AUDIENCE: Faculty and Staff

Date: Tuesday, May 5
Time: 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Registration: https://carleton.ca/healthy-workplace/cu-events/the-importance-of-connection-and-positive-psychology-for-mental-health/

In this virtual session, Professor John Zelenski will consider how (parts of) positive psychology can be useful, even during times that do not seem very positive. Resilience has been central to the moment, and looking to other troubled situations can offer some suggestions about current circumstances. Those lessons include the observations that many people maintain wellbeing through difficult times, and that positive emotions are often associated with successful coping. As such, Professor Zelenski will also discuss what social science has learned about happiness and about changing happiness over time. He will give particular focus to two topics that he has studied: social connection and introversion-extraversion, and how people connect with nature. In addition to research findings, he will include some speculation about how lessons might apply in a pandemic world.