Category: Articles

The Broaden-and Build Theory of Positive Emotions

Why do humans have positive emotions? This is the central puzzle that Professor Fredrickson worked on early in her career. Previously, theoretical accounts of the evolution of human emotions neglected positive emotions aside from their contribution to mate selection and reproduction. In 1998, Professor Fredrickson articulated their role in survival with her Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotions. The theory posits that humans’ present-day experiences of positive emotions were shaped over millennia by the forces of natural selection because pleasant emotional states created momentary and embodied states of expanded awareness that, over time, aggregated to augment an individual’s resources for survival, including social alliances, resilience to adversity, knowledge and reasoning capacity, and physical fitness and health. The Broaden-and-Build Theory helped launch the scientific study of positive emotions and constitutes a foundational theory for positive psychology. It also serves as the base for two more recent offshoot theories, the Positivity Resonance Theory of Co-experienced Positive Affect and the Upward Spiral Theory of Lifestyle Change.

For more information, check out these articles and publications:

• Fredrickson (2001) American Psychologist
• Fredrickson (1998) Review of General Psychology
• Fredrickson (2013) Advances in Experimental Social Psychology

The Positivity Resonance Theory of Co-experienced Positive Affect

Professor Fredrickson integrates theory and evidence from affective science, relationship science, and developmental science into a novel and generative framework to advance the scientific study of the emotion of love. The Positivity Resonance Theory of Co-experienced Positive Affect holds that concepts commonly related to “love” (e.g., desire, intimacy, trust, commitments) are best understood as the products of the accumulation of momentary experiences of love, the emotion, defined as positivity resonance. Moments of positivity resonance emerge in circumstances in which real-time sensory connection (e.g., face-to-face interaction) is combined with perceived safety and are inferred from the presence of three key indicators: shared positive affect (an experiential component distributed across individuals), caring nonverbal synchrony (a behavioral component marked by nonverbal movements and gestures associated with care and love that are linked in form and tempo across individuals), and biological synchrony (a physiological component marked by shifts in affect-related biomarkers linked in form and tempo across individuals). When moments of positivity resonance recur between and among individuals this accumulation functions to build and fortify enduring social bonds (love, the relationship) and later become steady resources for individuals through good times and bad (“in sickness and in health”).

For more information, check out these articles and publications:

• Fredrickson (2016) Handbook of Emotions
• Fredrickson (2021) Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences

The Upward Spiral Theory of Lifestyle Change

Professor Fredrickson has also investigated how positive affective processes can be leveraged to support people’s long-term maintenance of desired positive health behaviors. Past evidence has shown that health behaviors experienced as pleasant are more likely to be maintained. The Upward Spiral Theory of Lifestyle Change unpacks this relation with emphasis on automatic, often nonconscious motives and malleable vantage resources that render people more sensitive to subsequent positive experiences. The behavioral neuroscience of addiction reveals that over time, associations between pleasantness (“liking”) and cues predictive of it endow those cues with incentive salience, making them more likely to subsequently capture attention and trigger urges to repeat that experience (“wanting”). To the extent that positive affect is experienced during a new health behavior, the Upward Spiral Theory posits that it creates nonconscious motives for that activity, which grow stronger over time as they are increasingly supported by vantage resources, both biological and psychological, that positive affect serves to build. The figure below depicts the recursive dynamic processes articulated by the theory.

For more information, check out these articles and publications:

• Van Cappellen, Rice, Catalino, & Fredrickson (2017) Psychological Health
• Van Cappellen, Catalino, & Fredrickson (2020) Emotion

Current Research

Social and Neural Integration (SANI) Study

Following 22 years of research on the Broaden and Build Theory, the SANI study is the first examination of the neural mechanisms by which positive emotions broaden awareness and lead to prosocial actions and virtues, such as intellectual humility and generosity. Using cutting-edge network neuroscience theory, we examine how neural integration during positive and negative emotion states predict a range of individual and social well-being outcomes. This project is in collaboration with Drs. Kristen Lindquist and Jessica Cohen, and is currently beginning data collection. Funding for this study comes from a Mind & Life Institute PEACE Grant.

Technology and Positive Behavioral Goals Study

Human relationships with machines are evolving. Computers are increasingly partners rather than tools, agents rather than simple objects. Artificially intelligent agents now serve as assistants, wellness coaches, and even companions. This raises important questions about the kinds of AI agents we ought to build and how to deploy them. We hypothesize that, if built and used in the right ways, AI agents can help improve people to be better versions of themselves. We are currently conducting the “Technology and Positive Behavioral Goals” study, in which we are examining the psychological, social, and behavioral effects of interactions with an AI agent programmed to encourage individuals to adopt positive health behaviors. Funding for this study comes from the Templeton World Charity Foundation. (Click here, if you are a UNC undergraduate and are interested in participating!)

Additional Individual and Lab Projects

Goods in Everyday Love: this line of work examines community benefits of positivity resonance. Specifically, the findings suggest that daily recurring moments of positivity resonance travel in sync with prosocial tendencies such as altruism, humility and spirituality (Zhou et al., in press), which further predicts public health behaviors such as social distancing and mask wearing during COVID 19 (West et al., 2020) as well as people’s intentions to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and willingness to sign up for a vaccine trial (Berman et al., in prep).

Economic Inequality, Social Class and Positivity Resonance: Led by Taylor West, this line of work investigates how social class and perceptions of economic inequality influence social connection with people around the community, and downstream consequences for both individual health and community prosociality.

Dr. Fredrickson honored with University Teaching Award

These awards were created in 1998 by the family of the late J. Carlyle Sitterson to recognize excellence in teaching first-year students by a tenured or tenure-track faculty member in the College of Arts & Sciences. Lyle Sitterson was a Kenan Professor of History and Chancellor of the University from 1966-72 and was a passionate advocate for inspired teaching of first-year students. The first award was given in 2000. Two winners will receive a one-time stipend of $5,000 and a framed citation. Read more…

Sweet vibes between longtime couples are tied to longer, healthier lives

Hold back on the bickering. Couples who share sweet moments filled with humor and affection, and sync up biologically — two hearts beating as one — enjoy better health prospects and live longer than their more quarrelsome counterparts, suggests new UC Berkeley research. The findings, recently published online in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, are based on laboratory observations of 154 middle-aged and older married couples as each engaged in an intimate conversation about a conflict in their relationship. “We focused on those fleeting moments when you light up together and experience sudden joy, closeness and intimacy,” said study author Robert Levenson, a UC Berkeley professor of psychology. “What we found is that having these brief shared moments, known as ‘positivity resonance,’ is a powerful predictor of how healthy we’re going to be in the future and how long we’ll live,” he added. Read more…

Behavioral Indices of Positivity Resonance Associated with Long-Term Marital Satisfaction

Positivity resonance – defined as a synthesis of shared positive affect, mutual care and concern, plus behavioral and biological synchrony – is theorized to contribute to a host of positive outcomes, including relationship satisfaction. The current study examined whether, in long-term married couples, behavioral indices of positivity resonance (rated using a new behavioral coding system) are associated with concurrent shared positive affect using a well-established dyadic-level behavioral coding system (i.e., Specific Affect Coding System: SPAFF), and whether positivity resonance predicts concurrent marital satisfaction independently from other affective indices. These findings provide preliminary construct and predictive validity for positivity resonance behavioral coding, and highlight the possible role positivity resonance may play in building relationship satisfaction in married couples. Read more…

We’re All Wired for Negativity – Here’s How to Keep Small Setbacks from Ruining Your Day

Maybe you forgot to turn your slow cooker on before heading out on your hike, you had to endure a traffic jam that made you 20 minutes late to work, or a colleague made a passive aggressive comment in a meeting. Suddenly every minuscule inconvenience, from misspelled names on lattes to missing the elevator door, seems like a plot to incite your inner fury. When one small event throws a wedge into our day it can sometimes send us down a slippery, hours-long slope of exasperated huffs and cranky faces. But why is it so hard to shake the frustration or anger? The tendency to stew in this negative broth isn’t just common, it’s thought to be part of the human condition. In their 2001 study, psychologists Paul Rozin and Edward Royzman theorized that we tend give greater weight to the negative than the positive — it’s what’s known as “negativity bias.” Read more…

Cultivating Kindness Through Meditation Can Slow the Aging Process, According to New Research

What’s the biggest problem facing our nation today? Worries about health care lead the polls. But from a big-picture perspective, we’re arguably suffering from a deficit of love and kindness. New research finds a link between these practical and spiritual concerns. A new study reports that cultivating kindness through the practice of meditation may slow the aging process. In a small-scale study, a commonly used biological marker of cellular aging remained relatively steady among people who completed a course in loving-kindness meditation. Those who took a similarly structured course in mindfulness meditation did not experience the same positive results. Read more…

With Kids, Love Is In the Little Things

That moment when your baby meets your reach to pick her up and molds to your body as you hold her. When your preschooler calls out to you, emphatically pointing at the crescent moon he discovered, and you join him in looking up at the night sky. Or when your fifth grader catches your proud gaze in the audience of other parents during her elementary school graduation ceremony. According to emotion scientist Barbara Fredrickson, these small moments are when love happens between parents and their children. Her research highlights that positive emotions like love, joy, and gratitude help us grow and become better versions of ourselves. While she used to think that all positive emotions were equally helpful, she has come to realize that love might be unique. Read more…

Dr. Fredrickson Voted as Society for Affective Science President-Elect

Dr. Barbara Fredrickson, member of the SAS Executive Committee, has been elected to the post of the Society for Affective Science (SAS) President-Elect. The Society for Affective Science is dedicated to fostering basic and applied research in the variety of fields that study affect broadly defined. SAS holds conferences annually to showcase research drawn from psychology, medicine, neuroscience, computer science, law, economics, anthropology, linguistics, sociology, business, and other related fields. Dr. Fredrickson will serve as President-Elect of SAS in 2019, serve as President in 2020, and serve as Past President in 2021. SAS looks forward to the strengths and insights Professor Fredrickson will bring to her new leadership role. Read more…

Loving-kindness meditation slows biological aging in novices: Evidence from a 12-week randomized controlled trial

Combinations of multiple meditation practices have been shown to reduce the attrition of telomeres, the protective caps of chromosomes. Here, we probed the distinct effects on telomere length (TL) of mindfulness meditation (MM) and loving-kindness meditation (LKM). Midlife adults (N = 142) were randomized to be in a waitlist control condition or to learn either MM or LKM in a 6-week workshop. Telomere length was assessed 2 weeks before the start of the workshops and 3 weeks after their termination. After controlling for appropriate demographic covariates and baseline TL, we found TL decreased significantly in the MM group and the control group, but not in the LKM group. There was also significantly less TL attrition in the LKM group than the control group. The MM group showed changes in TL that were intermediate between the LKM and control groups yet not significantly different from either. Self-reported emotions and practice intensity (duration and frequency) did not mediate these observed group differences. This study is the first to disentangle the effects of LKM and MM on TL and suggests that LKM may buffer telomere attrition. Read more…

Meredith College Names Dr. Fredrickson as 2018 Woman of Achievement

Positive Psychology Expert Barbara L. Fredrickson, Ph.D., Meredith College’s 2018 Woman of Achievement, accepted her award and presented a public lecture on February 20. Meredith College President Jo Allen presented Fredrickson with the award in recognition of her work in the field of positive psychology. Allen said that Fredrickson’s work has informed the College’s StrongPoints program, a four-year plan in which each Meredith student participates. “StrongPoints calls on students to build on their individual strengths, and includes a focus on positivity that reveals the impact of believing in oneself,” Allen said. Fredrickson’s lecture, “Why Prioritize Positivity?” explored what positivity is and why this mindset is important. “Positivity is not always a ‘jump for joy’ form,” Fredrickson said. “There are also quieter moments when you feel grateful or at peace.” Among the most highly cited and influential scholars in psychology, Fredrickson is Kenan Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and director of the Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology Lab (a.k.a. PEP Lab) at UNC-Chapel Hill. Read more…

Dr. Fredrickson Awarded 2018 $100,000 TANG Prize

UNC psychologist Barbara Fredrickson will be awarded the TANG Prize to honor her “exceptional contributions to the well-being of humanity” on Nov. 12 in Toronto, Canada. Fredrickson, the Kenan Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience in the College of Arts & Sciences, is a leading researcher in the science of positive emotions. The $100,000 award is in recognition of Fredrickson’s achievements in psychology over her 25-year career. She has authored over 100 peer-reviewed articles, and her books Positivity and Love 2.0 have been translated in over 20 languages. Her “broaden-and-build theory” illuminates how positive emotions expand people’s mindsets and nourish lifelong growth. Fredrickson’s research suggests that our emotional habits and authentic emotional connections with others impact overall health. Read more…

Dr. Fredrickson Awarded Cattell Fellowship

For over half a century, the James McKeen Cattell Fund has provided support for the science and the application of psychology. The Fund offers a program of supplementary sabbatical awards (”James McKeen Cattell Fund Fellowships”) up to $40,000. These awards supplement the regular sabbatical allowance provided by the recipients’ home institutions, to allow an extension of leave-time from one to two semesters. Dr. Fredrkcson was awarded a James McKeen Cattell Fund Fellowships for academic year 2016-2017. These awards provide an extended sabbatical period that allows the recipient to pursue new research. Read more…

Dr. Fredrickson Awarded Inaugural IPPA Christopher Peterson Gold Medal

The Christopher Peterson Gold Medal represents the most important honor that the International Positive Psychology Association bestows. It is conferred to members whose careers exemplifies the best of positive psychology at the personal, professional, and academic levels. This award is named after Christopher Peterson, a beloved IPPA Fellow, professor, scholar and pioneer in the field of positive psychology. Peterson’s many scholarly contributions include his work on the character strengths and values classification and assessment with Martin Seligman. On a personal level, Peterson was known for his sincerity, humility, integrity, sense of humor and generosity. The inaugural Christopher Peterson Gold Medal was awarded to Dr. Barbara Fredrickson at the Third World Congress on Positive Psychology in 2013. Read more…

Dr. Fredrickson Presents TEDx “Remaking Love”

Dr. Fredrickson is the Kenan Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Principal Investigator of the Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology Lab at the University of North Carolina. She is a leading scholar within social psychology, affective science, and positive psychology. Her research centers on positive emotions and human flourishing and is supported by grants from the National Institute of Health. Her research and her teaching have been recognized with numerous honors, including the 2000 American Psychological Association’s Templeton Prize in Positive Psychology. As part of TEDxLowerEastSide, held on October 25, 2013 in New York, New York, Dr. Barbara Fredrickson gave a TEDx Lecture, “Remaking Love.” In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. Watch online…

A Functional Genomic Perspective on Human Well-Being, PNAS

To identify molecular mechanisms underlying the prospective health advantages associated with psychological well-being, we analyzed leukocyte basal gene expression profiles in 80 healthy adults who were assessed for hedonic and eudaimonic well-being, as well as potentially confounded negative psychological and behavioral factors. Hedonic and eudaimonic well-being showed similar affective correlates but highly divergent transcriptome profiles. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from people with high levels of hedonic well-being showed up-regulated expression of a stress-related conserved transcriptional response to adversity (CTRA) involving increased expression of proinflammatory genes and decreased expression of genes involved in antibody synthesis and type I IFN response. In contrast, high levels of eudaimonic well-being were associated with CTRA down-regulation. Promoter-based bioinformatics implicated distinct patterns of transcription factor activity in structuring the observed differences in gene expression associated with eudaimonic well-being (reduced NF-κB and AP-1 signaling and increased IRF and STAT signaling). Transcript origin analysis identified monocytes, plasmacytoid dendritic cells, and B lymphocytes as primary cellular mediators of these dynamics. The finding that hedonic and eudaimonic well-being engage distinct gene regulatory programs despite their similar effects on total well-being and depressive symptoms implies that the human genome may be more sensitive to qualitative variations in well-being than are our conscious affective experiences. Read more…

How Positive Emotions Build Positive Health, APS

The mechanisms underlying the association between positive emotions and physical health remain a mystery. We hypothesize that an upward-spiral dynamic continually reinforces the tie between positive emotions and physical health and that this spiral is mediated by people’s perceptions of their positive social connections. We tested this overarching hypothesis in a longitudinal field experiment in which participants were randomly assigned to an intervention group that self-generated positive emotions via loving-kindness meditation or to a waiting-list control group. Participants in the intervention group increased in positive emotions relative to those in the control group, an effect moderated by baseline vagal tone, a proxy index of physical health. Increased positive emotions, in turn, produced increases in vagal tone, an effect mediated by increased perceptions of social connections. This experimental evidence identifies
one mechanism—perceptions of social connections—through which positive emotions build physical health, indexed as vagal tone. Results suggest that positive emotions, positive social connections, and physical health influence one another in a self-sustaining upward-spiral dynamic. Read more…

New York Times Editorial: “Your Phone Vs. Your Heart”

Can you remember the last time you were in a public space in America and didn’t notice that half the people around you were bent over a digital screen, thumbing a connection to somewhere else? Most of us are well aware of the convenience that instant electronic access provides. Less has been said about the costs. Research that my colleagues and I have just completed, to be published in a forthcoming issue of Psychological Science, suggests that one measurable toll may be on our biological capacity to connect with other people. Our ingrained habits change us. Neurons that fire together, wire together, neuroscientists like to say, reflecting the increasing evidence that experiences leave imprints on our neural pathways, a phenomenon called neuroplasticity. Any habit molds the very structure of your brain in ways that strengthen your proclivity for that habit. Read more…

Graduate Students

Khoa Le Nguyen (2021)
[email protected]
How do positive emotions influence social cognition and prosocial behaviors?
What behaviors cultivate positive emotions and increase well-being in Facebook users?

Kelly Tan (2021)
[email protected]
How do positive emotions operate while caregiving for an individual with an advanced cancer?
What role do positive emotions play during stress response while caring for an individual with advanced cancer?

David Findley (2019)
[email protected]
If and how do brief LovingKindness practices shift affect as well as cognitive and behavioral outcomes?
How do positive experiences and emotions interaction with nutrition and exercise to improve mental and physical health?

Zan Isgett (2017)
[email protected]
Can different genotypes (related to oxytocin) lead to fundamental differences in individuals’ capacity for social connection?
How do positive interventions influence emotions and perceived social connection, especially depending on genotype?

Brett Major (2017)
[email protected]
How and to what extent do positive emotions help facilitate cognitive emotion regulation?
Does physical co-presence play an important role in the relationship between social closeness and improved mental and physical health?

Carrie Adair (2016)

How does mindfulness (i.e., non-judgmental present moment attention and awareness) influence experiences of positive and negative affect at both explicit and implicit levels of awareness?
How do mindfulness and positive emotions influence feelings of social connection?

Elise Rice (2016)

What are the functions of positive spontaneous thoughts in everyday life, especially in the contexts of motivation and self-regulation?
How do positive spontaneous thoughts contribute to well-being and mental health?

Tanya Vacharkulksemsuk (2013)

Tanya Vacharkulksemsuk’s research lies at the intersection of social psychology and organizations, investigating topics of interpersonal relationship formation, teamwork, synchrony and other nonverbal behaviors. Here primary questions of interest include: What makes people “gel”?, What are the contributing factors to a positive social connection? And How does fluid team coordination arise?

Lahnna Catalino (2013)

Some people make time to engage in enjoyable activities in day-to-day life, whereas others do not. Lahnna Catalino calls this individual difference prioritizing positivity. She examines the emotional and mental health consequences of prioritizing positivity, as well as how prioritizing positivity may affect one’s social network. In addition, she examines how the intensity of people’s positive emotional reactions to pleasant events may, over time, affect well-being.

Bethany Kok (2012)

Paul Miceli (2012)

Lindsay Kennedy (2011)

Postdoctoral Fellows

Lahnna Catalino

Laura Kiken

Research Faculty

Aaron Boulton

Which quantitative methods are optimal for understanding short- and long-term changes (and variability) in positive emotions?
How, and under what circumstances, can continuous-time models be applied to understand social and behavioral dynamics?

Patty Van Cappellen

Which (and how) positive emotions open us to spirituality and to see a larger meaning to life?
When (and how) does religion bring out the best or the worst in people?

Kimberly Coffey

Research Staff

Ann Firestine

Managed the multiple research studies, grant budgets, personnel, and the day-to-day logistics of running the PEP Lab

Shelia Laws

Lab Technician and Phlebotomist

Karys Normansell

Chayla Hart

Julia Schyner

Cara Arizmendi

Tracy Powers

Kaitlin Glauer

Honors Students

Aya Avishai-Yitshak (2014)

Thesis: Mindfulness and Time Perception

Lina Caldera (2014)

Thesis: Contingencies of Self-Worth and Positive Emotions in College Students

Amanda Kramer (2014)

Thesis: Implicit Positivity: Improving Mood with Environmental Cues

Tori Schenker (2013)

Thesis: Positive Automatic Thoughts and Romantic Love

Kandace Thomas (2013)

Thesis: Rates of Social Sensitivity, Social Connectedness, Positive Emotions, and Gratitude in Panhellenic Women

Jana Lembke (2012)

Thesis: Curiosity and Interest in Interpersonal Interactions

Liz Wagstaff (2012)

Thesis: The Effects of Mindfulness on Psychophysiological Arousal and Aggression During and After a Stress Interview

Positive Psychology Course

The Positive Psychology Online course is now available for free from Coursera.com.

This course discusses research findings in the field of positive psychology, conducted by Dr. Barbara Fredrickson and her colleagues. It also features practical applications of this science that you can put to use immediately to help you live a full and meaningful life.

Director

Barbara Fredrickson, Ph.D
Curriculum Vitae
[email protected]
How do increases in daily positive emotions contribute to physical health?
Are co-experienced positive emotions more beneficial for health and well-being than solo-experienced positive emotions?

Graduate Students

Catherine Berman (she/her)
[email protected]
How do shared positive affective processes and social connections influence the initiation and maintenance of individual and collective health behaviors?
What psychological processes influence support for policies that address health inequalities?

Michael Prinzing
[email protected]
How do people outside of academia think about what makes life good?
What gives people the sense that they matter? How do such perceptions, and their bases, differ for different people?
How can doing good for others, or for the planet, also be good for oneself?

Taylor West
[email protected]
How do socioecological conditions – such as class or culture – influence shared positive emotions, particularly with strangers? How does this variation in positive affective processes influence health and well-being?

Jieni Zhou
[email protected]
What facilitates the emergence of positivity resonance in relationships?
How do moments of positivity resonance build resources that support people through social/relationship turbulence and promote psychological and physical well-being?

Research Staff

Catherine Garton, Project Coordinator
[email protected]
What facilitates humility and understanding between people who disagree?
How might positivity resonance impact the outcomes of conflict?
Under what conditions do interpersonal connections improve our stereotypes about groups?