Today’s Guest

My guest today is Professor Robert Vallerand, a leading scholar in motivational processes and optimal functioning.  Bob spoke on his theory on passion at Canadian Conference on Positive Psychology and he shares his insights with us in this conversation.

Bob Vallerand’s website: http://www.lrcs.uqam.ca/default_en.htm

In this interview, you’ll hear that there are two types of passion, obsessive and harmonious.  Bob shares how obsessive passions develop and that these are not necessarily negative or harmful activities, but can begin to control us and undermine our performance and wellbeing in the process.  He shares what we can do for ourselves to keep our passions harmonious and what organizations can do to cultivate more harmonious passions in their employees. 

This interview was produced in partnership with the Canadian Positive Psychology Association and the 3rd Canadian Conference on Positive Psychology. 

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You’ll Learn:

• [1:46] – Passion can be obsessive or harmonious and the benefits of harmonious passion.
• [2:30] – Bob defines overall passion.
• [3:40] – Obsessive passions and how these seemingly productive activities can control a person.
• [5:10] – How to determine if a passion is harmonious or obsessive.
• [7:11] – Passions can go back and forth from being harmonious and obsessive. Bob shares what makes this change happen.
• [9:25] – How organizations can nurture harmonious passion with members.
• [11:25] – Having multiple passions is a healthier situation.
• [12:08] – How to turn things around when a passion becomes obsessive.
• [13:16] – There are certain activities in which you will only get the positive benefits if the passion is harmonious.
• [15:08] – The lightning round with Bob Vallerand.

Your Resources:

• “The Psychology of Passion” – Bob Vallerand
• “Why We Do What We Do: Understanding Self-Motivation” – Edward Deci
• “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experiences” – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
• “Positivity: Top-Notch Research Reveals the Upward Spiral That Will Change Your Life” – Barbara Fredrickson
• Canadian Positive Psychology Association