, kindness/compassion, optimism, resilience, strengths, mindfulness, savouring, goal-setting and coaching…”

“This inventory was developed by Eysenck (1990) based on the work of Fordyce (1983) .”

“Fordyce ( 1983 ) found that significant gains to well-being were made when participants completed an exercise that tapped into an area of personal weakness for them.”

“For example, Fordyce (1983) studied 14 different activities and observed greater improvements in psychological well-being when participants engaged in exercises targeting an area of weakness for them. More recently, Sergeant and Mongrain (2011) observed that highly self-critical individuals benefitted more from a grat…”

“In a foundational series of studies, Fordyce (1977, 1983) found that by having participants imitate the characteristics of individuals high in well-being, that the well-being of his participants increased.”

“In a study using students in a US community college, interventions that have high goal–person fit have been shown to be more successful than interventions lacking fit (Fordyce, 1977, 1983).”

“Behaviors that are effective for the regulation of well-being and positive moods (see Fordyce, 1983; Thayer, Newman, & McClain, 1994) or sociability (such as outgoing behavior) might only work within genetically determined ranges.”

“In order to maximize individual happiness, Table 2 offers a list of happiness enhancing activities that have been collected from psychologists, psychiatrists, anthropologists and other scientists (see, e.g., Fordyce 1993, Wiesemann 2003, Myers 2004, Varughese 2004, Montier 2004).”

“With some early exceptions (Fordyce, 1977, 1983; Lichter et al., 1980), historically, the emphasis in psychology has been on reducing depression, anxiety, or other negative affective constructs.”

“The exercises included in Fordyce’s PLOS ONE | www.plosone.org 1 April 2014 | Volume 9 | Issue 4 | e95677 program encouraged participants to: (a) keep busy and be more active; (b) spend more time socializing; (c) be productive at meaningful work; (d) get better organized and plan things out; (e) stop worrying; (f) low…”

“A follow-up investigation showed that many participants continued to report these increases over time, for periods ranging from several months to 2 years later (Fordyce, 1983, Study 7).”

“Specifically, one of the earliest documented interventions to increase happiness involved guiding individuals to adopt characteristics present in happy people (Fordyce, 1977, 1983).”

“a control group receiving summary instruction in the program [30].”

“Researchers have suggested that whether an individual’s mood is improved by an exercise depends on the fit with the person’s personality, motives, strengths, or needs (Fordyce, 1983; Sheldon & Lyubomirsky, 2006).”

“…single PI design, the few studies published so far using varied PI designs showed that the engagement in a greater variety of PIs predicted larger mood improvements and is also more realistic (e.g., Fordyce, 1977, 1983; Parks, Della Porta, Pierce, Zilca, & Lyubomirsky, 2012; Sheldon et al., 2012).”

“More important, promising findings have been found for the use of positive psychology-based self-help books without any support [35-37] or with email support [38].”

“Several modern psychologists agree, and lowering aspirations and expectations is a part of the program that Fordyce (1977, 1983) has developed to increase personal happiness.”

“Several studies have documented that theorybased cognitive or interpersonal exercises can temporarily boost satisfaction with life (Fordyce 1977, 1983; Lyubomirsky et al. 2011; Odou and Vella-Brodrick 2013; Mongrain and Anselmo-Matthews 2012; Seligman et al. 2005b; Sin and Lyubomirsky 2009).”

“…& Steen 2005) in non-physician populations. uilt on the prior pioneering work demonstrating that multiple irected exercises can improve happiness (Fordyce, 1977, 1983) r. Martin Seligman, a leader in positive psychology, conducted an nternet based randomized controlled trial evaluating the…”

“Strategies for increasing subjective well-being were first conducted by Fordyce (1977, 1983).”

“…Studies and theoretical explanations for subjective well-being and religion-spirituality were taken advantage of (AbdelKhalek, 2009; Bowlby, 1989; Fordyce, 1977, 1983; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984; Pargament, 2002; Prager, 1995; Schulman, 2002; Tkach & Lyubomirsky, 2006) while categorizing the…”

“Previous research has shown that PPIs increase the general well-being of participants (Fordyce, 1977, 1983; Fava et al., 2004).”

“Subjective well-being increasing strategies have been studied by many researchers (Buss, 2000; Eryılmaz, 2012; Fordyce, 1983; Lyubomirsky, Sheldon & Schkade, 2005).”

“According to Fordyce, positive-optimistic thinking, working on new activities and having an active life, engagement in social activities, developing extrovert personal characteristics and decreasing negative thoughts are among subjective well-being increasing strategies effective in individual subjective well-being.”

“Fordyce [19, 20] created an intervention program with the intention of teaching individuals to imitate behaviours characteristic of happy people, such as being more organised, being occupied, giving more time to relationships with other people, having a positive view of life and developing a…”

“Based on the happiness literature Fordyce (1983) subsequently identified what he saw as fundamental cognitions and behaviors which he operationalized into 14 fundamental strategies.”

“According to Fordyce (1983), subjective well-being increases when individuals focus on the present moment and can be themselves.”

“For example, Fordyce (1977, 1983) instructed students in a program involving 14 ‘fundamental’ happiness techniques (e.g., socialise more, strengthen close relationships, develop positive thinking, get more active).”