Attuned to the positive? Awareness and responsiveness to others’ positive emotion experience and display

Abstract

Positive emotions are implicated in affiliation and cooperation processes that are central to human social life. For this reason, we hypothesized that people should be highly aware of and responsive to the positive emotions of others. Study 1 examined awareness by testing the accuracy with which perceivers tracked others' positive emotions. Study 2 examined responsiveness by testing whether positive emotions were predictive of perceivers responding to new relationship opportunity. In Study 1, multilevel analyses of dating couples' estimates of their partner's emotions across four semi-structured interactions revealed that both women and men tracked partner positive emotions with considerable accuracy. Additional analyses indicated that tracking accuracy was most pronounced for positive emotions whose display is known to include the Duchenne smile. In Study 2, multilevel analyses of dyads who watched a set of positive and negative emotion-eliciting film clips with a stranger indicated that only positive emotion display predicted subsequent closeness. Together, these findings show that people are highly attuned to the positive emotions of others and can be more attuned to others' positive emotions than negative emotions.

Affective processes as mediators of links between close relationships and physical health

“…Research has shown that affiliation processes within close relationships, such as disclosing thoughts and feelings and providing/receiving social support, help relieve anxiety and reduce negative affect (Jakubiak & Feeney, ; Kane, Slatcher, Reynolds, Repetti, & Robles, ; Slatcher, Robles, Repetti, & Fellows, ). Furthermore, experiences of joy, contentment, and gratitude can promote relational well‐being by increasing trust and solidifying bonds (Campos, Schoebi, Gonzaga, Gable & Keltner, ; Kubacka, Finkenauer, Rusbult, & Keijsers, ). In contrast, relationship experiences such as resentment, secrecy, and conflict can lead to worry, hostility, and other forms of negative affect (Slepian, Chun, & Mason, ; Kiecolt‐Glaser et al, ).…”

Jumping for Joy: The Importance of the Body and of Dynamics in the Expression and Recognition of Positive Emotions

“…The fact the positive emotions are less critical for survival is not to deny the importance of their social functions. Positive emotions are involved in affiliation and cooperation and therefore important for adaptation ( Campos et al, 2015 ). Different positive emotions have specific functions – respond to material opportunities or social stimuli, facilitate playing new skills, encode novel information – that require distinct expressive signals to be effectively communicated ( Shiota et al, 2014 ).…”

Protective processes underlying the links between marital quality and physical health

“…Relationships create opportunities for positive affective experiences, amplifying and sustaining the experience of positive emotions in relationships [31,32]. In turn, positive emotions foster closeness and strengthen connections in relationships [33], and through this pathway, they can positively influence our physiology [34]. Likewise, and possibly through accumulated experience of positive social connections [35], relationships can buffer against negative emotional experiences and facilitate the downregulation of negative emotions and stress [36,37].…”