I stumbled the other day upon a very interesting question: what are positive emotions for?
The use of negative emotions, and how they change our physiology, is quite well known. Fear mobilizes our main muscles for running, anger brings blood to our arms for fight etc. But what are the physiological changes brought by positive emotions, apart from a nice warm smile?
Interestingly enough, not a lot of people seemed to be interested by the question until the Fourth Revolution was upon us!
Barbara Frederickson, a distinguished psychologist, proposed an explanation in a 1998 article: what good are positive emotions? The paper is a bit long and dry. Though, the basic thesis is quite simple: positive emotions promote an open-mind!
Negative emotions close our mind, so that we focus on the object of the hazard and concentrate on our (survival reaction). Positive emotions and relaxation promote games, learning new things, creativity.
So, if you want to be more creative and open-minded, a key to success in the collaborative age, one simple solution: think positive more often! When do you start?
