Positive Psychology in Coaching Flashcards

A client reports that they experience 'flow' most often when playing music but never at work. How should a coach use this information?

Answer: Explore what elements of the music experience create flow and how those conditions might be recreated at work

Coaching explores the conditions that enable flow (challenge-skill balance, clear goals, immediate feedback) and helps clients transfer those conditions to other life domains.

Which positive psychology intervention has the strongest empirical support for increasing long-term well-being, according to meta-analytic research?

Answer: Counting blessings/gratitude practices and using signature strengths in new ways

Meta-analyses (including Lyubomirsky and Seligman's work) consistently show gratitude practices and strengths-in-new-ways interventions among the best-supported for lasting well-being gains.

In Seligman's updated theory (well-being theory), why was 'happiness' replaced with 'well-being' as the central construct?

Answer: Well-being is a broader construct that includes elements people pursue for their own sake beyond positive feelings

Seligman moved from happiness to well-being (PERMA) because people pursue relationships, meaning, engagement, and achievement for their own sake—not solely as means to feeling happy.

A coach is working with a client who has low self-efficacy about starting a new business. Which coaching approach grounded in positive psychology would be most appropriate?

Answer: Use Socratic questioning to help the client identify past mastery experiences and build confidence incrementally

Bandura's self-efficacy theory identifies mastery experiences as the most powerful source of confidence; coaching that surfaces past successes builds genuine, earned efficacy.

What does research on 'mindfulness-based strengths practice' (MBSP) suggest for coaching clients?

Answer: Combining mindfulness with strengths use amplifies engagement, well-being, and goal achievement beyond either practice alone

Research by Ryan Niemiec shows that integrating mindfulness with VIA strengths use produces greater gains in well-being and goal achievement than either practice in isolation.

How does the concept of 'hope' in positive psychology (Snyder's Hope Theory) differ from everyday optimism?

Answer: Hope involves both the motivation to reach goals (agency) and the ability to generate pathways around obstacles (pathways thinking)

Snyder's Hope Theory defines hope as the combination of agency (willpower/motivation) and pathways thinking (waypower/planning), making it an active cognitive-motivational construct distinct from general optimism.

A coaching client achieves a major goal but immediately shifts focus to the next challenge without acknowledging the win. Which positive psychology practice should the coach introduce?

Answer: Use savoring techniques to help the client fully appreciate and internalize the achievement

Savoring—mindfully attending to and appreciating positive experiences—helps clients internalize achievements and build positive emotional resources rather than perpetually chasing the next goal.