Positive interventions: An emotion regulation perspective.

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Positive Psychology
• Emotion Regulation

Background:

• Growing research on positive interventions necessitates a unifying framework.
• Existing findings on happiness interventions appear disparate.
• Emotion regulation offers a potential organizing principle.

Purpose of the Study:

• To apply the process model of emotion regulation to existing positive interventions.
• To clarify the mechanisms through which positive interventions increase happiness.
• To propose a theoretical framework for understanding and developing interventions.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review of literature on positive interventions.
• Application of the 5 families of emotion regulation strategies (situation selection, situation modification, attentional deployment, cognitive change, response modulation).
• Analysis of strategy application timing (before, during, after positive emotional events).

Main Results:

• Attentional deployment, cognitive change, and response modulation are empirically supported for short-term positive emotion increases.
• Situation selection and modification require further research for short-term effectiveness.
• Situation selection and attentional deployment are key for longer-term positive emotion increases.

Conclusions:

• The emotion regulation framework effectively organizes existing positive interventions.
• The framework identifies gaps in research, particularly for situation modification.
• This model can guide the development of new interventions for diverse populations.