The Future of Technology in Positive Psychology: Methodological Advances in the Science of Well-Being

Abstract

Advances in biotechnology and information technology are poised to transform well-being research. This article reviews the technologies that we predict will have the most impact on both measurement and intervention in the field of positive psychology over the next decade. These technologies include: psychopharmacology, non-invasive brain stimulation, virtual reality environments, and big-data methods for large-scale multivariate analysis. Some particularly relevant potential costs and benefits to individual and collective well-being are considered for each technology as well as ethical considerations. As these technologies may substantially enhance the capacity of psychologists to intervene on and measure well-being, now is the time to discuss the potential promise and pitfalls of these technologies.

The language of conspiracy: A psychological analysis of speech used by conspiracy theorists and their followers on Twitter

“…Although our findings add to the psychological underpinnings of conspiracist worldviews (Wood & Douglas, 2015), and to the emerging field of computational psycholinguistics (Sterling et al, 2020;Sylwester & Purver, 2015;Yaden et al, 2018), our research is not without limitations. First, while examining tweets from the top influential conspiracy and science influencers (and their online following) ensures greater ecological validity (Douglas et al, 2019), we cannot make causal inferences based on these data.…”

Technological Addiction in Adolescents: the Interplay Between Parenting and Psychological Basic Needs

“…New technologies are changing several aspects of everyday life, and the speed with which they are implemented and integrated make technology-related impacts an area of particular scientific interest. Numerous studies have shown that new technologies can have very important therapeutic, rehabilitation, educational, and recreational implications (Costa, Cuzzocrea, & Nuzzaci, 2014;Griffiths, Kuss, & Ortiz de Gortari, 2017;Krutka, Nowell, & Whitlock, 2017;Yaden, Eichstaedt, & Medaglia, 2018), but other research has indicated that excessive use of technological devices can be risky, especially for some age groups, such as adolescents (Eleuteri, Saladino, & Verrastro, 2017;Kuss, & Griffiths, 2012). In fact, younger generations are increasingly using mobile phones, social media, gaming, and the Internet (Allen, Ryan, Gray, Mclnerney, & Waters, 2014;Griffiths, 2010), and without adequate regulation skills (Roberts, & Pirog, 2013), the availability and portability of new devices can make an over-use more likely, possibly with the end result of developing a form of technological addiction (Echeburua & de Corral, 2010;Griffiths, 1995;Kuss, & Billieux, 2017).…”

Handbook of Positive Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality

“…Through the use of new computational methods, researchers can utilize large amounts of data readily available online (Yaden et al, 2018). For instance, language data derived from social media can be analyzed with natural language processing tools such as Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC;Pennebaker et al, 2015).…”

“…Both fields rely heavily on self-report measures (Yaden et al, 2018;see Hill et al, Chapter 7, this volume, for a review), which enable the efficient measurement of multiple dimensions of complex constructs. However, self-reports can be subject to self-presentation bias, especially when measuring socially desirable constructs (Tourangeau & Yan, 2007) such as religiousness (Presser & Stinson, 1998) and well-being (Heintzelman et al, 2015).…”