Positivity Chris Yeh 9 years, 5 months ago Page history last edited by Positivity: Groundbreaking Research Reveals How to Embrace the Hidden Strength of Positive Emotions, Overcome Negativity, and Thrive by Barbara L. Fredrickson, Ph.D. Part 1: The Good News About Positivity Chapter 1: Waking Up To Positivity Chapter 2: Positivity: Means, Not Ends Chapter 3: What Is Positivity? Chapter 4: Broaden Your Mind Chapter 5: Build Your Best Future Chapter 6: Bounce Back From Life's Challenges Chapter 7: The Positivity Ratio Part 2: Raise Your Ratio Chapter 8: Where Are You Now? Chapter 9: Decrease Negativity Chapter 10: Increase Positivity Chapter 11: A New Toolkit Chapter 12: Future Forecase: Flourishing

Part 1: The Good News About Positivity Chapter 1: Waking Up To Positivity Positivity feels good

Positivity changes how your mind works

Positivity transforms your future

Positivity puts the brakes on negativity

Positivity obeys a tipping point

You can increase your positivity Chapter 2: Positivity: Means, Not Ends Positivity doesn't simply reflect success and health, it can also produce success and health

Positivity broadens and builds

Positive emotions broaden people's ideas about possible actions



By opening our hearts and minds, positive emotions allow us to discover and build new skills, ties, knowledge, and ways of being



The "broaden and build" theory of positive emotions is Fredrickson's signature concept

In a UCSF study on AIDS patients, people who expressed more positivity lived longer--up to 10 years longer

You can have too much positivity. Negativity serves a purpose.

Positivity that is not heartfelt and sincere doesn't have a beneficial effect. People who claim to be positive, but don't actually feel those emotions have just as high a level of stress hormones as negative people Chapter 3: What Is Positivity? The 10 Forms of Positivity

Joy



Gratitude



Serenity



Interest



Hope



Pride



Amusement



Inspiration



Awe



Love

Your thoughts strongly affect your level of positivity

Unexplained positivity lasts longer than positivity that we analyze until we understand it



You have to find levers that allow you to trigger positive feelings



"What is going right for me right now?"





"What can I celebrate?"



Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is an approach to organizational change



"Tell me about this work group at its very best."





AI tries to create a vivid and detailed image of what's working, using positivity to inspire and energize the changes that might bring out the best more often. Chapter 4: Broaden Your Mind The broadening effect of positivity is temporary; as it fades, your mind narrows again. And negativity narrows it even further.

Experiment: BF had people either feel positive, neutral, or negative (angry/scared). Then she asked, "Make a list of the things you want to do right now." Those who had been placed in a positive mood had the longest lists, followed by neutral, with negative coming in last

Experiment: People in a positive mood were more likely the see the larger patterns in an illustration

If you smile, it literally opens your mind (but it has to be a sincere smile)

Experiment: Brandeis researchers used eye tracking. People under the influence of positivity were more likely to look at peripheral pictures; negativity induced tunnel vision

Experiment: University of Toronto researchers showed the positivity made people more creative on verbal tasks

Experiment: Cornell scientists showed that physicians who were placed in a positive mood by being given a small bag of candy made better diagnoses

Experiment: Haas professors found that managers who were more positive made better decisions, and were more effective interpersonally

Experiment: Kellogg/Northwestern researchers found MBA students who were instructed to display positivity did better in negotiations than those instructed to be neutral or negative

Experiment: Florida State study with BF showed that positive students were more able to cope with adversity, and that because of the "upward spiral," the differences were even more pronounced when the same students were interviewed 5 weeks later.

Experiment: Positivity makes people feel closer and more connected to the people in their lives

Tests in India and Japan confirmed that this effect was cross-cultural

Experiment: BF's grad student did a study on positivity and facial recognition. When injected with positivity the racial biases in racial discrimination (e.g. easier to tell apart people of your own race) largely disappeared. In other words, positivity overcomes racism

Experiment: In Alice Isen's classic experiment, people who received an unexpected gift (like a dime in a payphone) were more likely to act altruistically...the increased sense of oneness makes altruism more likely

Positivity is contagious...helping someone else makes you feel positive, and makes them feel positive, which makes both of you more likely to help someone else, etc.

"Survival is the second law of life. The first is that we are all one." (Joseph Campbell) Chapter 5: Build Your Best Future Story: Nina was a stressed out computer analyst. Her job was challenging (tier 2 helpdesk) and her mom had just been diagnosed with a brain tumor. She and her husband couldn't get pregnant, no matter how hard they tried. She volunteered to participate in a study that provided a free workshop on meditation and positivity. She started with a 1:1 positivity ratio. Over time, she moved that up to 6:1, became much better liked at work, and conceived twins.

The numbers on the study:

Subjects spent 80-90 minutes per week meditating



Positivity didn't start to rise until 3 weeks into the meditation, then rose steadily after that



Over the course of the 9 week program, the impact of meditation rose 3X; in other words, positivity has a greater impact with practice, rather than diminishing returns



This actually defies the hedonic treadmill



Negativity did not change--in other words, the change was that people became more positive, not that they became less negative

The gains of positivity

Positivity builds psychological strengths



Positivity builds good mental habits



Positivity builds social connections



The degree of gratitude a person shows after receiving a thoughtful Valentine's gift can forecast how long the relationship will last





When new college roommates are coaxed to express their appreciation for each other, they become closer friends





Shared moments of laughter between partners deepen the relationship and make it more satisfying





Couples who are positive with each other are far less likely to divorce



Positivity builds physical health



Members of the study reported fewer sore throats, less nausea, and even reduced acne





Positivity predicts lower levels of stress hormones and higher levels of growth and bonding hormones





Positivity sends out more dopamine and opioids, enhances immune response, and diminishes the inflammatory response to stress





Positivity brings lower blood pressure, less pain, fewer colds, and better sleep.





Positive people are less likely to have hypertension, diabetes, or a stroke





People who hug frequently have higher circulating levels of oxytocin and lower blood pressure. The same happens to animals whom you stroke lovingly on their bellies Chapter 6: Bounce Back From Life's Challenges People with resilient personalities bounced back stronger after 9/11; they became more optimistic, more tranquil, and more fulfilled

Positivity cannot prevent stress and negativity from elevating your heart rate, but it can accelerate the process of reining in your reactions and regaining calm

Experiment involved showing positive or neutral clips to people who were nervous about giving a speech

The most resilient people calmed their hearts within seconds; the least took minutes

In another experiment, resilient people showed less brain activity in their orbito-frontal cortex (OFC)--the worrying region of the brain when confronted with the anticipation of negativity

Resilient personalities were just as affected by actual negativity; resilience is characterized by emotional agility, not disengagement

What are resilient people like? They...

Are atturned to their ever-changing circumstances



Are emotionally nimble



React to what is happening now, not what-ifs



Don't spend energy worrying about the future



Adopt a wait-and-see attitude



Are quick to tell the difference between good and bad; they don't overgeneralize or overreact



Minimize angst by cutting out advance worry and afterglow obsessions, focusing instead on the present moment

Build resilience by raising your positivity ratio

The more positive emotions people experience, the more their resilience levels grow



When unresilient subjects were told to get "psyched up" for the challenge, they were able to calm their hearts like resilient people were There are two basic responses to hardship--despair or hope

Despair multiplies negativity into a downward spiral



Hope acknowledges negativity, but encourages you to rebound Chapter 7: The Positivity Ratio Marcial Losada's observations

Studied 60 business teams in action in a special room with 1-way mirrors



Tracked three dimensions of every statement



Positive or Negative





Self-focused or Other-focused





Based on Inquiry (asking questions) or Advocacy (defending a point of view)



Based on independent data, teams were split into three groups:



25% High-performing teams (measured by profitability, customer satisfaction, and performance reviews)





30% Low-performing teams





45% Mixed



He then compared the data



High performing teams averaged a positivity ratio of 6:1.





Low performing teams averaged under 1:1





Mixed-performance teams averaged 2:1





High performing teams also showed balance on self vs. other-focused and inquiry vs. advocacy





Low performance asked almost no questions, and showed almost no outward focus



High-performing teams were resilient; they were able to overcome negative shocks



Mixed-performing teams could perform well, but negative shocks could drag them into a rut.



" Extreme negativity caused these teams to lose their good cheer, their flexibility, and their ability to question; they languished in an endless loop in which each person simply defended their own position and became critical of all else. You might say that people in these team meetings were no longer truly listening to one another. They were simply waiting to talk, to defend their own view. When that becomes everyone's goal, it's no wonder that the team meeting goes nowhere. Keep in mind that this was the most common type of team dynamic."

You might say that people in these team meetings were no longer truly listening to one another. They were simply waiting to talk, to defend their own view. When that becomes everyone's goal, it's no wonder that the team meeting goes nowhere. Keep in mind that this was the most common type of team dynamic."

Low-performing teams simply started off at a stalemate, and never improved.



Positivity and team performance



Positivity encouraged inquiry and outward focus, as opposed to defending points of view, and thus made teams more open to new ideas





Positivity brought greater social resources; as positivity increased, so did connectivity and attunement within the team. Team members were more responsive to each other.





Teams with higher positivity were more flexible and resilient, and didn't get stuck in critical, self-absorbed advocacy.



The tipping point was a positivity ratio of 2.9013

Negativity bias: Bad is stronger than good (e.g. you are more likely to remember losing $100 than gaining $100)

Positivity offset: Good is far more likely than bad; for most people, the majority of their moments are at least mildly good

The frequency of positivity offsets the greater impact of negativity

John Gottman, UC Berkeley

Flourishing marriages show an average positivity ratio of 5:1



Languishing and failed marriages show an average ratio of under 1:1

Robert Schwartz calculated that the optimal ratio of 4:1. He examined clincally depressed patients who were treated with cognitive behavioral therapy or drugs

Before treatment, the average ratio was 0.5:1



Patients who showed no relief had a ratio of 0.7:1



Patients who experienced average remission had 2.3:1



Patients who showed optimal remission had ratios rise to 4.3:1

Negativity has its uses, but some kinds are better than others

Anger and engagement in conflict can be healthy, but disgust and contempt are not



Guilt can drive you to make amends, but shame simply makes you feel bad



"Appropriate negativity is specific and correctable."



"Inappropriate negativity is gratuitous and global."

Losada's model states that positivity ratios above 11:1 actually reduce effectiveness Part 2: Raise Your Ratio Chapter 8: Where Are You Now? Free online tools are available at http://www.postivityratio.org Chapter 9: Decrease Negativity The goal is to decrease, not eliminate negativity

Focus on getting rid of inappropriate negativity, but keep the appropriate negativity

Techniques

Dispute negative thinking



Checking thoughts against reality--this is the heart of CBT



Break the grip of rumination



Best bet is healthy distraction--work out, meditate, do something that totally absorbs you





Do not choose an unhealthy distraction such as alcohol, drugs, food binges, TV, sad songs



Become more mindful



"Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally"





Mindfulness can sever the link between negative thoughts and negative emotions





People who take mindfulness courses have been shown to experience less stress, less pain, reduced anxiety, clearer skin, and better immune functioning



Defuse your negativity land mines



If you know what provokes, you simply avoid those situations





If you can't avoid it, you can choose one of three options:





Modify the situation (e.g. Listen to books on tape to modify your commute tension)







Attend to different aspects of the situation (e.g. Savoring food rather than gulping it down)







Change its meaning (e.g. Thinking of going to the dentist not as torture, but as necessary maintenance)



Assess your media diet



Find substitutes for gossip and sarcasm



Dealing with negative people



Just as with landmines, avoid, modify, attend, or change. Chapter 10: Increase Positivity Sincerity matters

Positivity that is not felt is empty and does you no good, and can even be harmful

Enter positive psychology (good place to look for further resources)

Find positive meaning ("Always look on the bright side of life....")

Savor goodness (Willfully generate, intensify, and prolong your heartfelt enjoyment of good events)

Before: "It's going to be fabulous when...."



During: "I just want to drink it all in!"



After: Replay it in your mind and relive the good feelings

Count your blessings (e.g. keep a gratitude journal...write down five things you love...but don't do it every day, or it becomes monotonous and not heartfelt)

Kindness counts

When you keep track of your own acts of kindness, your positivity rises



This also helps you perform more acts of kindness



It is better to perform several large acts of kindness on a single day, rather than spreading it throughout the week



Studies show that helping others predicts living longer

Follow your passions

More specifically, find activities that allow you to enter into a flow state

Dream about your future

Visualize your future success in great detail; people who perform this exercise show reliable increases in positivity

Apply your strengths

Try the VIA Signature Strengths questionnaire



Try the Reflected Best Self Exercise



Simply exercising a strength is gratifying. Learning about your strengths provides a temporary boost in postivity; applying them provides a lasting boost.

Connect with others

People who flourish spend more time each day with the people they're close to, and less time alone



Experiments show that even if you just pretend to be extraverted when with others, you'll extract more positivity from those social exchanges

Connect with nature

People who spend 20 or more minutes outside when the weather is good show a boost in positivity



They have more expansive and open thinking





Their working memory span is larger (which is a proxy for intelligence)



Nature provides fascination and vastness; these may in turn produce positivity

Open your mind

Practice mindful awareness of your surroundings



Advanced meditators report more self-awareness and acceptance, as well as more positivity

Open your heart

Loving-kindness meditation



You direct warm, tender, and compassionate feelings first to yourself, and then to an ever-widening circle of others





Benefits:





Improved ability to savor and be mindful







Easier time accepting yourself







Finding positive meaning







Trusting others







Fewer aches, pains, colds, and flus







Less depression







Greater life satisfaction Chapter 11: A New Toolkit Emotions are highly individualized; everyone has different triggers for their emotions. Your path to flourishing will be unique

The Tools

1. Be Open



Appreciate your direct sensory experiences



2. Create High-Quality Connections



Respectful engagement: Be present, attentive, and affirming





Support what the other person is doing





Show that you trust the other person





Play and allow time to goof off



3. Cultivate Kindness



Perform five acts of kindness in a single day



4. Develop Distractions



Make a list of healthy distractions





Make a list of unhealthy distractions





Come up with a list of healthy distractions that you can take advantage of, regardless of weather, etc.





Come up with a healthy alternative to your most likely unhealthy distractions



5. Dispute Negative Thinking



Create flashcards with your most typical negative thoughts





Shuffle them, then practice disputing them out loud as quickly as possible



6. Find Nearby Nature



7. Learn and Apply Your Strengths



Try the VIA Signature Strengths questionnaire





Try the Reflected Best Self Exercise



8. Meditate Mindfully



Focus on physical sensations





See if you can quietly observe your thoughts arising



9. Meditate on Loving-kindness



May they be safe





May they be happy





May they be healthy





May they live with ease



10. Ritualize Gratitude



Keep a gratitude hournal and describe the things for which you're grateful each day





Describe why each good thing happened, in a few sentences





Give thanks whenever you come to an ending



11. Savor Positivity



But keep a light touch



12. Visualize Your Future



Imagine yourself 10 years form now, after everything has gone as well as it possibly could. Visualize where and how you'd be if all your current dreams came true. Imagine that you've reached your own best potential. Fill in all the details you can imagine. Describe your surroundings and your feelings.





After a week of this, review what you've written. Draw from your dreams a life mission--the purpose you want to drive you each day. What's the meaning of your existence? Journal some more. Distill your ideas to their essence by crafting a mission statement that you can memorize and apply.





When you think you've got it right, apply the eulogy test...if you carry out this mission, would your time on earth be well-spent?





Create a 10-year plan to help you meet your mission. Distill it to bullet points so it is easier to use them to guide your present actions.

Personalize your self-study

Consider your life as a whole and think about each of the 10 positive emotions. Think about the times you felt each of these emotions clearly and deeply.



What were the triggers of those nourishing states?





When was the least time you felt each one? Where were you? What were you doing? What was happening?

Hunt and gather

Pull together objects and mementos that create for you a connection to each of the 10 positive emotions. Assemble these into a portfolio...a week on joy, a week on gratitude, and so on.



When times are tough, pull out your portfolio to remind yourself of the good in your life.



Joy



When have you felt safe, relaxed, and joyful, utterly glad about what was happening in that moment?





When have things truly gone your way, perhaps even better than you expected?





When have you felt a spring in your step, an unstoppable smile, or a warm glow?





When have you felt playful, as if you wanted to jump in and get involved?



Gratitude



When have you felt grateful or thankful, deeply appreciative of someone or something?





What gifts do you treasure most? When has someone gone out of their way to do something good for you?





When have you simply basked in how lucky you are?





When do you feel the urge to replay a kindness? What inspires you to get creative about giving back?



Serenity



When have you felt fully at peace and serene, truly content with where you are?





When has your life felt so comfortable and so very right?





When does your body feel completely relaxed, with all your physical tentions melted away?





When do you feel like simply sitting back and soaking it all in, savoring the goodness you feel, thinking of new ways to get this feeling in your life more often?



Interest



When have you felt fully alert and curious, deeply interested in the mysteries or possibilities unfolding before you?





When have you felt both safe and yet also captivated by something new and unknown?





When have you felt intensely open and alive, as though your own inner horizons were expanding before your eyes?





When have you felt an intense pull to explore and learn more, to fully immerse yourself in your new discoveries and take in a feast of new ideas?



Hope



When have you felt hopeful and optimistic, encouraged by the possibilities of a good outcome?





When faced with uncertainty, when have you feared the worst by still somehow believed that things could change for the good?





When have you physically yearned for something better to happen?





When have you tapped into your inventiveness to work toward a better future?



Pride



When have you felt most proud of yourself, fully confident in your abilities, and self-assured?





When have you done something praiseworthy? Achieved something through your own concerted efforts?





What makes you hold your head high and stand up tall? What makes you want to share your good news with others?





What draws you to dream big, into visions of what you might accomplish in the future?



Amusement



What makes you feel silly and fun-loving? What amuses you?





Remember nonserious social incongruity? When have you and others uncovered or kicked up some unforseen bit of humor?





What makes you laugh? When have you and others infected one another with irrepressible laughter?





When do you have the urge to share your joviality with others, to goof off and perhaps in the process build a friendship?



Inspiration



When have you felt truly inspired, uplifted, or elevated by goodness?





When have you come across true human excellence or virtue?





When have you seen someone perform or act better than you ever imagined was possible?





When have you felt drawn to simply witness the excellence that was unfolding before your eyes? When has your jaw silently dropped when seeing the best in humankind?





When have you felt an urge to do your best, so that you too might reach your higher ground?



Awe



When have you felt intense wonder and amazement, truly in awe of your surroundings?





When have you felt overwhelmed by greatness, or by beauty on a grand scale?





When have you been stopped in your tracks, transfixed by grandeur?





When have you felt part of something much larger than yourself?



Love



When do you most readily feel the warmth of love well up between you and another? When do you feel close, safe, and secure within your relationship, trusting?





When does a relationship of yours spark one of the many other forms of positivity?





When do you find yourself leaning in toward your beloved, affirming his or her uniqueness?





When do you have the urge to just be with and enjoy the companionship of your beloved, to cherish him or her or to bask in their reflected glory?

Only engage with one positivity portfolio at a time, to maintain power and focus

Engage with them deeply and fully

10 Tips for Creating and Using Positivity Portfolios Be sincere. Let your positivity be heartfelt, not forced Create depth. Include multiple artifacts Make several portfolios--don't rely on one emotion Let them evolve over time, and keep adding to them Always keep one of them at hand Pull out your portfolio when you feel a downward spiral Engage mindfully, with an open heart Keep a light touch and don't overanalyze Rotate to another portfolio when your current one loses its charge As, "What could I do right now to cultivate this feeling?" Chapter 12: Future Forecase: Flourishing Positivity feels good Positivity broadens minds Positivity builds resources Positivity fuels resilience Positivity ratios above 3:1 forecast flourishing People can raise their positivity ratios Your emotions are not random or fixed by your genes. They stem from your daily activities and your entrenched mental habits. Perhaps more than you ever thought possible, you get to choose them. Negativity that's necessarily will always know where to find you. But you can choose to minimize the gratuitous kind. And the more you value positivity, the more often its upward spiral will lift you to new heights. Tune into kindness--your own, and that of others. Seek out and savor goodness, beauty, and excellence. Treasure these moments, and you will unlock recurrent waves of gratitude, awe, inspiration, and more. Become like a plant and turn toward the light, in all its spiritual, earthly, and human forms. Feed on it. The more you train your eye, mind, and heart to the positivity in your life, the more of it you'll find. The more positivity you seed and harvest, the bettter become your prospects for flourishing. Visit the Postivity Self Test at http://www.postivityratio.org Positivity Tip: To turn text into a link, highlight the text, then click on a page or file from the list above. Printable version