Positive Emotions - Positive Psychology &Storytelling - Module 2

Positive Emotions

Story 2 : The Happy Man’s Shirt - Positive emotions ( A folktale from Scotland)

Positive Emotions:

 

Video : https://youtu.be/_PRGsIEYwQE (Links to an external site.)

 

 

Story Based Reflection: In your journal for your own reflection.

What do you feel made the young Prince unhappy? (View it from the lens of PERMA

• Describe ways in which the Farmer would have kept himself happy. (based on your imagination)
• What did the Farmer have that the young Prince did not? ( Use the lens of PERMA (TM) to explain this)

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Knowing Positive Emotions:

https://nobaproject.com/modules/happiness-the-science-of-subjective-well-being#content (Links to an external site.) – 10 min reading to understand Happiness and Subjective well being.

Everyone wants to be happy. Scientists prefer to talk about Subjective Well-being, which philosophers call Happiness.

According Dr. Ed Deiner (also known as Dr.Happy) there are 3 types of Happiness – Happiness with high life satisfaction, more positive emotions and lesser negative emotion ( 1984).

That means a person who feels happy, is high on life satisfaction, has more positive emotions and lesser negative emotions. Yet we also know people who have led satisfying lives but have experienced anxiety and worry to a large extent. So, there is no one way to experience Well-being. There are many causes – internal, external, societal, environmental and genetic that make us feel “happy”.

But Emotions play an important role in determining how we Evaluate our life. Research by Dr. Ed Deiner, Barbara Frederickson, Dr Paul Ekman and many others show that having more Positive Emotions are healthy and contribute to greater well being.

At the same time, recent research shows us that the intensity of the emotion, the context in which it occurs and how emotions fluctuate matter to overall well being as well. This means even positive emotions if felt very intensely and for very long periods of time may be unhealthy!

Broaden and Build Theory of Positive Emotions:

In her book Positivity – Ground Breaking Research To Release Your Inner Optimist And Thrive - Dr. Barbara Frederickson (2009) identifies 10 Positive emotions that we need in our lives. According to her research, positive emotions are internal signals that encourage “approach behavior,” motivating individuals to engage in their environments and explore novel people, ideas, and situations. When people are open to new ideas and actions, they broaden their horizons, learn, and grow as individuals. Her research highlights how positive emotions and emotional states help us become more resilient, experience greater well being and good health. So, learning to broaden our emotions and build on these positive emotions is a sure way to thrive.

Read

What is Broaden and Build Theory of Positive Emotions: (15 min read) - Do the quiz on the page too

https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Motivation_and_emotion/Book/2016/Broaden-and-build_theory_of_positive_emotions

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The 10 positive emotions she identified are:

JOY; GRATITUDE; SERENITY; PRIDE; HOPE; INTEREST; AMUSEMENT; INSPIRATION; AWE; LOVE

This image gives an overview of these emotions and their one-line description

   
  

JOY - a feeling of great pleasure and happiness

SERENITY - a calm, peaceful feeling of accepting self

AWE - A feeling of overwhelming appreciation when you witness something grand and breathtaking.

INSPIRATION - feeling engaged, uplifted, motivated by something

AMUSEMENT - a feeling of pleasure, enjoyment that brings smiles and laughter

PRIDE - a feeling of pleasure of accomplishment and approval of self

HOPE - a feeling of anticipation and optimism of a future event

INTEREST - a feeling of curiosity that captures your attention

GRATITUDE - a feeling of thankfulness along with humility

LOVE - deep enduring affection for someone that makes us put their needs above ours

Research shows that positive emotions help people build their personal and social resources thus helping them thrive and flourish.  

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Ways in which we can experience more Positive emotions:

• We can write about our Positive Emotions and events in life
• Add the 10 Positive emotions to your Daily emotions Chart and track positive emotions everyday.
• Keep a Gratitude journal
• Have more social connections. Talk with neighbors, helpers etc, instead of just texting or messaging them.
• Do mood enhancing activities like listening to music, dancing or going for a walk in nature

It is important to understand the unpleasant emotions will always be there, the point is not to eliminate them but find ways to improve positive feelings through long term building of resources.

 

Highlights of this Module:

• Happiness is having high life satisfaction, experiencing more positive emotions and less negative emotions - Dr.Ed Deiner
• Emotions help us evaluate life
• Positive emotions are internal signals that encourage "approach behaviour"
• Build Positive emotions and Broaden your horizons to become open to new ideas and actions - Broaden &Build Theory -Dr. Barbara Friedrickson
• 10 positive emotions -JOY; GRATITUDE; SERENITY; PRIDE; HOPE; INTEREST; AMUSEMENT; INSPIRATION; AWE; LOVE
• Positive emotions help build personal and social resources

 Topic Reflection Task:

• Read the description of each of the above Positive Emotions ( in the image) and try to remember an incident where you experienced it and the role they have played in your life. Journal it/ write it
• Journal about each of these emotions through a Drawing.  Imagine what Serenity would be as an image – perhaps it could be a calm lake with a setting sun, while Pride may be the keys of your first car?
• Do this for each of the emotions in a separate page and enjoy this creative activity.

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Reference:

Diener, E. (2021). Happiness: the science of subjective well-being. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds), Noba textbook series: Psychology. Champaign, IL: DEF publishers. Retrieved from http://noba.to/qnw7g32t

https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Motivation_and_emotion/Book/2016/Broaden-and-build_theory_of_positive_emotions