Positive Processes in Close Relationships

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shelly L. Gable ◽  
Natalya C. Maisel
Keyword(s):  
Intimate Relationships ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Self Concept ◽  
Positive Events ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Health And Well Being

Although psychologists have learned a great deal about negative and harmful processes in relationships, they have focused less on understanding the positive and beneficial processes in relationships. Of course, almost every close relationship offers the promise of both meaningful rewards and substantial risks, such as support, intimacy, companionship, conflict, rejection, and criticism. In this chapter, we attempt to highlight the complexities involved in relationships and emphasize the positive processes, with the goal of creating a picture that represents the dynamic reality of the social world. We first discuss the important role that intimate relationships play in human life and their strong links with health and well-being. We then highlight research on the positive processes in relationships, such as positive emotions, intimacy, growth of the self-concept, and the benefits of sharing positive events. This work complements previous literature, which has tended to focus on the potential pitfalls in relationships. Inherent in our position is that a lack of negatives in a relationship is not equivalent to a positive relationship; just as an absence of psychopathology is not equivalent to flourishing. We end with outlining future directions in the positive psychology of relationships, such as a greater focus on biology and health and the need for examining moderating conditions.

For Richer … in Good Times … and in Health: Positive Processes in Relationships

2009 ◽  
pp. 454-462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalya C. Maisel ◽  
Shelly L. Gable
Keyword(s):  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Emotional Expressions ◽  
Positive Events ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Low Levels

Although psychologists have learned a great deal about negative and harmful processes in relationships, they have focused less on understanding the positive and beneficial processes in relationships. Of course, almost every close relationship offers the promise of both meaningful rewards and substantial risks, such as support, intimacy, companionship, conflict, rejection, and criticism. In this chapter, we attempt to highlight the complexities involved in relationships, with an emphasis on positive processes, with the goal of creating a picture that represents the dynamic reality of the social world. We first discuss the important role that intimate relationships play in human life and their strong links with health and well-being. We then highlight research on the positive processes in relationships, such as positive emotional expressions, shared novel experiences, intimacy, and the benefits of sharing positive events. This work complements previous literature which has tended to focus on the potential pitfalls in relationships. For example, displaying low levels of negative emotions may not be enough to create a strong relationship—expressions of positive emotions are also beneficial. Finally, we point to future directions in the positive psychology of relationships, such as a greater focus on biology and health (e.g., examining hormones that promote bonding), and the need to examine other types of relationships, such as friendships.

Pateicības izpausmes folklorā psiholoģiskā kontekstā

2021 ◽  
pp. 42-53
Author(s):  
Ieva Ančevska
Keyword(s):  
Family Relationships ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Emotional Health ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Neuroscience Research ◽  
Health And Well Being

The article examines the depiction of gratitude and related events in Latvian folklore through comparative evaluation. Gratitude is considered in a psychological context, comparing the attitude expressed in folklore with the findings of modern scientific research. Gratitude is a concept that is usually associated with a relationship or a benefit, it is most often aimed outwards, dedicated to someone else, but at the same time, it creates a pleasant feeling within the person. In modern psychology, gratitude is receiving more and more attention from researchers because its manifestations stimulate the formation of positive emotions and contribute to the improvement of the person’s overall well-being. Research and clinical studies in psychotherapy confirm that gratitude plays an important role in improving mental health and reducing depressive, destructive feelings. In turn, neuroscience research shows the potential of a grateful and positive attitude in strengthening psycho-emotional health and well-being in general. In Latvian folklore, gratitude is depicted as an important part of ritual events, which helps to ensure a positive, balanced connection with the forces of nature, gods, and society. In folklore, the importance of gratitude is emphasised more when building family relationships or accepting various situations and occurrences in life. In both psychological research and the practice of systemic therapy, as well as in folklore, gratitude appears as one of the most important values of interpersonal connection, which promotes the formation of harmonious relationships. Similar to the opinions of psychology, the folk world views emphasise the motivational role of gratitude in improving the quality of human life and health in general.

scholarly journals Oxytocin, Dopamine, and Opioid Interactions Underlying Pair Bonding: Highlighting a Potential Role for Microglia

Endocrinology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 162 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Meredith K Loth ◽  
Zoe R Donaldson
Keyword(s):  
Social Behaviors ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Endogenous Opioids ◽  
Pair Bonding ◽  
Prairie Voles ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Pair Bonds ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
The Social ◽  
Health And Well Being

Abstract Pair bonds represent some of the strongest attachments we form as humans. These relationships positively modulate health and well-being. Conversely, the loss of a spouse is an emotionally painful event that leads to numerous deleterious physiological effects, including increased risk for cardiac dysfunction and mental illness. Much of our understanding of the neuroendocrine basis of pair bonding has come from studies of monogamous prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster), laboratory-amenable rodents that, unlike laboratory mice and rats, form lifelong pair bonds. Specifically, research using prairie voles has delineated a role for multiple neuromodulatory and neuroendocrine systems in the formation and maintenance of pair bonds, including the oxytocinergic, dopaminergic, and opioidergic systems. However, while these studies have contributed to our understanding of selective attachment, few studies have examined how interactions among these 3 systems may be essential for expression of complex social behaviors, such as pair bonding. Therefore, in this review, we focus on how the social neuropeptide, oxytocin, interacts with classical reward system modulators, including dopamine and endogenous opioids, during bond formation and maintenance. We argue that an understanding of these interactions has important clinical implications and is required to understand the evolution and encoding of complex social behaviors more generally. Finally, we provide a brief consideration of future directions, including a discussion of the possible roles that glia, specifically microglia, may have in modulating social behavior by acting as a functional regulator of these 3 neuromodulatory systems.

scholarly journals Impermanence in relationships: Trait mindfulness attenuates the negative personal consequences of everyday dips in relationship satisfaction

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (8-9) ◽  
pp. 2419-2437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian P. Don ◽  
Sara B. Algoe
Keyword(s):  
Relationship Satisfaction ◽  
Intimate Relationships ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Modern Theory ◽  
Trait Mindfulness ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Personal Consequences ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Lower Life Satisfaction

Satisfying intimate relationships are crucial to human health and well-being. Yet even the best relationships include good days and bad ones, and when people experience bad days in terms of relationship satisfaction, it tends to undermine personal well-being. What can reduce the extent to which bad relational days spill over into personal well-being? Based on the Buddhist concept of impermanence, as well as modern theory and research examining mindfulness, we argue trait mindfulness renders people more aware and accepting of all forms of change, including to changes in their relationships. As such, we hypothesized that people with greater trait mindfulness would be less likely to experience decrements in personal well-being on days in which they experienced dips in relationship satisfaction. In a daily study of 80 couples across 14 days ( N = 1,798 observations), people experienced lower life satisfaction, greater negative emotions, and fewer positive emotions on days when they reported lower than their average relationship satisfaction, but this association was attenuated for people high in mindfulness. These results suggest trait mindfulness partially buffers the negative consequences of daily dips in relationship satisfaction.

scholarly journals Place, mobility and social support in refugee mental health

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 333-348
Author(s):  
Sevasti-Melissa Nolas ◽  
Charles Watters ◽  
Keira Pratt-Boyden ◽  
Reima Ana Maglajlic
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Support ◽  
Intimate Relationships ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Refugee Mental Health ◽  
The Social ◽  
Research And Design ◽  
Health And Well Being

Purpose This review and theoretical analysis paper aims to bring together literatures of place, mobility, refugees and mental health to problematise the ways in which social support is practised on the ground and to rethink its possibilities. Design/methodology/approach This paper draws on an interdisciplinary understanding of social support that focusses on the social networks and significant and intimate relationships that mitigate negative mental health and well-being outcomes. The authors explore the dialectic relationship between place and mobility in refugee experiences of social support. Findings The authors argue that, in an Euro-American context, practices of social support have historically been predicated on the idea of people-in-place. The figure of the refugee challenges the notion of a settled person in need of support and suggests that people are both in place and in motion at the same time. Conversely, attending to refugees’ biographies, lived experiences and everyday lives suggests that places and encounters of social support are varied and go beyond institutional spaces. Research limitations/implications The authors explore this dialectic of personhood as both in place and in motion and its implications for the theorisation, research and design of systems of social support for refugees. Originality/value This paper surfaces the dialectics of place and mobility for supporting refugee mental health from an interdisciplinary perspective.

The social value of Participatory Ergonomics from a practitioner’s perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 919-923
Author(s):  
Kátia M. Costa-Black ◽  
Chris Arteberry
Keyword(s):  
Human Performance ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Participatory Approach ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Participatory Ergonomics ◽  
Worker Health ◽  
Healthy Working ◽  
The Social ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Total Worker Health

Ergonomics applies a set of ambitious frameworks and robust body of evidence for integrating different practices to optimize worker health and well-being. One recognized framework is the participatory approach, which delves into sociotechnical workplace actions – developed from the ground up – to achieve improved human performance outcomes and acceptability across the organization. Much of what is known about the value of participatory ergonomics centers on return-on-investment analyses related to injury prevention. Outside this spectrum, little has been discussed. This paper imparts how a participatory approach can lead to various positive impacts beyond financial gains, mainly by focusing on continuous improvements at the management systems level and on proactively motivating people and organizations to embrace healthy working conditions and behaviors. Issues such as the social-ethical value of involving workers in work design and return-to-work solutions are discussed to illustrate the holistic value of participatory ergonomics in the context of Total Worker Health.

scholarly journals Foreword and Introduction to This Issue on Contemporary Safety Topics in Animal Research

ILAR Journal ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-126
Author(s):  
John Bradfield ◽  
Esmeralda Meyer ◽  
John N Norton
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Occupational Health And Safety ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Animal Research ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
The Status ◽  
Safety Considerations ◽  
Animal Care ◽  
Health And Well Being

Abstract Institutions with animal care and use programs are obligated to provide for the health and well-being of the animals, but are equally obligated to provide for safety of individuals associated with the program. The topics in this issue of the ILAR Journal, in association with those within the complimentary issue of the Journal of Applied Biosafety, provide a variety of contemporary occupational health and safety considerations in today’s animal research programs. Each article addresses key or emerging occupational health and safety topics in institutional animal care and use programs, where the status of the topic, contemporary challenges, and future directions are provided.

scholarly journals Perceived Social Integration Predicts Engagement and Responsiveness to Positive Events: Test of Age Moderation

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 397-397
Author(s):  
Patrick Klaiber ◽  
David Almeida ◽  
Nancy Sin
Keyword(s):  
Positive Affect ◽  
Social Integration ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Demographic Variables ◽  
National Study ◽  
Big Five Personality ◽  
Positive Events ◽  
Telephone Interviews ◽  
Using Data

Abstract Social Integration has important implications for health and well-being during adulthood. Being socially integrated might be an important resource that helps people to regularly engage in daily positive events. With older age, this resource might become increasingly important. However, being well socially integrated might also mean that people are certain that they experience more positive events in the future and thus, respond with less positive affect to any given positive event. We examined perceived social integration as a predictor of engagement and responsiveness to positive events using data from the National Study of Daily Experiences 2. 1904 adults (Mean age = 56.25, min = 33, max = 84) reported their daily positive affect and daily positive events during 8 consecutive days of telephone interviews. Perceived social integration was assessed at baseline. Adults higher in social integration experienced daily positive events more frequently (b = 0.01, SE = 0.003, p < .001), but showed less of an increase in positive affect on days with more-than-usual positive events (b = -0.003, SE = 0.001, p = .030). These models controlled for the Big Five personality traits, purpose in life, demographic variables and same-day occurrence of stressors. Age did not moderate the present associations. The present findings imply that social integration might be an important contributor to experiencing more positive events across adulthood. Being better socially integrated might also lead to responding with less positive emotions to any given positive event.

scholarly journals Family Caregiving for Individuals With Heart Failure: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association

Circulation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 141 (22) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Kitko ◽  
Colleen K. McIlvennan ◽  
Julie T. Bidwell ◽  
J. Nicholas Dionne-Odom ◽  
Shannon M. Dunlay ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heart Failure ◽  
Family Caregiving ◽  
Heart Association ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Clinical Settings ◽  
Financial Health ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Scientific Statement ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Health And Well Being

Many individuals living with heart failure (HF) rely on unpaid support from their partners, family members, friends, or neighbors as caregivers to help manage their chronic disease. Given the advancements in treatments and devices for patients with HF, caregiving responsibilities have expanded in recent decades to include more intensive care for increasingly precarious patients with HF—tasks that would previously have been undertaken by healthcare professionals in clinical settings. The specific tasks of caregivers of patients with HF vary widely based on the patient’s symptoms and comorbidities, the relationship between patient and caregiver, and the complexity of the treatment regimen. Effects of caregiving on the caregiver and patient range from physical and psychological to financial. Therefore, it is critically important to understand the needs of caregivers to support the increasingly complex medical care they provide to patients living with HF. This scientific statement synthesizes the evidence pertaining to caregiving of adult individuals with HF in order to (1) characterize the HF caregiving role and how it changes with illness trajectory; (2) describe the financial, health, and well-being implications of caregiving in HF; (3) evaluate HF caregiving interventions to support caregiver and patient outcomes; (4) summarize existing policies and resources that support HF caregivers; and (5) identify knowledge gaps and future directions for providers, investigators, health systems, and policymakers.

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