By Ted Fish, Ed.D., Executive Director, gcLi
Every once in a while, you come across a piece of writing that causes you to see the world differently. It’s a rare occurrence – rarer still if that piece happens to be from an academic journal, over a decade old, and by a researcher who has not been made famous by a Ted Talk or Malcolm Gladwell book.
But that’s exactly what happened for me with an article published in 2004 by Barbara Fredrickson entitled: “The Broaden and Build Theory of Positive Emotions.”
Fredrickson is a Professor of Psychology at the University of North Carolina. She’s a member of the growing cadre of researchers who seek to wrap their arms around topics that would have had them laughed out of the Academy a generation ago – at least in the Science wings – topics like love, contentment, and happiness (Fredrickson, 2004). But with the advent of machines that peer inside the brain; tests that measure skin tone, hormonal secretion, and cardiovascular response; and ingenious longitudinal studies, all of that has changed.
Increasingly, we are able to talk cogently about what emotions are and how they express in neurological, physiological, and psychological terms. We can track their impacts upon the kinds of life outcomes that all of us want. And we can discuss simple and actionable steps that any teacher or parent can take to help the children in their care build radically happier, more fulfilling, and more successful lives.
Frederickson does all of this in the context of one simple question: what’s the purpose of positive emotions?
THE PURPOSE OF POSITIVE EMOTIONS
The question is a good one, because the research has tended to focus a great deal more on exploring – and explaining – negative emotions than positive ones. Partly, this is reflective of the entire field of Psychology, which, until the advent of Positive Psychology, was dedicated to exploring and treating psychological imbalance and illness.
But partly, it is because negative emotions like fear and anger are so obvious. Their experience in the body is palpable and the mechanisms well understood: adrenaline is released; the heartbeat quickens; the skeletal muscles are flooded with blood. In the brain, the limbic system is activated, while cortical engagement is reduced. In the language of emotion researchers, the organism is propelled toward “a specific action tendency:” fight or flight, which has clear adaptive advantages evolutionarily.
Fear or anger creates a narrowing of our “thought-action repertoire.” In the moment that the nervous system screams, “GET AWAY FROM THE TIGER!!” we don’t possess the possibility of connecting with the beauty of a sunset, or composing a sonnet about our feelings, or cognitively weighing the pros and cons of various escape routes. We are neurologically and physiologically thrown into life-saving, tunnel vision-induced action. When it comes to emotions like joy, contentment, curiosity, or love, on the other hand, the experiences are considerably more nuanced. It’s hard to tell an evolutionary story about positivity where the stakes are as compelling, as clear, and as grounded in the research.
Or is it?
This is where Frederickson makes her brilliant move. Positive emotions, she says, are also critical for the survival of the species, but through a counter mechanism. Whereas negative emotions narrow thought-action repertoires, positive emotions broaden them (Fredrickson, 2004). “They widen the array of the thoughts and actions that come to (our) mind(s). Joy, for example, creates the urge to play, push the limits, and be creative. Interest creates the urge to explore, take in new information…and expand the self.”
Why would broadening the array of thoughts and actions available to a species be advantageous? Because that is what sparks innovation, the sharing of knowledge, resiliency, and social bonding, and we need these things in order to survive – let alone thrive – as a species.
Said differently: we are accustomed to the notion that positive emotions are by-products of a life well-lived. We have good marriages, good jobs, good health, good friendships – and so we feel positive. What if the opposite is also true? What if we have good marriages, good jobs, good health, and good friendships because we feel positive?
THE IMPACT OF POSITIVITY UPON IMPORTANT LIFE OUTCOMES
It is a radical notion, but this is precisely the argument that Frederickson, and many others since, have been making. The capacity to feel and express positivity is a linchpin of a successful life. For a fuller view of the research, read Frederickson’s article, or “Does Happiness Promote Career Success?” by Walsh, Boehm, and Lyubomirsky (2018). Here’s a brief glance:
- Positivity strengthens thinking. Research has shown that inducing subjects to feel positive before undertaking tasks increases the creativity, flexibility, and openness of their thinking.
- Positive emotions build psychological resiliency. Being grounded in positivity increases the capacity to recover quickly from stressful experiences, whether that be moderate: the stress of an upcoming test, or extreme: the death of a loved one.
- Positivity dispels negativity. Researchers have been increasingly pointing to the damage caused by long-term lingering stress in the body, linked with a bevy of serious diseases. Positivity resets the nervous system.
- Positivity may increase life span. In an extraordinary longitudinal study, the positivity of 180 Catholic nuns was first measured when they were 18. Those who expressed the most positivity were found to live on average 10 years longer than the ones who expressed the least positive emotions. “Other researchers,” writes Frederickson, “have found the same solid link between feeling good and living longer, even when controlling for age, gender, health status and social class.”
- Positivity builds success. Walsh, Boehm, and Lyubomirsky found that happiness is positively associated with job autonomy, job satisfaction, prosocial behavior, social support, popularity, and income. They conclude with delightful bluntness: “The crux of our article is that happiness causes success.”
TAKING IT INTO THE CLASSROOM
So what does a teacher take away from such research? The implication is clear. Positivity matters. It matters so much that it should be considered a resource to be systematically cultivated in our communities. Here are six suggestions to promote positivity at your school:
- Build teams of administrators, teachers, counselors and students who are charged with steering the school in this area. They might ask: How are we doing at being a positive, caring, and joyous place? What are our greatest obstacles in this area? Where can we change or innovate? For an excellent treatment of such a holistic approach, read this blog by Chris Howes from Mercersburg Academy.
- Teach faculty, administrators, and coaches basic skills that allow them to attune quickly to the emotional states of others and to guide others in feeling connected, cared about, and supported in handling the stresses and challenges of their lives.
- Train students to look for the positive meaning in challenging circumstances, a habit that has profound implications upon long-term psychological health and life success.
- Teach cognitive skills like “broad-minded thinking,” that have been demonstrated by research to build resilience in the face of life changes. Broad-minded thinking involves the capacity to take a step back from one’s problems and to consider different possible ways of handling them.
- Teach loving kindness meditation to students (and faculty). While some studies have indicated that just 30% of people who are introduced to meditation will revisit the practice, that is still almost one third of our population! Loving kindness meditation is a simple exercise that focuses on generating strong feelings of kindness and compassion in the chest area, while paying attention to a slowing breath. It has repeatedly been shown to have lasting effects on positivity (Fredrickson, Cohn, Coffey, Pek & Finkel, 2008).
- Attend to the small moments of joy, celebration, and play. Perhaps the most startling finding of the research is that the happiest human beings do not have a higher number of intensely positive experiences than the rest of us. Nor do they have fewer negative moments (Walsh, Boehm, and Lyubomirsky, 2018). What distinguishes these people is the frequency of small, moderate moments of contentment they report.
There is nothing new about the idea that schools should be places where students learn the skills and practices that will prepare them to make good lives. That’s why schools were made. What has changed is the science. We simply didn’t know a generation ago how much positivity mattered. Or perhaps, we thought that we had to choose between experiences like joy, interest, and contentment, and virtues like discipline, rigor, and excellence.
What a relief it is to learn that what makes life worth living in the present may also be the key to a successful future.
Bibliography
Fredrickson, B. L. (2004). The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci,359(1449), 1367-1378. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198567523.003.0008
Fredrickson, B. L., Cohn, M. A., Coffey, K. A., Pek, J., & Finkel, S. M. (2008). Open hearts build lives: Positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,95(5), 1045-1062. doi:10.1037/a0013262
Walsh, L. C., Boehm, J. K., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2018). Does Happiness Promote Career Success? Revisiting the Evidence. Journal of Career Assessment,26(2), 199-219. doi:10.1177/1069072717751441
Ted Fish has served as the Executive Director of the Gardner Carney Leadership Institute since 2009. He is a former teacher and school founder who now consults widely in the areas of leadership, happiness, and cultural change. Dr. Fish holds a Doctorate in Educational Leadership and a Master’s in Philosophy and Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, as well as a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of New Mexico.