Artículo B. Fredickson

POSITIVE EMOTIONS, SOCIAL CONNECTIONS, AND HEALTH

Abstract

The mechanisms underlying the association between positive emotions and physical health remain a mystery. We hypothesize that an upward spiral dynamic continually reinforces the tie between positive emotions and physical health, mediated by people’s perceptions of their positive social connections. We tested this overarching hypothesis in a longitudinal field experiment where participants were randomly assigned to self-generate positive emotions via loving-kindness meditation, or to a monitoring waitlist control group. Intervention participants increased in positive emotions relative to control participants, an effect moderated by baseline vagal tone, a proxy index of physical health. Increased positive emotions, in turn, produced increases in vagal tone, mediated by increased perceptions of social connections. This experimental evidence identifies one mechanism –perceptions of social connections – through which positive emotions build physical health, indexed as vagal tone. Results suggest that positive emotions, positive social connections, and physical health influence one another in a self-sustaining upward spiral dynamic.

Kok, B. E., Coffey, K. A., Cohn, M. A., Catalino, L. I., Vacharkulksemsuk, T., Algoe, S.B., Brantley, M., & Fredickson, B. L. (2013). How positive emotions build physical health:Perceived positive social connections account for the upward spiral betweenpositive emotions and vagal tone. Psychological Science, 24, 1123-1132.