Jordan Silberman

Objective: To determine if self-selection is an effective way to match positive interventions to individuals.
Design: Each time a participant in the choice group selected one of four positive interventions, a depressionmatched yoked control participant was assigned the same intervention.
Method: Positive interventions and surveys were administered online. Happiness and depression were assessed at baseline, one week, and two weeks.
Results: If participants could identify the positive intervention that was most suitable for them, then interventions should have been more effective for the choice group than for the yoked control group. This was not observed. Both groups experienced significantly increased happiness and decreased depression, but the magnitudes of these changes did not significantly differ between groups.
Conclusions: These data suggest that self-selection may not be a good way to identify well-suited positive interventions, and that other selection approaches should be investigated.

Keywords: Positive psychology, gratitude, happiness, depression, strengths.

Full article: Volume 2, Issue 1 pages 70 - 77