The American Cancer Society estimates that 62% of all cancers could be prevented altogether through lifestyle change. Indeed, two of every five premature deaths in the U.S. can be linked to unhealthy and ultimately modifiable behavioral choices. Despite good intentions, people's attempts at midlife lifestyle change often fail, paving the way to increased cancer risk and other costly and life-limiting chronic conditions. The overarching goal of the proposed research is to investigate the role of positive emotions in facilitating successful lifestyle change, defined as healthy behavioral decisions repeated daily, or near daily. An innovative upward spiral model of lifestyle change integrates multiple streams of research in basic behavioral and brain sciences to position positive emotions as key active ingredients that not only seed nonconscious motivational pulls toward a newly-adopted wellness behavior, but also reshape key biopsychosocial resources in ways that increase the subsequent positive emotion yield of that behavior, creating a self-sustaining dynamic system. Four tightly- controlled laboratory experiments test this new model by targeting three Specific Aims.
These aims are: (1) to test whether and how positive emotions and physical pleasures differentially create nonconscious cognitive and affective processes that mediate behavioral decisions; (2) to identify biopsychosocial resources that moderate the link between a wellness behavior and its positive emotion yield, and in turn create nonconscious motives for that behavior; and (3) to test whether nonconscious motives shape daily behavioral decisions, which in turn foster positive emotions that further augment nonconscious motives in an upward spiral dynamic. Studies 1 and 2 use a 3-group experimental design with concurrent behavioral and psychophysiological measures to compare and contrast behavioral decisions that ensue following positive emotions versus physical pleasures, targeting the mediating mechanisms of nonconscious motives (Study 1), and broadened cognition (Study 2). Studies 3 and 4 use a 2 X 2 experimental design to test whether the modifiable resources of positive valuation (Study 3) and oxytocin (Study 4) boost the positive emotion yield of wellness behavior, with attendant benefits for nonconscious motives and subsequent daily behavioral decisions. This program of basic research stands to reshape public health interventions and unlock hidden opportunities to drastically reduce the incidence of cancer and other costly chronic conditions.
Unhealthy lifestyles contribute to many cancers and other costly chronic diseases. Lifestyle change is thus vital to reduce cancer incidence, yet most attempts at lifestyle change fail. Greater understanding of how positive emotions create the nonconscious motives that undergird behavioral decisions is needed to unlock evidence-based interventions to promote health and save money and lives.
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| Fredrickson, Barbara L; Joiner, Thomas (2018) Reflections on Positive Emotions and Upward Spirals. Perspect Psychol Sci 13:194-199 |
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| Fredrickson, Barbara L; Kok, Bethany E (2018) Evidence for the Upward Spiral Stands Steady: A Response to Nickerson (2018). Psychol Sci 29:467-470 |
| Kiken, Laura G; Lundberg, Kristjen B; Fredrickson, Barbara L (2017) Being present and enjoying it: Dispositional mindfulness and savoring the moment are distinct, interactive predictors of positive emotions and psychological health. Mindfulness (N Y) 8:1280-1290 |
| Rice, Elise L; Fredrickson, Barbara L (2017) Do positive spontaneous thoughts function as incentive salience? Emotion 17:840-855 |
| Fredrickson, Barbara L; Boulton, Aaron J; Firestine, Ann M et al. (2017) Positive Emotion Correlates of Meditation Practice: A Comparison of Mindfulness Meditation and Loving-kindness Meditation. Mindfulness (N Y) 8:1623-1633 |
| Van Cappellen, Patty; Fredrickson, Barbara L; Saroglou, Vassilis et al. (2017) Religiosity and the Motivation for Social Affiliation. Pers Individ Dif 113:24-31 |
| Van Cappellen, Patty; Way, Baldwin M; Isgett, Suzannah F et al. (2016) Effects of oxytocin administration on spirituality and emotional responses to meditation. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 11:1579-87 |
| Isgett, Suzannah F; Algoe, Sara B; Boulton, Aaron J et al. (2016) Common variant in OXTR predicts growth in positive emotions from loving-kindness training. Psychoneuroendocrinology 73:244-251 |
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