An Overview of Broaden and Build Theory

Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsWhat Is Broaden and Build Theory?Types of Positive EmotionsBenefits of Positive EmotionPositive vs. Negative EmotionsWays to Experience More Positive EmotionsApplying Broaden and Build Theory to Your Life

Table of ContentsView All

View All

Table of Contents

What Is Broaden and Build Theory?

Types of Positive Emotions

Benefits of Positive Emotion

Positive vs. Negative Emotions

Ways to Experience More Positive Emotions

Applying Broaden and Build Theory to Your Life

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The broaden-and-build theory suggests that experiencing positive emotions helps people expand their immediate, momentary thoughts to help strengthen their psychological, social, cognitive, and physical resources. In other words, positive emotions help increase awareness, boost coping ability, and improve resilience.

Have you ever experienced a negative emotional reaction to an emergency? At that moment, was your instinct to consider all possible courses of action carefully, or was it to react instinctively in afight-or-flight response? The difference between these two reactions highlights how positive versus negative emotions can direct your life experiences.

At a GlanceBroaden-and-build theoryis an approach in positive psychology that helps explain how we can move away from a survival mode of responding to situations into a more expansive and thoughtful approach to life.Positive emotionscan help create an upward cycle of benefits, including increased resilience and well-being.

At a Glance

Broaden-and-build theoryis an approach in positive psychology that helps explain how we can move away from a survival mode of responding to situations into a more expansive and thoughtful approach to life.Positive emotionscan help create an upward cycle of benefits, including increased resilience and well-being.

Barbara Frederickson first proposed the broaden-and-build theory as a way to address the lack of research on positive emotions and the greater emphasis on negative ones.The broaden-and-build theory was introduced to expand on the work done in psychology on negative emotions and psychological maladjustment.

The theory is based on the notion that positive emotions can have the effect of broadening awareness and response to events as well as building resiliency and coping skills.

Rather than arguing that positive emotions should replace negative emotions, the premise of the broaden-and-build theory is that both types of emotions must co-exist and that positive emotions build resources to cope with negative emotions.

In this way, positive psychology and broaden-and-build theory complement the study of negative emotions and how to fix them.

Below is a list of positive emotions that you might recognize from your own day-to-day life. How many of these do you experience on a daily basis? Are there others that you can think of that are not on this list?

Remember that positive emotions are both those that you experience in reaction to something and also feelings that you can call up at will.

In addition to understanding the types of positive emotions, it is also important to look at the benefits of these positive emotions.

Broaden-and-build theory posits that positive emotions lead to a broadening of experience and the building of resources.

Try to be aware of your feelings and reactions in each moment. Have a plan to deal with negative emotions so that they don’t last as long, and switch into a positive mindset when you are able.

Positive emotions are believed to do all of the following:

Enhance Health and Well-Being

Greater Resilience

When you feel more positively, you are also able to see yourself as “wise.” This enables you to operate from your “wise” mind rather than reacting out of negative emotion.

Better Outlook on Life

Broaden-and-build theory also suggests that positive emotions help you to put negative emotions in a broader context. This helps you to see that the current situation is not your destiny; that things can change for the better in the future

Positive emotions give greater meaning to lifeso that you can find the “good in the bad.”

Other Important Benefits

As you can see, positive emotions have various potential benefits. However, it’s also important to understand the role of negative emotions and how they relate to positive emotions.

So what is the difference between positive and negative emotions? Positive emotions such as joy, interest, and playfulness differ from fear, anxiety, and sadness in one crucial way:

Positive emotions also help us to process negative emotions and to bounce back from negative situations. They also make us more open to positive experiences in the future. They also help to find meaning in negative experiences.

Have you heard of the “hedonic treadmill”? What this refers to is the idea that if you have a positive experience or positive emotion in your life, it can be fleeting. And so, you might go about your life trying to chase those positive feelings.

However, positive emotions are better when they lead to the building up of resources so that you are no longer on the hedonic treadmill. It’s kind of like the difference between working each day to earn money, or setting some aside to save for the future to protect yourself and not have to work every day.

The best thing you can do for your own negativity is to start adding small doses of positive energy into your day. Eventually, over time, you will develop a more positive mindset and outlook on life.

Below are some ways you can call in more positive emotions into your daily life that will lead to building up resiliency over time. See if you can practice more of these each day or add more positive events whenever possible:

Practice Self-Care

Caring for yourself and your well-being can improve positive emotions:

Build More Social Connections

Seek In-Person ContactRemember that face-to-face, voice-to-voice contact is preferable over email, texting, and messaging. This allows you to get the full effect of synchronicity and mirroring ofbody languagebetween you and the other person.

Seek In-Person Contact

Remember that face-to-face, voice-to-voice contact is preferable over email, texting, and messaging. This allows you to get the full effect of synchronicity and mirroring ofbody languagebetween you and the other person.

Build Positive Practices

It can be helpful to add activities to your life that can help foster positive emotions:

The strategies that you identify and choose yourself will probably work best as they will fit with what you are already doing and be easier to sustain.

It’s also helpful to recognize that negative emotions will always be present, even as you are working to build your positive emotions. The goal is not to eliminate your negative emotions, but rather to develop a set of tools to better manage and cope with them when they arise.

It is through this long-term building of resources, rather than a short term search for happiness, that you will be able to experience greater joy and satisfaction in life.

It might be tempting to think that you can’t use positive emotions if you are stuck in a negative cycle. However, just taking a small step each day might be helpful.

The goal of the broaden-and-build theory is not to suggest that you never experience anything negative—the idea is that you can build up your resiliency through small positive acts each day.

It is also important to remember that if negative emotions have become a pattern, it may be helpful to speak to a mental health professional such as a therapist,psychologist, or psychiatrist to rule out depression or other causes.

In some cases, it may be necessary to treat an underlying mental health condition such as depression with therapy or medication before working on building your positive emotions.

While the broaden-and-build theory is based on the notion of positive emotions building up over time to build resiliency, there is also value in changing the negativeneural pathwaysthat you have built up over time with more realistic ways of looking at the world. In other words, you can use these new thought patterns as a stepping stone toward positive emotions.

7 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Fredrickson BL. The Role of Positive Emotions in Positive Psychology.Am Psychol. 2001;56(3):218-226.Peterson C.What Is Positive Psychology, and What Is it Not?Fredrickson BL, Branigan C.Positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought-action repertoires.Cogn Emot. 2005;19(3):313-332. doi:10.1080/02699930441000238Garland EL, Fredrickson B, Kring AM, Johnson DP, Meyer PS, Penn DL.Upward spirals of positive emotions counter downward spirals of negativity: insights from the broaden-and-build theory and affective neuroscience on the treatment of emotion dysfunctions and deficits in psychopathology.Clin Psychol Rev. 2010;30(7):849-864. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2010.03.002Legrand FD, Jeandet P, Beaumont F, Polidori G.Effects of outdoor walking on positive and negative affect: Nature contact makes a big difference.Front Behav Neurosci. 2022;16:901491. doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2022.901491Fredrickson BL, Boulton AJ, Firestine AM, et al.Positive emotion correlates of meditation practice: A comparison of mindfulness meditation and loving-kindness meditation.Mindfulness (N Y). 2017;8(6):1623-1633. doi:10.1007/s12671-017-0735-9Fredrickson BL.The role of positive emotions in positive psychology. The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions.Am Psychol. 2001;56(3):218-226. doi:10.1037//0003-066x.56.3.218

7 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Fredrickson BL. The Role of Positive Emotions in Positive Psychology.Am Psychol. 2001;56(3):218-226.Peterson C.What Is Positive Psychology, and What Is it Not?Fredrickson BL, Branigan C.Positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought-action repertoires.Cogn Emot. 2005;19(3):313-332. doi:10.1080/02699930441000238Garland EL, Fredrickson B, Kring AM, Johnson DP, Meyer PS, Penn DL.Upward spirals of positive emotions counter downward spirals of negativity: insights from the broaden-and-build theory and affective neuroscience on the treatment of emotion dysfunctions and deficits in psychopathology.Clin Psychol Rev. 2010;30(7):849-864. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2010.03.002Legrand FD, Jeandet P, Beaumont F, Polidori G.Effects of outdoor walking on positive and negative affect: Nature contact makes a big difference.Front Behav Neurosci. 2022;16:901491. doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2022.901491Fredrickson BL, Boulton AJ, Firestine AM, et al.Positive emotion correlates of meditation practice: A comparison of mindfulness meditation and loving-kindness meditation.Mindfulness (N Y). 2017;8(6):1623-1633. doi:10.1007/s12671-017-0735-9Fredrickson BL.The role of positive emotions in positive psychology. The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions.Am Psychol. 2001;56(3):218-226. doi:10.1037//0003-066x.56.3.218

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Fredrickson BL. The Role of Positive Emotions in Positive Psychology.Am Psychol. 2001;56(3):218-226.Peterson C.What Is Positive Psychology, and What Is it Not?Fredrickson BL, Branigan C.Positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought-action repertoires.Cogn Emot. 2005;19(3):313-332. doi:10.1080/02699930441000238Garland EL, Fredrickson B, Kring AM, Johnson DP, Meyer PS, Penn DL.Upward spirals of positive emotions counter downward spirals of negativity: insights from the broaden-and-build theory and affective neuroscience on the treatment of emotion dysfunctions and deficits in psychopathology.Clin Psychol Rev. 2010;30(7):849-864. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2010.03.002Legrand FD, Jeandet P, Beaumont F, Polidori G.Effects of outdoor walking on positive and negative affect: Nature contact makes a big difference.Front Behav Neurosci. 2022;16:901491. doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2022.901491Fredrickson BL, Boulton AJ, Firestine AM, et al.Positive emotion correlates of meditation practice: A comparison of mindfulness meditation and loving-kindness meditation.Mindfulness (N Y). 2017;8(6):1623-1633. doi:10.1007/s12671-017-0735-9Fredrickson BL.The role of positive emotions in positive psychology. The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions.Am Psychol. 2001;56(3):218-226. doi:10.1037//0003-066x.56.3.218

Fredrickson BL. The Role of Positive Emotions in Positive Psychology.Am Psychol. 2001;56(3):218-226.

Peterson C.What Is Positive Psychology, and What Is it Not?

Fredrickson BL, Branigan C.Positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought-action repertoires.Cogn Emot. 2005;19(3):313-332. doi:10.1080/02699930441000238

Garland EL, Fredrickson B, Kring AM, Johnson DP, Meyer PS, Penn DL.Upward spirals of positive emotions counter downward spirals of negativity: insights from the broaden-and-build theory and affective neuroscience on the treatment of emotion dysfunctions and deficits in psychopathology.Clin Psychol Rev. 2010;30(7):849-864. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2010.03.002

Legrand FD, Jeandet P, Beaumont F, Polidori G.Effects of outdoor walking on positive and negative affect: Nature contact makes a big difference.Front Behav Neurosci. 2022;16:901491. doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2022.901491

Fredrickson BL, Boulton AJ, Firestine AM, et al.Positive emotion correlates of meditation practice: A comparison of mindfulness meditation and loving-kindness meditation.Mindfulness (N Y). 2017;8(6):1623-1633. doi:10.1007/s12671-017-0735-9

Fredrickson BL.The role of positive emotions in positive psychology. The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions.Am Psychol. 2001;56(3):218-226. doi:10.1037//0003-066x.56.3.218

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