Learning about the Broaden and Build theory helps you overall become a more positive person.
Did you know that positive emotions broaden our experiences, while negative emotions make us clamp down and focus on one specific task?
Broaden and Build Theory Example
For example, think of when you were first learning algebra. When the concept is first being explained, you might start feeling anxiety, especially if others seem to be grasping the concepts quicker. These feelings of anxiety force you to clamp down on a troublesome specific issue and you start learning that specific concept.
However, as you start to understand that piece and the other concepts, in turn, you start to feel positive emotions like hope and maybe a little pride. These emotions make you more resilient and shift your focus to further achievements. Because of this boost, you broaden and build on these emotions to further your mathematics skills. Eventually, you move onto algebra II, geometry, and calculus following that same initial negative feeling and then positive building experiences.
The broaden and build theory says this process of learning continues throughout our lives. Be it learning to drive, learning how to perform well in your job, launching a side hustle, or how to navigate your relationships.
Everything in life is driven by your emotions. Wouldn’t it be awesome if there was a way to promote the positive aspects of this cycle? Fortunately, there is from the field of positive psychology!
The Broaden and Build Theory of Positive Emotions
The idea of the Broaden and Build Theory is that positive emotions like enjoyment, happiness, and interest broaden one’s awareness and encourage novel, varied and exploratory thoughts, and actions.
Over time, this broadened behavior repertoire builds skills and resources. Meanwhile, negative emotion prompts narrow, immediate survival-oriented behavior.
This research comes from Dr. Barbara L. Fredickson out of The University of Carolina Chapel Hill. She is one of the founding psychologists who started the field of positive psychology and has spent her life studying the blueprint for how pleasant emotional states contribute to resilience, well-being, and health.
The Difference between Positive and Negative Emotions
Based on the Broaden and build theory, positive emotions build skills and resources. For example, a pleasant interaction with a stranger could become a supportive friendship, and physical play during childhood could become exercise and tactical skills necessary to excel in sports.
Positive emotions do not have any immediate survival value because when you are in a positive mood, your focus is not on immediate needs and stressors. However, over time, the skills and resources built by broadened behavior enhance survival and your life. With our quick examples, you could have one more friend and be in better shape. Beyond that, positive emotions are usually very subtle. They are not as “in your face” as negative emotions.
Negative emotions prompt narrow, immediate survival-oriented behavior. For example, the negative emotion of anxiety causes the fight-or-flight response for immediate survival. This response allows you to dive out of the way of a car or get that adrenaline necessary to fuel you through life threatening situations. They don’t build any broad skills or experiences, but they allow for survival in the short-term.
You Need both Positive and Negative Emotions
As illustrated above, you need both to get through life. Positive emotions build your experiences, and negative emotions get you through when you need short-term survival tactics or even momentary bursts to survive as a person.
The key is to not let them get out of balance and learn to use more positive emotions to color your experiences to let you build skills while relying on negative emotions to get you out of dangerous situations.
Why you should use the Broaden and Build theory in your life
Learning to use your positive emotions can be a change for most of us who are used to seeing the negative because of negativity bias. The brain makes it easier to focus on the bad, then celebrate the good.
Broaden and build can improve your life and has substantial scientific support.
In one study, Dr. Fredickson randomly assigned participants to watch films that induce either positive emotions like amusement and continent, negative emotions such as fear and sadness, or no emotions.
Compared to people in other conditions, participants who experience positive emotions have
- Heightened levels of creativity
- Inventiveness
- Can see big picture perceptual focus
Beyond this film study, she analyzed people’s day to day life in another study. She found that people who practice focusing on the positive tend to be
- More psychologically resilient
- Flourish in both the present and future
- Increase their resources (wealth, items, and time)
- And live more satisfying lives.
Learning to use the broaden and build theory can help you build the necessary skills for the future while enjoying the present moment!
How to use the Broaden and Build Theory
Emotions are fleeting, especially positive emotions which are very subtle. The key to practicing the broaden and build theory is to
1. Notice the positive feeling
2. Work on capturing that feeling at the moment
3. Using those positive emotions to build skills enjoy the moment more, or whatever that emotion calls for.
The thing is, view positive emotions like nutrients. They are nourishing, but can’t get far on their own. This is why Dr. Fredickson calls positive emotions “the tiny engines” of positive psychology.
You need consistent exposure to lots of different areas to receive this personal enlargement and growth. You have to capture and capitalize on them to get that personal development and happiness you are looking for.
The Top 10 Most Frequent Positive Emotions
Except for love, these are the most common feelings positive people experience each day in order. Use this as a guide to recognizing your feelings.
How to Have More Positive Emotions to Broaden and Build
Practice Savoring
Savoring is the practice of being in the moment. When you feel yourself having a positive experience, acknowledge it, and spend a few extra seconds or minutes indulging in the benefits of that emotion. Maybe you are feeling pride because your boss complimented you. Savor those moments and use them to fuel the tiny engines of positive emotions.
Focus on the Positivity Offset
A positive offset is an idea that generally more good things happen every day than negative things. However, because of negativity bias, social media, and our fears – we tend to focus on the negative. On average, it takes about 5 good things to cancel out 1 bad thing. This can lead to a huge deficit of feeling like “good things” are not happening. Focus on the positive. Acknowledge the negative but remind yourself more good than bad happens. A gratitude journal helps with this practice.
Use this guide to help start your gratitude journal!
Let Positive Emotions Spiral
Both positive and negative emotions spiral. Most of us are probably familiar with a negative spiral. The most common fear of people is public speaking. Imagine this, you are assigned to give a speech in front of 50 people tomorrow. You get anxious for a speech, you procrastinate and stress yourself out, you frantically write your speech that morning, have a mini-panic attack, rush through your speech, and then beat yourself up after because that wasn’t at all your best work. That is okay – it happens to everyone. This shows how one negative emotion (fear) lead down to regret.
Do the opposite! When something good happens, like feeling joy because you had a great cup of coffee, let that spiral up to feeling gratitude for the farmers who grew these coffee beans for you. Let those positive emotions spiral up and up until you are feeling positive throughout the day. Sure, bad things might happen, but by trying to cultivate positive emotions, you will find them more readily than if you wait for them to come your way.
Main Take-Aways
- You need positive and negative emotions to survive and get thrive in your life.
- By practicing the broaden and build theory, you can increase your skills and resilience while building a more joyful life.
- Learning to be positive takes some serious effort, but it is worth it in the end!
Action item
Pick three alternate days this week to practice the broaden and build theory. For instance, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On those days, practice the broaden and build theory. On off days, don’t do anything. Afterward, reflect. How were the days you practiced the broaden and build theory different than the days you didn’t do anything? Did the initial dabble in broaden and build theory help you experience better days where you enjoyed them more and developed your skills?
