How can resistance and well-being be influenced? - Chapter 10

Historically, the research into emotion looks much more at negative rather than positive emotions. The main reason for this is that negative emotions involve much more costs, making it much more valuable to know more about them. However, this is currently changing; the positive psychology is to flourish. This field focuses on the subjective experience of well-being, satisfaction and satisfaction, hope, optimism and happiness.

Much of the research is about subjective well-being (SWB), which means the way people evaluate their lives. In practical terms, this concept is equal to happiness , which can be characterized as the experience of satisfaction and pleasure, together with the feeling that life is meaningful and worthwhile. Of course this is always measured through self-report scales, often through the Satisfaction with Life Scale.

We still know very little about what makes us happy and the question is whether we should see SWB in terms of a general dimension of positive affect (E-PA), or to describe the experience in terms of discrete emotions (e.g. pleasure, enthusiasm, satisfaction, etc.). Furthermore, it is important to make a distinction between resilience and well-being. Resilience is a resistance to stress and setbacks, well-being describes what makes people happy without these setbacks.

Are people resilient to stress?

An important reason that not everyone develops emotional disorders when they experience stress is that there are many individual differences in how people respond to stress. Some leave stressful events behind them more easily than others and in some cases even say that they have become stronger due to setbacks (post-traumatic growth). The vast majority of people do not develop psychological problems due to stress, indicating that good resilience is the norm rather than the exception.

Some theories state that there is a measurable personality trait that determines resilience, while others state that resilience can only be measured as the response to stressful events.

Resilience to psychopathology: Longitudinal studies

There are three sets of factors that influence the resilience of children, namely temperamental dimensions, cohesion within the family and the availability of support systems outside the family. A high degree of E-PA is good for the resilience, just like an internal locus of control. The latter means that the individual believes that the outcomes and prospects in life are within their own control, so that they do not feel powerless.

Longitudinal resilience studies with people who have been abused and abused in childhood, found certain factors that differentiate between those who developed emotional disorders as a result and those who did not. It turned out that good care by parents, good interpersonal relationships with friends during adolescence and the quality of relationships during adulthood contributed to good resistance. This group was also characterized by a low score on neuroticism.

The positive influence of social support and family cohesion was found in many other studies.

Does experiencing stress confer protection?

Some studies indicate that under certain circumstances exposure to stress has a protective effect on people when they are later exposed to a new trauma. What is important here is how to deal with stress. A avoidant coping style increases the risk of PTSD, while an action- oriented coping style (having a plan) is associated with good resilience.

Animal studies show that when a traumatic event cannot be prevented, a greater activation can be seen in the Dorsal Raphe Nucleus (DRN). This is associated with changes in behavior, with no action being taken in future trauma that could be prevented (this is learned helplessness). This effect is mediated by the vmPFC, which is connected to the DRN. When the inhibitory effect of the vmPFC is improved, this provides a better resilience to stress. In general, it appears that stronger cortical-subcortical circuits involved in processing lead to a better developed resilience.

What is the role of gene-environment interactions in resilience?

Caspi found a functional polymorphism in the monoamine oxidase A gene (MAOA). This gene provides an enzyme that deactivates certain amine-based neurotransmitters in the brain. Children who were abused and also carriers of the low expression of the MAOA gene had a greater chance of a later diagnosis of behavioral disorders, antisocial behavior and violence. Abused children who were carriers of the high expression of the gene, on the other hand, showed a fairly good resilience to emotional problems. This shows that both genes and environment have an important influence on the development of emotional problems. Because this gene is specific for the X chromosome, it cannot be moderated in men by such a gene because they do not have a second X chromosome. Partly because of this, violence and aggression are more common in abused men.

Is there a personality type with a higher resilience?

Rutter stated that resilience cannot be seen as a personality trait because there are important influences outside the person. Nevertheless, it is possible that certain temperaments or properties may influence factors that in turn have an impact on resilience. For example, people with a high E-PA often have a larger network of friends and therefore better access to social support, which in turn forms a buffer against stress.

Other research found that people who have good resilience often show a much faster physiological recovery from a stressful experience. These people also experience fewer depressive symptoms due to strong emotional situations. Ego resiliency (or trait resilience) is seen as the ability to adapt flexibly to changing circumstances. This is seen as a stable personality trait.

What is important for trait resilience?

Positive emotions are a crucial part of trait resilience. People with good resilience use positive emotions as a way to deal with stressful and difficult situations. These people experience more emotions, both positive and negative, when they experience a setback. People therefore differ in how well they can regulate negative emotions in times of stress.

Someone who experiences many positive emotions also has less chance of having a brain haemorrhage later in life and on average lives longer. The widespread benefits of positive emotions can be explained by the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. Positive emotions broaden the mind-action repertoire, allowing someone to build a variety of personal resources that help in the long-term adaptation to setbacks.

Positive emotions ensure that people are more open to new ideas and that they are more flexible and creative in their thinking. The attention focus is broadened.

Does a suppressive coping style promote resilience?

People with a repressive coping style generally avoid threats and negative emotions. An important characteristic of this is a separation between self-report (little fear is found here) and physiological response (high fear is found here). People with this coping style are characterized by attentional bias for avoiding threat-related stimuli. In addition, they recall relatively many positive memories for memory tasks. This automatic evasion system could be a protective mechanism to keep the levels of anxiety low in stressful situations.

In longitudinal studies, the repressive coping style was associated with reduced psychological symptoms of depression, anxiety and PTSD. This seems to contradict the fact that avoiding negative affect can lead to negative affectivity and PTSD. However, it appears that avoidance of negative affect with repressive coping occurs automatically and unconsciously and this appears to provide a protective function, as opposed to conscious attempts to avoid a threat.

Happiness and well-being

When happiness is examined, the majority of people indicate that they are above neutral and therefore happy. However, there is a difference between individualistic and collectivist cultures: individualistic cultures place great emphasis on their own subjective well-being and happiness, while collectivist cultures consider the well-being and happiness of others to be more important.

How is happiness measured?

Many scales that measure SWB and happiness measure a persistent mood state, but research indicates that SWB is relatively stable across a variety of situations. Emotions and mood states fluctuate over time, but are generally around an average level that varies between people. This average level of positive affect should be measured by instruments that attempt to map SWB.

However, it is problematic to let people give an opinion about their SWB over a certain period of time. It appears that when assessing their experience over a short period of time, people mainly consider the peak and its end. So, regardless of the rest of the experience, the peak and the end are the best predictors of the overall assessment. This means that when people are in a good mood when they complete a SWB questionnaire (i.e. at the end of their experiences), there is a good chance that they will assess their experiences more positively. Therefore, this must be taken into account when measuring SWB.

It also appears that over a longer period of time the intensity of positive affective experiences does not play such a major role in the overall assessment of happiness and SWB, but rather the frequency with which positive emotions and mood states occur. This may be because people who experience very intense positive emotions also experience very intense negative emotions, so that the positive effect is somewhat offset.

Seligman states that happiness consists of three factors that must be measured in order to get an idea of ​​SWB. The first factor is positive affectivity and to what extent this is experienced. The second component is how engaged people are in their life; whether they are in a state of flow. This means that life gets a lot of meaning because people feel very connected and are proud of the smallest, simplest tasks.

The third component, finally, is how meaningful people find their lives, with a broader view than just the everyday factors.

In other words, happiness is not just about having fun but also about the degree of control that we have over our lives; how creative we are in finding meaning and engagement with a series of activities. People differ from each other on these factors. The happiest people are the ones who focus on maximizing all three of these factors. It is important that measurements are also developed to record all three factors in a different way than just through self-report, so that a more complete picture of happiness and SWB is created.

What are the determinants of happiness?

The ability to experience more positive than negative emotions is a good predictor of SWB. This is also found in a study of married couples: when they have at least five positive affective interactions with each other for each negative interaction, the chance that they stay together for a long time is much greater. Of course external factors and temperament are contributing factors.

External factors and life events

Although it is generally assumed that factors such as health and wealth are seen as determining factors for happiness, it appears that these factors make only a very small contribution. An increase in income, for example, only makes a difference for SWB if the original income was very low. Even when people have experienced a setback in their health, this often does not lead to a significant reduction in SWB. This can be explained by the hedonic adaptation theory. People respond to good and bad events as soon as they happen, but after this the adaptation soon starts and they go back to the personal baseline of SWB in a short time. Differences in this baseline are probably caused by genetic and temperament factors.

Although the hedonic adaptation theory applies to a wide range of events, there are also experiences that do cause a significant change in SWB. Examples are the death of a spouse or sudden unemployment. In case of such violent events, it can take up to eight years for SWB to return to the baseline. Here, too, the influence of temperament and other personal differences must be taken into account.

Although people adapt very quickly to the before mentioned events, there are certain experiences that contribute to a better SWB. Examples are spending time with other people and religious beliefs and practices. For the latter, however, it may also be that it still has to do with dealing with other people in a close, supportive environment.

Why is perceived control important?

It seems that a sense of control in work and life is one of the most important factors that underlies positive mental health and well-being. An interesting finding is in particular that even when this sense of control is just an illusion, people still feel happier. So, it doesn't even have to be that people actually have more control. When people lose their sense of control, this can have serious consequences for mental (and to a certain extent physical) health, such as depression and helplessness.

The desire for this illusion of control is so strong that people behave as if they can control uncontrollable things. For example, people often think they have a greater chance of winning the lottery if they are allowed to determine their lottery number. The findings are consistent with the fact that people with depression often feel that they have no control over things.

The depressive realism effect means that depressed people are better at estimating how much control they have over a certain outcome. Happy people tend to overestimate the level of control. This seems a strange outcome, given that many other studies believe that depressed people suffer from negative bias. It appears that depressive realism only occurs when people have to assess their own behavior. When they have to assess the level of control of others, they also overestimate it. So, it seems that depressed people in particular have the idea that they have less control over things than the people around them.

What are the errors in affective forecasting?

Affective forecasting (affective predictions) appears to be very unreliable. People are not so good at predicting what would make them happy or sad. For example, the impact bias tends to overestimate the duration and intensity of an emotional response (positive or negative) to a future event. This is mainly because we do not realize how quickly we get used to the things that happen to us. In addition, we underestimate the extent to which events - unlike the event we are considering - affect our responses.

What is the influence of temperamental and personality factors?

The studies discussed so far indicate that E-PA is an important temperament dimension associated with experiencing more positive moods and emotions. People with a high E-PA are more reactive for positive stimuli on neural and cognitive levels. There is therefore evidence that various E-PA related constructs (extraversion, neuroticism, self-esteem and optimism) strongly correlate with SWB. This is partly because extroverts get more rewards from their environment and social interactions, so they experience a higher degree of happiness.

The relationship between temperament and SWB can be a direct relationship (enhancement model) , or can be modulated by factors such as the type of friends and the lifestyle that someone has (facilitation model). It is also possible that SWB plays a role in causing a high E-PA ( consequence model). Finally, SWB and E-PA can form a continuum, with SWB at the extreme end of the dimension (continuity or spectrum model).

These four models are not mutually exclusive; they can all occur. The direction of the causal relationship between temperament and SWB can only be determined by longitudinal studies that measure both temperament and well-being. Many of these studies are not there, but it has been shown that a high E-PA causes less depression. This indicates that temperament can play a causal role in determining SWB, if we assume that little depression is associated with better well-being.

The big five also gives no definite answer, because the way in which SWB is measured appears to have an important influence on the findings. When the Satisfaction with Life scale is used, there is a strong relationship between SWB and conscientiousness. However, when happiness is measured in terms of how often positive emotions are experienced, there appears to be a stronger relationship with extraversion.

In summary, it is therefore consistently found that a higher E-PA leads to the experience of more positive emotions and moods. However, positive affectivity is only one component of happiness and other personal characteristics such as conscientiousness also have a strong influence in determining SWB.

What is the influence of cognitive and neurobiological factors?

Positive moods are associated with a selective attentional bias towards reward-related words. So, a positive mood makes someone more sensitive to rewards from the environment. In addition, people collect more positive information in a positive mood. These biases can help to explain the relationship between temperament and SWB.

What are the benefits of positive emotions?

In the next section, positive emotions such as joy, interest, gratitude, etc. are discussed, with the effects they have on cognition and behavior and whether the effects of the positive emotions are the same or different.

Joy / Happiness

Joy or happiness is the most common positive emotion experienced on a constant basis. The emotion is associated with a clear facial expression: the smile , which is universally recognized. It is easy to distinguish between a genuine smile (Duchenne smile) and a fake smile because when a smile is genuine, there is also a contraction of the muscles in the eyes. This type of smile is associated with left asymmetry in brain activity, which is seen as a neural marker for positive affect.

People who smile a lot have a better SWB. Experiencing joy therefore seems to be associated with an improvement in the SWB. In addition, joy and happiness increase one's openness to experiences, which in turn is associated with social interaction and the strengthening of social ties. People become more helpful through joy, among other things.

Joy is strongly associated with the urge to play, which is important for developing lasting social ties and connections and other important survival skills. In addition, joy leads to an improvement of various cognitive processes such as creativity and problem solving.

Interest

Interest is a pleasant emotion, although the question is whether it can be labeled as emotion. It overlaps in part with curiosity, wonder and intrinsic motivation and plays an important role in developing the urge to discover the environment. This discovery is associated with one's connection to the environment, which in turn is a key element in happiness.

Gratitude

Gratitude is experienced when people see themselves as the recipients of a consciously given benefit. The emotion is most strongly experienced when the given object is valuable to the recipient and costly to the giver. Gratitude would be associated with an action tendency to contribute to the welfare of the giver in the future. An important function of gratitude is therefore to promote social cohesion by encouraging reciprocity. This is based on the assumption that gratitude persists for a longer period, so many researchers state that this is a relatively stable trait.

A number of studies have at least found that gratitude as a temporary mood state can lead to more pro-social behavior, which helps in building social relationships. It was striking that when entertainment was added to the experiment (so another positive emotion), this did not lead to more pro-social behavior, while gratitude did. This is probably due to the social basis that underlies gratitude.

Emotions based on one's own values ​​and achievements (such as pride) will much less likely lead to pro-social behavior.

A causal relationship has also been found; People who are often grateful for something report a better SWB. They are more alert, enthusiastic, committed, attentive and energetic. Gratitude is further associated with a positive memory bias, with grateful people more inclined to retrieve positive life events. This leads to a positive spiral, where feelings of gratitude lead to feelings of happiness, which in turn lead to feelings of gratitude, etc. The causal relationship therefore goes in two directions.

Fredrickson's broaden-and-build hypothesis

The broaden-and-build theory explains the correlations between positive emotions and mental and physical health benefits as follows: positive emotions broaden the current thought-action repertoire, allowing people to build a set of personal resources that help with long-term adaptation to adverse circumstances. Many negative emotions are linked to specific action tendencies that help with survival. Positive emotions, on the other hand, often occur in a safe environment. Here the narrow focus of attention that is needed to respond quickly is not necessary. The focus can be broadened, thereby increasing the cognitive context, which in turn is good for building resources for the future. All positive emotions have this effect, despite the subjective experiences of the emotions being different. In short, according to this theory, positive emotions increase well-being by broadening cognitive processes.

What is the role of neurobiological mechanisms in well-being?

The neurotransmitter dopamine (DA) plays an important role in the brain's reward system. It therefore appears that people with higher E-PA have elevated levels of DA activity. DA is issued in parts of the ACC that play a role in flexible thinking skills.

An increased level of DA is therefore associated with more cognitive flexibility. The release of DA during a positive vote can therefore explain why flexible thinking and problem solving go so much better.

EEG studies find evidence for the theory that left frontal asymmetry is associated with positive affect. Baseline measurements of left asymmetry were strong predictors of improved well-being in adults. The ability to regulate negative emotions is often seen in the brain through the suppression of subcortical structures (amygdala) by the PFC. This is also a possible indicator for well-being.

Are there interventions that can increase happiness?

If there is actually a baseline for every person who determines average well-being, it can become very difficult to develop an intervention strategy that has a lasting impact on well-being. However, there are certain exercises that can be done to improve the feeling of well-being for a longer period. Examples include writing a grateful letter to someone who deserves it, but is never really thanked, or writing down three things that went well every day.

One study even found that meditation training not only had a positive effect on subjective well-being, but that the immune system also started to work better. Positive affect and well-being therefore play a role in improving both mental and physical health.

Transcendence and spirituality

According to the philosophers, to be truly happy, we must rise above the material and social world. A person can only become wise if he is transcendent in this way. An appreciation of the wider universe and a sense of spirituality are seen as essential to true happiness.

Cloninger states that three personal qualities are essential for well-being. Self-directedness can be developed by learning to be calm, knowing one's limitations and letting go of everyday fears and conflicts. Cooperativeness can be developed by increasing the feeling of 'mindfulness' and working for others. People can learn to be self-transcendent by growing in self-awareness of the perspectives that produce negative emotions, and limiting the experience of these emotions. By developing all three of these traits, people could really flourish and live the good life.

The three properties can be seen as three conditions for the emergence of a spontaneous upward spiral of self-awareness. Interestingly enough, many of the treatment methods for depression are based on the creation of mindfulness, with many of Cloninger's theories emerging. The more 'mindful' people are, the better they are able to activate parts of the PFC when they categorize affective stimuli. This mainly happens with negative stimuli, and leads to a reduced activation in the amygdala. This suggests that mindfulness and meditation are able to strengthen positive affect and well-being by strengthening the neural mechanisms underlying the regulation of negative affect.