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Block 1 Foundations of Positive Psychology

Unit 3 Eastern and Western Perspectives on Positive Psychology

1. Describe the key parameters on which the Indian perspective differs from the Western perspective:

• Self: The Indian perspective views the self as socially embedded, relational, and continuous across various life forms, while the Western perspective views the self as autonomous, bounded, and with fixed boundaries.
• Time: Indian perspective emphasizes temporal and atemporal existence, whereas the western perspective has a linear perspective on time.
• Growth: The Indian view sees non-linear growth in life, while the western perspective has a belief in progress and growth.
• Reality: The Indian view has no subject-object dichotomy, but the Western perspective views reality through a dualistic lens, with a subject-object dichotomy.
• Knowledge: The Indian view values both empirical/worldly (Aparāvidyā) and higher spiritual (Parāvidyā) knowledge, whereas the Western view focuses more on empirical knowledge.
• Individualism: The Western perspective promotes liberal ontological individualism and belief in freedom, while the Indian perspective promotes social individualism.

2. What are the differential ways in which psychological phenomena are treated by Western and Indian psychological perspectives?

• Emphasis: Western psychology emphasises the objective and measurable aspects of psychological phenomena, often using a third-person perspective, whereas Indian psychology emphasizes subjective experience and consciousness, using a first-person perspective.
• Focus: Western psychology tends to focus on the environment and external factors when studying behaviour, whereas Indian psychology focuses on the inner experience and consciousness.
• Methodology: Western psychology is primarily based on empirical methods and experiments, whereas Indian psychology incorporates introspection, meditation, and spiritual practices.
• Holism: Indian psychology views a person as a holistic entity comprising biological, psychological and spiritual aspects, whereas Western psychology tends to approach these as separate entities.
• Well-being: Western psychology has studied well-being as subjective well-being, whereas Indian psychology views well-being as encompassing physical, social, emotional, and spiritual aspects.

3. Why should culture be taken into account while studying happiness?

1. Cultural variations: The concept of happiness varies significantly across cultures. What is considered happiness in one culture may not be in another.
2. Social context: Cultural norms and values influence how people perceive and experience emotions. The experience of satisfaction is derived from different kinds of experiences and engagements across different cultures.
3. Universal goals: The idea of subjective well-being as a universal goal is not valid, as cultural contexts shape how people understand happiness.
4. Empirical challenges: The diversity in the concepts of happiness across cultures and time poses major challenges to empirical research on happiness.

4. What are the areas in which Indian psychological concepts can help improve quality of life? Discuss with the help of insights from the study of some Indian psychological concepts:

1. Holistic well-being: Indian psychology promotes a holistic view of well-being, encompassing physical, psychological, and spiritual dimensions, which provides a comprehensive framework for improving quality of life.
2. Mindfulness and meditation: Practices like yoga and meditation, rooted in Indian traditions, can enhance mental clarity, emotional regulation, and stress reduction.
3. Karma Yoga: The concept of selfless service and action can lead to a sense of purpose and satisfaction.
4. Detachment: Concepts like detachment (vairagya) and non-attachment can enable people to manage their emotional life by disengaging from worldly possessions and material attachments
5. The concept of Jiva: The Indian concept of Jiva, which refers to the individual, emphasises self-realization through self-knowledge and awareness.

5. How do you connect personal well-being with social well-being in the Indian and Western psychological perspectives?

• Western Perspective: Tends to focus on individual well-being as separate from social well-being, with an emphasis on personal achievement and autonomy. Social well-being is often seen as a byproduct of individual success, and it's considered the individual's own responsibility.
• Indian Perspective: Emphasizes the interconnectedness of personal and social well-being, where individual happiness is often linked to the well-being of the community. The idea is that individual actions impact the entire community, with an emphasis on harmony and balance.
• Interdependence: The Indian perspective stresses the interdependence of all life forms for a higher goal that benefits everyone.

6. Discuss the significance of yoga for psychology by identifying any three domains of psychological functioning:

• Stress reduction: Yoga practices, including asanas (physical postures), pranayama (breath control), and meditation, can effectively reduce stress and anxiety by promoting relaxation and a sense of calm.
• Emotional regulation: Through the practice of yoga, one gains increased awareness of thoughts and emotions, facilitating better management of emotional responses.
• Cognitive enhancement: Yoga and meditation can improve focus, concentration, and attention, and promote overall cognitive function through increased awareness of bodily processes.

7. Enumerate the attributes of dharma and give examples from your experience.

• Definition: Dharma, in Indian thought, refers to one’s duty, responsibility, and ethical way of living, which guides one’s actions in alignment with universal principles.
• Attributes of Dharma: Includes truthfulness, non-violence, compassion, selflessness, and ethical conduct.
• Examples:
  • Being honest and trustworthy in all dealings, such as not cheating or deceiving others.
  • Treating others with kindness, empathy and respect, even in challenging situations, such as helping an elderly person who needs assistance.
  • Fulfilling one’s responsibility towards family and society, such as helping out at home or volunteering in the community.

8. Differentiate between western and Indian perspective on human existence.

Western perspective focuses on materialistic-deterministic aspects of human existence, whereas Indian perspective assumes a more inclusive spiritual growth perspective on human existence.

9. What are the two kinds of knowledge according to the Indian view?

Empirical or worldly (Aparā-vidyā) and higher spiritual (Parā-vidyā)

10. What are the key transformations that take place in a person going on the path of attaining the state of Sthitapragya?

• Equanimity: A key transformation is achieving a state of equanimity in the face of both happiness and misery, success and failure. This means maintaining a balanced perspective and not being overly swayed by external circumstances.
• Transcendence: The person transcends the illusory world full of suffering and attains bliss. They move beyond the temporary ups and downs of life to a more stable and peaceful state of being.
• Steady Wisdom: The individual develops steady wisdom (Sthitapragya), which is characterised by a balanced perspective on life, an ability to remain undisturbed by the external world, and freedom from the cycle of suffering.
• Mind Control: The path involves training the mind to remain balanced in all situations.
• Perfect Person Model: The state of Sthitapragya is a model of a perfect person.

11. Explain ‘attachment’ in relation to wellbeing.

• Cause of Suffering: The sources indicate that attachment to objects and desires is a cause of suffering. This is a central tenet in both Hindu and Buddhist thought.
• Ego and Attachment: Identification with the ego results in attachment, sin, and negative emotions which also leads to suffering.
• Impediment to Spiritual Growth: Attachment is seen as an impediment to spiritual growth and mental peace.
• Detachment for Well-being: Detachment from desires is considered essential for a happy life and reaching a state of inner peace and liberation.
• Contentment and control: Qualities such as contentment, and control over desires enhance well-being by reducing attachment.
• Transcendent Journey: Hindu happiness is concerned with the attainment of ‘Ānańda’or a transcendent journey involving realization of connectedness or oneness, achieved through non-attachment to material things.

12. How inclusive is Vedanta view? Explain.

• Non-Dualism: The Vedanta view is based on the concept of non-dualism (Advaita), which maintains that one's self is inseparable from the rest of the world. This implies a fundamental interconnectedness between all beings.
• Universal Well-being: The notion of non-duality expands the scope of thinking about life satisfaction and promotes the idea of seeking well-being for everyone (Sarve bhavantu sukhinah).
• Expanded Identity: Identification with greater entities like Atman, Brahman, or the infinite leads to mental peace and well-being, thereby broadening the concept of identity beyond the individual self.
• Cosmocentric view: Vedanta has a cosmocentric view and sees things in a complementary fashion where the microcosm and macrocosm share common aspects of reality.

13. What are the potential psychological implications of the Panchakosha view of human existence?

• Holistic Understanding: The Panchakosha model provides a holistic view of human existence, encompassing physical, energetic, mental, intellectual, and blissful dimensions.
• Integrated Approach: The model suggests that well-being is achieved by nurturing all these layers of the self. Neglecting any layer can lead to imbalance and potential psychological issues.
• Hierarchical Development: The Koshas show a hierarchical order of development, from the physical to the blissful, indicating a progressive path of self-realisation.
• Self-Realization: The model emphasises the importance of moving beyond self-actualization to self-realization, the ultimate state of well-being.
• Comprehensive Intervention: Interventions that target only one level are incomplete, and psychological interventions that take a holistic view might bring about a more complete and lasting improvement in well-being.
• Schools and Panchakosha: The model can contribute to the holistic well-being of school children by focusing on the first three levels: Annamaya kosha (proper food and exercise), Pranamaya kosha (proper breathing), and Manomaya kosha (training the mind).

14. How do you relate the ashtanga yoga prescribed by Patanjali to life style?

• Ethical Living: Yamas (moral injunctions) and Niyamas (fixed observances) provide ethical guidelines that inform how one relates to oneself and the world, thus promoting an ethical lifestyle.
• Physical and Mental Health: Asana and Pranayama promote physical and mental health by improving posture and breath control, and creating a more stable platform for further practices.
• Mindfulness and Focus: Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana practices help develop mindfulness, concentration, and meditative skills, which can be incorporated into daily life for better awareness and self-regulation.
• Spiritual Development: Samadhi, the final limb, represents a state of deep absorption and spiritual insight, indicating a path toward self-realisation and inner freedom.

• Holistic Framework: The eight limbs of Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga offer a comprehensive and systematic framework for living life holistically.
• Daily Practice: The system of yoga is a path to purifying consciousness and mind via the practical application of its principles.

15. How will you explain the influence of Vipassana on the pursuit of happy life?

• Mind-Body Connection: Vipassana meditation focuses on self-transformation by realizing the mind-body connection.
• Awareness and Insight: It aims at gaining insight into the impermanent nature of mind and body, which can reduce suffering.
• Purification of Mind: By observing the changing nature of thoughts, feelings, and sensations without judgment, Vipassana purifies the mind of old patterns of thinking and acting.
• Equanimity: The practice of observing internal experiences without attachment cultivates equanimity and reduces reactivity to external stimuli, resulting in inner peace and happiness.

• Mindfulness: Vipassana is closely related to mindfulness meditation, and through the cultivation of non-judgmental awareness, a person can reduce mental distress and improve overall well-being.

16. Acquaint yourself with two forms of meditation and indicate their connection with well-being.

• Concentrative Meditation (Samatha):

  • Technique: Involves focusing attention on a single point, such as breath, a mantra, or an image. It removes distractions, and develops a focused state of mind.
  • Well-being Connection: This form of meditation improves concentration, reduces mind wandering, enhances emotional stability, and leads to a state of calm. It can lead to a state of deeper understanding of oneself.

• Mindfulness/Open Awareness Meditation (Vipassanā):

  • Technique: Involves observing all thoughts, feelings, and sensations without judgment. It cultivates an attitude of witnessing of internal experiences.
  • Well-being Connection: This form of meditation enhances self-awareness, reduces reactivity, improves emotional regulation, and increases acceptance of the present moment. It is associated with better mental health, improved relationships, and better coping with pain.

• Integration: Mindfulness meditation has been found to have a significant positive effect on well-being, improving psychological, physical and social well-being.

Important Points

1. The traditional approach in psychology was based on a deficit model.
2. According to Seligman, psychology is not just the study of weakness and damage, it is also the study of strength and virtue.
3. Confucianism and Taoism are examples of Eastern perspectives.
4. The phrase Indian Psychology (IP) was first used by Jadunath Sinha.
5. Cārvāka philosophy referred to the materialist view.
6. Indian Psychology is the study of the person called Jiva.
7. Human beings can access the consciousness-as-such state of being through the following processes: brain-processed learning (Sravana), mind generated understanding (Manana), and consciousness–accessed realization (Nididhyăsan).
8. Indian Psychology views reality from both macrocosm and microcosm perspectives.
9. WEIRD refers to people from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic societies.
10. The two planes of reality propounded by eastern thinkers are cosmological and ordinary.
11. Subjective well-being in non-western cultures is considered as a socially constituted concept and is dependent on the social context. Subjective well-being is the non-western perspectives is considered as a universal goal going beyond the individual, focusing on people as a whole, and seeking well-being of everyone.
12. Taoism was propounded by Lao Tzu.
13. The Buddhist followers of Anatta (not Self).
14. Pleasure is a sensory experience that is external, whereas pain is a negative experience involving mental or physical distress. 
15. Pleasure is an agreeable feeling characterized by gratification or satisfaction, whereas Pain is regarded as a disagreeable feeling produced by an undesired object and involves a feeling of being thwarted.
16. The categories of pain are - Ādhyatmika, ādhibhoutika, and ădhidaivika.
17. The methods used in systems like Yoga are first-person methods.
18. The Indian view advocates an integrated view of positive and negative thoughts and emotions.
19. Vigyanamaya Kosha refers to higher forms of the mind and the subtle reams like high-order insights, intuition, and clarity of awareness.
20. According to Indian psychological approach, a person with steady wisdom is known as SthitaPragyā.
21. According to Indian psychology, Akāma is a state where there are no desires.
22. The four Purusharthas or goals of life in the Indian tradition are Dharma, Artha, Kāma, and Moksha.
23. According to Patanjali, Yoga is a process of restraining the mind (Chitta) from various modifications (Vritti).
24. The first four stages in Ashtanga yoga are yama, niyama, asana, and pranayama.
25. According to Bhagavadgita, human qualities are divided into qualities belonging to the divine state (Daivī-Sampat) and demonic qualities (āsurī-sampat).
26. The three stages of training in Buddha’s noble eightfold path are Sīla, Samādhi and Pānna.
27. Controlling prana allows control of mind and body.
28. The seven chakras in the human body are mulādhāra, svādhisthāna, manipura, anahata, vishuddhi, āyā, and sahasrāra.
29. The three Gunas are Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas.