A boost of positive affect

Abstract

In a series of five studies we examined the relationship between sharing positive experiences and positive affect using a diary method (Study 1) and laboratory manipulations (Studies 2 and 3). All of these studies demonstrated that sharing the positive experience heightened its impact on positive affect. In Study 4, we conducted a four-week journal study in which the experimental participants kept a journal of grateful experiences and shared them with a partner twice a week. Control participants either kept a journal of grateful experience (without sharing), or kept a journal of class learnings and shared it with a partner. Those who shared their positive experiences increased in positive affect, happiness, and life satisfaction over the course of four weeks. Study 5 showed that those who received an “active-constructive” response to good news (enthusiastic support) expressed more positive affect than participants in all other conditions, indicating that the response of the listener is important. In sum, our findings suggest that positive affect, happiness, and life satisfaction reach a peak only when participants share their positive experiences and when the relationship partner provides an active-constructive response.

Online Positive Affect Journaling in the Improvement of Mental Distress and Well-Being in General Medical Patients With Elevated Anxiety Symptoms: A Preliminary Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)

“…Overall, the current findings suggest that PAJ has potential utility as an intervention for managing mental distress, particularly elevated anxiety symptoms, and other aspects of well-being among general medical patients. This is consistent with, and extends, prior research on positive writing interventions as a way to improve aspects of health and well-being [55,69,70,71].…”

Positive interventions: An emotion regulation perspective.

“…Reis et al (2010) demonstrated that instructing participants to share a personal positive event with an enthusiastic confederate increased their levels of positive emotions compared with various control conditions, including watching funny video clips. Likewise, Lambert et al (2013) showed that compared with talking about something neutral (e.g., what one had learned in class), telling someone about a positive experience made participants feel happier.…”

“…Lambert et al (2013;Study 4) designed a capitalization intervention in which participants were instructed to keep a journal of positive experiences and to share them with a partner twice a week for a month. Control participants either kept a journal of positive experiences (without sharing) or kept a journal of class learnings and shared it with a partner.…”

My Friends Are My Estate: Friendship Experiences Mediate the Relationship Between Perceived Responses to Capitalization Attempts and Happiness

“…This is because a genuinely enthusiastic response not only increases the perceived value of the event but also validates Joel's experience, which might generate an upward spiral of positive emotions (Gable and Algoe 2010). Empirical research has convincingly supported these predictions in different age groups for different significant bonds with various methods (e.g., experiments, longitudinal designs) such that the act of sharing good news with others and perceived responses to capitalization attempts (PRCA) are positively associated with happiness (Altermatt 2010;Demir et al 2013a;Gable et al 2004Gable et al , 2006Gable et al , 2012Reis 2001, 2010;Lambert et al 2011Lambert et al , 2013Reis et al 2010). However, we know less about the mechanisms that could explain this robust association.…”

“…Empirical research has shown that of the four responses, only AC reactions are positively associated with relationship quality while the other three responses are negatively related to well-being indices in romantic relationships (Donato et al 2014;Lambert et al 2013;Mattson et al 2012, Study 2) and friendships (Demir and Davidson 2013;Demir et al 2013a). Moreover, a composite PRCA score (subtracting the AD, PC, and PD responses from the AC responses) have yielded similar findings.…”