Authors
Patty Van Cappellen, Ruixi Zhang, Barbara L Fredrickson
Publication date
2023
Journal
Handbook of positive psychology, religion, and spirituality
Pages
315-328
Description
In The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky alludes to a kind of spiritual ecstasy achieved through religious devotion:“My friends, pray to God for gladness. Be glad as children, as the birds of heaven”(Dostoyevsky et al., 1933, p. 335). Indeed, in literature, philosophy, as well as everyday life, religion/spirituality is closely associated with positive emotions. However, despite the important role positive affect plays in religion/spirituality, the relationship between positive emotions and religion/spirituality has received little attention from empirical researchers. In this chapter, we first conduct a systematic review of existing research on the bidirectional relationship between positive emotions and religion/spirituality. We show that religious/spiritual (R/S) practices generate the experience of positive emotions via multiple means and reflect the expression of positive emotional experiences. We also discuss the practical implications of this relationship, focusing on four major effects of positive emotions in religion/spirituality:(a) supporting beliefs,(b) improving well-being,(c) promoting prosocial behaviors, and (d) maintaining R/S practices (the Upward Spiral Theory of Sustained Religious Practice; Van Cappellen et al., 2021).
Total citations
202220232024143
Scholar articles
P Van Cappellen, R Zhang, BL Fredrickson - Handbook of positive psychology, religion, and …, 2023