Article summary with The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions by Fredrickson - 2001

Emotions and Affect

Emotions are a subgroup of the class of affective phenomena. Emotions occur in a relatively short span of time, beginning with the assessment of a situation that triggers a variety of responses. Other than affect in general, emotions normally have an object they are referring to. Affect refers to all consciously available feelings, including emotions, but also physical sensations, attitudes, and other feelings. Positive affect is seen as facilitating approach behavior or continuous action. Positive affect is thus thought to be linked to higher levels of activity, for example by pursuing sensory pleasure or one´s approach behavior being fostered by a positive mood. Positive emotions are part of this approach-system as well. Particular emotions are thought to be linked to specific action tendencies, such as fear being linked to an urge to escape. It is speculated that the main reason why emotions are evolutionary adaptive is because these action tendencies increased the survival chances of our ancestors. Emotions are not just linked to specific action tendencies, but also simultaneously to specific physiological responses, such as fear also being linked to an activation of the autonomous nervous system in order to prepare the body for running away. Despite all this, many positive emotions cannot be said to be linked to specific tendencies, because they are only linked to very general responses, such as contentment being linked to inactivity. As a theoretical framework this is too imprecise.

The Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotions

Fredrickson argues that specific action tendencies are mostly just linked to negative emotions, but many positive emotions are not linked to specific action tendencies. She proposed the Broaden-and-Build theory of positive emotions that argues that while negative emotions reduce one´s attention on a specific reaction, positive emotions such as joy, love or contentment broaden one´s temporary thought-action repertoires. Even though positive emotions do not seem to be as important as negative emotions in order to ensure one´s survival, they are seen as creating a motivational basis for activities that form enduring personal resources in the long term. These personal resources may be of a physical, intellectual, psychological, and/or social nature. Positive emotions increase the multitude of actions and thoughts coming to one´s mind. As an example, joy seems to broaden one´s multitude of actions and thoughts by inducing the desire to be creative and push the limits. Positive emotions seem to be involved in expanding one´s knowledge and abilities, as well as in going beyond one´s habits.

From an evolutionary perspective positive emotions also indirectly foster survival by building up resources one can draw on in order to deal with future threats. An urge to play for example builds up physical and social resources that may have been beneficial for our ancestors´ survival. A temporary positive emotional state can thus cause one to establish durable resources that long outlast the emotional states that helped creating them.

Evidence for the Broaden-and-Build Theory

It has been shown that people exhibit unusual, creative, and flexible thought-patterns while they experience positive emotions. They also tend to prefer variety. Positive emotions also seem to be linked to the ability to organize and unify divergent material. When conducting an experiment about this, Fredrickson found that people come up with a higher number of behaviors they would like to do when in a positive emotional state than when in a neutral emotional state. It was also found that those in a negative emotional state came up with a lower amount of behaviors than those in the neutral condition, which supports the notion of negative emotions narrowing one´s attention.

It has also been found that positive emotions cause one to disengage from persistent negative emotions. The undoing hypothesis proposes that positive emotions eliminate the aftereffects of negative emotions. The broadening capacity of positive emotions can break up the grip of negative emotions on one´s mind and body. This notion has been supported for example by research that found that positive emotions such as joy and contentment are able to wipe out the cardiovascular effects of negative emotions.

Positive emotions also seem to give energy to psychological resiliency. It has been found that positive affect in stressful situations helps people to cope efficiently with these situations. It seems to be even possible to cope better with chronic stress if one experiences instances of positive affect. Resilient individuals are also more likely to experience positive emotions even in stressful situations, thus (probably unconsciously) using the undoing effect of positive emotions for their advantage. Positive emotions also seem to have another long-term effect: They seem to actually increase psychological resilience as well as triggering a positive spiral towards better emotional well-being.

Summary of: Fredrickson, Barbara L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56, 218-226.