Positive Psychology: The Effects of Positive Emotions

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Positive psychology describes the effects a positive attitude can have on one’s enjoyment of a situation, people, and life as whole. If one is able to find something good about every situation they encounter, then their overall life experience will be positive. It explains that one’s mindset determines the outcome of a situation, including how well they get along with people around them. Positive emotions are capable of changing not only one's outlook on life, but also their life as a whole. By viewing every situation in a positive way stress can be reduced, and both physical and mental discomfort will be limited.
Thinking positively has been studied and proven to help patients battling diseases, and going through physical therapy. These results are attributed to positive emotions ability to overcome negative emotions (Leading With Positive Emotions 1). By outlasting the effects of negative emotions positivity causes feelings of satisfaction and happiness. It also explains how these positive feelings can lead to a happier person who is content with their decisions, and is therefore successful.
Psychology is a field that is constantly evolving to incorporate discoveries within different fields. The study of positive emotions and how they relate to overall happiness is receiving more attention lately, because it was previously overshadowed by the study of mental disorders, due to lack of funding (Seligman 1379). They are also more difficult to study because the emotions that are considered positive are hard to distinguish from one another (The Value of Positive Emotions 330). Recently, more researchers have dedicated their lives to exploring what the definition of happiness is, what makes people happy, and how to allow other peop...

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...Positive Emotions: The Emerging Science of Positive Psychology Is Coming to Understand Why It's Good to Feel Good."American Scientist 91.4 (2003): 330-35. JSTOR. Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society. Web.
Google. "Hypochondriasis." Google. Google, n.d. Web.
Schwartz, Barry. The Tyranny of Choice. Washington D.C.: Chronicle of Higher Education, 2004. Swarthmore.edu. Scientific American. Web.
Seligman, Martin E.P., Acacia C. Parks, and Tracy Steen. "A Balanced Psychology and a Full Life." The Royal Society (2004): 18 Aug. 2004. Web.
Snyder, C. R., Shane J. Lopez, and Jennifer T. Pedrotti. Positive Psychology: The Scientific and Practical Explorations of Human Strengths. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2007. Print.
Staw, Barry M., Robert I. Sutton, and Lisa H. Pelled. "Employee Positive Emotion and Favorable Outcomes at the Workplace." JSTOR. N.p., n.d. Web.

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