Description: All papers are to be 2-3 pages, Times New Roman 12-point font, double-spaced.

Exam 2: What so Positive about Positive Psychology?
Does positive psychology actually make a positive impact on people’s lives? Well, let’s put it to the test! Here’s how:
1) One Sunday night or Monday morning a week or two before the exam (but after lecture #5 – Positive Psychology), rate yourself on a scale from 1-10 on your overall happiness. Use the index: 1 = my life is miserable and I am as unhappy as a person can be; 5 = my life is average and I feel about average in happiness; 10 = my life is absolutely optimal and I am as happy as a person can be (you can be in between these, of course – they’re just anchors). Write this number down.
2) Over the course of that week, perform any three of the first five of Sonja Lyubomirsky’s 8 Steps to Improve Happiness (omit the last three as options; they’re too general and far-reaching). You may perform the same task more than once if you really have one you connect with, but it’s preferred that you do three different tasks.
3) After each task you perform – immediately after – rate your happiness again on the same scale used in step 1. Write these numbers down.
4) That following Sunday night a full week later, repeat step 1 (assess your happiness one final time).
a. Discuss the way your happiness did/did not rise in relation to the tasks you did.
b. Discuss how long the feelings of happiness lasted (if any).
c. Discuss which of the tasks made you happiest (if any), and why you think this might be.
d. Discuss whether or not you think these steps to happiness would be useful to you or others and have a lasting impact on well-being.

A note regarding tasks:
You have to go out of your way a little bit for the “acts of kindness” task. Holding a door open for someone is insufficient. Volunteering for a few hours, going to a Senior Center and chatting with seniors for a few hours, paying for the person behind you in line’s meal or Starbucks coffee, etc… those are kind of extra work, which is what makes them extra kind to do. =)