3. EMOTIONAL CONSEQUENCES OF SOCIAL MEDIA: The research has wondered what role positive emotions plays in the factors that allow individual, communities and society to flourish. Positive emotions are the experience of positive moods and feelings which are uplifting. Positive emotions serve as a proof of flourishing and optimal wellbeing in a people's lives. The moments which are filled with positive emotions such as joy, happiness, hope, confidence, love- are the moments in which the negative emotions such as anxiety, envy, sadness, and anger has no place.
The overall balance of people’s positive and negative emotions has been shown to predict their judgments of subjective well-being [32].
Positive emotions increase physical health, foster trust, and compassion. They act as a buffer against stress and negative emotions.
With emergence and success of social media technology, a significant part of people's life has been relocated to an online context. Due to this fact, the effect of social media on the emotional health of people cannot be ignored. Research has done to study how social media evoke negative emotions and put barriers from feeling positive emotions. Social media users have reported feeling low, depressed and a decrease in positive emotions immediately after using various social media [12]. Social media provides opportunity for people to put their lives information out there through post, images, videos
Our emotions affect us in so many ways. Emotions affect the way we behave, our views and opinions, our relationships and our decision-making; therefore, they are very relevant to our day-to-day lives. It is important that people have an understanding of these emotions and that they are able to interpret them. Emotions can both help and hinder our ability to best live our lives. It is also important to realize that even our emotions are shaped and biased by our environment and those close to us.
Emotions are used in our everyday lives help us understand and comprehend a situation. The way we feel can affect the way we think through a situation and the situation that we make. Our emotions are expressed when we play sports, when a loved one dies, or when we see our newly born baby for the first time. Emotions are a state of consciousness like joy, sorrow, fear, hate, and love. Whenever we are presented with a situation, our brain responds in feelings, and our feeling determine what will happen next.
You feel happy when you are optimistic. This can result in you feeling more energetic, give you brighter eyes, and bring you success and happiness. You also walk with more confidence and have a stronger voice. Also, your positivity can spread to others, however, any negativity can also spread. Some ways to be positive are to not allow what other people say about you get to you. Other ways are to smile more, try to only visualize positive things, use positive words when talking to people, and don’t give up. (Sasson, The Power of Positive Thinking, Paragraphs 1, 14, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 27) These are great examples of why you would want to be optimistic and respond to conflict with positivity.
Furthermore, emotions are also capable of affecting the physiology and behavior of the person experiencing them. For example, the emotion of fear can increase one 's blood pressure levels and in turn, lead to the secretion of adrenaline. Indeed, our behaviors are vastly determined by our emotions, and the way we respond to any stimuli corresponds with the emotional state of our mind. For instance, if one is fearful, he or she is most likely to stay away or hide from other people and avoid contact. On the other hand, if one is happy, he will tend to have greater conversations with others and seek contact with them. Pragmatically, our moral development is highly influenced by emotions. Take for example; if I angrily respond to violence against another person, I actualize violence as the right course of action whenever I am in disagreement with my peers.
“Beyond Happiness: The Upside of Feeling Down” article by Matthew Hutson explains that negative emotions often have a pessimistic stigma. Normally when one addresses fear, anger, guilt, and regret, a positive outlook is not the first thing that comes to mind. Because these emotions are mostly negative, people try to not act on them or conceal them when trouble arises; however, acting on these emotions can bring a positive feeling. Hutson sheds light on why anger, shame, envy, fear, and grief should not be looked at as “negative” emotions all the time, rather they should just be looked at as emotions.
Physically, an individual may lower his blood pressure and heart risk, may heal from illness, and may live longer. It also helps the brain to function better by learning new skills and behavior. In terms of relationship, people become more cooperative and starts to appreciate and collaborate with other people. Positive emotion also broaden the possibilities in perceiving experiences beyond the narrow range of survival. It allows the individual to open their mind and heart to new ideas so that they could see the bigger picture more accurately to create a better strategies in coping. It makes the individual more optimistic, confident and creative in creating a decision that promotes a win-win
In the past, emotions were believed to be disruptive and organizations worked to make emotion-free environments. This is an interesting concept to me because since I have been working, I can prove that emotions drive performance. Depending on the particular person, whether someone is in a good or a bad mood, it can motivate him or her to perform better in the workplace. People have had emotions their entire life and it is something that cannot be separated from them.
Positive psychology is concerned with three issues: positive emotions, positive individual traits, and positive institutions. The first aspect “positive emotions” examines contentment in terms of the past present and future (Seligman, 2007). The second aspect, “positive individual,” identifies one’s virtues and strengths. Furthermore, where positive individual looks at the person, “positive institution examines the community (p. 75). In terms of happiness, this is considered an emotional state and is achieved when balance occurs between the stresses of life and the person’s ability to let the things that are bogging him or her down. It is interesting to note that because of the large amount of
Emotions transforms our lives. There are positive emotions such as happiness and comfort that shine light in ourselves as well as onto others. On the other hand, there are negative emotions such as anger and distress that shine no light at all. Positive or negative, emotions influence our behavior, words, and way of thinking. This concept about the influence of emotions can be found in Robert Frost’s poem, “Fire and Ice”.
My emotions are neither good nor bad, but how they affect my thought process is definitely one or the other. A typical example for me, I like to present my work on time. I carefully read and do each and every assignment on time, however when my computer acts up and I cannot be on time I become frustrated. Frustration as an emotion can affect my decision making, because it makes me want to just give up, and this will have a negative effect on my life permanently. It is for this reason it is very important for me to understand how my emotions influence my way of thinking and behaving.
Epstein and Baucom define positive and negative affect in ECBT by breaking them down into categories based on emotional state, activation level, and interpersonal/intrapersonal focus, emphasizing the link between emotions, cognitions and behaviors. Positive emotions are described as having five broad categories, including (1) happy-joyful, (2) close-warm, (3) energy-vigor, and (4) relaxed-calm, with the first two being related to emotional state and the latter two being related to activation level. Additional positive emotions, such as ambitious and inspired fall into an “other” category. Negative affect is described as having four main categories, including (1) depressed-sad, anxiety, anger, (2) contempt, (3) sense of fatigue, and (4) other or combinations of negative emotions (e.g., jealousy, guilt, shame). In their description of positive and negative affect, Epstein and Baucom stress the difference between the inter- and intra- personal focus of affect; that is, the difference between feeling emotions as an individual and feeling emotions for/towards someone else. For example, whereas general emotional states, such as happy-joyful and depressed-sad, explain a person’s general emotional disposition, other emotional states, such as close-warm or contempt, have a stronger interpersonal focus and include a person’s feelings about another individual.
Negative emotions are fueled by an underlying fear of the unknown; how can I make a difference? What I’m going to do next? When it is going to get better? Negative situation causes your body to be pushed to dramatic reaction. Sometimes negative feelings can be helpful for survival but these feelings can be incapacitating. The results can cause sickness, depression, anxiety and even chronic pain. These problems do not have a positive effect you in your life. Positive emotions are fueled by an underlying desire for enjoyment and unity. The positive emotions can be something that can be motiving to accomplish things. When positive emotions open us up to new possibilities, we are more able to learn and build on our skills. That leads to doing better on daily tasks. People who have plenty of positive emotions in their everyday lives tend to be happier, healthier, learn better, and get along well with others.
Among the top positive emotions are some really powerful ones which when mentioned can bring each of us our own thoughts and memories and feelings of that particular emotion.
Wellbeing also includes mood. Experiencing a mood occurs in two ways: the mood is experienced, and then there are judgments of the mood (Mayer & Gaschke, 1988). Since the mood and its cognitions are experienced, they should be measured together when determining mood. Moods can involve negative and positive emotions. Positive emotions might cause someone to have a positive mood, and vice versa. Positive emotions allow people to develop skills to rely on when experiencing more negative emotions (Fredrickson, Mancuso, Branigan, & Tugade, 2000). Not only do positive emotions help with coping skills, but they develop into a positive mood over time. Pressman, Gallagher, and Lopez (2013) found that positive emotions contribute to the overall health of an
Emotions are our feelings; it helps us describe the way we feel. We use our emotion to describe how we feel about one another. It plays an important role on how we behave and think. The brain process emotions by using the amygdala which is where the region of the brain controls emotion and where the neutral pathways avoid passing through the amygdala which is responsible for thinking. We can express our emotions in different ways, in 1972, a famous psychologist Paul Ekman, discovered a couple of emotions which are surprise, happiness, fear, and sadness (Ekman 1972). For instance, happiness is simply the state of being happy. A mental and emotional state by having a positive aspect on everything that you do. This feeling helps you cope with your everyday problems by simply just reminding you to have a positive mindset.