A hypothesized need to form and maintain strong, stable interpersonal relationships is evaluated in light of the empirical literature. The need is for frequent, nonaversive interactions within an ongoing relational bond. Consistent with the belongingness hypothesis, people form social attachments readily under most conditions and resist the dissolution of existing bonds. Belongingness appears to have multiple and strong effects on emotional patterns and on cognitive processes. Lack of attachments is linked to a variety of ill effects on health, adjustment, and well-being. Other evidence, such as that concerning satiation, substitution, and behavioral consequences, is likewise consistent with the hypothesized motivation. Several seeming counterexamples turned out not to disconfirm the hypothesis. Existing evidence supports the hypothesis that the need to belong is a powerful, fundamental, and extremely pervasive motivation.

The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation.

Evidence is reviewed which suggests that there may be little or no direct introspective access to higher order cognitive processes. Subjects are sometimes (a) unaware of the existence of a stimulus that importantly influenced a response, (b) unaware of the existence of the response, and (c) unaware that the stimulus has affected the response. It is proposed that when people attempt to report on their cognitive processes, that is, on the processes mediating the effects of a stimulus on a response, they do not do so on the basis of any true introspection. Instead, their reports are based on a priori, implicit causal theories, or judgments about the extent to which a particular stimulus is a plausible cause of a given response. This suggests that though people may not be able to observe directly their cognitive processes, they will sometimes be able to report accurately about them. Accurate reports will occur when influential stimuli are salient and are plausible causes of the responses they produce, and will not occur when stimuli are not salient or are not plausible causes.

/pdf/telling-more-than-we-can-know-verbal-reports-on-mental-57xv5dwuck.pdf

Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes.

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.

W. Wilson's (1967) review of the area of subjective well-being (SWB) advanced several conclusions regarding those who report high levels of "happiness". A number of his conclusions have been overturned: youth and modest aspirations no longer are seen as prerequisites of SWB. E. Diener's (1984) review placed greater emphasis on theories that stressed psychological factors. In the current article, the authors review current evidence for Wilson's conclusions and discuss modern theories of SWB that stress dispositional influences, adaptation, goals, and coping strategies. The next steps in the evolution of the field are to comprehend the interaction of psychological factors with life circumstances in producing SWB, to understand the causal pathways leading to happiness, understand the processes underlying adaptation to events, and develop theories that explain why certain variables differentially influence the different components of SWV (life satisfaction, pleasant affect, and unpleasant affect).

Subjective Well-Being: Three Decades of Progress

Attention and Effort

The Possibility of Cooperation@@@Cooperation: The Basis of Sociability.@@@Cooperation and Prosocial Behavior.@@@Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action.

Previous evidence suggests that eye-contact serves a number of different functions in two-person encounters, of which one of the most important is gathering feed-back on the other person's reactions. It is further postulated that eye-contact is linked to affiliative motivation, and that approach and avoidance forces produce an equilibrium level of physical proximity, eyecontact and other aspects of intimacy. If one of these is disturbed, compensatory changes may occur along the other dimensions. Experiments are reported which suggest that people move towards an equilibrium distance, and adopt a particular level of eye-contact. As predicted, there was less eyecontact and glances were shorter, the closer two subjects were placed together (where one member of each pair was a confederate who gazed continuously at the other). The effect was greatest for opposite-sex pairs. In another experiment it was found that subjects would stand closer to a second person when his eyes were shut, as predicted by the theory.

Eye-contact, distance and affiliation.

Introduction. How to measure and study happiness. Joy and other positive emotions. Satisfaction. Humour and laughter. Social relationships. Work and employment. Leisure. Money, class and education. Personality, age and gender. Religion. National differences in happiness. Happiness enhancement. The effects of positive moods and happiness. Conclusions.

The Psychology of Happiness

One of the first psychologists to investigate experimentally the role of gaze in human behaviour was Michael Argyle. In 1963 he set up a research group at Oxford with Ted Crossman and Adam Kendon, to study non-verbal communication in human social interaction, which included gaze as an important aspect of this behaviour. Shortly afterwards, Mark Cook joined this group which was funded until 1975, during which time considerable research on gaze had been carried out both at Oxford and elsewhere. This book summarises much of the work done in this field up until that time.

Gaze and mutual gaze

http://www.louisianaparadox.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Hills-Argyle-2002.pdf

Michael Argyle

Papers

The Possibility of Cooperation@@@Cooperation: The Basis of Sociability.@@@Cooperation and Prosocial Behavior.@@@Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action.

Eye-contact, distance and affiliation.

The Psychology of Happiness

Gaze and mutual gaze

The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire: a compact scale for the measurement of psychological well-being