Scott Wiltermuth, an associate professor at the University of Southern California, gathered groups of three volunteers. Some of the groups were asked to walk around the university campus normally, while others were formed into a small army and asked to march around the same route in step.

In another part of the study, one group was asked to simply listen to a national anthem, a second group to sing in time to the music, a third to sing and move in time to the music, and a fourth to sing and move—but asynchronously. In the final experiment, participants repeated the music experiment before playing a game in which tokens could be contributed.

Those who had been in synchronous teams quickly bonded, and they were significantly more likely to donate more tokens and help one another during the game. People who have bonded together often act in unison. Similarly, acting in unison helps people bond together.

So if you are sitting down, lean back, look up and interlock your fingers behind your head. If you are standing up, then place your feet flat on the floor and push your shoulders back and your chest forward. Thomas Schubert, a psychology professor at the University of Oslo, conducted a three-part study on power and bodily force.

This article was published in April and has been updated. Photo by Shutterstock. Richard Wiseman is a psychologist and the author of The As If Principle. His research on the psychology of luck, change, perception and deception has been published in leading academic journals.

Here are 10 positive-action exercises to try: 1. Feeling happy There is more to lifting your mood than forcing your face into a brief, unfelt smile that finishes in the blink of an eye.

Instead: Relax the muscles in your forehead and cheeks, and let your mouth drop slightly open. Contract the muscles near the corners of your mouth, drawing them back toward your ears.

Make the smile as wide as possible and extend your eyebrow muscles slightly upward. Hold the resulting expression for about 20 seconds. Moving on Struggling to get over an upsetting choice you had to make?

The power of secrets The more couples get to know one another, the more they disclose personal information. In what way?

To someone else? Muscle magic People who are highly motivated often tense their muscles as they prepare to spring into action. Breaking habits You can help crack unwanted habits by behaving as if you are someone who never gets stuck in a routine.

Try to undo unwanted habits by behaving as if you are a flexible person and carrying out one of the following every few days: Try an unusual form of food. Visit a new art gallery or museum. Go to a shop that you have never visited before. How to negotiate The chairs that you sit in affect your behavior, which in turn affects how you think.

All together now Want to get a group to bond together quickly and believe in a single cause? The more worth or merit that others assign to whatever it is that we've accomplished, the greater the level of pride we typically experience in that accomplishment.

Serenity is defined as "the quality of being peaceful and calm. Think of a lazy Sunday morning spent with family or enjoying the calm and quiet of a peaceful walk through a garden.

According to Frederickson's broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, contentment encourages us to savor the present moment and reevaluate our priorities. This can help deepen our understanding of ourselves.

In a study involving children, those that experienced the most serenity also had the most prosocial behaviors and the least amount of aggression. The children who described themselves as being serene were also more likely to extend help and comfort to others.

A well-known writing involving this happy emotion is " The Serenity Prayer ," which originated in religion and is now one of the key tools used in certain recovery support groups.

Interest is a positive emotion that involves focusing our attention on something that is significant to us. You may have an interest in various psychological theories , for instance.

Or you might be interested in politics, history, music, sports, or something else. While we like things that are familiar to us, we are often interested in new or novel things. Interest energizes the learning process and, according to some researchers, is critical to academic success.

This happy emotion encourages us to dive deeper into a topic not just once, but time and time again. In this way, interest serves as a motivator. Amusement is a positive emotion derived from things we perceive as being funny or entertaining.

Even if we try to suppress when something amuses us—such as during a sober event, when it may not feel appropriate to laugh—we still feel this emotion fully. Some people are amused by videos of laughing babies or pictures of pets dressed in costumes.

Others experience amusement when their child says something comical or they see a funny meme. Whatever it is that makes you chuckle, this happy emotion serves a few valuable purposes.

Aristotle considered amusement a type of relaxation. He contended that it serves this purpose by offering a bit of relief from whatever has been going on in our lives.

And when our laughter is with others, it strengthens our bonds with those people even more. There are also several health benefits of laughter.

It decreases stress hormone levels, improves immune system function, and increases the secretion of endorphins, the latter of which can help when we're feeling uncomfortable or depressed.

The American Psychological Association defines hope as the expectation that an experience will be positive, or that negative or threatening situations will either not materialize or work out in a favorable way. Hope is what we have when we envision a brighter future. Hope can also help us through hard times, even improving our wellness at the same time.

For example, one study involving people newly diagnosed with cancer found that those with hope had greater levels of well-being and improved psychosocial outcomes.

Other research has reported that, when combined with self-compassion , hope helped college athletes reassess themselves cognitively after experiencing a negative event such as losing a game. When we see other people being the best versions of themselves, we are often inspired to be our best.

Whether we witness them display high moral character or perform with excellence or mastery, we connect the greatness in them to the potential for greatness in ourselves.

Inspiration helps us grow and develop both personally and professionally. With each challenge that we face at home, socially, or at work, we are inspired to continue to push forward in an effort to meet our needs and achieve our goals.

Another benefit of inspiration is increased creativity. Participating in activities that inspire us helps to spark our imagination. These activities might include watching an inspirational video, going for a walk through nature, or having a brainstorming session with a co-worker or friend.

All of these can inspire our creative side. Something may cause us to feel awe when it pulls us in and brings us a sense of connectedness to something bigger than ourselves. Grandiose goodness or beauty, like a view of the starlit sky from a remote place, can stop us in our tracks as we feel overpowered by wonder and respect.

Awe transforms our view of the world and our place in it. When you experience awe, you also likely experience:. One thing that sets awe apart from other happy emotions is that it inspires us to think scientifically.

Studies have found that when people have an awe experience, they are more likely to question the natural world, leading to the pursuit of scientific discovery.

The most frequently felt positive emotion, Frederickson defines love as the shared experience of any of the above positive emotions with someone you care about.

Love allows us to know others more deeply and focus on their well-being, leading to increased levels of intimacy and trust. The emotion of love offers us physical benefits as well. When engaged in loving relationships, we tend to have lower blood pressure, stronger immune systems, greater heart health, feel less pain, and live longer.

No wonder love makes us feel so good! Love even changes our brains. Magnetic resonance imaging MRI studies have found that being in love increases activity in the portion of the brain that deals with self-control and learning, also increasing activity in areas related to reward, motivation, and emotion regulation.

Would you like to experience more happy emotions in your life? These tips can help. If you try these things and still have trouble experiencing emotions of happiness, it's possible that something else may be at play. Talking to a mental health therapist can help uncover the reasons you may not be able to fully experience happy emotions, also working with you to overcome these issues.

Fredrickson B. Watkins PC, Emmons RA, Greaves MR, Bell J. Joy is a distinct positive emotion: Assessment of joy and relationship to gratitude and well-being.

J Pos Psychol. Emmons RA. Joy: An introduction to this special issue. Shiraki Y, Igarashi T. Asian J Soc Psychol. Layous K, Sweeny K, Armenta C, Na S, Choi I, Lyubomirsky S. They will build the psychological capital and resilience to support your clients as they create goal-driven, engaging lives aligning with their values.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Emotion is spontaneous overflow of feelings. Positive emotion directs the feelings to bring happiness. It is a state of mind having lower negative energy. Anger, anxiety on the other hand enhance chaos in mind and cause negative energy to increase.

What does it mean to be happy? Study yourself. Find how much irritation can you absorb? If you remain calm in disturbance, positive emotions are working. Self-study is good to understand emotions, positive and negative. I liked the article. It is informative. As I choose joy on purpose, I become contagious to others.

Also as I am encouraged, I encourage others. I create a plan for what I can control and I pray and leave my request with God for things out of control. Hello, it is helpful , but also i want some journal articles on positive emotions, where can i get it from?

Hello Divya May I suggest you go through the reference section? There is an extensive selection of resources which could guide you further.

I started on Feb. I have done over positivity videos and facilitate 7-day Make Positivity Louder Challenges for the online community. Very interesting article. Positive emotions positively affect not only individuals, but also can change an atmosphere and efficiency of business organizations. Hello Dr.

Ramakrishna I am glad you found this article resourceful and hope you stop by again soon. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Almost one in five adults globally may have been neglected as a child, and it most likely happened unintentionally Stoltenborgh et al.

Parents or [ Anger is a universal emotion. It can be a natural response to perceived threats, generating the energy required to protect ourselves and obtain justice. However, [ Emotions are important messengers about our relationships and wellbeing. Home Blog Store Team About CCE Reviews Contact Login.

Positive Emotions. Scientifically reviewed by William Smith, Ph. This Article Contains What Are the Benefits of Positive Emotions? What Are the Benefits of Positive Emotions? What is the broaden-and-build theory?

And this contrasts with our default negativity bias. We yell at the driver who took our spot in the car park. Positive emotions give us options. Positive emotions, such as joy, hope, and gratitude, make us feel good now and in the future.

Positivity changes the working of our mind. In a very literal sense, swapping bad thoughts and emotions for good ones helps us see options. We see opportunities rather than limitations. Positivity transforms our future. Fleeting positive feelings accumulate over time, building up more psychological resources and, ultimately, making tomorrow a better day than yesterday.

Positivity reduces negativity. Negative emotions just think of anger and fear are bad for our health, increasing blood pressure and releasing stress hormones.

Positive ones calm us, physically and psychologically. Positivity has a tipping point. Contrary to what we might think, the association between positive emotions and their benefits is not linear.

Small changes in our experience of positivity can significantly improve how we feel and react to situations. Positivity is learnable. We are in no way fixed. While our potential for life-draining negativity is never far away, so too is our capacity to use positivity to make a significant difference in our lives.

Download 3 Free Emotional Intelligence Exercises PDF These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients understand and use emotions advantageously.

Download PDF. Download 3 Free Emotional Intelligence Tools Pack PDF By filling out your name and email address below. Email Address Required. Your Expertise Required Your expertise Therapy Coaching Education Counseling Business Healthcare Other. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

For your mental health The experience of positive emotions predicts decreased symptoms of depression and a lowering of perceived stress. To relieve stress While the experience of positive emotions is vital to managing and relieving stress, so too is its timing Tugade et al.

For strong relationships As we have already seen, positive emotions are helpful in bond formation Fredrickson, How to Use Happy Emotions for Performance Optimization Positive emotions support individuals in optimizing their performances through a combination of the following Tugade et al.

They help us build creative and innovative solutions to environmental challenges. They support us in our recovery from the ill effects of negative emotions. They increase our resilience and psychological resources. Positive emotions can optimize performance in at least the following two ways.

Sometimes it can help to make a start by becoming better at identifying emotions.

Picture yourself as an artist, poised with a palette of emotions, ready to paint the canvas of your life. This blog is where you will find 8 practices that serve as your brushes, helping you imbue your life with strokes of positivity. Powerful as it is, gratitude holds the potential to reshape your outlook on life.

A gratitude journal then becomes a conduit for this emotion. It urges you to document daily expressions of thankfulness. Because of that, you will focus more on the positive elements that grace your life, regardless of their significance.

This practice, therefore, can help foster optimism and positive emotions. Related: 20 Tiny Victories Worth Celebrating. Mindfulness meditation has become increasingly popular nowadays — and for good reason.

This time-honored practice entails purposeful attention to the present moment, devoid of judgment. By anchoring yourself in the here and now, you liberate yourself from the clutches of negative thought loops.

No longer would you find yourself entangled in anxieties about the future or regrets about the past. Mindfulness facilitates a state of tranquility, acceptance, and non-reactivity. Additionally, dance meditation is another form of meditation. Unlike structured dance routines, dance meditation encourages spontaneous movement and self-expression.

Participants let go of self-consciousness and judgment, allowing their bodies to move freely and instinctively to the rhythm of music. Performing acts of kindness has dual benefits. It serves others and enriches your lives with joy and fulfillment.

In other words, you will get feel-good hormones like oxytocin and dopamine. And these actions contribute to a positive sense of purpose and self-worth. Studies have associated regular physical activity with mood improvement and stress reduction. Exercise leads to the release of endorphins, acting as natural mood lifters.

Jogging, yoga, or similar activities boost positive emotions, not to mention physical health, as these clear away emotional clutter. Creativity is a potent form of self-expression and emotional release. It offers you a channel to delve into your deepest thoughts and emotions.

Activities like art journaling , painting, quilting , or cooking can bring positive emotions to your life. So by nurturing your creative side, you can reduce stress and negative emotions. Self-compassion is treating yourself with the same understanding and kindness you would extend to a dear friend.

This practice involves acknowledging your limitations and imperfections without judgment. It also means embracing yourself with acceptance and love. With self-compassion, you can liberate yourself from the weight of self-criticism and negative self-talk. As a result, you will find emotional growth and a more positive self-image.

Related: Words of Encouragement: 12 Motivational Quotes of Strength. In our fast-paced digital world, handwritten letters have become rare yet meaningful. Writing letters of appreciation is to reach out and say thank to those who have positively impacted your life.

Your friends, mentors, or teachers are some examples. The key is to express gratitude through a heartfelt letter. This act of appreciation not only strengthens your connections but also fosters positive emotions within yourself.

Related: 30 Letters to Write in 30 Days. In a world filled with noise and constant stimulation, silence retreats allow for stillness and quietness.

In these retreats, participants commit to a period of silence, often in a serene natural setting. Here, they engage in meditation, reflection, and self-awareness practices.

These retreats create space for inner contemplation, emotional healing, and a deep sense of peace and tranquility.

This list of positive emotions includes just some of the most common. As you can categorize the emotions you feel in different ways, there are various nuances for you to discover. The more you prioritize your mental health, the more variances of positive emotions you will feel.

Rather than a single emotion, happiness is a collection of positive emotions. It encompasses a range of positive feelings, thoughts, and experiences that contribute to your overall well-being. Donker, T. A brief Web-based screening questionnaire for common mental disorders: development and validation.

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Table of Contents. Harness These Emotions. Trending Videos. Happy Crying: Why Does It Happen? How to Teach Children Gratitude. How to Learn More Effectively.

Hope Awe Joy Gratitude Serenity Inspiration. When have you felt most grateful for someone or something? What do you treasure most in life?

When do you feel most like giving back? Spending time reflecting on positive emotions is an act of savoring that maximizes their effectiveness and increases positivity over time.

Sharing positive emotions can benefit both the communicator and the recipient and involves three stages. In this activity , the client replaces negative thoughts with more helpful, positive ones to reduce or remove their negative impact on our emotions.

In this exercise , we are encouraged to recall our childhood memories, focus on the good times, and capture the feelings associated with each one.

Joy: the sheer happiness of spending quality time with family and playing in the sand or water. Nostalgia: recalling fond memories of past beach picnics and shared family traditions. Serenity: the calming effect of the ocean waves and the gentle sea breeze.

Gratitude: appreciating the opportunity to connect with family members and nature. Excitement: anticipating fun activities like building sandcastles, swimming, or flying kites.

Contentment: enjoying a delicious picnic meal together while surrounded by the picturesque beach setting. Learning to recognize each emotion and talk about it can improve our ability to be vulnerable and form deep connections.

For the chosen event, the individual selects how the situation made them feel for a range of emotions, including:. The completed form can be reviewed to understand and share the emotions felt during and after the event and increase emotional awareness and intelligence.

Through conscious effort, it is possible to draw attention away from negative and toward positive emotions and incorporate more enjoyable events and activities into our daily schedule.

The worksheet uses the following questions to fact-check situations:. Fact-checking is a technique for bringing intense usually negative emotions back under control.

Positive emotions are more than momentary good feelings; they offer us new ways of thinking, improved problem-solving, boosted creativity, and increased wellbeing.

We can see the benefits in our personal and professional lives, putting us in a place where we can better take advantage of the opportunities that arise. Equally crucial for our wellbeing, positive emotions are essential for building and maintaining robust and satisfying relationships.

They strengthen our abilities to form initial connections while creating an environment for maintaining closeness. Regularly experiencing emotions such as joy, gratitude, curiosity, and hope also protects us from many of the ill effects associated with negative emotions, such as stress and depression.

Positive emotions play a vital role in positive psychology. As such, they should form a central position in therapy and counseling styles that focus on client flourishing, beyond treatment of poor mental health.

They will build the psychological capital and resilience to support your clients as they create goal-driven, engaging lives aligning with their values. We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Emotion is spontaneous overflow of feelings.

Positive emotion directs the feelings to bring happiness. It is a state of mind having lower negative energy. Anger, anxiety on the other hand enhance chaos in mind and cause negative energy to increase.

What does it mean to be happy? Study yourself. Find how much irritation can you absorb? If you remain calm in disturbance, positive emotions are working. Self-study is good to understand emotions, positive and negative.

I liked the article. It is informative. As I choose joy on purpose, I become contagious to others. Also as I am encouraged, I encourage others. I create a plan for what I can control and I pray and leave my request with God for things out of control.

Hello, it is helpful , but also i want some journal articles on positive emotions, where can i get it from? Hello Divya May I suggest you go through the reference section? There is an extensive selection of resources which could guide you further.

I started on Feb. I have done over positivity videos and facilitate 7-day Make Positivity Louder Challenges for the online community. Very interesting article. Positive emotions positively affect not only individuals, but also can change an atmosphere and efficiency of business organizations.

Hello Dr. Ramakrishna I am glad you found this article resourceful and hope you stop by again soon. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Almost one in five adults globally may have been neglected as a child, and it most likely happened unintentionally Stoltenborgh et al. Parents or [ Anger is a universal emotion.

It can be a natural response to perceived threats, generating the energy required to protect ourselves and obtain justice. However, [ Emotions are important messengers about our relationships and wellbeing.

Home Blog Store Team About CCE Reviews Contact Login. Positive Emotions. Scientifically reviewed by William Smith, Ph. This Article Contains What Are the Benefits of Positive Emotions? What Are the Benefits of Positive Emotions? What is the broaden-and-build theory?

And this contrasts with our default negativity bias. We yell at the driver who took our spot in the car park. Positive emotions give us options. Positive emotions, such as joy, hope, and gratitude, make us feel good now and in the future. Positivity changes the working of our mind. In a very literal sense, swapping bad thoughts and emotions for good ones helps us see options.

Next time you want some help getting over the loss of a client or a bad business decision, write a brief description of what happened on a piece of paper, put the paper in an envelope and kiss the past goodbye. And if you really want to have fun, reach for the matches and convert your envelope into a pile of ashes.

The more couples get to know one another, the more they disclose personal information. Psychologist Arthur Aron, professor of psychology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, wondered whether asking two people to disclose personal information and so acting as if they were more intimate would make them feel especially close.

In the first of a three-part study , Aron paired strangers and gave each one of two sets of 36 questions which allowed them to open up about increasingly private aspects of their lives.

The pairs were then asked to rate how they felt about each other. As predicted, the questions promoted a sense of intimacy and attraction. Whereas, pulling it toward you behaving as if you liked it is likely to make you feel far more positively about it.

Next time you are confronted with a plate of sugary or fried snacks, simply push the plate away from you and feel the temptation fade. Conversely, if you are in sales and want to make prospective clients feel more positive about a product, try placing it on a table in front of them and encouraging them to slide it closer.

People who are highly motivated often tense their muscles as they prepare to spring into action. But research from Iris Hung , an associate professor of marketing at the National University of Singapore, has shown that the opposite is also true—you can boost your willpower simply by tensing your muscles.

Next time you feel your willpower draining away, try, for example, making a fist, contracting your biceps, pressing your thumb and first finger together or gripping a pen in your hand.

Similarly, if you want to persevere with something, try crossing your arms. Ron Friedman, social psychologist and founder of ignite80 , asked people to tackle difficult anagrams with their arms either crossed or resting on their thighs.

By folding their arms, people were acting as if they were persistent, and they continued trying to solve the puzzle for longer than those with their hands on their thighs.

You can help crack unwanted habits by behaving as if you are someone who never gets stuck in a routine. Professor of psychology Ben Fletcher and professor emeritus Karen Pine from the University of Hertfordshire in the U.

carried out research in which people trying to lose weight were asked to adopt a more flexible approach to life. The behavioral flexibility and change in habits helped people break their bad patterns. Try to undo unwanted habits by behaving as if you are a flexible person and carrying out one of the following every few days:.

The chairs that you sit in affect your behavior, which in turn affects how you think. In the final experiment of a six-part study by Joshua Ackerman, a psychology professor at the University of Michigan, volunteers were given either hard chairs or soft-cushioned chairs to sit on.

At the same time, they were paired with strangers to role-play the negotiation of selling a new car. Those in the hard chairs sat rigidly, while those sitting in the soft chairs felt comfortable—and sure enough, their behavior was significantly different.

Those in the hard chairs were more inflexible in their negotiations and demanded a higher price for the car. Hard furniture creates hard behavior, which underlines the importance of having soft furnishings in your home and office except for when you need to be the bad cop.

Experiment one of a two-part study conducted by University of Colorado psychologist Lawrence Williams suggests that this is indeed the case.

The volunteers who had been warmed up by the coffee thought that the stranger seemed much friendlier than those who had been clutching iced drinks.

If you are trying to befriend someone , skip the frozen cocktails in an air-conditioned bar and instead opt for a steaming mug of tea in front of a roaring fire.

Want to get a group to bond together quickly and believe in a single cause?

Focus your attention on it and if your attention wanders, refocus as many times as necessary. This will help to get you into the habit of experiencing pleasure. Focus on the experience. Keep those worry thoughts away.

We aren't the only mental health resource out there. Check out these books, websites, social media accounts, and more for additional support. Read More. Making DBT skills second nature takes practice. Use these flashcards on their page, download your own to print out, or purchase our pre-made set from our shop.

DBT has its own lingo which can be hard to understand for beginners. Visit our homemade DBT Encyclopedia to figure out what a term means. Mindfulness practice is key to DBT.

You don't have to meditate in silence everyday, though. Try these Mindfulness exercises to guide you. Diary cards help track your emotions, urges, behaviors, and skill use. They help you see patterns. Learn how to use them and get samples.

Increasing Positive Emotions. You can build positive emotional experiences in two ways: Short term experiences Long term experiences. Short Term Experiences Short-term positive experiences could be something like: Going for a swim Taking a walk in the park Going out for pizza Watching a favorite TV show Calling a friend to chat You probably already do something like this in your life.

Exercises Take a look at the Pleasant Activities list. Long Term Experiences In addition to having short term pleasant experiences, you also want to do things and make changes in your life that will make positive events happen more often.

Goals What are some things that you can do to make your life more worth living in the long term? Relationships Another important area to work on for a more positive future is your relationships. Repair a Relationship If you really care about a relationship that has gone bad or just lapsed, work on repairing it.

Create a New Relationship You can also reach out for new relationships. Work on a Current Relationship This could include spouses, partners, children, parents, siblings, friends, coworkers, any one who is close to you or with whom you spend a lot of time.

Positive Mindfulness These last two points are really important if you are going to have and keep positive experiences in your life. Be Mindful of Positive Experiences To be mindful of positive experiences means applying mindfulness to the things that give you pleasure.

Opposite to Emotion Action Emotion Regulation is the Dialectical Behavioral Therapy module that teaches how emotions work. It provides skills to help manage emotions They do so not just in the present, pleasant moment, but over the long term as well.

Positive emotions also can have profound social and organizational repercussions. This document provides a brief summary of theory and research that underscores the relevance of leading with positive emotions during trying times. Negative emotions have important functions.

Anxiety promotes vigilance. Anger promotes seeking justice. Yet negative emotions often linger on beyond their usefulness, producing unnecessary irritability and increases in heart rate and blood pressure.

Laboratory experiments have demonstrated that evoking positive emotions in these circumstances is the most efficient way to quell or "undo" the lingering aftereffects of negative emotions. Cultivating positive emotions speeds the return to cardiovascular normalcy. This undoing effect of positive emotions has been shown both for energized positive emotions like joy and amusement, and for tranquil positive emotions, like serenity and appreciation.

The ability to cultivate positive emotions is thus an important skill for regulating negative emotions. In part because positive emotions speed recovery from negative emotions they also fuel resilient coping. Resilient people, studies show, experience more positive emotions in the midst of adversity compared to those who are less resilient.

These greater positive emotions, in turn, help resilient people bounce back to pre-crisis levels of functioning. Such findings suggest the timely cultivation of positive emotions is one way that people use emotions intelligently.

Positive emotions have important functions beyond alleviating negative emotions and fueling resilient coping, functions that have long been overlooked by scientists studying emotions.

I spotlight these additional functions in my broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. Joy, for instance, creates the urge to play, interest the urge to explore, and so on. A key, incidental outcome of these broadened mindsets is an increase in personal resources: As individuals discover new ideas and actions, they build their physical, intellectual, social and psychological resources.

Play, for instance, builds physical, socio-emotional and intellectual skills, and fuels brain development. Similarly, exploration increases knowledge and psychological complexity.

So by broadening people's mindsets, positive emotions build durable personal resources that function as reserves to be drawn on during later trying times. Because positive emotions broaden thinking and build enduring psychological resources like resilience, they also trigger upward spirals toward enhanced emotional well-being.

Put differently, any positive emotion you experience today not only feels good now, but also increases the likelihood you will feel good in the future. Studies that track the same individuals over time have documented this phenomenon.

In contrast, the broaden-and-build theory predicts a comparable upward spiral in which positive emotions and the broadened thinking they bring also influence one another reciprocally, leading to appreciable increases in functioning and well-being.

The benefits of positive emotions do not end with changes within individuals. Because one individual's experience of positive emotion can reverberate through other organizational members and across interpersonal transactions with customers, positive emotions may fuel optimal organizational functioning, helping organizations to thrive and prosper.

Positive emotions have been found to result in increased self-efficacy , higher job satisfaction, and better mental health in general Schutte, These findings are intuitive; it makes sense that experiencing more positive emotions at work, like joy, interest, gratitude, and happiness, increases satisfaction with the work.

Greater satisfaction with work has a clear and direct relationship with intentions to stay with the position. Positive emotions in the workplace can facilitate more effective leadership as well as increasing job satisfaction.

Another style of leadership, known as intellectual stimulator leadership, is more effective in boosting employee job satisfaction, effort, and effectiveness when positive emotions like enthusiasm, hope, pride, happiness, and inspiration complement the leadership Zineldin, When employees experience positive emotions at work, they experience a broadening of perspective and may be able to build important resources.

Staw and colleagues also found that MBA students with higher positive emotions performed more accurately on a decision-making task than students with lower levels of positive emotions There has never been more interest in positive emotions and their effect on our lives—and for good reason!

Keep an eye out for news on positive emotions, and you will be keeping up with a bright and vibrant area of research. Thanks for reading. If you have any comments on positive emotions or want to suggest further reading, please let us know in the comment section below. We hope you enjoyed reading this article.

About the author Courtney Ackerman , MA, is a graduate of the positive organizational psychology and evaluation program at Claremont Graduate University. She is a researcher and evaluator of mental health programs for the State of California and her professional interests include survey research, wellbeing in the workplace, and compassion.

How useful was this article to you? Not useful at all Very useful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Submit Share this article:. Great article which clearly explained the TopTen list of positive emotions classified by psychology!

Ampliar y construir la fuente de conocimiento inspiracion ala felicidad o tristeza la vulnerabilidad de deprimido disgustado enojado esperanzado o animado. Hi, may I know if you are referring to any scientific journal to define the list of positive emotions? If yes, can I get the references?

For a few frameworks, and emotions considered to be reflective of overarching categories, perhaps take a look at the PANAS scales. Also Wikipedia has a great summary of some of the different positive emotion frameworks and their creators in its listing on Emotion Classification.

Excellent article on positive emotions and insights. Positive emotions are difficult to inculcate in individuals. The examples cited are worth noting for coaching. Wish all the best in professional endeavours. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Almost one in five adults globally may have been neglected as a child, and it most likely happened unintentionally Stoltenborgh et al. Parents or [ Anger is a universal emotion. It can be a natural response to perceived threats, generating the energy required to protect ourselves and obtain justice.

However, [ Emotions are important messengers about our relationships and wellbeing. Home Blog Store Team About CCE Reviews Contact Login.

Positive Emotions. What Are Positive Emotions in Psychology? Ackerman, MA. Scientifically reviewed by William Smith, Ph. This Article Contains: What are Positive Emotions? A Definition Positive Emotion Words People Use Why do We Need Positive Emotions?

What Good are They? The Broaden-and-Build Theory. Video The positive effects of positive emotions — Jennifer Stellar. Download 3 Free Emotional Intelligence Exercises PDF These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients understand and use emotions advantageously.

Download PDF. Download 3 Free Emotional Intelligence Tools Pack PDF By filling out your name and email address below. Email Address Required. Your Expertise Required Your expertise Therapy Coaching Education Counseling Business Healthcare Other.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. References Avey, J. Can positive employees help positive organizational change? Impact of psychological capital and emotions on relevant attitudes and behaviors.

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