Pioneers in Psychology have made great breakthroughs on how we can approach life, our wellbeing and emotions more positively. This doesn’t mean smiling when you’re feeling sad, but it refers to finding balance. This article reviews the lessons from the new wave of Positive Psychology and how we can apply it to ourselves.
A little bit of background
Historically, psychology has focused on ill mental health and wellbeing, and how we can eradicate or prevent developing mental health disorders. Professor Martin Seligman, leader of the new movement, realised that this is backward and unhelpful. Seligman was one of the first psychologists to understand how Depression develops, creating the Learned Helplessness Theory. In recent years, he now argues that it’s more advantageous to develop an understanding of ways we can increase and build up resources to develop positive wellbeing. To do this, we must learn to accept both the negative and the positive in life.
Dr Barbara Fredrickson leads the research team towards understanding human emotions. They have discovered that whilst positive emotions (joy, awe, pride) are experienced more frequently in a 24 hour period, they are also less impactful on our psyche. Whilst negative emotions (like sadness, anger, disgust, jealousy) are experienced less frequently; however, they carry greater impact. This leads to the negativity bias, in which we are more likely to remember a single negative event that overpowers our outlook on the whole day.
Why do we need negative emotions?
For all the pessimists out there, you’ll be happy to know that negativity is a necessary evil. In order to appreciate positive events, emotions or experiences, we need to understand and have felt the opposite. Fredrickson emphasises that this creates the yin-yan effect. Positive wellbeing is not about eradicating the bad, but appreciating both aspects for optimal health.
In fact, the pursuit of happiness is counter-intuitive. There is a great weight attached to the idea of what happiness is. I’m sure at some point in your life you’ve been frustrated at yourself for not being happy when you think you should be. Seligman and Fredrickson argue that the more pressure you put on yourself to be happy or expect a certain emotion, the less likely you will feel it. This is because the expectation fails to meet reality, leaving you feeling more disappointed. Therefore, it’s more productive to live in the present.
What’s the Broaden and Build Theory?
However, too much of one thing can also be detrimental to our health. Fredrickson’s research led to the Broaden-and-Build Theory to understand how negative and positive emotions can help our wellbeing, problem-solving and outlook on life.
The team tested this theory using simple computerised problem-solving exercises and testing the participants’ mood beforehand. They found that those with a more negative mindset took longer to problem-solve and had a narrow mindset, meaning they were less likely to try different ways to lead to a conclusion. However, those with a positive outlook were quicker at problem-solving and were more open-minded. Participants were ready to tackle tasks with more preparedness and came up with a range of solutions. We can deduce from this that being in a generally happier state makes us more proactive.
Fredrickson goes on to say that those who experience more negative life events can actually build resources such as resilience, courage and strength. These are integral to our survival, helping us to adapt to new or repeated situations with less anxiety or fear. However, it all comes down to how you evaluate the event.
For example, after an unsuccessful interview, if you focus all your attention and energy to what went wrong and conclude that you are a failure, your confidence will dwindle and you’re more likely to flunk the next interview. But, if you direct your energy to what went well, and how you could improve next time, you’re more likely to adapt your resources.
Essentially, it’s your outlook on an event and how you talk about it, which will help you to activate adaptive personality traits. So your ability to overcome adverse life events, as well as recall how you’ve done so in the past, allows you to grow stronger mentally.
What’s the positivity ratio?
The Ratio Test was designed to understand one’s emotional state and how they can boost their mood. It’s a series of questions to rate the frequency experienced for each mood state in the last 24 hours.
The optimal score for balanced wellbeing, according to their Ratio Test, is 3:1. This means that for every negative emotion or event experienced, 3 positive emotions are required to counterbalance.
Try the test and find out your score. Don’t fret! The majority of people doing this the first time receive a score between 1 and 2. However, due to human intrigue, we want to improve our score. So you can track what triggers your mood over time and how to increase your overall score — or maintain it.
How can we broaden and build our positive emotions towards good wellbeing?
Fredrickson’s research on how we can use negative setbacks to our advantage, as well as boost our positive emotions is broken down into 3 simple steps:
- Three Blessings Task
This is a simple task to do every night before sleeping. All you need to do is spend 5 minutes or less, writing down 3 things you are grateful for. Fredrickson argues that practising gratitude allows you to focus your attention on the positive, rather than readily access negative idealisations. Over time, this develops a more optimistic mindset.
2. Loving-Kindness Meditation
LKM is 5–10 minute practise that you can do anywhere at any time. The idea is to direct positive energy towards those you love, as well as yourself, by repeating intentions such as “may we all be healthy, safe and loved”. WellBe have a plethora of resources dedicated to mindfulness and meditation — reach out to your coordinator to start your practise or visit our site for info.
Research shows that expressing good vibes onto others, is in turn good for our own souls. The feeling of doing kind things for another person improves your own mood, being less self-oriented.
3. Positive Affirmations and Mantras
It’s important to start the day with mantras or affirmation that help you to develop a greater sense of self-awareness, confidence and self-esteem. You can repeat these to yourself any time of day, in the mirror while you’re getting ready or even before you sleep. The idea is to manifest a positive mood-state by welcoming abundance and success. Try a few from this list, or even create your own!
Thanks to these lessons, we can use the resources to our own advantage and cultivate healthy wellbeing. Try them out and note down changes on your own journey.
Written by Naida Allen
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