How Do You Feel About Stress? The Role of Positive Emotions in Stress!

1. How Do You Feel About Stress?The Role of Positive Emotions in Stress!

2. Stress • “the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging” (Myers, 2011, p. 419)

3. The Nature of Emotions and Stress • Emotions co-occur when stressed whether we recognize them or not • How we perceive stress affects emotions recognized: • Harm or threat appraisal = sadness, anger, anxiety, and/or fear • Challenge appraisal = excitement, confidence, and eagerness (Folkman, 2008)

4. The Nature of Emotions and Stress • Stress also changes the level of our negative and positive emotions: • Increases negative emotions and decreases positive emotions • The changes appear to be more pronounced though on negative emotions than on positive (Dowd, Zautra, & Hogan 2010)

5. The Nature of Emotions and Stress • Level of Emotional Experience involves: • Heritability • Estimates are at 40% to 50% (Sprangers et al., 2010) • Environment • 5 Variables • Emotional regulation • Emotional disclosure • Emotional Intelligence • Alexithymia • Intensity of Experience (Pandey &Choubey, 2010)

6. Instructions for the Positive Affectivity and Negative Affectivity Scale – Momentary (PANAS) (as cited by Seligman, 2002, p.33) • You will see a number of words that describe different feelings and emotions • Read each item and then mark the appropriate answer in the space next to the word. • Answer based on how you feel right now in this present moment • 1 = slightly or not at all • 2 = a little • 3 = moderately • 4 = quite a bit • 5 = extremely • Add up your scores for positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA)

7. Positive Emotions • The personal and individual experience of and engagement in happiness (Pandey & Choubey, 2010) • “Feelings that reflect a level of pleasurable engagement with the environment, such as happiness, joy, excitement, enthusiasm, and contentment” (Cohen & Pressman, 2006, p. 122)

8. The Impact of Positive Emotion on Stress and Health • Increased average life expectancy (Cohen & Pressman, 2006) • Lower susceptibility to illness throughout the lifespan (Steptoe, Dockray, & Wardle, 2009) • Improved immune response and pain tolerance (Sprangers et al., 2010) • Better adjustment to traumatic events such as the death of a loved one (Pandey & Choubey, 2010) • Better physical and emotional health • (Pandey & Choubey 2010)

9. The Impact of Positive Emotion on Stress and Health • Heightened emotional intelligence (Pandey & Choubey, 2010) • Improved social relationships and social support structure (Pandey & Choubey 2010) • Greater tendency to practice positive health behaviors (Cohen & Pressman, 2006) • Greater resilience or ability to bounce back from stress and illness (Smith, Tooley, Christopher, & Kay, 2010)

10. The Impact of Positive Emotion on Stress and Health • Optimism, a positive emotion has been shown to promote: • Women who are more optimistic had a 16% less chance of a heart attack, a 9% less chance of developing heart disease, a 30% less chance of dying from heart disease and a 14% less chance of dying from any disease than women who displayed little optimism (Tindle et al., 2009) • better coping with a number of health problems such as osteoarthritis (Ferreira & Sherman, 2007) • breast cancer and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (Aspinwall & Tedeschi, 2010) • positive increases in an individual’s immune functioning (Aspinwall & Tedeschi, 2010) • quicker and more complete recovery from a number of medical (Aspinwall & Tedeschi, 2010) procedures • longevity (Aspinwall & Tedeschi, 2010) • adherence to more positive health behaviors (Aspinwall & Tedeschi, 2010) • an individual’s psychological well being with reductions in symptoms of anxiety and depression (Ferreira & Sherman, 2007).

11. The Impact of Positive Emotion on Stress and Health • Hope, another positive emotion promotes • Greater adherence to positive health behaviors and limiting unhealthy behaviors (Berg, Ritschel, Swan, An, & Ahluwalia, 2011) • Insulation from despair when facing chronic or potential illnesses (Wiles, Cott, & Gibson, 2008.

12. How to Experience Positive Affect • Recognize the external myths/barriers to happiness and that the pursuit of them do not lead to long term positive affect and well being • These include: • Money means happiness • Health means happiness • Education means happiness • Change your race or move to sunnier climate (Seligman, 2002)

13. How to Experience Positive Affect • Internal characteristics promoting positive emotions: • Liking oneself (good self esteem) • Have a balanced sense of internal and external locus of control • Optimism and hope • Outgoing (Myers, 1992)

14. How to Experience Positive Affect • Humor and laughter • Play • Meditation • Mindfulness

15. How to Experience Positive Affect • Spirituality • Forgiveness • Gratitude • Compassion (Other focused)

16. We Can Feel Good About Stress!

17. Resources • American Institute of Stress website. Great informational site about stress! • http://www.stress.org/topic-effects.htm • Website of Dr. Martin Seligman and his work with Positive Psychology http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/Default.aspx • Myers, D.G. (1992). The pursuit of happiness: Discovering the pathway to fulfillment, well-being, and enduring personal joy. New York, New York: Harper Collins Publishers, Inc. • Seligman, M.E.P. (2002). Authentic happiness: Unsing the new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting f ulfillment. New York, New York: Free Press

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