Fredrickson on Positive Emotions: Broaden and Build

Context

Fredrickson published the broaden-and-build theory at the turn of the millennium, when psychology was rediscovering the positive. The theory gave the field its central mechanism: positive emotions do not just feel good — they change how the mind works and what the person becomes.

The sentence is the theory in one breath. The broadening of thought-action repertoires is the immediate effect; the building of enduring resources is the accumulated result. One mechanism, two time scales.

Significance

The sentence explains how well-being grows over time. It predicts that people who cultivate positive emotion will, over months and years, be measurably different — more creative, more connected, more resilient. The research has borne this out, and the theory has become a foundation of positive psychology and of workplace and clinical interventions.

Its practical lesson is that positive emotion is a resource to be cultivated deliberately. Explore the theme in what is flourishing, what is positive psychology, and how to cultivate joy.

Related Learning

• Explore the science in what is positive psychology and what is flourishing.
• Read the companion insight in Haidt on happiness and Csikszentmihalyi on flow.
• Continue with joy, flourishing, and the Happiness & The Good Life learning path.

Sources

1. Barbara L. Fredrickson, "The Role of Positive Emotions in Positive Psychology: The Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotions." American Psychologist 56(3), 2001.
2. Barbara L. Fredrickson, Positivity (New York: Crown, 2009).