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Psychology
Grade 9-12
Positive Psychology & Well-Being Cheat Sheet
A printable reference covering PERMA, character strengths, gratitude, flow, resilience, and subjective well-being for grades 9-12.
Related Worksheets
Positive psychology studies the strengths, habits, and conditions that help people build meaningful and satisfying lives. This cheat sheet helps students organize key ideas about happiness, resilience, and well-being in a clear way. It is useful for comparing short-term pleasure with deeper life satisfaction and for connecting psychology research to daily choices. Students can use it to review major models, vocabulary, and common misunderstandings.
Key Facts
- Positive psychology focuses on human strengths, meaning, positive emotions, healthy relationships, accomplishment, and growth rather than only mental illness.
- The PERMA model describes well-being as Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment.
- Subjective well-being is often measured as life satisfaction + frequent positive emotions - frequent negative emotions.
- Gratitude practices can increase well-being when they are specific, sincere, and repeated over time.
- Flow is a state of deep focus that is most likely when skill level and challenge level are both high and balanced.
- Resilience is the ability to adapt and recover after stress, setbacks, or adversity.
- Character strengths are positive traits such as kindness, curiosity, perseverance, fairness, and hope that can be practiced in daily life.
- Hedonic well-being emphasizes pleasure and comfort, while eudaimonic well-being emphasizes meaning, purpose, and personal growth.
Vocabulary
- Positive Psychology
- The scientific study of strengths, positive emotions, meaning, relationships, and factors that help people thrive.
- PERMA
- A model of well-being based on Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment.
- Subjective Well-Being
- A person's own evaluation of life satisfaction and emotional experience.
- Flow
- A focused mental state in which a person is fully absorbed in a challenging and rewarding activity.
- Resilience
- The ability to cope with stress, adapt to challenges, and recover after difficult experiences.
- Gratitude
- The recognition and appreciation of positive things, benefits, or support received from others or from life.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Confusing positive psychology with forced happiness is wrong because the field studies real well-being, including coping with negative emotions and adversity.
- Assuming well-being means never feeling sad is wrong because healthy people experience a full range of emotions and can still have high life satisfaction.
- Treating PERMA as a strict formula is wrong because the five elements interact and may matter differently for different people and cultures.
- Equating pleasure with lasting happiness is wrong because short-term positive emotion does not always create meaning, strong relationships, or long-term growth.
- Ignoring evidence and relying only on motivational sayings is wrong because positive psychology is based on research methods, measurement, and testable interventions.
Practice Questions
- 1 A student rates life satisfaction as 8 out of 10, positive emotions as 7 out of 10, and negative emotions as 3 out of 10. Using life satisfaction + positive emotions - negative emotions, what is the subjective well-being score?
- 2 In a one-week gratitude activity, a student writes 3 specific things they are grateful for each day. How many gratitude entries will the student write in 7 days?
- 3 A student spends 5 hours studying, 2 hours exercising, 3 hours with friends, and 1 hour volunteering in one day. What percentage of these 11 total hours was spent on social relationships?
- 4 Explain why a challenging team project might increase well-being even if it feels stressful at times.