Psychological Resilience and Positive Emotional Granularity: Examining the Benefits of Positive Emotions on Coping and Health

Abstract

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; 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.Cheerfulness is the best promoter of health, and is as friendly to the mind as to the body.-Joseph Addison (English essayist, poet, and dramatist; 1672-1719) For centuries, folk wisdom has promoted the idea that positive emotions are good for your health: "A good laugh makes you healthy" (Swedish proverb); "The joyfulness of man prolongeth his days" (Bible, Ecclesiasticus. 30:22); "Mirth and merriment … bars a thousand harms and lengthens life" (Shakespeare). Oftentimes in science, empirical evidence emerges to refute anecdotal wisdom. In the case of positive emotions and health, however, accumulating evidence is providing empirical support for such folk theories. Research shows that positive Correspondence should be addressed to Michele M. Tugade at the

The effect of recurrent involuntary job loss on the depressive symptoms of older US workers

“…Decreases in symptomatology could suggest a direct impact of resilience, that having gone through the initial job loss enhances the ability to respond to later occurrences, thus providing a form of "immunity" to subsequent exposures (Carver 1998). Alternatively, the resilience may operate through the style in which individuals cope with the stress of unemployment (Lazarus and Folkman 1984;Grossi 1999;Tugade et al 2004), or via related behavior, notably post-displacement job seeking and labor market activity (Leana and Feldman 1995;Kanfer et al 2001;McKee-Ryan et al 2005). Reasons other than resilience are, of course, also possible.…”

Associations Between Positive and Negative Affect and 12-Month Physical Disorders in a National Sample

“…Elsewhere, others have reported that positive affect is associated with greater social support, optimism, and adaptive coping responses, whereas negative affect is associated with negative relationships, pessimism, and avoidant coping . Other research suggests that positive affect may produce patterns of thought and behavior that are flexible, creative, and open to new information, and might therefore promote adaptive coping by increasing one's personal resources (Tugade, Fredrickson, & Feldman Barrett, 2004). Fourth, it may be possible that having a physical disorder leads to decreased levels of positive affect or increased levels of negative affect, owing mainly either to the pain, discomfort, or physical limitations concomitant to such disorders.…”

Resiliencia: impacto positivo en la salud física y mental

“…La resiliencia disminuye el grado de infarto de miocardio, al afectar la respuesta inflamatoria, que muestra un efecto protector (Arrebola-Moreno et al, 2014), y se correlaciona negativamente con la duración de las reactividad cardiovascular, devolviendo rápidamente a los niveles basales de fisiológicos de respuesta después de una activación emocional negativa (Tugade, Fredrickson, & Feldman Barrett, 2004). Además, los pacientes con enfermedad coronaria con alta resiliencia logran niveles de colesterol más bajos y un mejor rendimiento físico (Chan, Lai, & Wong, 2006).…”