Article Summary 2 Essay

Submitted By jvastag
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Daniel Hurley and Paul Kwon (2011) define “savoring the moment” (savoring) as the “propensity to focus on and enjoy past, current, and future positive events”. This is accomplished through behavioral means (laughing and smiling), sharing the positive experience with others (which correlates to increased levels of life satisfaction), and by cognitively storing the memory for future recall (Hurley & Kwon, 2011). Additional research has linked savoring with increased sense of present happiness, percent of time happy, extraversion, optimism, and self-esteem.
Hurley and Kwon explored the concept of savoring as related to positive psychology in an intervention style study. College students were grouped and asked to complete questionnaires regarding positive affect (PANAS-X Positive Affect), negative affect (PANAS-X Negative Affect), and depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory II). The control group was then thanked and dismissed. The intervention group was then given an audio recording and visual writing from the authors that described the psychological theory about savoring. The 20 minute recording also included examples of savoring that were applicable to college students; “congratulating themselves after receiving a good grade on a test, expressing positive emotions through laughter and smiling while enjoying time well spent with friends, etc.”. The intervention group was also asked to write about three (3) positive things that happened to them in the past week and to keep a daily savoring log over the next couple of weeks. After two weeks, both groups met again to retake the questionnaires. This