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?
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Joy
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a sense of elation, happiness, and
perhaps even exhilaration, often experienced as a sudden spike due to
something good happening.
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Interest
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feeling of curiosity or fascination
that demands and captures your attention.
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Serenity
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calm and peaceful feeling of
acceptance of oneself.
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Hope
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feeling of optimism and anticipation
about a positive future.
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Gratitude
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a feeling of thankfulness, for
something specific or simply all-encompassing, often accompanied by humility
and even reverence.
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Awe
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an emotion that is evoked when you
witness something grand, spectacular, or breathtaking, sparking a sense of
overwhelming appreciation.
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Confidence
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emotion involving a strong sense of
self-esteem and belief in yourself; can be specific to a situation or
activity, or more universal.
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Admiration
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a feeling of warm approval, respect,
and appreciation for someone or something.
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Enthusiasm
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a sense of excitement, accompanied by
motivation and engagement.
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Pride
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a sense of approval of oneself and
pleasure in an achievement, skill, or personal attribute.
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Contentment
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peaceful, comforting, and low-key
sense of happiness and well-being.
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Eagerness
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like a less intense form of
enthusiasm; a feeling of readiness and excitement for something.
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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.”
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.
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Joy
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John 15:11, John 17:13; Romans 15:13
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Interest
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Psalm 8:3-4
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Serenity
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Psalm 46:10, Colossians 3:15
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Hope
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Jeremiah 29:11; Isaiah 43:1-2
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Gratitude
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Philippians 4:6-7
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Awe
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Psalm 65:8
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Confidence
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Psalm 16:8; Philippians 1:6
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Admiration
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2 Cor 8:1-5
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Enthusiasm
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Colossians 3:23
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Pride
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a sense of approval of oneself and
pleasure in an achievement, skill, or personal attribute.
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Contentment
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Philippians 4:11
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Eagerness
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like a less intense form of
enthusiasm; a feeling of readiness and excitement for something.
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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
)
