Notes on The Role of Positive Emotions in Positive Psychology
The Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotions
Proposes a new theoretical perspective within positive psychology
Core claim: discrete positive emotions broaden people’s momentary thought-action repertoires and build enduring personal resources
Enduring resources include physical, intellectual, social, and psychological assets
Distinguishes from negative-emotion models that emphasize narrow, rapid action tendencies
Positive-emotion experiences are proposed to contribute to long-term flourishing, not just serve as end states
Context: Positive Psychology and the Role of Positive Emotions
Positive psychology aims to understand and foster factors that allow individuals, communities, and societies to flourish (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000)
Positive emotions are indicators of flourishing but also drivers of growth and improved well-being over time
The take-home message: cultivate positive emotions as means to growth and resilience, not only as pleasant experiences
Working Definitions: Emotions vs. Affect
Emotions: multicomponent response tendencies unfolding over short time spans; object-specific; involve subjective experience, facial expression, cognition, and physiology; often discrete categories (e.g., fear, joy, anger)
Affect: broader, consciously accessible feelings; present within moods, physical sensations, attitudes, and affective traits; can be objectless
Key distinctions:
Objects: Emotions are typically about personally meaningful events or objects; affect is often free-floating
Duration: Emotions are usually short-lived; affect/moods can be longer-lasting
Structure: Emotions are categorized into families; affect spans broader affective phenomena
Two-dimensional conceptualizations of affect (either): pleasantness and activation, or positive and negative emotional activation
Emotions vs affect summarized: emotions = object-specific, brief, multi-component; affect = general, longer-lasting, sometimes without a clear object
The Broaden-and-Build Theory: Core Idea
Positive emotions (joy, interest, contentment, pride, love) broaden momentary thought-action repertoires
Broadening leads to the building of enduring personal resources (physical, intellectual, social, psychological)
Negative emotions, in contrast, often involve narrow, quick-action tendencies that promote immediate survival
A broadening process is thought to occur across cognitive, attentional, and behavioral domains, not only in one domain
Evolutionary perspective: ancestors who experience positive emotions tend to explore, play, and engage, thereby accruing resources that improve survival odds later on
Personal resources accrued during positive-emotion states are durable and outlast the transient states that produced them
Specific Positive Emotions and Their Broadening Tendencies
Joy: broadens by generating urges to play, push limits, be creative
Interest: broadens by creating urges to explore, take in new information, expand the self
Contentment: broadens by encouraging savoring current life and integrating circumstances into new self/world views
Pride: broadens by prompting sharing of achievements and envisioning greater future achievements
Love: broadens through safe, close relationships, fostering recurring cycles of play, exploration, and shared savoring
Across these emotions, the broadening contributes to wider thought-action repertoires and fosters resource-building
Functions and Consequences of Broadening
Immediate adaptive benefits of positive emotions are not as direct as those of negative emotions; benefits are indirect and long-term
Broadening builds enduring personal resources that can be drawn on during future threats or challenges
Resource domains include physical (e.g., play-related physical development), social (bonds and attachments), intellectual (creativity, theory of mind), and psychological resources (coping flexibility)
Play as a concrete example: juvenile play in animals involves behaviors (e.g., pursuing a sapling, unpredictable movements) that resemble predator-avoidance training and contribute to enduring physical resources; social play builds bonds and attachments; play also enhances creativity and cognitive development
Love, interest, and other positives contribute similarly to multiple resource domains
Resources are conceptualized as durable reserves that support future functioning
Empirical Foundations and Direct Tests
Indirect evidence spans cognition, intrinsic motivation, attachment styles, and animal behavior; much of this predates the broaden-and-build framework but aligns with its predictions
Direct tests by Fredrickson and Branigan (2000) and colleagues provide initial support for broadening effects of distinct positive emotions
Isen’s two-decade program shows positive affect linked to:
Flexible, creative, integrative thinking; open to information; broader cognitive organization
Increased variety-seeking and broader behavioral options
Dopamine links suggested to cognitive broadening (Ashby, Isen, & Turken, 1999)
Positive affect tends to broaden attention (global processing) whereas negative states tend to narrow attention (local processing)
Experimental design (Fredrickson, Branigan, 2000): film clips induced joy, contentment (positive, high/low activation), fear, anger (negative), and neutral control
After film, participants listed “I would like to” items; breadth of thought-action repertoire was higher for joy/contentment than fear/anger and neutral
Negative emotions reduced breadth compared with neutral; positive emotions increased breadth relative to neutral
Findings support the core proposition that distinct positive emotions broaden repertoires and distinct negative emotions narrow them
Open questions from this research include:
Do other positive/negative emotions show similar breadth effects? Do effects generalize across measures of breadth? What cognitive processes underlie broadening? Does broadening affect attention or working memory?
Neural underpinnings and neurochemical mediators (e.g., dopamine) require further study
How are broadened repertoires translated into decisions and actions?
Undoing Lingering Negative Emotions
Undoing hypothesis: positive emotions help undo lingering physiological effects of negative emotions
Mechanism proposed: broadening cognitive approaches reduces the resonance of negative events, facilitating physiological recovery
Experimental test (time-pressured speech task to induce anxiety)
Participants viewed four films afterward: joy, contentment (positive), sadness (negative), and neutral
Positive-emotion films produced faster cardiovascular recovery than neutral; sadness produced the slowest recovery
Positive emotions did not differ from neutral in immediate cardiovascular impact, but differed in their undoing capacity
Implications: broadening at the cognitive level may mediate cardiovascular recovery; parasympathetic regulation (e.g., heart-rate variability) may play a role
Future directions: identify mechanisms and extend to other emotions and contexts
Positive Emotions and Psychological Resilience
Psychological resilience: enduring personal resource enabling quicker recovery from stress
Tugade and Fredrickson (2000) study:
Resilience measured with Block & Kremen self-report scale
More resilient individuals reported higher preexisting positive affect before a stressful task
During the task, more resilient individuals reported higher happiness and interest in addition to high anxiety
More resilient individuals showed faster cardiovascular recovery; this difference was mediated by positive emotions
Conclusion: positive emotions may fuel psychological resilience; resilient individuals may actively recruit positive emotions to cope
Open questions: do resilient individuals use specific coping strategies (positive reappraisal, problem-focused coping, infusing ordinary events with positive meaning)? can these strategies be taught? does broadened thinking help find positive meaning in adversity?
Positive Emotions Build Resilience and Trigger Upward Spirals
Upward spiral hypothesis: positive emotions build resilience and set in motion upward spirals toward enhanced well-being
Broad-minded coping as a mediator: thinking of different ways to cope (e.g., “think of different ways to deal with the problem”) facilitates future positive emotion
Prospective study with Joiner (2000): two time points five weeks apart; broad-minded coping and positive/negative emotions measured
Findings: individuals with more positive emotions developed greater broad-minded coping over time; broader coping predicted increased positive emotions later
This reciprocal relationship constitutes an upward spiral: positive emotions -> broader coping -> more positive emotions
Implications: momentary positive emotions can build enduring psychological resources and promote lasting well-being
Remaining questions: duration of upward spirals, cross-domain effects on well-being, mechanisms (problem-solving efficacy vs meaning-making), experimental manipulation to establish causality
Concluding Remarks: What Role Do Positive Emotions Play?
Positive emotions are not only markers of flourishing but active catalysts for growth and well-being
The broaden-and-build theory portrays positive emotions as vehicles for personal and social resource-building, transforming individuals for better futures
Distinct positive emotions are essential elements of optimal functioning; joy, interest, contentment, and love are highlighted as foundational strengths with wide-ranging benefits
Core demonstrated benefits include:
(a) Broadening thought-action repertoires
(b) Undoing lingering negative emotions
(c) Fueling psychological resilience
(d) Triggering upward spirals toward enhanced emotional well-being
Related perspectives emphasize positive emotions like gratitude and elevation as important constructs (McCullough et al., 2001; Haidt, 2000)
Ongoing and future research directions:
Testing the long-term health implications of positive emotions; exploring physiological pathways and mechanisms
Investigating links to physical health outcomes (e.g., cardiovascular disease risk)
Examining the interplay between positive emotions, coping strategies, and meaning-making in adversity
Extending the theory to broader contexts and populations to validate and refine the model
Broader significance: cultivating positive emotions could contribute to healthier, more resilient, and more flourishing individuals and communities
References and Context
Key foundational sources and related research cited (e.g., Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000; Isen, 1990; Fredrickson, 1998, 2000a, 2000b, 2000c, 2000d, 2000e; Tugade & Fredrickson, 2000; Fredrickson & Joiner, 2000; Fredrickson & Levenson, 1998)
The article situates the broaden-and-build theory within the broader landscape of affect and emotion research, linking to discrete emotion theories and dimensional models of affect
Important conceptual takeaway: positive emotions are evolutionarily adaptive not only because they help in the moment but because they bootstrap resources that support long-term flourishing
Practical and Ethical Implications
Cultivating positive emotions could be a practical strategy for enhancing resilience and well-being in individuals and groups
Interventions might focus on activities that evoke joy, interest, contentment, pride, and love to broaden thinking and build resources
Consider ethical dimensions of promoting positive emotions, ensuring inclusivity, cultural sensitivity, and avoidance of masking underlying issues that require addressing
Implications for health psychology: potential pathways by which positive emotions influence physical health through faster recovery and reduced chronic stress burden
Key Takeaways
Positive emotions broaden thinking and action; they broaden cognitive scopes and foster resource-building
This broadened repertoires serve as durable personal resources for future challenges
Positive emotions can undo the physiological aftereffects of negative emotions and foster cardiovascular recovery
Positive emotions fuel resilient functioning and can initiate upward spirals toward improved emotional well-being
The broaden-and-build framework reframes positive emotions as central to flourishing and long-term health, beyond immediate pleasure