"Are You Happy Now?"

[pinto]

Most scientists who study emotions focus on negative states: depression, anxiety, fear. Psychologist Barbara Fredrickson has spent more than 20 years investigating the relatively uncharted terrain of positive emotions, which she says can make us healthier and happier if we take time to cultivate them.

Fredrickson’s findings are the subject of her new book, Positivity (Crown). Though its title might make it sound like a self-help best seller, the book doesn’t belong in the pop-psychology section, and Fredrickson is no Pollyanna telling us to put on a smile before leaving the house each morning. Negative emotions, she says, are necessary for us to flourish, and positive emotions are by nature subtle and fleeting; the secret is not to deny their transience but to find ways to increase their quantity. She recommends that, rather than try to eliminate negativity, we balance negative feelings with positive ones. Below a certain ratio of positive to negative, Fredrickson says, people get pulled into downward spirals, their behavior becomes rigid and predictable, and they begin to feel burdened and lifeless.

Fredrickson, who’s 45, was born and raised in the Midwest and comes from, in her words, “a long line of stoics” who didn’t discuss or reveal their emotions. When she was growing up, emotional expression—positive and negative—was discouraged. The suppression of emotions at home motivated her escape into the life of the mind, and she focused on her academic studies.

Fredrickson is the Kenan Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and director and principal investigator of the university’s Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology Lab.

How do you define positive emotions?

If we look at a whole range of positive emotions—from amusement to awe to interest to gratitude to inspiration—what they all have in common is that they are reactions to your current circumstances. They aren’t a permanent state; they’re feelings that come and go. That’s true of all emotions, but positive emotions tend to be more fleeting.

They are also what I would call “wantable” states. Not only do they feel good, but we want to feel them. Some people might say it feels good to be angry, and anger can sometimes be useful or productive, but people don’t want to feel angry. Positive emotions have a kind of alluring glitter dust on them. You want to rea­rrange your day to get more of those sparkling moments.

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http://www.utne.com/print-article.aspx?id=2147485026

[imdjh]

1. I think we accept negativity more than positivity.

If someone is a grouch or always going around complaining, we might not want to listen to it but we generally make some effort to understand or console.

How do you console someone who is "too happy"?

If someone is too negative, we call him a grouch. If someone is "too happy" we speculate on his mental health or chemical modification.

[provis99]

2. Happy people piss me off.

But is that a good pissed off feeling, or a bad pissed off feeling?

[pinto]

3. LOL.

Color me clueless on that one. :hi:

[VPStoltz]

4. Well, this explains Republicanism.

Positive emotions are "fleeting." "The secret is not to deny...but to find ways to increase their quantity."
When it comes to emotion, the last thing a Republican wants to do is work for one.
They are much happier (if that's the word) under the weight of hate and prejudice. These are not emotions one must "work" toward.
They are in the "downward spiral," they have become "rigid and predictable," and are without a doubt "lifeless."