Authors
Barbara L Fredrickson, Michael A Cohn, Kimberly A Coffey, Jolynn Pek, Sandra M Finkel
Publication date
2008/11
Journal
Journal of personality and social psychology
Volume
95
Issue
5
Pages
1045
Publisher
American Psychological Association
Description
BL Fredrickson's (1998, 2001) broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions asserts that people's daily experiences of positive emotions compound over time to build a variety of consequential personal resources. The authors tested this build hypothesis in a field experiment with working adults (n= 139), half of whom were randomly-assigned to begin a practice of loving-kindness meditation. Results showed that this meditation practice produced increases over time in daily experiences of positive emotions, which, in turn, produced increases in a wide range of personal resources (eg, increased mindfulness, purpose in life, social support, decreased illness symptoms). In turn, these increments in personal resources predicted increased life satisfaction and reduced depressive symptoms. Discussion centers on how positive emotions are the mechanism of change for the type of mind-training practice studied here and …
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