In this article, the author describes a new theoretical perspective on positive emotions and situates this new perspective within the emerging field of positive psychology. The broaden-and-build theory posits that experiences of positive emotions broaden people's momentary thought-action repertoires, which in turn serves to build their enduring personal resources, ranging from physical and intellectual resources to social and psychological resources. Preliminary empirical evidence supporting the broaden-and-build theory is reviewed, and open empirical questions that remain to be tested are identified. The theory and findings suggest that the capacity to experience positive emotions may be a fundamental human strength central to the study of human flourishing.

http://www.elaborer.org/cours/A13/lectures/Fredrickson2001.pdf

The role of positive emotions in positive psychology. The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions.

Numerous studies show that happy individuals are successful across multiple life domains, including marriage, friendship, income, work performance, and health. The authors suggest a conceptual model to account for these findings, arguing that the happiness-success link exists not only because success makes people happy, but also because positive affect engenders success. Three classes of evidence--crosssectional, longitudinal, and experimental--are documented to test their model. Relevant studies are described and their effect sizes combined meta-analytically. The results reveal that happiness is associated with and precedes numerous successful outcomes, as well as behaviors paralleling success. Furthermore, the evidence suggests that positive affect--the hallmark of well-being--may be the cause of many of the desirable characteristics, resources, and successes correlated with happiness. Limitations, empirical issues, and important future research questions are discussed.

/pdf/the-benefits-of-frequent-positive-affect-does-happiness-lead-4k0h6bmoho.pdf

The Benefits of Frequent Positive Affect: Does Happiness Lead to Success?

Part I. Experimental Studies: 2. Experiment in psychology 3. Experiments on perceiving III Experiments on imaging 4-8. Experiments on remembering: (a) The method of description (b) The method of repeated reproduction (c) The method of picture writing (d) The method of serial reproduction (e) The method of serial reproduction picture material 9. Perceiving, recognizing, remembering 10. A theory of remembering 11. Images and their functions 12. Meaning Part II. Remembering as a Study in Social Psychology: 13. Social psychology 14. Social psychology and the matter of recall 15. Social psychology and the manner of recall 16. Conventionalism 17. The notion of a collective unconscious 18. The basis of social recall 19. A summary and some conclusions.

Remembering. A Study in Experimental and Social Psychology, Cambridge (University Press) 1964.

Attachment--and loss.

Many people are exposed to loss or potentially traumatic events at some point in their lives, and yet they continue to have positive emotional experiences and show only minor and transient disruptions in their ability to function. Unfortunately, because much of psychology’s knowledge about how adults cope with loss or trauma has come from individuals who sought treatment or exhibited great distress, loss and trauma theorists have often viewed this type of resilience as either rare or pathological. The author challenges these assumptions by reviewing evidence that resilience represents a distinct trajectory from the process of recovery, that resilience in the face of loss or potential trauma is more common than is often believed, and that there are multiple and sometimes unexpected pathways to resilience. M ost people are exposed to at least one violent or life-threatening situation during the course of their lives (Ozer, Best, Lipsey, & Weiss, 2003). As people progress through the life cycle, they are also increasingly confronted with the deaths of close friends and relatives. Not everyone copes with these potentially disturbing events in the same way. Some people experience acute distress from which they are unable to recover. Others suffer less intensely and for a much shorter period of time. Some people seem to recover quickly but then begin to experience unexpected health problems or difficulties concentrating or enjoying life the way they used to. However, large numbers of people manage to endure the temporary upheaval of loss or potentially traumatic events remarkably well, with no apparent disruption in their ability to function at work or in close relationships, and seem to move on to new challenges with apparent ease. This article is devoted to the latter group and to the question of resilience in the face of loss or potentially traumatic events. The importance of protective psychological factors in the prevention of illness is now well established (Taylor, Kemeny, Reed, Bower, & Gruenewald, 2000). Moreover, developmental psychologists have shown that resilience is common among children growing up in disadvantaged conditions (e.g., Masten, 2001). Unfortunately, because most of the psychological knowledge base regarding the ways adults cope with loss or potential trauma has been derived from individuals who have experienced significant psychological problems or sought treatment, theorists working in this area have often underestimated and misunderstood resilience, viewing it either as a pathological state or as something seen only in rare and exceptionally healthy individuals. In this article, I challenge this view by reviewing evidence that resilience in the face of loss or potential trauma represents a distinct trajectory from that of recovery, that resilience is more common than often believed, and that there are multiple and sometimes unexpected pathways to resilience.

/pdf/loss-trauma-and-human-resilience-have-we-underestimated-the-2kd7sl9mfq.pdf

Loss, Trauma, and Human Resilience Have We Underestimated the Human Capacity to Thrive After Extremely Aversive Events?

Background 

Most previous attempts to determine the psychological cost of military deployment have been limited by reliance on convenience samples, lack of pre-deployment data or confidentiality and cross-sectional designs.

Aims 

This study addressed these limitations using a population-based, prospective cohort of US military personnel deployed in support of the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Method 

The sample consisted of US military service members in all branches including active duty, reserve and national guard who deployed once ( n = 3393) or multiple times ( n = 4394). Self-reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress were obtained prior to deployment and at two follow-ups spaced 3 years apart. Data were examined for longitudinal trajectories using latent growth mixture modelling.

Results 

Each analysis revealed remarkably similar post-traumatic stress trajectories across time. The most common pattern was low-stable post-traumatic stress or resilience (83.1% single deployers, 84.9% multiple deployers), moderate-improving (8.0%, 8.5%), then worsening-chronic post-traumatic stress (6.7%, 4.5%), high-stable (2.2% single deployers only) and high-improving (2.2% multiple deployers only). Covariates associated with each trajectory were identified.

Conclusions 

The final models exhibited similar types of trajectories for single and multiple deployers; most notably, the stable trajectory of low post-traumatic stress preto post-deployment, or resilience, was exceptionally high. Several factors predicting trajectories were identified, which we hope will assist in future research aimed at decreasing the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder among deployers.

/pdf/trajectories-of-trauma-symptoms-and-resilience-in-deployed-1ldwh8fwch.pdf

Trajectories of trauma symptoms and resilience in deployed US military service members: Prospective cohort study.

Objective: To investigate trajectories of PTSD and depression following traumatic injury using latent class growth curve modeling. Method: A longitudinal study of 330 injured trauma survivors was conducted and participants were assessed during hospitalization, and at 1, 3, and 6 months follow-up. Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) was assessed during hospitalization using the Acute Stress Disorder Interview (ASD-I), PTSD was measured at all follow-up with the Post-Traumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale (PDS) and depression was measured at hospitalization with the (BSI) and at follow-up with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESDS). Covariates were explored, including coping self-efficacy, anger, education level, and mechanism of injury. Results: Four latent classes were identified for PTSD and Depression symptoms: chronic distress, delayed distress, recovered, and resilience. When compared to the resilient group, individuals with chronic distress were more likely to have been assaulted, had higher levels of anger, and had less coping self-efficacy. The delayed distress group had lower education levels, higher levels of coping self-efficacy, and higher levels of anger. Individuals in the recovered group had fewer years of education, and higher levels of anger. Conclusion: The majority of the injured trauma sample demonstrated resiliency, with those exhibiting distress doing so as a delayed, chronic, or recovered trajectory. Coping self efficacy, education, assaultive trauma type, and anger were important covariates of depression and PTSD trajectories. These results are similar to studies of individuals who experienced a major health threat and with survivors from the World Trade Center attacks in the U.S.

/pdf/psychopathology-and-resilience-following-traumatic-injury-a-2znvt34l6q.pdf

Psychopathology and resilience following traumatic injury: a latent growth mixture model analysis.

Posttraumatic growth (PTG) is an appealing but poorly understood construct. Hobfoll, Hall, Canetti-Nisim, Galea, Johnson, and Palmieri's (2007) insightful paper highlights important weaknesses in existing theory and data. Although we commend Hobfoll et al. for offering a provocative new way to conceptualise PTG in terms of action-focused growth, we also find a number of limitations in their approach. In this article, we attempt to place PTG within a broader framework of individual differences in response to potential trauma. As in most of the literature on PTG, Hobfoll et al. implicitly equate growth with resilience or view it as superior to resilient outcomes. We argue, however, that many if not most people are resilient in the face of trauma and that resilient outcomes typically provide little need or opportunity for PTG. We close by exploring the literature on resilience for possible mechanisms underlying a link between PTG and adaptation. For example, Hobfoll et al. dismiss some forms of reported growth as illusory. In contrast, we review evidence for the adaptive value of self-enhancing illusions in coping with adversity.

Le developpement post-traumatique (PTG) est un concept attrayant mais insuffisamment approfondi. L’article stimulant de Hobfoll & al. met en relief des carences significatives dans les donnees et theories existantes. Bien que nous approuvions Hobfoll & al. quand ils presentent une conception aussi nouvelle que provocante du PTG en terme de developpement centre sur l’action, nous estimons aussi que cette approche a ses limites. On essaie, dans cet article, de replacer le PTG dans le cadre plus vaste des differences individuelles en reponse au traumatisme potentiel. Comme souvent dans la litterature sur le PTG, Hobfoll & al. assimilent le developpement a la resilience ou le considerent comme superieur aux consequences de la resilience. Nous defendons au contraire l’idee que beaucoup de gens, voire la plupart, sont resilients face au traumatisme et que les apports de la resilience peuvent se passer ou n’offrent habituellement que peu d’opportunites au PTG. On termine en examinant la litterature sur la resilience a la recherche d’eventuels processus sous-tendant un lien entre PTG et adaptation. Par exemple, Hobfoll & al. rejettent certains temoignages de developpement comme relevant de l’illusion; nous avons par contre releve des preuves que des illusions valorisant le moi contribuent a l’adaptation dans la lutte contre l’adversite.

Posttraumatic Growth and Resilience to Trauma: Different Sides of the Same Coin or Different Coins?

Psychological resilience has become a popular concept. Owing to that popularity, the word resilience has taken on myriad and often overlapping meanings. To be a useful framework for psychological research and theory, the authors argue, the study of resilience must explicitly reference each of four constituent temporal elements: (a) baseline or preadversity functioning, (b) the actual aversive circumstances, (c) postadversity resilient outcomes, and (d) predictors of resilient outcomes. Using this framework to review the existing literature, the most complete body of evidence is available on individual psychological resilience in children and adults. By contrast, the research on psychological resilience in families and communities is far more limited and lags well behind the rich theoretical perspective available from those literatures. The vast majority of research on resilience in families and communities has focused primarily on only one temporal element, possible predictors of resilient outcomes. Surpr...

The Temporal Elements of Psychological Resilience: An Integrative Framework for the Study of Individuals, Families, and Communities

Preface, Tracy J. Mayne and George Bonanno 1. The Structure of Emotion: A Nonlinear Dynamic Systems Approach, Tracy J. Mayne and James Ramsey 2. A Multiprocess Perspective on the Neuroscience of Emotion, Kevin N. Ochsner and Lisa Feldman Barrett 3. Emotion and Memory, Pierre Philippot and Alexandre Schaefer 4. Positive Emotions, Barbara L. Fredrickson and Christine Branigan 5. The Evolution of Emotional Expression: A ""Selfish-Gene"" Account of Smiling and Laughter in Early Hominids and Humans, Michael J. Owren and Jo-Anne Bachorowski 6. Social Functions of Emotions, Dacher Keltner and Jonathan Haidt 7. Culture and Emotion: Different Approaches to the Question, Batja Mesquita 8. Emotion Self-Regulation, George A. Bonanno 9. Emotional Intelligence: A Process Model of Emotion Representation and Regulation, Lisa Feldman Barrett and James J. Gross 10. Emotion and Coping , Judith Tedlie Moskowitz 11. Emotion and Psychopathology, Ann M. Kring 12. Emotions and Health, Tracy J. Mayne 13. The Future of Emotion Research, George A. Bonanno and Tracy J. Mayne

George A. Bonanno

Papers

Trajectories of trauma symptoms and resilience in deployed US military service members: Prospective cohort study.

Psychopathology and resilience following traumatic injury: a latent growth mixture model analysis.

Posttraumatic Growth and Resilience to Trauma: Different Sides of the Same Coin or Different Coins?

The Temporal Elements of Psychological Resilience: An Integrative Framework for the Study of Individuals, Families, and Communities

Emotions : current issues and future directions