This study builds on earlier work showing that adult emotional competencies (EC) could be improved through a relatively brief training. In a set of 2 controlled experimental studies, the authors investigated whether developing EC could lead to improved emotional functioning; long-term personality changes; and important positive implications for physical, psychological, social, and work adjustment. Results of Study 1 showed that 18 hr of training with e-mail follow-up was sufficient to significantly improve emotion regulation, emotion understanding, and overall EC. These changes led in turn to long-term significant increases in extraversion and agreeableness as well as a decrease in neuroticism. Results of Study 2 showed that the development of EC brought about positive changes in psychological well-being, subjective health, quality of social relationships, and employability. The effect sizes were sufficiently large for the changes to be considered as meaningful in people's lives.

Over the past fifteen years, positive psychology research has validated a set of happiness enhancing techniques. These techniques are relatively simple exercises that allow happiness seekers to mimic thoughts and behavior of naturally happy people, in order to increase their level of well-being. Because research has shown that the joint use of these exercises increases their effects, practitioners who want to help happiness seekers need validated interventions that combine several of these techniques. To meet this need, we have developed and tested an integrative intervention (Positive Emotion Regulation program – PER program) incorporating a number of validated techniques structured around a theoretical model: the Process Model of Positive Emotion Regulation. To test the effectiveness of this program and to identify its added value relative to existing interventions, 113 undergraduate students were randomly assigned to a 6-week positive emotion regulation pilot program, a loving-kindness meditation training program, or a wait-list control group. Results indicate that fewer participants dropped out from the PER program than from the Loving-Kindness Meditation training. Furthermore, subjects in the PER group showed a significant increase in subjective well-being and life satisfaction and a significant decrease in depression and physical symptoms when compared to controls. Our results suggest that the Process Model of Positive Emotion Regulation can be an effective option to organize and deliver positive integrative interventions.

The aim of this study was to examine biological sex (male versus female) and gender identity (masculine versus feminine) as predictors of support provision in marriage. Participants were 235 married individuals who completed scenario-based questionnaires designed to measure support provision across a broad range of daily stressors. Our results did not reveal differences between biological males and females in their support provision behaviour. However, a person's support provision was uniquely predicted by his/her gender identity. As compared to feminine individuals, masculine individuals reported providing higher levels of instrumental and unhelpful support for their spouse in distress. Furthermore, feminine individuals reported higher levels of emotional support provision than masculine individuals. This pattern of results appeared to be consistent across stressor type. The present findings contribute to the discussion concerning the origins of the support gap in marriage by revealing that it is not biological sex per se, but people's gender-role socialization that determines their skilfulness as a support provider in intimate relationships.

This article aims to investigate whether a simple attentional training computer task aimed at increasing attention towards positive stimuli can increase positive affects and provide the same benefits on mental health than classic positive psychology exercises. We addressed this issue by experimentally manipulating selective attentional response to positive information and examining its impact on the level of individuals' positive affects and subsequent well-being. Results show that we were not able to induce an attentional bias towards positive cues in all participants, suggesting that some people are more responsive to positive attentional training than others. However, responsive subjects showed an increase in well-being that was proportional to the positive bias induced. Taken together, our results suggest that typical positive psychology exercises currently remain the "gold standard".