Fredrickson, B. L., &Branigan, C. (2005). Positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought‐action repertoires. Cognition &emotion, 19(3), 313-332.

The broaden‐and‐build theory (Fredrickson, 1998 Fredrickson, BL. (1998). What good are positive emotions?. Review of General Psychology, 2: 300–319.  , 2001 Fredrickson, BL. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden‐and‐build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56: 218–226.  ) hypothesises that positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought‐action repertoires. Two experiments with 104 college students tested these hypotheses. In each, participants viewed a film that elicited (a) amusement, (b) contentment, (c) neutrality, (d) anger, or (e) anxiety. Scope of attention was assessed using a global‐local visual processing task (Experiment 1) and thought‐action repertoires were assessed using a Twenty Statements Test (Experiment 2). Compared to a neutral state, positive emotions broadened the scope of attention in Experiment 1 and thought‐action repertoires in Experiment 2. In Experiment 2, negative emotions, relative to a neutral state, narrowed thought‐action repertoires. Implications for promoting emotional well‐being and physical health are discussed.

 

 

Fredrickson, B. L., & Branigan, C. (2005). Positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought‐action repertoires. Cognition &emotion, 19(3), 313-332.

https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930441000238