Fredrickson, B.L. & Branigan, C. (2005)
Positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought action repertoires
Cognition and Enmotion, 19,3,313-332
The broaden –and-build theory (Fredrickson, 1998,2001) hypothesises that positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought-action repertoires. Two experiements with college students tested these hypotheses. In each, participants viewed a film that elicted (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.
