1) Barbara Fredrickson proposes the broaden-and-build theory, which argues that positive emotions broaden people's thought-action repertoires and build their personal resources. 2) Positive emotions broaden people's scopes of attention, cognition, and potential actions. This expanded state is proposed to improve coping and survival odds by building physical, intellectual, and social resources over time. 3) Fredrickson has conducted experiments providing evidence that positive emotions undo the effects of cardiovascular reactivity caused by negative emotions, and that increasing positive emotions leads to benefits in health and well-being over time by building various resources.

2. Barbara
Fredrickson
Kenan Distinguished Professor
of Psychology and Principal
Investigator of the Positive
Emotions and Psychophysiology
Lab at the University of North
Carolina
WHY DO HUMANS HAVE
POSITIVE EMOTIONS?

3. BROADEN-AND-BUILD
HYPOTHESIS

4. Specific-Action
Tendencies
The idea that emotions prepare the body both
physically and psychologically to act in
particular ways.
E.g. Anger  attack; fear  escape; disgust 
expel
WHAT ABOUT POSITIVE EMOTIONS???

5. Importance to Survival
If +ve emotions are irrelevant to survival, what
good are they?
According to Fredrickson’s theory, +ve emotions
EXPAND cognition and behavioural tendencies.
Argues that +ve emotions increase the number
of potential behavioural options

8. Momentary thought-action
repertoires
A range of potential actions the body and mind are
prepared to take
+ve emotional states  expanded cognitive flexibility
 resource building that becomes useful over time
Resources outlast the transient emotional state 
functions to improve coping and odds of survival

10. Broaden Hypothesis
Central hypothesis
+ve emotions broaden scopes of attention and
cognition and lead to a widened array of
thoughts and action impulses in the mind.
Therefore
-ve emotions shrink these same things

11. Evidence?
Global Bias in Global-Local Visual Processing:

12. Evidence?

14. Enlarging Though-Action
Repertoires
Again, watch emotion eliciting videos but using a modified Twenty Statements
Test.
Just after viewing the film, but prior to the TST, participants were asked to
describe, in a word or two, the strongest emotion they felt while viewing the film.
Next, they were asked to step away from the specifics of the film and take a
moment to imagine being in a situation yourself in which this particular emotion
would arise (the one you wrote on the previous page). Concentrate on all the
emotion you would feel and live it as vividly and as deeply as possible. Given this
feeling, please list all the things you would like to do right now.
These instructions were followed by 20 blank lines that began with: ``I would
like to____.'' The number of statements participants completed was tallied, with a
possible range from 0 to 20. Higher scores indicate a larger thought-action
repertoire.

15. Line 4 Action Urges!
Amusement
Boredom/contentment
Anger
Average tendencies
Disgust
Fear
0 5 10 15

16. Inclusive social thinking
Own Race Bias:
Caucasians viewed Black and White faces and
later asked to recall if they had seen the faces
previously.
By random assignment, they viewed an emotion-
eliciting video.

19. The Build Hypothesis
If we accept that +ve emotions broaden people’s
mindsets – what is its purpose?
Build hypothesis suggests an adaptive value that
is put in reserve over the long-term.
Resources gained through +ve emotional
experiences may be
physical, social, psychological or intellectual.

21. Evidence?
Fredrickson recently found experimental support for
the build hypothesis.
In a 2 month study, participants either attended a
workshop cultivating positive emotions through
meditation or had no intervention whatsoever.
Results indicated that increasing the level of positive
emotions leads to numerous benefits to health and
well-being.

23. What we know:
Anger, fear and sadness elicit distinct responses in
the autonomic nervous system.
Positive emotions appear to have no autonomic
responses.
BUT
They help put an end to any existing cardiovascular
reactivity caused by –ve emotions!.. UNDO!

24. Proof?
Fredrickson gave participants a stressor – the
possibility of giving a public speech.
During preparation – bodies increased sympathetic
nervous system activation (sweaty palms, increased
heart rate, increased blood pressure)
After a minute or so of this state of
arousal, participants were told they do not have to
perform the speech and instead view a randomly
assigned video clip to elicit a +ve, -ve or neutral
emotion.

27. Confirmed
+ve emotions hold clear benefits.
How much should we cultivate in our lives?
What is an optimal amount of positive emotion
relative to negative emotion?

28. Research
Fredrickson’s research into businesses, marriages, and depression
shows:
Depression, failing marriages and unsuccessful business teams are
characterised by very low ratios of positive to –ve emotions (less
than 1-1). That is, for every –ve emotion, there is on average, less
than one +ive
Optimal well-being, happy marriages and successful business teams
show much higher positivity ratios (above 3-to-1) – that is, for every
one –ve emotions, on average there are three or more +ve!
Fredrickson and Losada (2005) suggests 3:1 – 11:1 are what humans
need to flourish.