Support is offered for the notion that positive behaviors can help displace negative emotions with positive emotions. Further, the author agrees that finding positive meaning amid adversity can be adaptive. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to David G. Myers, Hope College, Holland, Michigan 49422-9000. First, she contends that positive emotions have positive spin-offs. Self reports, behaviors, and peer ratings reveal that it is not happy people who are intensely self-focused, but those who are bereaved or depressed.
Depressed people tend to be lethargic, brooding, socially withdrawn, and sometimes hostile.
Company does not love misery. Happy people those who report their lives as marked by positive emotions are, by contrast, strikingly energetic, decisive, creative, and sociable. Compared to unhappy people, they are more trusting, loving, and responsive. When playing the role of interviewers, happy people recall more of the positive behaviors of job applicants and rate them more highly than do unhappy interviewers. Happy people tolerate more frustration.