Coping profiles characterize individual flourishing,languishing, and depression

Abstract

According to the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, negative emotions narrow one's thought–action repertoire. In contrast, positive emotions have a broadening effect, expanding cognitive capacity, increasing potential coping strategies that come to mind, and enhancing decision-making, reaction, and adaptation to adversity. Fredrickson and Losada determined that a positivity ratio – the ratio of experienced positive to negative emotions – at or above 2.9 promotes human flourishing. A ratio below 2.9 is indicative of languishing individuals, whereas a ratio below 1.0 is a marker of depression. This study examined whether adaptive and maladaptive coping profiles differentiated those who flourish, languish, or are depressed in two convenience samples – military spouses (n =367) and public school teachers (n=267). Results were consistent with the theoretical predictions, as coping profiles of the groups differed significantly, with flourishing individuals favoring adaptive coping strategies more than those who were languishing or depressed. Conversely, depressed individuals reported greater use of maladaptive coping strategies than those who were languishing or flourishing. These results provide further empirical support for the mathematical model of Fredrickson and Losada, as the set of positivity criteria were predictive of coping profiles in two samples where successful coping and adaptation are important.     

Mindfulness and its relationship to emotional regulation

Research on the effectiveness and mechanisms of mindfulness training applied in psychotherapy is still in its infancy (Erisman & Roemer, 2010). For instance, little is known about the extent and processes through which mindfulness practice improves emotion regulation. This experience sampling study assessed the relationship between mindfulness, emotion differentiation, emotion lability, and emotional difficulties. Young adult participants reported their current emotional experiences 6 times per day during 1 week on a PalmPilot device. Based on these reports of emotions, indices of emotional differentiation and emotion lability were composed for negative and positive emotions. Mindfulness was associated with greater emotion differentiation and less emotional difficulties (i.e., emotion lability and self-reported emotion dysregulation). Mediational models indicated that the relationship between mindfulness and emotion lability was mediated by emotion differentiation. Furthermore, emotion regulation mediated the relationship between mindfulness and both negative emotion lability and positive emotion differentiation. This experience sampling study indicates that self-reported levels of mindfulness are related to higher levels of differentiation of one's discrete emotional experiences in a manner reflective of effective emotion regulation.     

Theory/Analysis Mismatch: Comment on Fredrickson and Joiner’s (2002) Test of the Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotions

Fredrickson’s (1998, ‘What good are positive emotions?’, Review of General Psychology 2, pp. 300–319; 2001, ‘The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions’, American Psychologist 56, pp. 218–226) broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions posits that positive emotions improve coping skills and that improved coping skills increase positive emotions, resulting in an upward spiral toward emotional well-being. Fredrickson and Joiner (2002, ‘Positive emotions trigger upward spirals toward emotional well-being’, Psychological Science 13, pp. 172–175) claimed that the results of their analyses supported the broaden-and-build theory but in fact their analyses did not test this theory. The broaden-and-build theory clearly describes a within-occasion across-persons psychological process; the analyses, however, tested a within-occasion across-persons theory.     

Positive affect and the complex dynamics of human flourishing

Extending B. L. Fredrickson's (1998) broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions and M. Losada's (1999) nonlinear dynamics model of team performance, the authors predict that a ratio of positive to negative affect at or above 2.9 will characterize individuals in flourishing mental health. Participants (N=188) completed an initial survey to identify flourishing mental health and then provided daily reports of experienced positive and negative emotions over 28 days. Results showed that the mean ratio of positive to negative affect was above 2.9 for individuals classified as flourishing and below that threshold for those not flourishing. Together with other evidence, these findings suggest that a set of general mathematical principles may describe the relations between positive affect and human flourishing.     

Psychological resilience and positive emotional granularity: examining the benefits of positive emotions on coping and health

For centuries, folk theory has promoted the idea that positive emotions are good for your health. Accumulating empirical evidence is providing support for this anecdotal wisdom. We use the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions (Fredrickson, 1998; 2001) as a framework to demonstrate that positive emotions contribute to psychological and physical well-being via more effective coping. We argue that the health benefits advanced by positive emotions may be instantiated in certain traits that are characterized by the experience of positive emotion. Towards this end, we examine individual differences in psychological resilience (the ability to bounce back from negative events by using positive emotions to cope) and positive emotional granularity (the tendency to represent experiences of positive emotion with precision and specificity). Individual differences in these traits are examined in two studies, one using psychophysiological evidence, the second using evidence from experience sampling, to demonstrate that positive emotions play a crucial role in enhancing coping resources in the face of negative events. Implications for research on coping and health are discussed.     

Associations of trait positive emotion regulation with everyday emotions: An experience sampling approach

Positive emotion regulation is important for enhancing psychological well-being. Previous studies have adopted a cross-sectional design to examine the relationships between positive emotion regulation strategies and psychological functioning. Relatively little is known about the role of positive emotion regulation strategies in positive and negative emotions in everyday life. This study examines associations between perceived capability of savoring and trait positive rumination and everyday emotions. Among 300 Hong Kong Chinese (age 18–77 years), perceived capability of savoring the moment and positive rumination predicted higher positive emotions during positive-valenced events. Perceived capability of savoring the moment predicted lower negative emotions during positive-valenced events and higher positive emotions during negative-valenced events. Positive links between positive valence ratings of events and positive emotions were stronger among individuals who reported higher levels of perceived capability of savoring through reminiscence and greater trait emotion-focused rumination. Positive links between negative valence ratings of events and negative emotions were significant only among individuals who reported low/medium levels of perceived capability of savoring through anticipation. These findings suggest that: (a) perceived capability of savoring and trait positive rumination are key mechanisms for increasing positive emotions and (b) perceived capability of savoring fosters adaptive adjustment to stress during negative events.     

The role of positive emotions in positive psychology. The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions

In this article, the author describes a new theoretical perspective on positive emotions and situates this new perspective within the emerging field of positive psychology. The broaden-and-build theory posits that experiences of positive emotions broaden people's momentary thought-action repertoires, which in turn serves to build their enduring personal resources, ranging from physical and intellectual resources to social and psychological resources. Preliminary empirical evidence supporting the broaden-and-build theory is reviewed, and open empirical questions that remain to be tested are identified. The theory and findings suggest that the capacity to experience positive emotions may be a fundamental human strength central to the study of human flourishing.     

Nice to know you: Positive emotions, self-other overlap, and complex understanding in the formation of a new relationship

Based on Fredrickson's ((1998). What good are positive emotions? Review of General Psychology, 2, 300-319.; (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56, 218-226) broaden-and-build theory and Aron and Aron's ((1986). Love as expansion of the self: Understanding attraction and satisfaction. New York: Hemisphere) self-expansion theory, it was hypothesized that positive emotions broaden people's feelings of self-other overlap in the beginning of a new relationship. In a prospective study of first-year college students, we found that, after 1 week in college, positive emotions predicted increased self-other overlap with new roommates, which in turn predicted a more complex understanding of the roommate. In addition, participants who experienced a high ratio of positive to negative emotions throughout the first month of college reported a greater increase in self-other overlap and complex understanding than participants with a low positivity ratio. Implications for the role of positive emotions in the formation of new relationships are discussed.     

When getting angry is smart: emotional preferences and emotional intelligence

People who prefer to feel useful emotions, even when they are unpleasant to experience, must understand emotions and seek to regulate them in strategic ways. Such people, therefore, may be more emotionally intelligent compared with people who prefer to feel emotions that may not be useful for the context at hand, even if those emotions are pleasant to experience. We tested this hypothesis by measuring emotional intelligence and preferences to feel pleasant and unpleasant emotions in contexts in which they are likely to be useful or not. We found significant positive associations between emotional intelligence and preferences for useful emotions, even when controlling for trait emotional experiences and cognitive intelligence. People who prefer to feel anger when confronting others tend to be higher in emotional intelligence, whereas people who prefer to feel happiness in such contexts tend to be lower in emotional intelligence. Such findings are consistent with the idea that wanting to feel bad may be good at times, and vice versa.     

The protective role of compassion satisfaction for therapists who work with sexual violence survivors: an application of the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions

Therapists who work with trauma survivors, such as survivors of sexual violence, can experience compassion satisfaction while experiencing negative effects of trauma work, such as secondary traumatic stress. We examined whether the negative effects of secondary traumatic stress on therapist adjustment would be buffered by compassion satisfaction and whether the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions could be applied to examine the factors (positive emotions and positive reframing) that relate to compassion satisfaction. Sixty-one therapists who work with sexual violence survivors completed measures of secondary traumatic stress, compassion satisfaction, adjustment, positive emotions and positive reframing. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses found that compassion satisfaction buffered the negative impact of secondary traumatic stress on therapist adjustment when adjustment was conceptualised as anxiety. Using non-parametric bootstrapping, we found that the relationship between greater positive emotions and greater compassion satisfaction was partially mediated by positive reframing. The findings indicate that compassion satisfaction is likely to be helpful in ameliorating the negative effects of secondary traumatic stress on anxiety in therapists who work with sexual violence survivors and that the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions may provide a strong theoretical basis for the further examination of compassion satisfaction in trauma therapists.     

Should people pursue feelings that feel good or feelings that do good? Emotional preferences and well-being

Is it adaptive to seek pleasant emotions and avoid unpleasant emotions all the time or seek pleasant and unpleasant emotions at the right time? Participants reported on their preferences for anger and happiness in general and in contexts in which they might be useful or not (i.e., confrontations and collaborations, respectively). People who generally wanted to feel more happiness and less anger experienced greater well-being. However, when emotional preferences were examined in context, people who wanted to feel more anger or more happiness when they were useful, and people who wanted to feel less of those emotions when they were not useful, experienced greater well-being. Such patterns could not be explained by differences in the perceived usefulness of emotions, intelligence, perceived regulatory skills, emotional acceptance, social desirability, or general emotional preferences. These findings demonstrate that people who want to feel unpleasant emotions when they are useful may be happier overall. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Assessing the Initial Pleasantness for Fading Affect,Fixed Affect,Flourishing Affect,and Flexible Affect Events

Over time, autobiographical memories demonstrate fixed affect (i.e., maintain initial affect), fading affect, flourishing affect (i.e., increased affect), or flexible affect (i.e., change from unpleasant to pleasant or vice versa). Walker and Skowronski argued that events low in initial pleasantness are more likely to exhibit flourishing affect and flexible affect and that unpleasant events are more likely to demonstrate flexible affect than pleasant events. However, because of the low frequency of flourishing affect and flexible affect events in individual studies, research had not examined differences between these event categories. The present study examined initial pleasantness ratings for fading affect, fixed affect, flourishing affect, and flexible affect events across four published studies. We expected and generally found lower initial pleasantness for flourishing affect and flexible affect events than for fading affect and fixed affect events. Implications are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Open hearts build lives: positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources

B. L. Fredrickson's (1998, 2001) broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions asserts that people's daily experiences of positive emotions compound over time to build a variety of consequential personal resources. The authors tested this build hypothesis in a field experiment with working adults (n = 139), half of whom were randomly-assigned to begin a practice of loving-kindness meditation. Results showed that this meditation practice produced increases over time in daily experiences of positive emotions, which, in turn, produced increases in a wide range of personal resources (e.g., increased mindfulness, purpose in life, social support, decreased illness symptoms). In turn, these increments in personal resources predicted increased life satisfaction and reduced depressive symptoms. Discussion centers on how positive emotions are the mechanism of change for the type of mind-training practice studied here and how loving-kindness meditation is an intervention strategy that produces positive emotions in a way that outpaces the hedonic treadmill effect.     

Individual differences in emotional processing and autobiographical memory: interoceptive awareness and alexithymia in the fading affect bias

The capacity to perceive internal bodily states is linked to emotional awareness and effective emotional regulation. We explore individual differences in emotional awareness in relation to the fading affect bias (FAB), which refers to the greater dwindling of unpleasant compared to pleasant emotions in autobiographical memory. We consider interoceptive awareness and alexithymia in relation to the FAB, and private event rehearsal as a mediating process. With increasing interoceptive awareness, there was an enhanced FAB, but with increasing alexithymia, there was a decreased FAB. Further, the effects of interoceptive awareness were partially mediated by private rehearsal of pleasant events. We provide novel evidence that capacity for emotional awareness and thus effective processing is an important factor predictive of the FAB. Moreover, our results imply an important role for maintaining positive affect in the FAB. Our findings offer new insights into the effects of interoception and alexithymia on autobiographical memory, and support concepts of the FAB emerging as a result of adaptive emotional regulation processes.     

Mindfulness and Emotional Distress: the Mediating Role of Psychological well-Being

The present cross-sectional study aimed to clarify the relationships among specific facets of dispositional mindfulness, psychological well-being, and emotional distress. To understand the relationships among these variables is crucial in order to expand the knowledge of the processes underlying mindfulness effects and to develop effective interventions. The participants (119 Italian males and females; mean age = 29 years) completed self-report questionnaires assessing mindfulness (i.e., observing, describing, acting with awareness, non-judging of inner experience, non-reactivity to inner experience), emotional distress, and psychological well-being. Path analysis revealed that each facet of mindfulness played a unique role in influencing emotional suffering. In line with our prediction, no significant correlation emerged between the observing facet and either psychological well-being or emotional distress. Both the capacity to describe inner events and to act with awareness had an indirect effect on emotional distress, which was fully mediated by the perception of psychological well-being. On the other hand, the capacity for non-reacting to emotions and thoughts directly influenced emotional distress. Interestingly, non-judging inner events showed both a direct and indirect effect on the outcome variable. These findings confirmed the significant role of psychological well-being in mediating the relationship between some facets of mindfulness and emotional distress. Moreover, different mindfulness abilities play specific roles in reducing emotional distress, so mindfulness should be considered as a multidimensional construct.     

Psychological impact of coronavirus-related social isolation in Colombia after a year of lockdown

Several repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent isolation period have been reported worldwide. In this paper, we analyze the behavioral and emotional effects of 1 year of coronavirus-related lockdown in Colombia. A cross-sectional correlational design was used on a sample of 1853 participants from different regions, and with different levels of education, income, and employment situations. We applied the fear of coronavirus scale, the use of preventive behaviors scale, and a scale to measure pleasant and unpleasant emotions based on the circumplex model of affect. Our data shows that women, participants who were unemployed during the lockdown, and participants that study or work in legal, computational, or related fields, have been more affected in terms of unpleasant emotions. In addition, we observed a trend towards a relation between higher income and educational levels with lower degrees of fear, higher degrees of pleasant emotions, and a greater use of preventive behaviors related to the pandemic.     

Effect of a positive emotional state on interpretation bias for threat in children with anxiety disorders

The authors examined the effect of a positive emotional state on interpretation bias for threat in children with anxiety disorders. Participants were 34 children with anxiety disorders and 34 children without any psychological disorders who were randomly assigned to either a positive or neutral emotion induction condition. Consistent with the broaden-and-build theory, children with anxiety disorders exhibited an interpretation bias for threat, but not when they were in a positive emotional state. Furthermore, results indicated that positive emotional state made a unique prediction of interpretation bias score, whereas state anxiety did not. Findings are discussed with reference to theory, clinical implications, and suggestions for future research.     

积极情绪对任务转换的影响

通过两个行为实验考察了积极情绪图片所诱发的情绪状态对任务转换的影响及其机制。研究任务是数字分类任务,分为保持和转换两个阶段。首先要求被试对靶刺激形成一定的习惯化反应,然后改变任务要求。实验1以53名大学生为被试,分别在积极情绪、消极情绪和中性条件下完成任务,发现在与中性条件相比时,积极情绪促进任务转换,消极情绪延缓任务转换。实验2以37名大学生为被试,增加了一种转换条件,考察积极情绪促进任务转换的心理原因,结果表明积极情绪因偏好新异刺激而促进任务转换     

Expanding the topography of social anxiety. An experience-sampling assessment of positive emotions, positive events, and emotion suppression

The relation between social anxiety and hedonic activity remains poorly understood. From a self-regulatory perspective, we hypothesized that socially anxious individuals experience diminished positive experiences and events on days when they are unable to manage socially anxious feelings adequately. In this 21-day experience-sampling study, we constructed daily measures of social anxiety and emotion regulation. Greater dispositional social anxiety was associated with less positive affect and fewer positive events in everyday life. Among individuals defined as socially anxious from their scores on a global self-report measure of social anxiety, the number of positive events was lowest on days when they both were more socially anxious and tended to suppress emotions and highest on days when they were less socially anxious and more accepting of emotional experiences. Irrespective of dispositional social anxiety, participants reported the most intense positive emotions on the days when they were both least socially anxious and most accepting of emotional experiences. Possible clinical implications are discussed.     

Adult attachment and memory of emotional reactions to negative and positive events

Relations between adult attachment and memory for earlier emotional reactions to negative and positive events were examined. Hypotheses were that avoidance would be associated with underestimating earlier negative affect, whereas anxiety would be associated with overestimating earlier negative affect. Also, both avoidance and anxiety were expected to relate to underestimating earlier positive affect intensity. Participants (119 college students) completed daily report forms three times a day for 4 days on which they described and rated their immediate emotional reactions to events within each time period. Approximately 10 days later, they were asked to estimate their immediate emotional reaction to one negative event and one positive event. Events were coded as interpersonal or non-interpersonal. Contrary to hypotheses, for those lower on avoidance, anxiety related to lower levels of recalled negative affect (i.e., greater underestimation) for negative interpersonal events. As expected, with positive events, anxiety and avoidance related to lower levels of recalled positive emotions. Results suggest that memory processes could be one explanation of how working models operate and are sustained over time.