Reflections on Emotions and Upward Spirals
Fredrickson & Joiner
Broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions = experiences of mild, everyday positive emotions
broaden people’s awareness in ways that build consequential personal resources that contribute to
their overall well-being. Positive emotions open the mind and nourish the growth of resources and
increase the odds of feeling good in the future. It leads to an upward spiral dynamic.
Hypotheses:
- Positive affect predicts improvements over time in broad-minded coping (a coping strategy
uniquely related to creative responding)
- Broad-minded coping predicts improvements over time in positive affect
- Initial positive affect predicts positive affect 5 weeks later (because of broad-minded coping)
- Initial broad-minded coping predicts broad-minded coping 5 weeks later (because of
increases in positive affect)
Laboratory experiments have shown that positive emotions broaden the scope of a person’s
awareness. Longitudinal field experiments have shown that people randomized to learn skills to self-
generate authentic, contextually appropriate positive emotions, have shown increases in a range of
personal resources a few months later. Those gains in turn predict gains in life satisfaction and
reduction in depressive symptoms.
Study of positive emotions is quite new, since psychologists used to focus more on behavior in the
20th century, and when emotions became an accepted topic, they focused more on the serious
emotions (anger, fear, sadness). In the beginning of the 21 st century, the number of studies in
positive psychology increased and had an impact on other subdisciplines of psychology and other
sciences.
We have investigated the daily activities and experiences of people with a flourishing mental health
(positive functioning and no mental illness) and found that they experience bigger boosts in positive
emotions in response to everyday, pleasant events. This increased their psychological resources 2-3
months later which accounted for future increases in flourishing. Other research shows that positive
emotions and individual differences in emotion regulation strategies reciprocally and prospectively
enhance one another.
We have also identified biological resources that influence/are influenced by positive emotions in an
upward spiral dynamic, for example heart rate variability and underlying neural plasticity.
Just as negative emotions both characterize and promote depression (negative potentiation),
positive emotions characterize and promote optimal functioning (positive potentiation). A theory of
suicidal behavior predicts that the maintenance of social connections and contributions to others
deter the development of the desire for suicide. Positive emotions and coping are protective factors.
Through the upward spiral theory of lifestyle change we can understand the mechanisms through
which positive emotions alter people’s future health behaviors. Health behaviors that are
experienced as pleasant are more likely to be maintained. The theory emphasizes automatic, often
nonconscious motives and malleable resources that make people more sensitive to subsequent
positive experiences. This integrates with the incentive salience theory of addiction which holds
that, over time, associations between pleasantness and cues predictive of it, endow cues with
, incentive salience, making them more likely to capture attention and trigger dopaminergic wanting
and seeking behaviors. So when positive affect is experienced during a new health behavior, it
increases incentive salience cues associated with the behavior and creates nonconscious motives.
Example: people new to yoga find enjoyment in it, and others and objects associated with it
increasingly grab their attention and subtly shape future decisions about when to next visit the yoga
studio.
Positive spontaneous thoughts about physical activity have been found in research to the
nonconscious motives, in a 12-week diary study. Laboratory experiments have also found that
experienced positive affect causes positive spontaneous thoughts and that perceiving one’s own
spontaneous thoughts about a physical activity as positive is sufficient to alter subsequent behavioral
intentions for that activity. Evidence for the outer loop of the theory has come from a longitudinal
field experiment on heart rate variability of adults who were taught positive health behavior and
meditation. People with higher cardiac vagal tone showed greater increases in positive emotions in
response to the intervention, and this over time showed improvements where meditation practice
evoked positive affect. So it is a biological resource that can leverage upward spiral dynamics.
Additional evidence is needed for the causal pathways in the theory, and more statistical research for
within-person and between-person tests with a larger sample and more frequent repeated
measures.
Fredrickson & Joiner
Broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions = experiences of mild, everyday positive emotions
broaden people’s awareness in ways that build consequential personal resources that contribute to
their overall well-being. Positive emotions open the mind and nourish the growth of resources and
increase the odds of feeling good in the future. It leads to an upward spiral dynamic.
Hypotheses:
- Positive affect predicts improvements over time in broad-minded coping (a coping strategy
uniquely related to creative responding)
- Broad-minded coping predicts improvements over time in positive affect
- Initial positive affect predicts positive affect 5 weeks later (because of broad-minded coping)
- Initial broad-minded coping predicts broad-minded coping 5 weeks later (because of
increases in positive affect)
Laboratory experiments have shown that positive emotions broaden the scope of a person’s
awareness. Longitudinal field experiments have shown that people randomized to learn skills to self-
generate authentic, contextually appropriate positive emotions, have shown increases in a range of
personal resources a few months later. Those gains in turn predict gains in life satisfaction and
reduction in depressive symptoms.
Study of positive emotions is quite new, since psychologists used to focus more on behavior in the
20th century, and when emotions became an accepted topic, they focused more on the serious
emotions (anger, fear, sadness). In the beginning of the 21 st century, the number of studies in
positive psychology increased and had an impact on other subdisciplines of psychology and other
sciences.
We have investigated the daily activities and experiences of people with a flourishing mental health
(positive functioning and no mental illness) and found that they experience bigger boosts in positive
emotions in response to everyday, pleasant events. This increased their psychological resources 2-3
months later which accounted for future increases in flourishing. Other research shows that positive
emotions and individual differences in emotion regulation strategies reciprocally and prospectively
enhance one another.
We have also identified biological resources that influence/are influenced by positive emotions in an
upward spiral dynamic, for example heart rate variability and underlying neural plasticity.
Just as negative emotions both characterize and promote depression (negative potentiation),
positive emotions characterize and promote optimal functioning (positive potentiation). A theory of
suicidal behavior predicts that the maintenance of social connections and contributions to others
deter the development of the desire for suicide. Positive emotions and coping are protective factors.
Through the upward spiral theory of lifestyle change we can understand the mechanisms through
which positive emotions alter people’s future health behaviors. Health behaviors that are
experienced as pleasant are more likely to be maintained. The theory emphasizes automatic, often
nonconscious motives and malleable resources that make people more sensitive to subsequent
positive experiences. This integrates with the incentive salience theory of addiction which holds
that, over time, associations between pleasantness and cues predictive of it, endow cues with
, incentive salience, making them more likely to capture attention and trigger dopaminergic wanting
and seeking behaviors. So when positive affect is experienced during a new health behavior, it
increases incentive salience cues associated with the behavior and creates nonconscious motives.
Example: people new to yoga find enjoyment in it, and others and objects associated with it
increasingly grab their attention and subtly shape future decisions about when to next visit the yoga
studio.
Positive spontaneous thoughts about physical activity have been found in research to the
nonconscious motives, in a 12-week diary study. Laboratory experiments have also found that
experienced positive affect causes positive spontaneous thoughts and that perceiving one’s own
spontaneous thoughts about a physical activity as positive is sufficient to alter subsequent behavioral
intentions for that activity. Evidence for the outer loop of the theory has come from a longitudinal
field experiment on heart rate variability of adults who were taught positive health behavior and
meditation. People with higher cardiac vagal tone showed greater increases in positive emotions in
response to the intervention, and this over time showed improvements where meditation practice
evoked positive affect. So it is a biological resource that can leverage upward spiral dynamics.
Additional evidence is needed for the causal pathways in the theory, and more statistical research for
within-person and between-person tests with a larger sample and more frequent repeated
measures.
