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Aspects of Emotional Well-Being

Aspects of Emotional Well-Being. History of Systems Psychology PSY401 Tiffany Jubb, Joe Milillo, Jen Mislinski, and Cesar Monzon. Emotional Well-Being.

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Aspects of Emotional Well-Being

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  1. Aspects of Emotional Well-Being History of Systems Psychology PSY401 Tiffany Jubb, Joe Milillo, Jen Mislinski, and Cesar Monzon

  2. Emotional Well-Being • Emotional well-being (EWB) is the balance of regulating negative affect while cultivating positive affect; as these states are momentary, overtime a central tendency or characteristic is reflected in individuals (Larsen, 2009). EWB can be equated with the relative amount of time an individual experiences positive and negative affect (Diener, Sandvik, & Pavot, 2009). • In daily life even individuals without mental disorders face challenges in regulating emotion, and even have to fight a negativity bias (Rozin & Royzman, 2001). This means that humans have a built-in system to weigh more heavily negative information and emotions than positive, making it harder to maintain a balanced outlook or even an optimistic disposition.

  3. Emotional Well Being • Emotional well-being is gradually gaining evidence-based facts and being established on solid ground with tangible skills that cultivate it. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) urges more research on brain health, consisting of both cognitive and emotional health (Hendrie et al., 2006). As this field continues to grow, individuals of all ages will have many tools available to increase their sense of well-being, leading to happier lives.

  4. Neural Correlates of Well-Being Deep red areas denote significant activation peaks (t statistic value of +4.26 or greater), purple areas denote significant deactivations (t statistic value of –4.26); the bottom bar provides a color code for the significance value of the activation. Top, sadness. Note the bilateral, but asymmetric, activations of the insula (in) and the mixed activation–deactivation pattern in cingulate cortex (activations anterior, deactivations posterior). Note also the activation in dorsal pons. Bottom, happiness, whose activation pattern is remarkably distinct from that of sadness. Note the positive peak in right posterior cingulate, the negative peak in the anterior third of the left cingulate, the positive peak in left insula, and the positive peak in right SII (Damasio et al., 2000).

  5. Neural Correlates of Well-Being • Shackman et al (2009) showed that the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was active during negative affect processing and behavior inhibition. Davidson et al (2003) found a significant increase in activity in the part of the brain responsible for positive emotions and traits like optimism and resilience – the left prefrontal cortex. • Another study found that faster judgments of negative relative to neutral information were associated with increased left and right amygdala activation. In the prefrontal cortex, faster judgment time was associated with relative decreased activation in a cluster in the ventral anterior cingulate cortex. Furthermore, people who were slower to evaluate negative versus neutral information reported higher emotional well-being. Importantly, higher EWB was strongly associated with increased activation in the ventral ACC for negative relative to neutral information (Van Reekum et al., 2007).

  6. Well-Being and Mindfulness Meditation • One technique that has been studied for the past decade and is gaining favorable attention from academia and the public is mindfulness meditation. It has been shown to increase positive judgments while reducing negativity bias (Kiken & Shook, 2011). It has also been shown to have a positive effect on many of the brain areas used in emotion regulation (namely, the prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, insula, and amygdalar functioning) (Epel et al., 2009, Hölzel et al., 2009, Lazar et al., 2005). • Mindfulness also changes the very sense of well-being, focusing on the fulfillment of more meaningful and wholesome priorities, behaviors and perspectives (Wallace & Shapiro, 2006). This reorientation can lead to improved subjective-well being and lower levels of perceived stress (Mogilner, 2010). Sustained practice of mindfulness actually raises the individual “set-point” of happiness of the mind helping one be more content in life (Davidson et al., 2003).

  7. Well-Being and Mindfulness Meditation • In a preliminary study of Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program and stress at the work-place, researchers at Ohio State University have found a significant decrease of perceived stress in various contexts (Klatt, Buckworth & Malarkey, 2009). This shows that that whatever the stress maybe, by change of perception, one can be more equanimous and productive. This attitudinal correction will improve one’s emotional well-being, as well as physical health … • Meditation has been proven to improve the immune system, as well as slow the aging process of cells (Davidson et al, 2003, Epel et al, 2009).

  8. Need and Greed:Emotional Well-Being and Money • Data from two national surveys revealed that while people’s predictions were relatively accurate at higher levels of income, they greatly overestimated the impact of income on life satisfaction at lower income levels, expecting low household income to be coupled with very low life satisfaction (Aknin, Norton, & Dunn, 2009). • While there is certainly nothing wrong in having financial stability and success, studies report that purposely striving for and attaining more money does not necessarily increase Subjective Well Being (SWB) (Diener, Sandvik, & Pavot, 2009). • In fact, it can impair the ability to savor an experience, including being in the present moment and displaying positive emotions (Quoidbach, Dunn, Petrides & Mikolajczak, 2010)

  9. Need and Greed:Emotional Well-Being and Money • A recent study found that the negative relationship between money importance and SWB was due to the two variables being the result of a common cause; namely, the motives of social comparison, seeking power, showing off, and overcoming self-doubt (Srivastava & Bartol, 2001). • Mindfulness does show a positive relationship in this regard, and has shown to decrease desire and financial discrepancies (the discrepancy between what one has and what one wants); this decrease results in higher SWB (Brown, Kasser, Ryan, Alex Linley & Orzech, 2009).

  10. References • Aknin, L. B., Norton, M. I., & Dunn, E. W. 2009. From wealth to well-being? Money matters, but less than people think. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 4(6): 523-527. • Brown, K., Kasser, T., Ryan, R., Alex Linley, P., & Orzech, K. 2009. When what one has is enough: Mindfulness, financial desire discrepancy, and subjective well-being. Journal of Research in Personality, 43(5): 727-736. • Damasio, A. R., Grabowski, T. J., Bechara, A., Damasio, H., Ponto, L. L. B., Parvizi, J., & Hichwa, R. D. 2000. Subcortical and cortical brain activity during the feeling of self-generated emotions. nature neuroscience, 3(10): 1049-1056. • Davidson, R., Kabat-Zinn, J., Schumacher, J., Rosenkranz, M., Muller, D., Santorelli, S., Urbanowski, F., Harrington, A., Bonus, K., & Sheridan, J. 2003. Alterations in brain and immune function produced by mindfulness meditation. Psychosomatic medicine, 65(4): 564-570. • Diener, E., Sandvik, E., & Pavot, W. 2009. Happiness is the frequency, not the intensity, of positive versus negative affect. Assessing Well-Being: 213-231.

  11. References (cont.) • Epel, E., Daubenmier, J., Moskowitz, J., Folkman, S., & Blackburn, E. 2009. Can meditation slow rate of cellular aging? Cognitive stress, mindfulness, and telomeres. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1172: 34-53. • Hendrie, H. C., Albert, M. S., Butters, M. A., Gao, S., Knopman, D. S., Launer, L. J., Yaffe, K., Cuthbert, B. N., Edwards, E., & Wagster, M. V. 2006. The NIH Cognitive and Emotional Health Project:: Report of the Critical Evaluation Study Committee. Alzheimer's and Dementia, 2(1): 12-3 • Holzel, B., Carmody, J., Evans, K., Hoge, E., Dusek, J., Morgan, L., Pitman, R., & Lazar, S. 2009. Stress reduction correlates with structural changes in the amygdala. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience. • Kiken, L. G., & Shook, N. J. 2011. Looking Up: Mindfulness Increases Positive Judgments and Reduces Negativity Bias. Social Psychological and Personality Science. • Klatt, M., Buckworth, J., & Malarkey, W. 2009. Effects of low-dose mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR-ld) on working adults. Health Education & Behavior, 36(3): 601-614.

  12. Refernces (cont.) • Larsen, R. 2009. The Contributions of Positive and Negative Affect to Emotional Well-Being. Psychological Topics, 18(2): 247–266. • Lazar, S., Kerr, C., Wasserman, R., Gray, J., Greve, D., Treadway, M., McGarvey, M., Quinn, B., Dusek, J., & Benson, H. 2005. Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness. Neuroreport, 16(17): 1893-1897. • Mogilner, C. 2010. The pursuit of happiness. Psychological Science, 21(9): 1348-1354. • Quoidbach, J., Dunn, E. W., Petrides, K., & Mikolajczak, M. 2010. Money giveth, money taketh away. Psychological Science, 21(6): 759-763. • Rozin, P., & Royzman, E. B. 2001. Negativity bias, negativity dominance, and contagion. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 5(4): 296. • Shackman, A. J., McMenamin, B. W., Maxwell, J. S., Greischar, L. L., & Davidson, R. J. 2009. Right dorsolateral prefrontal cortical activity and behavioral inhibition. Psychological Science, 20(12): 1500-1506.

  13. References (cont.) • Srivastava, A., Locke, E. A., & Bartol, K. M. 2001. Money and subjective well-being: It's not the money, it's the motives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80(6): 959. • Van Reekum, C. M., Urry, H. L., Johnstone, T., Thurow, M. E., Frye, C. J., Jackson, C. A., Schaefer, H. S., Alexander, A. L., & Davidson, R. J. 2007. Individual differences in amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex activity are associated with evaluation speed and psychological well-being. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19(2): 237-248. • Wallace, B., & Shapiro, S. 2006. Mental balance and well-being. American Psychologist, 61(7): 690-701.

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