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POSITIVE EMOTIONS.
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Features of positive emotions.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Features of positive emotions. Complexity of different emotions (joy, love, interest, contentment, happiness, amusement, exhilaration). Differences between positive and negative emotions and their interrelatedness. Functions and benefits of positive emotions in terms of human growth and development and health.
Paper Introduction:
I. Introduction
A. Definition and examples of positive emotions
The definition and description of positive emotions has eluded many researchers because of their diffuse nature. While negative emotions have distinctive qualities that enable one to distinguish them from the other, positive emotions tend to blend together into an inextricable whole. The effort of researchers has led to diverse conceptions of positive emotions. However, Fredrickson (1998) has provided a strong basis for her selection of the following positive emotions in her study: Joy, interest, contentment and love. These examples capture the complexity and interwoven nature of different positive emotions. Nonetheless, they possess distinguishing features that can be used to differentiate one from the other (p. 305).
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For example, in various research studies,individuals who experience positive emotions draw more connections betweenneutral words than individuals in the control group. Nonetheless, the conclusion that positive emotions can have apositive effect on the way individuals cope with highly stressfulsituations may be questioned based on the directionality of the effect.Apart from studies that positive emotions improve the coping ability of theindividual, there have also been other studies that show that theimprovement in coping skills can lead to positive emotions. Third, researchers have found that people with positive emotions areable to achieve positive outcomes in bargaining tasks because they canacknowledge different perspectives and make the necessary compromises togenerate an optimal solution (Ashby, Isen & Turken, 1999, p. Positive and negative affectivity in children confirmatory factor analysis of a two-factor model and its relation to symptoms of anxiety and depression. The impact of mood and category importance on crossed categorization effects. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1 6(1), 95-1 3.Larsen, R.J., & Ketelaar. Apart from the direct positiveeffects of positive emotions on the human body, positive emotions can alsoimprove physical health on an emotional level. Although this emotion can bedismissed as an inactive and thus useless feeling, contentment allowsindividuals to acquire a profound knowledge of their beings and theirrelationship with the rest of the world. Even more significantly,negative emotions are generally associated with a response to threats, thusenabling human beings to respond in a way that allows them to save theirlives. First, some of the disorders were not present in theanalysis such as obsessive-compulsive disorder. With their study on positive moodand message processing capacity, Wegener, Petty and Smith (1995) supportedthis interpretation. Rather, positiveemotions yield positive results only on issues that the people want tothink about (Ashby, Isen & Turken, 1999, p. Apart from possessing a sensitive nature, high self-monitoring individuals are likely to have experienced many situations thatundermined their beliefs in their emotions (Graziano & Bryant, 1998, p.25 ). (1991, July). American Psychologist, 55(6), 647-654.Fredrickson, B.L. In their study, participantswere exposed to sad, neutral and amusing films. For example, intheir experiment, Berry and Hansen (1996) found that individuals withpositive affect tended to have more pleasant, satisfying and enjoyableinteractions than individuals with negative affect (p. Factors that influence the relationship between well-being and positiveemotions As the previous sections have demonstrated, positive emotions have astrong relationship with the psychological well-being of human beings.According to DeNeve and Cooper (1998), subjective well-being (SWB) refersto the variety of factors that produce a positive impact on people's lives(p. 3 4-5).C. The accuracy of the mothers'observations may be tempered by their emotional perceptions of theirchildren (pp. Children's emotions as organizers of their reactions to interadult anger: A functionalist perspective. The effect of age on positive and negative affect: A developmental perspective on happiness. Nonetheless, the significance of theseresults is mitigated by the fact that the use of the different types ofmood-regulation strategies in an artificial laboratory setting may not bean accurate reflection of the naturalistic setting. In alongitudinal study on adolescent drug use among participants from age 12 to15, Wills and his colleagues (1999) found that high positive affect wasconnected with lower initial level of substance abuse and a greaterdecrease in substance abuse during the three years, compared to theircounterparts with negative affect. In assessing the participants' responses to images of attractivefemales and jokes, Graziano and Bryant (1998) discovered that high self-monitoring individuals were easily manipulated by external cues. (1998, June). Forexample, when told that laugh tracks accompanying jokes increase laughter,high self-monitoring individuals thought that jokes with laugh tracks werefunnier than did the low-self-monitoring individuals (pp. Hiding feelings: The acute effects of inhibiting negative and positive emotion. Finally, thelack of ethnic diversity in the sample population meant that ethnicdifferences were not considered in this research study (Lonigan, Hooe,David, & Kistner, 1999, pp. 3 9). For example,individuals who had engaged in playful physical activities during theirchildhood would possess the fitness to combat predators. Furthermore,some of the participants left the study during the three-year period.Finally, the extent of substance abuse dependence was not measuredindividually; only the overall substance abuse involvement was considered(p. Psychological Bulletin, 124(2), 197-229.Folkman, S., & Moskowitz, J.T. Even moreimportantly, future generations such as young children and adolescents canutilize positive emotions as a strategy for coping with life. Apart from experiencing a blend of positive emotions, humanbeings often feel both positive and negative emotions at the same time.Essentially, Fredrickson's description has failed to acknowledge thedynamic and complex nature of human feelings. 746). On the bipolarity of positive and negative affect. (1999, July). L. Therefore,the adults in their lives should serve as role models by embracing positiveemotions and integrating them into their existence. (2 , April). Review of General Psychology, 2(3), 3 -319.Graziano, W.G., & Bryant, W.H.M. (1996, October). Nonetheless, these results were biased by thefollowing factors. From theirperspective, there are several features that differentiate positiveemotions from negative emotions. Furthermore, individuals with positive affect alsopossess the emotional strength to withstand negative information withoutfalling apart emotionally. The effects of positive andnegative emotional states can be altered by the self-monitoring process.Therefore, high self-monitoring individuals may not be able to fullyexperience their positive emotions without being reinforced by externalcues. Positive affectivity, self-mastery, and a sense of failure as predictors of self-assessed health. 8 5). The significance of the variable ofmarriage in determining the well-being of the older married maleparticipants demonstrated that other factors apart from age could have aninfluence on the relationship between age and positive affect (pp. Ultimately, individuals with positive affect also enjoysubstantial intimate and close social support from family members andfriends. Contributions of positive and negative affect to adolescent substance use test of a bidimensional model in a longitudinal study. The results of this studyindicated the interwoven nature of positive and negative emotions. 14 ).B. In a longitudinal study on thepredictors of personality and social development, low positive affect wasassociated with psychological distress, a sense of failure and low self-mastery. Through laboratory experiments andlongitudinal studies of different populations, researchers have pointed outthe overwhelming benefits of positive emotions on the physiological,cognitive, psychological and social aspects of human lives. Furthermore,love relationships are characterized by the recurrent experiences ofpositive emotions sustained during a long period. A neuropsychological theory of positive affect and its influence on cognition. Developmental Psychology, 31(4), 677-684.DeNeve, K.M., & Cooper, H. (1999, January). In contrast, people experiencing positive emotionsare not likely to demonstrate their emotions in an overt fashion and act ina specific way (Fredrickson, 1998, p. Individualswho had positive affect and emotions were more likely to have many pleasantrelationships with others than their counterparts with negative affect.What is most interesting about the findings of DeNeve and Cooper (1998) isthat the personality trait of conscientiousness has the strongestrelationship to SWB. European Psychologist, 3(2), 133-142.Russell, J.A., & Carroll, J.M. While negative emotions can beeasily discerned from the facial expressions, individual positive emotionsgenerally do not provide the same visual cues. Positive mood can increase or decrease message scrutiny: The hedonic contingency view of mood and message processing. 4). Psychological Bulletin, 125(1), 3-3 .Rusting, C. Positive affect and other side of coping. While negative emotions havedistinctive qualities that enable one to distinguish them from the other,positive emotions tend to blend together into an inextricable whole. Developmental Psychology, 32(2), 289-298.Berry, D.S., & Hansen, J.S. These individuals will also not resort tounhealthy food and substances such as alcohol in order to overcome theirnegative moods. 197). Psychology of Addictive behaviors, 13(4), 327-338. Positive emotions, anxiety and depression In contrast to beliefs that low positive affect can lead to theproduction of anxiety, a study on a group of school children ranging fromages nine to 17 indicated that positive affect had a correlation withdepression, but not with anxiety. Furthermore, this study did not showhow children who are induced to feel positive emotions respond to long-termmarital conflicts (Davies & Cummings, 1995, p. It provides an impetus for individuals to find out about themysterious aspects of life, thus expanding their knowledge. Furthermore,individuals who were interested in their surroundings would be able todiscover new habitats for their communities. 295-6).D. Second, the patients whosuffered from depression also had a principal diagnosis of GAD (Brown,Chorpita, & Barlow, 1998, pp. (1997, February). Theprevalent image of a happy person is one who indulges in useless daydreamsand accomplishes nothing. Aprevalent misconception about positive emotions is that it does not have aconcrete purpose. 428-9). Considering that physical health can be an integral part of anindividual's well-being, the relationship between positive emotions andphysical health should also be analyzed. Most noticeably, there are many morenegative emotions than positive emotions. Love as the foundation ofclose relationships is critical in providing human beings with thenecessary social support in their lives (pp. The researchstudy on the assessment of infant temperament by Belsky, Hsieh and Crnic(1996) offers empirical confirmation of this viewpoint. (1999, July). The Relationship Between Well-Being and Positive EmotionsA. Functions and benefits of positive emotions The discussion of the functions and benefits of positive emotions isimportant to illuminate the fact that positive emotions serve a significantpurpose for human growth and development. Therefore, more studies wouldneed to be conducted in order to ascertain the validity of these results(Rusting & DeHart, 2 , p. Nonetheless, they possess distinguishingfeatures that can be used to differentiate one from the other (p. 1342-3).B. (1998, August). Finally, love encompasses manyother positive emotions, but can be distinguished from these other emotionsbecause it is usually directed towards specific individuals. In fact, Fredrickson's thorough discussion of the differences betweenpositive and negative emotions is representative of the researchers whobelieve in the bipolarity of positive and negative emotions. (1996, March). Human beings' perceptions oftheir physical health can be more important than their physical symptoms.For example, individuals with positive affect tend to have a good attitudeabout their illness and their chances of recovery. Essentially, an infant whodisplays negative attributes at a certain time may also exhibit positivequalities in a different time frame. Fredrickson (1998) produces animaginative conception of evolutionary adaptability of positive emotions.Our ancestors such as the hunter-gathers lived in a fluctuating environmentwith high risks of danger. Their findingswere also corroborated by Larsen and Ketelaar (1991) who assessed howopposing personality traits (extraversion versus neuroticism) correlatedwith positive and negative emotions. 1 -1). Nonetheless, it is important torecognize that the data of this experiment are derived from the reports ofthe infants' parents and observers. Journal of Personality and SocialPsychology, 71(4), 796-8 6.Brown, T.A., Chorpita, B.F., & Barlow, D.H. The studyby Graziano and Bryant is significant because it introduces a complexperspective to the analysis of emotions. In real-lifesettings, the management can diminish inter-group conflict among anethnically diverse workforce by first inducing individuals into a positivemood. 531). Misconceptions about positive emotions In spite of its weakness, Fredrickson's article on positive emotionshas highlighted the common misconceptions about positive emotions. Although Fredrickson has provided creative examples of positiveemotions, she does not address the inherent complexity of the spectrum ofhuman emotions. Thus, they are likely toengage in health-promoting activities in contrast to their counterpartswith negative affect. 112-5). Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 67(3), 374-386.Mroczek, D.K., & Kolarz, C.M. Although it can be a celebratory expression of theaccomplishment of one's goals, joy can also stimulate the desire to engagein playful activities that do not have a particular set of goals. Research studies that test the participants' problem-solvingability show that individuals with positive emotions are able to utilizenew approaches in dealing with problems (Ashby, Isen & Turken, 1999, p.53 ; Fredrickson, 1998, p. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1 7(2), 179-192.Davies, P.T., & Cummings, E.M. In contrast to the conclusion drawn by Ashby and others about thedependence of the effectiveness of positive emotions on positive issues orconditions, Rusting and DeHart (2 ) proved in three of their four studiesthat positive reappraisal could be used as a strategy to counteract theeffects of negative memories. However, the validity of these research studies that testify to thefunctional importance of positive emotions is undermined by the fact thatpositive emotions is effective only when the participants are dealing withtasks or situations that are interesting. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(3), 417-433.Wegener, D.T., Petty, R.E., & Smith, S.M. Positive affect, negativeaffect, and social interaction. In their study, Urada andMiller (2 ) found that compared to individuals with neutral affect,individuals with positive affect were likely to include members of the out-group in situations that included a dominant in-group. Today, many research studies have demonstrated that positive emotionsenable people to perform a variety of functions in a creative andcognitively flexible way. The investigation indicated that older married men exhibitedmore positive affect than younger married men, as well as younger and olderunmarried men. One facet of the human personality that affects the self-regulationof emotions and well-being is the phenomenon of self-monitoring. They found that extraverts were moreresponsive to positive situations while neurotics were more responsive tonegative situations (p. In Study 2,the researchers even found that the individuals who engaged in positivereappraisal did not counteract the effects of negative memories andcontinued to experience negative emotions. Therefore, positive emotionsmight not be beneficial for the performance of all tasks. Individuals who were inclined to have positive emotions tended tobenefit more from the positive reappraisal of negative emotions thanindividuals who tended to have negative emotions (p. According to Fredrickson, joy is a powerful positive emotion thatencapsulates many related positive emotions such as happiness, exhilarationand amusement. The results of the previous study were also confirmed by the study ona clinical population of adult participants who had been assessed forvarious disorders such as anxiety and mood disorders. First, individuals experiencing positive emotionsdisplay cognitive flexibility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(1), 25 -261.Gross, J.J., & Levenson, R.W. The concern and care of friends and family members can facilitatethe recovery process by reducing stress and providing needed assistance tothe sick individuals (Salovey et al., 2 , pp. The emphasis that emotions should trigger specific actiontendencies and physical activity has minimized the importance of positiveemotions to human nature. Although the connection between conscientiousness andSWB is not direct, conscientiousness can make people happy by providingthem with a sense of control over themselves and their environment.Certainly, this quality provides people with a sense of identity and asupport network of familiar people (p. Unlike individuals with high positive affect, individualswith high negative affect did not feel in control of themselves and theirenvironment; thus, they were unable to deal with crises effectively.Because the data were dependent on the self-assessments of theparticipants, they might not be a reliable source of information(Pulkinnen, Kokkenen, & Makiaho, 1998, p. 53 ). In their study to determinewhether children with positive emotions can better withstand the negativeeffects of adult conflict, Davies and Cummings (1995) induced children intoa positive, negative and a neutral state and then exposed them to shortepisodes of adult conflict. Nonetheless, the results of thesestudies were constrained by the fact that none of the participantsdisplayed severe negative affect such as clinical depression. 648). Another study that highlights the complex experience of emotions isthe study by Gross and Levenson (1997) who attempted to assess the effectsof suppressing negative and positive emotions. Clearly, the presence of a stable long-term relationship wascritical to the well-being of the men. These examples capture the complexity and interwoven nature ofdifferent positive emotions. Emotional states and physical health. The results of these tasksindicate that individuals with positive emotions possess the cognitiveskills to forge relationships with disparate items in response to differentinstructions (Ashby, Isen & Turken, 1999, p. Positive emotions as a psychological mechanism for maximizing well-being For young children, positive emotions can be used as a means ofprotecting them against adult conflicts. 746). However, the results of the previous study were reaffirmed by thefollowing experiment in a real-life setting, involving teenagers. Contentmentenables individuals to pause in their life, count their blessings andacknowledge their recent accomplishments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61(1), 132-14 .Lonigan, C.J., Hooe, E.S., David, C.F., & Kistner, J.A. 68 ). 648; Salovey, Detweiler,Steward, & Rothman, 2 , pp. General effects of the absence of positive emotions A lack of positive emotions in the long term can have a detrimentaleffect on personal growth and development. Conclusion Based on the analyses of these research articles, it is evident thatpositive emotions play a vital role in deterring the detrimental effects ofnegative emotions. Positive emotions played a key role in contributing to thephysical, cognitive and social resources of the individual. 3 5). In high-stress situations, positiveemotions can also reduce the likelihood of mental illnesses such asclinical depression (Folkman & Moskowitz, 2 , p. (1998, September). 529; Fredrickson, 1998, p.3 9). Definition and examples of positive emotions The definition and description of positive emotions has eluded manyresearchers because of their diffuse nature. Retrieving positive memories to regulate negative mood consequences for mood-congruent memory. American Psychologist, 55(1), 11 -121.Urada, D.I., & Miller, N. Russell and Carroll (1999) believe that the perceptionof positive and negative emotions as independent entities is erroneousbecause it fails to consider the change of affect over time and the lack ofa solid definition of positive and negative emotions (p. IntroductionA. 258-9). Second, people with positive emotions can better appreciate therichness and variety of an interesting task than the control group.Therefore, they are able to address problems with a novel and creativeperspective. The cognitive flexibility of individuals with positive affect canalso be extended to the categorization of people. (1995, July). Furthermore,the quantitative method of measuring positive emotions and coping abilitiesmay not be the best way of ascertaining these entities, thus affecting theaccuracy of these research studies (Folkman & Moskowitz, 2 , p. High self-monitoring individuals are more sensitive to environmental cues than theirown emotions. Infant positive and negative emotionality: One dimension or two? (1998, January). In their meta-analysis of different research studies, theyidentified a variety of personality traits that are related to individuals'SWB. Interestmotivates individuals to cultivate their curiosity and rise to differentchallenges. Although negativeaffect had a strong relationship with General Anxiety Disorders (GAD) andDepression (DEP), positive affect was found to be associated with SocialPhobia and Depression only. They discovered that individuals who were in a happymood were able to scrutinize a positive message more thoroughly than theneutral or sad group. Furthermore, low positive affected was also connected to low self-assessed health. Bipolarity of positive and negative emotions The failure of Fredrickson to consider the interrelatedness ofpositive and negative emotions is addressed by Russell and Carroll (1999)in their article discussing the debate on the bipolarity of positive andnegative emotions. (1998, May). First,positive emotions can relieve stress from the caretakers in highly negativesituations and enable them to open their minds and senses to other aspectsof life, thus replenishing their resources (p. (1995, July). The happy personality: A meta- analysis of 137 personality traits and subjective well-being. 313-4). In addition, Rusting and DeHart (2 ) also highlighted the fact thatthe personality traits of individuals played a major impact in determiningthe individuals' ability to use positive emotions to counteract negativememories. For example, positive emotions preventthe likelihood of cardiovascular breakdowns and improve the neural,endocrine and immune responses. 652).II. The incongruent result in the latter situationhighlighted that human beings are better at controlling the display ofnegative emotions than positive emotions. What good are positive emotions? Theeffort of researchers has led to diverse conceptions of positive emotions.However, Fredrickson (1998) has provided a strong basis for her selectionof the following positive emotions in her study: Joy, interest, contentmentand love. Furthermore, a person may engage in physical activityafter a period of thinking (pp. 682). However, the effectiveness of positive emotions insheltering the children from the negative effects of adult conflict provenin this study is hampered by the reality that the laboratory conditions donot reflect the real world situation. 11 -1). Rather, only negative affect wascorrelated with both depression and anxiety. Even more significantly, theresults showed that emotional inhibition of both positive and negativeemotions did not improve physical health, mental health, cognitiveperformance and social interaction (pp. However, the validity of theseresults was affected by the fact that the participants of this study didnot suffer from clinical depression or anxiety. Furthermore, young childrenwere often unable to answer the questions about their symptoms accurately,thus confusing features of depression and anxiety together. In fact, the significance of social relationships in the well-beingof individuals was also highlighted in another research study. At the sametime, when these individuals with positive emotions are asked to identifydifferences between items, they are also able to perceive more differencesthan their counterparts in their counterparts. However, they scrutinized the negative message lessthoroughly than the other two groups (p. 3 5-7). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75(5), 1333- 1349.Pukkinen, L., Kokkenen, M., Makiaho, A. Furthermore, they had to be able to adapt todifferent living conditions and find the necessary resources for them tosurvive. Self-monitoring and the self-attribution of positive emotions. However, Fredrickson (1998) points out that anew model of analyzing emotions should be established to recognize the keyqualities of positive emotions: 1) Positive emotions generate nonspecificaction tendencies, leading to playful activities that do not have arelationship to specific emotions; and 2) Positive emotions exert a largeimpact on cognitive activity that should also be acknowledged in the studyof positive emotions. Examples of Problems due to a Lack of Positive EmotionsA. In this research study,only study 4 incorporated the real world into the experiment. In theirreview of research studies on how caretakers of chronically ill patientscope with their experiences, Folkman and Moskowitz (2 ) focus on howpositive emotions enable caretakers to survive through their ordeal. (1999, December). Negative emotions trigger "specific action tendencies" that pushesthe individual to act. While some of theinfants with high positive affect could not be considered to have lownegative affect, neither could the infants with low positive affect beconsidered to have high negative affect. 12). Second, positive emotions also exert a positive physiological impacton the individuals in order to counteract the negative physiologicaleffects caused by negative emotions. 381-2). Structural relationships among dimensions of the DSM-IV anxiety and mood disorders and dimensions of negative affect, positive affect, and autonomic arousal. (2 , June). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(4), 737-752.Savoley, P., Detweiler, J.B., Steward, W.T., & Rothman, A.J. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(1), 5-15.Wills, T.A., Sandy, J.M., Shinar, O., & Yaeger, A. 8-9).VI. They are able to seegreater similarities between words than the control group. 334).III. Personality and susceptibility to positive and negative emotional states. 3 1).B. They found that children with positive emotionsfelt considerably less distressed than their counterparts in other groupsand possessed positive expectations of the adults' interactions in thefuture (p. I. (2 , March). Althoughthe suppression of positive emotions during the viewing of an amusementfilm led to decreased amusement, the suppression of negative emotionsduring the viewing of a sad film did not lead to greater sadness on thepart of the audience. 137). AlthoughMroczek and Kolarz (1998) was primarily interested in establishing therelationship between age and positive affect, using participants from ages25 to 74, they discovered an interesting phenomenon among the maleparticipants. In spite of the researchers' disagreement over themodels used to discuss emotions and the debate about the bipolarity ofpositive and negative emotions, they have illuminated the extensivebeneficial effects of positive emotions. Thus, positive emotions are dismissed asunconscious processes that do not serve any intrinsic purpose. (1998, November). Other researchers have attempted to extend the investigation into theeffectiveness of positive emotions in negative real-life settings. 214). Psychological Review, 1 6(3), 529-55 .Belsky, J., Hsieh, K.H., & Crnic, K. ReferencesAshby, F.G., Isen, A.M., & Turken, U. In their comprehensive review of research studies, DeNeve and Cooper(1998) also identified the following personality traits that contributedsignificantly to SWB: Extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness.Many other research studies have shown that the first two personalitytraits are strongly interwoven with positive emotions. Then they can elevate the significance of another in-group membershipcriterion such as religion above that of ethnicity, thus uniting theethnically diverse group (pp. Thus, it is likely that thepositive emotions were integrated into human nature as human beings evolvedover the years (pp. (2 , January).
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