Proponents don’t try to eradicate negative emotions such as fight and flight as these are necessary for our very survival. What they emphasise is building up our emotional bank reserve.
The last couple of years have left us bruised and battered, thanks to the deadly Covid pandemic. We have all lost someone we know to the virus. Businesses have been hit and consequently a lot of people have lost their jobs. School and college going kids are forced to study on line and miss the camaraderie of their classmates. We all feel cooped up. The games many venal politicians play for votes is also discomforting. To top it all, we hoped that the virus would go for good but now we have to contend with fast spreading Omicron. When will it end? Such a scenario is bound to foster despondency. Using Positive Psychology is a good way of coping.
The term ‘Positive Psychology’ was coined my Dr. Martin E.P. Seligman who studied mental illness. Hitherto psychology was concentrated on enabling patients to get over negative emotions such as despondency, self doubt, self hate triggered by traumatic experiences. One of the reasons why the emphasis was on negative emotions was because they were clinically easier to read than positive emotions such as joy, love, empathy and gratitude. Positive Psychology was a paradigm shift from a negative focus to a positive one. Proponents don’t try to eradicate negative emotions such as fight and flight as these are necessary for our very survival. What they emphasise is building up our emotional bank reserve.
Using the principles of Positive Psychology, Dr. Barbara L. Fredrickson propounded the ‘Broaden-and-Build’ theory. She advises us to consciously and consistently build up our reserve of positive emotions such as gratitude, resilience, love, optimism, altruism and others, even momentary ones. By following her advice we could definitely shift our perspective for 2022 from negativity to positivity.
Dr. Fredrickson conducted several experiments in support of her theory. Participants were shown happy film clips of penguins enjoying themselves and nature clips. The results were that the participants were calm and serene seeing these clips. They were then shown clips of deaths and funerals. There was a distinct mood change in the participants.
In an article, Dr. Fredrickson narrates an interesting study of a group of nuns in the 1930’s. The nuns were asked to write personal essays about their lives. These articles were reviewed more than sixty years later. It was discovered that the nuns who were more positive lived ten years longer than those who had a negative outlook.
The primary objective of children playing in a park is to enjoy themselves. But in the process of self gratification, the kids are building up their physical, psychological and social bank balances as they interact with each other. Dr. Fredrickson further states that altruistic acts strengthen social ties and gives an individual a sense of satisfaction. A 2008 study found that ‘loving kindness meditation’ helps in the individual reaching out to others in need and this in turn, increases the positivity emotional reserve. Expressing gratitude and love also increase our Broaden-and-Build resources. Furthermore, positive emotions help to lessen the effects of negative emotions on the body and the mind. They enable people to have a broader perspective instead of a narrow one, thus leading to problem solving. In a study conducted by scientists, it was found that heart disease increased and prolonged in patients who had recurrent negative emotions.
Dr. Alice Isen conducted two decades of experiments on positive psychology. One such experiment was on medical doctors. Creative thinking tests showed those with positive emotions fared better and faster in giving the correct medical diagnosis and treatment of a patient with liver disease.
Dr. Fredrickson opines that entire communities would benefit from practicing Broaden-and-Build in daily living and could bounce back from traumatic events beyond their control.
By following positive psychology, we could fight those pandemic blues by watching a comic clip or laughing at a silly joke, reach out with others through emails and phone calls, try to find solutions to problems. Psychologists suggest the keeping a gratitude journal. Find humour when we goof up on a simple task, make the drudgery of chopping vegetables lighter by listening to music while doing so. Prayer does more wonders than the world is aware of. It gives us peace of mind. No doubt there are some unpleasant situations that we just cannot change but we can change out attitude towards them and not permit them to get the better of us.
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