Positive Emotions, Faith and Academic Success

Positive Emotions, Faith and Academic Success

1.       What are Positive Emotions?

a.       What is an emotion?

“Emotion is any conscious experience characterized by intense mental activity and a certain degree of pleasure or displeasure.” - Wikipedia

“Consciousness is the state or quality of awareness or of being aware of an external object or something within oneself.” - Wikipedia

b.       What are some emotions you feel?

c.       What is a positive emotion?

“pleasant subjective feel” (Frederickson)

d.       What are some positive emotions you have felt?

Joy	a sense of elation, happiness, and perhaps even exhilaration, often experienced as a sudden spike due to something good happening.
Interest	feeling of curiosity or fascination that demands and captures your attention.
Serenity	calm and peaceful feeling of acceptance of oneself.
Hope	feeling of optimism and anticipation about a positive future.
Gratitude	a feeling of thankfulness, for something specific or simply all-encompassing, often accompanied by humility and even reverence.
Awe	an emotion that is evoked when you witness something grand, spectacular, or breathtaking, sparking a sense of overwhelming appreciation.
Confidence	emotion involving a strong sense of self-esteem and belief in yourself; can be specific to a situation or activity, or more universal.
Admiration	a feeling of warm approval, respect, and appreciation for someone or something.
Enthusiasm	a sense of excitement, accompanied by motivation and engagement.
Pride	a sense of approval of oneself and pleasure in an achievement, skill, or personal attribute.
Contentment	peaceful, comforting, and low-key sense of happiness and well-being.
Eagerness	like a less intense form of enthusiasm; a feeling of readiness and excitement for something.

https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/positive-emotions-list-examples-definition-psychology/

e.       Purpose of Positive Emotions:

Barbara Frederickson’s “Broaden and Build” Theory.

“She hypothesized that positive emotions have a broadening effect on the momentary thought-action repertoire, discarding automatic responses and looking for creative, flexible and unpredictable new ways of thinking and acting.” (https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/broaden-build-theory/ )

Broaden: “A key proposition is that these positive emotions broaden an individual’s momentary thought–action repertoire” broaden their attention and perspective (like sleeping on it)

Build : “A second key proposition concerns the consequences of these broadened mindsets: by

broadening an individual’s momentary thought–action repertoire—whether through play, exploration or similar activities—positive emotions promote discovery of novel and creative actions, ideas and social bonds, which in turn build that individual’s personal resources; ranging from physical and intellectual resources, to social and psychological resources.”

(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1693418/pdf/15347528.pdf )

2.       What does Christian faith say about Positive Emotions?

a.       Does God want us to have positive emotions?

(or does he want us to be sad all the time?)

i.                     faith beliefs and practices can elicit positive emotions

ii.                   certain emotions can elicit spiritual beliefs and experiences.

Joy	John 15:11, John 17:13; Romans 15:13
Interest	Psalm 8:3-4
Serenity	Psalm 46:10, Colossians 3:15
Hope	Jeremiah 29:11; Isaiah 43:1-2
Gratitude	Philippians 4:6-7
Awe	Psalm 65:8
Confidence	Psalm 16:8; Philippians 1:6
Admiration	2 Cor 8:1-5
Enthusiasm	Colossians 3:23
Pride	a sense of approval of oneself and pleasure in an achievement, skill, or personal attribute.
Contentment	Philippians 4:11
Eagerness	like a less intense form of enthusiasm; a feeling of readiness and excitement for something.

Truly spiritual people are joyous.

3.       How will these Emotions help in academic success.

In academic settings, positive emotions have been linked to the acquisition of various skills that foster academic success.

“Research reveals that experiencing positive emotions facilitates recovery from tasking experiences, such as test anxiety (Papousek et al. 2010). Studies also suggest that a higher level of positive emotions predicts higher grades and better math and reading skills two years later in adolescents (Suldo, 2013), as well as cognitive investment and level of satisfaction in elementary school students (Um, 2007). Such research supports the idea that inducing positive emotions in the classroom eliminates the fear of failure, self-consciousness, and other distractions in order to create the optimal conditions for flow.” (Corradino & Fogarty)

4.       How can we increase positive emotions?

a.       Keep track positive emotions – writing down when you felt them (gratitude exercise). Can serve as a reminder later on. Also makes us attune to the positive more.

b.       Commit to one action that will increase the feeling you want more in life.

c.       Mindfulness: “The practice allows students to actively disengage from distractions like anxiety and stressors (Napoli, Krech, & Holley, 2005). It also fosters the ability to recognize one’s emotions (Waters, 2016). This is a promising intervention for increasing positive emotions in the classroom, as frequent meditators have empirically shown a more positive affect (Broderick & Metz, 2009).”

d.       Reframe negative thoughts – I take every thought captive to Christ.

Discussion Questions:

1.       What are the occasions in which you felt three positive emotions?

2.       I find that positive emotion of _______ increases when I study _________. Because when I study __________, I am interested in ___________.

3.       The one positive emotion that I want to experience the most is _________.

Barbara L. Fredrickson The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions

Cindy L. Miller-Perrin and Elizabeth Krumrei Mancuso, Faith from a Positive Psychology Perspective

Caitlyn Corradino & Katie Fogarty Positive Emotions and Academic Achievement (https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/appsych/opus/issues/2016/spring/corradino_fogarty )