Motivation and emotion/Book/2024/Positivity ratio
What is the positivity ratio and what are its implications?
Overview
[edit | edit source]In order for us to be able to have good and flourishing mental health, we need to have the correct ratio of positive experience and negative experience. This is the positivity ratio which was developed by Barbara Fredrickson and Marcial Losada in 2005. According to research done on the theory, the critical tipping point for flourishing mental health is 3 positive experiences for every negative experience, however this changes throughout the lifespan . When we have the correct positivity ratio it is strongly correlated with improved mental health, better resilience, and more perceived social support. When we do not the correct ratio, this can have a significant impact on wellbeing. Having a positivity ratio that is too high or too low it does the opposite and increases depressive symptoms, increases stress, and decreases our perception of social support. Positivity ratio is so important in wellbeing and its important to understand our needs for being able to achieve flourishing mental health.
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Case Study
Lily has been offered a new job at a coffee shop in her local shopping centre. It is her first day and she has been scheduled for the morning shift and is being trained by her manager. She arrives for her shift eager to start learning and meet everyone. Through out the shift, her manager is getting easily frustrated at her for not being able to use the machines rights and very rarely tells her she is doing something right. The coffee shop gets busy during the morning rush and Lily is struggling to keep up with her manager's demands. She leaves the shift feeling defeated and that maybe this is not the right job for her. Lily begins to experience stress and anxiety before her shifts especially when she knows her manager will be there and does not think she is good at her job despite her having barista experience in the past. |
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- Why has Lily's confidence been effected, even though she has barista experience? - How has Lily's positivity ratio changed from when she first started the job? - How might this effect other aspects of Lily's life?
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What is the positivity ratio?
[edit | edit source]Definition and origin of the positivity ratio
[edit | edit source]The theory of the positivity ratio was developed by Barbara Fredrickson and Marcial Losada in Positive Affect and the Complex Dynamics of Human Flourishing (2005) as well as Fredrickson's 2009 book, Positivity.
The positivity ratio is defined as "a critical tipping point positivity ratio that bifurcates mental health into human flourishing and human languishing" (Fredrickson & Losada, 2005)
The theory is further discussed by Fredrickson in Updated Thinking on Positivity (2013), where empirical evidence suggests that the "critical tipping point" is 3:1
Why is it important?
[edit | edit source]The positivity ratio is important when discussing wellbeing as it predicts an individuals ability to flourish by measuring the relationship between positive and negative emotions.
- In a study Pathways to Adolescents' Flourishing: Linking self control skills and Positivity Ratio Through Social Support (2018) found correlation between high positivity ratios in adolescents aged 12 to 15 years old and their perceived amount of social support from parents and class mates - Crucial during such an important stage of life
- A similar study, Set points of positivity ratio for different levels of well-being: A latent profile analysis (2017) looked at college students and found similar results and discussed that "integrated index of positivity ratio is a better emotional indicator than the separate indices of positive and negative emotion"
- The positivity ratio highlights the importance of experiencing negative emotions just as much as positive emotions. Fredrickson (2013) discusses that "negativity can either promote healthy functioning or kill it, depending on its contextual appropriateness and dosage relative to positive emotions" which is further supported by a 2017 journal by Matthew and colleagues in Too Much of a Good Thing: Curvilinear Effect of the Positivity Ratio on Emotional Dysfunction and Perceived Resources in Adolescent Females. The study reports that participants "with excessive positivity reported less available resources" as dissatisfaction motivates individuals to strive for self improvement.
How does it change across the life span?
[edit | edit source]Throughout the life span, an individuals capacity to main positive effect changes.
- In The ratio between positive and negative affect and flourishing mental health across adulthood by Manfred Diehl, Elizabeth L. Hay & Kathleen M. Bergyounger, they found that "adults had the lowest mean positivity ratios, followed by middle-aged adults, and then older adults. This pattern is consistent with a growing body of research suggesting that age is associated with a better ability to maintain positive affect".
- They further explain that the results "showed that older adults had the highest mean positivity ratio, followed by middle aged adults, and then young adults" as well as "indicating that age is associated with increased low-arousal positive affect (and stability in high-arousal positive affect)"
- The findings in Positivity ratio of flourishing individuals: Examining the moderation effects of methodological variations and chronological age by Amit Shrira Ehud Bodner & Yuval Palgi suggest that "emotional and social changes taking place across the lifespan support the hypothesised age-related increase in positivity ratio". This could be a result of "awareness of the limited time available in late life produces a motivational shift from focusing on knowledge related goals in young adulthood to adopting emotionally meaningful goals in older age"
How does positivity ratio effect life satisfaction?
[edit | edit source]Resilience
[edit | edit source]- better function under stress
- In Positivity ratio of flourishing individuals: Examining the moderation effects of methodological variations and chronological age byAmit Shrira, Ehud Bodner & Yuval Palgi in 2015 found that "Positivity ratio was significantly associated with less psychological distress"
- also connects into social support as support from others is helpful during stressful times
Perceived social support
[edit | edit source]- increased perceived social support from friends, family, and classmates
- easier to reach out for help
- "high positivity ratio that reflect personal flourishing, as well as their perceived availability of social support" (Orkibi et.al, 2015)
Mental health
[edit | edit source]- In research looking at positivity ratio and mental health, the findings are consistent in demonstrating a strong correlation between the two
- Having a higher positivity ratio is associated with better mental health. Mental health is described as “a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community” (Berg, Diehl, & Hay, 2011)
- Berg et.al (2015) also found that "Our data showed that adults who were, at baseline, categorized as having flourishing rather than languishing mental health experienced a higher ratio of positive to negative affect on subsequent days. This finding is in keeping with extant research suggesting that the ratio of positive to negative affect is an important predictor of mental health"
What happens if we experience too many of either positive or negative emotions?
[edit | edit source]As shown above in figure 1, if we experience too many negative emotions, or too many negative emotions, it could result in a decrease in wellbeing
- In Too Much of a Good Thing: Curvilinear Effect of the Positivity Ratio on Emotional Dysfunction and Perceived Resources in Adolescent Females, it shows the implications of having a positivity ratio that is too high. The results showed that "extremely high levels of positivity were associated with increased emotional dysfunction (stress, depressive symptoms) and downturned perceived personal (resilience, hope) and environmental"
- Lower Positivity ratios are associated with depression and anxiety. "participants with positivity ratios lower than 2.9:1 were disproportionately languishing, whereas those with positivity ratios above 2.9:1 were disproportionately flourishing". This is further supported in The Ratio between Positive and Negative Affect and Flourishing Mental Health across Adulthood "consistent with the interpretation that low positivity ratios (i.e., under 2.9) are a strong indicator of poor mental health"
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Quiz
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Conclusion
[edit | edit source]- The Conclusion is arguably the most important section
- Suggested word count: 150 to 330 words
- It should be possible for someone to only read the Overview and the Conclusion and still get a pretty good idea of the problem and what is known based on psychological science
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See also
[edit | edit source]Provide internal (wiki) links to the most relevant Wikiversity pages (esp. related motivation and emotion book chapters) and Wikipedia articles. Use these formats:
- Light triad (Book chapter, 2021)
- Collaborative authoring using wiki (Wikiversity)
- Self determination theory (Wikipedia)
- Positive affect (Book chapter, 2020)
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References
[edit | edit source]Diehl, M., Hay, E. L., & Berg, K. M. (2011). The ratio between positive and negative affect and flourishing mental health across adulthood. Aging & mental health, 15(7), 882–893. https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2011.569488
Fredrickson, B. L. (2013). Updated thinking on positivity ratios. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0033584
Lehrer, H. M., Janus, K. C., Gloria, C. T., & Steinhardt, M. A. (2017). Too much of a good thing: Curvilinear effect of the positivity ratio on emotional dysfunction and perceived resources in adolescent females. J Depress Anxiety, 6(286), 2167-1044. : https://doi.org/10.4172/2167-1044.1000286
Moroń, M. (2018). Perceived emotional intelligence and life satisfaction: the mediating role of the positivity ratio. Current Issues in Personality Psychology, 6(3), 212-223. https://doi.org/10.5114/cipp.2018.75650
Orkibi, H., Hamama, L., Gavriel-Fried, B., & Ronen, T. (2018). Pathways to adolescents’ flourishing: Linking self-control skills and positivity ratio through social support. Youth & Society, 50(1), 3-25. https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X15581171
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External links
[edit | edit source]Provide external links to highly relevant resources such as presentations, news articles, and professional sites. Use sentence casing. For example:
- Six top tips for writing a great essay (University of Melbourne)
- The importance of structure (skillsyouneed.com)
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