Numerous theories in social and health psychology assume that intentions cause behaviors. However, most tests of the intention- behavior relation involve correlational studies that preclude causal inferences. In order to determine whether changes in behavioral intention engender behavior change, participants should be assigned randomly to a treatment that significantly increases the strength of respective intentions relative to a control condition, and differences in subsequent behavior should be compared. The present research obtained 47 experimental tests of intention-behavior relations that satisfied these criteria. Meta-analysis showed that a medium-to-large change in intention (d = 0.66) leads to a small-to-medium change in behavior (d = 0.36). The review also identified several conceptual factors, methodological features, and intervention characteristics that moderate intention-behavior consistency.

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Does changing behavioral intentions engender behavior change? A meta-analysis of the experimental evidence.

Theory indicates that resilient individuals “bounce back” from stressful experiences quickly and effectively. Few studies, however, have provided empirical evidence for this theory. The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions (B. L. Fredrickson, 1998, 2001) is used as a framework for understanding psychological resilience. The authors used a multimethod approach in 3 studies to predict that resilient people use positive emotions to rebound from, and find positive meaning in, stressful encounters. Mediational analyses revealed that the experience of positive emotions contributed, in part, to participants’ abilities to achieve efficient emotion regulation, demonstrated by accelerated cardiovascular recovery from negative emotional arousal (Studies 1 and 2) and by finding positive meaning in negative circumstances (Study 3). Implications for research on resilience and positive emotions are discussed.

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Resilient Individuals Use Positive Emotions to Bounce Back From Negative Emotional Experiences.

For centuries, folk theory has promoted the idea that positive emotions are good for your health. Accumulating empirical evidence is providing support for this anecdotal wisdom. We use the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions (Fredrickson, 1998; 2001) as a framework to demonstrate that positive emotions contribute to psychological and physical well-being via more effective coping. We argue that the health benefits advanced by positive emotions may be instantiated in certain traits that are characterized by the experience of positive emotion. Towards this end, we examine individual differences in psychological resilience (the ability to bounce back from negative events by using positive emotions to cope) and positive emotional granularity (the tendency to represent experiences of positive emotion with precision and specificity). Individual differences in these traits are examined in two studies, one using psychophysiological evidence, the second using evidence from experience sampling, to demonstrate that positive emotions play a crucial role in enhancing coping resources in the face of negative events. Implications for research on coping and health are discussed.

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Psychological Resilience and Positive Emotional Granularity: Examining the Benefits of Positive Emotions on Coping and Health

Positive emotions are hypothesized to undo the cardiovascular aftereffects of negative emotions. Study 1 tests this undoing effect. Participants (n = 170) experiencing anxiety-induced cardiovascular reactivity viewed a film that elicited (a) contentment, (b) amusement, (c) neutrality, or (d) sadness. Contentment-eliciting and amusing films produced faster cardiovascular recovery than neutral or sad films did. Participants in Study 2 (n = 185) viewed these same films following a neutral state. Results disconfirm the alternative explanation that the undoing effect reflects a simple replacement process. Findings are contextualized by Fredrickson's broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions (B. L. Fredrickson, 1998).

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The Undoing Effect of Positive Emotions

The relationship between emotional intelligence (EI)measured as an ability and an individual's initial emotional responses to hypothetical and actual frustrating stressors was examined in 2 studies...

Emotional Intelligence and Emotional Responses to Hypothetical and Actual Frustrating Stressors

Prospect theory suggests that people respond differentially to factually equivalent messages depending on how these messages are framed (A. Tversky & D. Kahneman, 1981). A. J. Rothman and P. Salovey (1997) relied on prospect theory to predict that messages highlighting potential "gains" should promote prevention behaviors such as sunscreen use best. This experiment compared the effectiveness of 4 differently framed messages (2 highlighting gains, 2 highlighting losses) to persuade 217 beach-goers to obtain and use sunscreen. Attitudes and intentions were measured before and immediately following the delivery of the framed information, and after completing the questionnaire participants were given a coupon redeemable for a small bottle of sunscreen later that same day. People who read either of the 2 gain-framed brochures, compared with those who read either of the 2 loss-framed brochures, were significantly more likely to (a) request sunscreen, (b) intend to repeatedly apply sunscreen while at the beach, and (c) intend to use sunscreen with a sun protection factor of 15 or higher.

Message framing and sunscreen use: gain-framed messages motivate beach-goers.

Framing health messages systematically in terms of either gains or losses influences the behaviors that people adopt. Rothman and Salovey proposed that the relative influence of gain-and loss-framed messages is contingent on people’s perception of the risk or uncertainty associated with adopting the recommended behavior. Specifically, loss-framed messages are more effective when promoting illness-detecting (screening) behaviors, but gain-framed messages are more effective when promoting health-affirming (prevention) behaviors. Two experiments provide a direct test of this conceptual framework. In Experiment 1, participants’ willingness to act after reading about a new disease was a function of how the information was framed and the type of behavior promoted. Experiment 2 replicated and extended these findings with a real health concern—gum disease. Gain-framed pamphlets heightened interest in a plaque-fighting mouth rinse, whereas loss-framed pamphlets heightened interest in a plaque-detecting disclosing ...

Brian T. Bedell

Papers

Message framing and sunscreen use: gain-framed messages motivate beach-goers.

The Systematic Influence of Gain-and Loss-Framed Messages on Interest in and Use of Different Types of Health Behavior

Coping intelligently: Emotional intelligence and the coping process

Current directions in emotional intelligence research

Affect and Health-Relevant Cognition