Chapter 7.2: THE POWER OF POSITIVE EMOTIONS

Positive experiences activate?

A supportive orientation and lead us to be more responsive to positive information.

Negative experiences activate?

A survival orientation and lead us to be more responsive to negative information.

Upward Spirals of Positivity

Positive behaviors, feelings, attitudes feed your own and those of others in a continual, reinforcing process (Positive Emotions Are Contagious)

Negative emotions spur you to act in?

Quite narrow or specific ways. Fear may motivate you to flee and anger may motivate you to fight.

Platitudes = Fake = Bad Outcomes

Uttering positive words or forcing a smile isn't enough. Humans are excellent detectors of insincerity.54 If your positivity is not heartfelt and genuine, you will not reap any of the benefits of improved performance, relationships, and health we've discussed.

Positive and negative emotions are not?

polar opposites The world of emotions is not happy versus sad.

Positive and negative experiences are not?

Equivalent, you cannot remedy a negative experience by simply adding a positive one-it's not one for one. You must have three, five, or more positive experiences for every negative.

Positive Emotions as Resources

If you think of emotions in this way, you can see negative emotions are limiting and positive emotions are resources that fuel individual, group, and organizational flourishing.

Benefits of Positive Emotions Positive emotions are processes influencing many outcomes in the Organizing Framework, and they have desirable effects on:

• Organizational commitment • Creativity • Decision making • Intentions to quit • Performance • Stress

Positive emotions help you build resources in the form of:

• Social relationships that are supportive, fulfilling, and lasting. • Psychological well-being that leads to personal growth, meaningful goals, and self-acceptance. • Physical well-being in the form of lower stress and a healthy heart.

Strategies to Increase Your Positivity

Create high-quality connections. Any social interaction, whether with family, coworkers, classmates, or the person ahead of you in line, is a chance to create a high-quality connection. These connections are energizing and enhance your positivity. To trans¬ form ordinary interactions into high-quality connections, try the following tips: 1. Make someone the only person in the room. Engage the other person by being present, attentive, and affirming. Act as though he or she is the only person in the room. 2. Support. Encourage the person and help him or her achieve a goal or attain success. 3. Give trust. Believe you can depend on this person to meet your expectations, and let it show. 4. Goof off, play, have fun! Have no goals or intentions other than to goof off with others. 5. Cultivate kindness. Set a goal of performing five new acts of kindness in a single day. Aim for actions that make a difference and come at no cost to you. 6. Cultivate kindness. Set a goal of performing five new acts of kindness in a single day. Aim for actions that make a difference and come at no cost to you. Assess what those around you might need most and make a plan, but execute your plan so acts of kindness occur on the same day to further enhance the impact. 7. Develop distractions. One of the best ways to break from negativity is to distract yourself. Brainstorm and think of ways-old and new-to distract yourself from negative thoughts. Be sure to think of things you can do at school, at home, or at work. Make two lists: healthy distractions and unhealthy distractions. Healthy distractions can be going for a run, taking a bike ride, or playing your favorite sport. Unhealthy dis¬ tractions might be drinking, eating junk food, watching TV, or playing video games. 8. Dispute negative self-talk and thoughts. Write on 3 x 5-inch cards your most frequent negative thoughts or emotions about yourself, a relationship, or a situation at school, work, or home.

Negative emotions can?

Motivate you to try harder and improve, and they can also protect you against harmful situations and communicate to others your need for help or support.

Don't overlook the valuable role of?

Negative emotions—life is not all sunshine and roses.

Positive emotions

Tend to broaden your mind-set and allow you to consider new, different, and possibly better alternatives when trying to solve a problem.

Your Level of Positivity

To make this discussion come to life for you, find out the relative frequency of your positive to negative emotions. This knowledge can help you understand many things about yourself, such as how likely you are to reap the benefits of positive emotions and positive OB. Emotions are short-lived, and any measure of your emotions captures your feelings about a specific event, person, or dimension of your life at only a particular point in time.