Psychology, especially in the context of health care, is usually associated with treatments for mental illness and attempts at relieving misery and suffering. There is, however, an area of psychology that looks beyond what goes wrong in human mind, instead focusing on understanding and enhancing good things such as happiness and positive emotions. You might ask: why would anybody concern themselves with studying something that stems naturally from good fortune and achievements? Well, some research suggests that it is the other way round: that happiness itself can lead to blessings such as good relationships and financial security (Lyubomirsky et al., 2005)
One theory which attempts to explain the link between happiness and good fortune is the ‘broaden –and –build’ theory of positive emotions (Fredrickson, 2001). According to this stance, feelings of joy, pride, contentment, love and interest help us build long-term resources such as health and job satisfaction by broadening of our thoughts and actions. You might have noticed that stressful situations focus your thoughts on the immediate problem. On the other hand, joy is often associated with playfulness and creativity, interest and exploration, contentment, pride, dreaming about future success, playing, exploring and savouring experiences with those close to you. Further, curiosity can become expertise, whilst affection and enjoying time with others might turn into valued friendships. These resources can increase our resilience, helping us to deal with the difficulties of life.
Resilience can be thought of as the ability to find opportunities, adapt to limitations and recover from misfortune (Cohn et al., 2009). According to some research, this skill of living through changing circumstances is an important link that connects positive emotions and life satisfaction. In other words, joy, pride, gratitude and other good feelings might increase life satisfaction indirectly, through strengthened resilience. And remember that happiness or satisfaction do not equal the absence of negative feelings (Cohn et al., 2009). We can experience sadness or anger during one part of the day and joy or enthusiasm during another. For example, when a loved one dies, resilient people still experience positive emotions amidst their longing and grief (Bonanno et al., 2005). Evidence also suggests that the strengthening effect of good feelings on resilience is stronger than the weakening effect of negative emotions (Cohn et al., 2009). So we don’t have to avoid feeling bad; we just need to also feel good.
Not all studies conclude that the link between positive emotions, resilience and happiness is definitely causal. Some researchers found that when they asked participants to write down their feelings at different points in time, they could see a correlation between positive emotions and resilience. This approach raises the question of causality. However, another study showed that people can influence their own wellbeing by practicing certain approaches to life. For example, after ten weeks of counting their blessings participants slept better, exercised more and felt physically better (Emmons and McCullough, 2003). This suggests that experiencing positive emotions such as gratitude can actually improve wellbeing. It remains to be seen, however, whether these effects apply to people with mental illness, e.g. depression, those with extremely high negative emotions or extremely low positive emotions, or those affected by a long-term, intensely stressful events (Cohn et al., 2009).
Post by: Jadwiga Nazimek
References:
Bonanno, G. A., J. T. Moskowitz, A. Papa, and S. Folkman, 2005, Resilience to loss in bereaved spouses, bereaved parents, and bereaved gay men: J Pers Soc Psychol, v. 88, p. 827-43.
Cohn, M. A., B. L. Fredrickson, S. L. Brown, J. A. Mikels, and A. M. Conway, 2009, Happiness unpacked: positive emotions increase life satisfaction by building resilience: Emotion, v. 9, p. 361-8.
Emmons, R. A., and M. E. McCullough, 2003, Counting blessings versus burdens: an experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life: J Pers Soc Psychol, v. 84, p. 377-89.
Fredrickson, B. L., 2001, The role of positive emotions in positive psychology. The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions: Am Psychol, v. 56, p. 218-26.
Lyubomirsky, S., L. King, and E. Diener, 2005, The benefits of frequent positive affect: does happiness lead to success?: Psychol Bull, v. 131, p. 803-55.