by Bryony Shaw | May, 2023 | Bryony Shaw, research
Often qualitative research is seen as second best to quantitative research. It doesn’t give us numbers that we can analyse and compare. It does not translate well into headlines. It is more complex, more time-consuming to analyse and results may be more ambiguous. However, this is where I see the power of quantitative research to inform and lead in psychology. Step into the shoes of others As a psychologist, I am fascinated about why people do certain behaviours. What was their rationale, their motivating force and what are their beliefs? This is where the field of qualitative research is a super tool, it enables us to discover the answers to these questions. Qualitative research allows us to step into the shoes of the people we are working with, to understand the world from their perspective. By using open questions that allow people to respond in their own unique way we can gain insight into novel and unexpected phenomena. I consider this to be a privilege. Often qualitative research is conducted through in-depth interviews that may last one to two hours or more. This gives the interviewees time to relax and time to go into detail about their own experiences and perceptions. Through people sharing their thoughts and experiences in this way, it can help research expand in unexpected directions as subtleties and nuances are illuminated. Where will these shoes take us? Now we’ve stepped into other people’s shoes, where will these new insights take us? When Covid hit, the world was dealing with so many unknowns and yet certain functions carried on regardless, such as the progression...
by Bryony Shaw | February, 2023 | Bryony Shaw, Life
Isn’t it nice when we get a compliment? It can give us a boost, somebody’s noticed us or noticed what we’ve done. A compliment is an expression of admiration, respect or approval and typically it leaves us feeling valued. However, my eyes were recently opened to a completely different way of thinking about this. Ignore All Adjectives I passed on to a friend some praise that someone else had said about them. My friend gave a completely unexpected reply, she said ‘I am ignoring that, I ignore all adjectives.’ Wow, I had to know more, what did she mean ‘ignoring all adjectives,’ how does one even do that? She said for the last year she has been ignoring all adjectives that she hears about herself, the good ones and the bad ones and it has been really liberating. What an interesting concept. While receiving compliments is rewarding in the short term, it is only one person’s opinion and only their opinion at that particular time. On another day or another occasion they may say something completely different about us. They may no longer be pleased with what we are doing as it doesn’t fit with their expectation. On top of that we have to consider all the different people we come into contact with, some will show praise or respect in some way, some will be neutral and others will convey their disappointment. Take Control If we react to everyone’s fluctuating opinion of us, we can be on an emotional rollercoaster, our mood rising with the compliments and falling with the complaints. However, by disassociating ourselves from...
by Bryony Shaw | December, 2022 | Bryony Shaw, compassion, Uncategorized
Having self-compassion is the ability to recognise our own suffering and take action to comfort and care for ourselves. Traditionally, some may think that this is the road to complacency, but research from Kristen Neff (2011) shows us that it is the road to responsibility and action. She proposes that there are three components to self-compassion, which work to soothe us and place us in a more adaptive state to deal with stressors that may arise. The three components Kristen Neff has identified are self-kindness, common humanity and mindfulness. In my recent work with a sports team, I taught them how to use self-compassion to develop deeper connection as a team, as well as developing personal resources to deal with stresses such as competition anxiety or fear of failure. Self-Kindness Encouraging the athletes to be kind to themselves and not harshly judge themselves, helps to reduce fear and anxiety. Encouraging them to treat themselves as they would treat a friend is a valuable tool because we are often harder on ourselves than we are on others. Common Humanity Helping the athletes to accept that it is normal to experience fear, and that failure is a crucial part of becoming a successful team because you can learn from it. This helps to dampen the stress response and allows the athlete to fully focus on their game. Mindfulness Guiding the athletes to acknowledge and turn towards their painful emotions such as fear, anxiety or shame which can arise when reliving a missed shot or poor pass. This helps them to make an intentional act to stay with these...
by Bryony Shaw | October, 2022 | Bryony Shaw, Emotions
Today I would like to explore positive emotions by using the analogy of the seasons. For those of you who have read my previous blogs, you will know my calling to help people to increase the amount of positive emotions they experience. This is because there are so many healthy consequences that result from increasing the amount of positive emotions such as joy, happiness, hope and inspiration. One healthy consequence is that increasing the frequency and intensity of positive emotions we experience, creates a protective, buffering effect for those difficult times that lie ahead of us. Summer This includes those times when we are relaxed or when we are immersed in a pleasurable experience such as swimming in the sea, having a bbq with friends or watching a beautiful sunset. These are the times when it is easy to cultivate and savour positive emotions. Autumn We can’t all stay on a high forever. Our moods level out and this can be compared to the transition to autumn. Gone are the long sunny days, however, the gentle wonder of the changing seasons is present, providing us with less intense positive emotions. Winter This is when then things go wrong in our life, or things are spiralling out of control, and we can be flooded with negative emotions such as fear, despair or worry. They can be over powering and bring us to a standstill. These are difficult days to get through. Spring Here, we are recovering from the hardship of the difficult times we have just experience in a winter of our life. Just like plants that burst from the...
by Bryony Shaw | August, 2022 | Bryony Shaw, Positive Psychology, Uncategorized
Congratulations to Bucks New University as this year was the 10th year of their Masters of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP). I was fortunate to be a member of their very first cohort and I feel gratitude for having Applied Positive Psychology come into my life. Like many students on the course, I saw and am still seeing, a positive change in my own life as a result of studying Positive Psychology theory and experimenting with Positive Psychology interventions. As we know, Positive Psychology is not a spectator sport, to reap its benefits, Positive Psychology demands that it be integrated into our own lived experience. 10 years old To celebrate the 10-year birthday, Bucks New University’s annual symposium returned, after a break due to Covid. I gave a talk at Bucks first ever symposium based on my dissertation which researched practical ways to bring Growth Mindset into the sixth form curriculum. At that time the symposium was a relatively small affair with a single talk being given at one time and running for just one day. Now it has grown into a 2-day event with parallel sessions being held, and researchers from different universities giving talking and running workshops. Far-reaching impact It was inspiring to see other students from later cohorts and witness their enthusiasm and hear about the positive impact of taking Positive Psychology out into their own specialist fields. This meant it was hard to decide which talks and workshops to attend as they were so compelling. The themes were varied and topical including talks on the impact of Covid and the role of Positive Psychology...
by Bryony Shaw | April, 2022 | Bryony Shaw, research
Often qualitative research is seen as second-best to quantitative research. It doesn’t give us numbers that we can analyse and compare. It does not translate well into headlines. It is more complex, more time consuming to analyse and results may be more ambiguous. However, this is where I see the power of quantitative research to inform and lead in psychology. Step into the shoes of others As a psychologist, I am fascinated by why people do certain behaviours. What was their rationale, their motivating force and what are their beliefs? This is where the field of qualitative research is a super tool, it enables us to discover the answers to these questions. Qualitative research allows us to step into the shoes of the people we are working with, to understand the world from their perspective. By using open questions that allow people to respond in their own unique way we can gain insight into novel and unexpected phenomena. I consider this to be a privilege. Often qualitative research is conducted through in-depth interviews that may last one to two hours or more. This gives the interviewees time to relax and time to go into detail about their own experiences and perceptions. Through people sharing their thoughts and experiences in this way, it can help research expand in unexpected directions as subtleties and nuances are illuminated. Where will these shoes take us? Now we’ve stepped into other people’s shoes, where will these new insights take us? When Covid hit, the world was dealing with so many unknowns and yet certain functions carried on regardless, such as the progression...
