• The PERMA Model
  • Positive emotions, Engagement (flow states), Relationships, Meaning, and Achievement
• Emotional Intelligence frameworks
  • Self-awareness, self-regulation, social awareness, and relationship management
• Growth Mindset Theory
  • Believing that abilities can be developed through effort and learning
• The Big Five personality model
  • openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism

Cognitive Dissonance Theory - When people hold contradictory beliefs or attitudes, they experience psychological discomfort and are motivated to reduce this dissonance by changing their beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors.

Social Learning Theory - People learn behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions through observing others, not just through direct experience. Emphasizes modeling, imitation, and vicarious reinforcement.

Social Identity Theory - People derive part of their self-concept from their membership in social groups. This creates in-group favoritism and out-group discrimination as people seek positive social identity.

Optimal Arousal Theory - Performance is best when arousal levels are moderate - too little arousal leads to boredom, too much leads to anxiety. The optimal level varies by task complexity.

Sensation Seeking Theory - Some people have a biological need for varied, novel, complex, and intense sensations and experiences, leading them to take physical, social, legal, or financial risks.

Self-Determination Theory - People have three basic psychological needs: autonomy (feeling volitional), competence (feeling effective), and relatedness (feeling connected). Meeting these needs promotes intrinsic motivation and well-being.

Terror Management Theory - Awareness of death creates existential anxiety that people manage through cultural worldviews and self-esteem, which provide meaning and symbolic immortality.

Stress Inoculation Training - A therapeutic approach that builds coping skills by gradually exposing people to manageable levels of stress, like a psychological "vaccine."

Psychological reactance (autonomy threats)

• It's the psychological phenomenon where you lose motivation to do something the moment someone tells you to do it, even if you were already planning to do it. Your brain basically rebels against the perceived loss of autonomy.
• Psychological reactance is primarily a psychological theory developed by Jack Brehance in 1966. It's formally known as "Psychological Reactance Theory."
• The theory explains a specific phenomenon: when people perceive that their freedom of choice is being threatened or eliminated, they experience psychological reactance - a motivational state that drives them to restore that freedom. This often manifests as doing the opposite of what they're being pressured to do, or wanting something more when it's restricted.