Intervention Programs to Increase the Prevalence of Positive Emotions
Although no intervention programs based directly on the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions have yet been devised and tested, a handful of existing intervention techniques can be profitably reframed as techniques to increase the prevalence of positive emotions. To the extent that these existing techniques successfully elicit positive emotions, the broaden-and-build theory may explain their effectiveness (Fredrickson, 2000). In particular, I will discuss intervention strategies based on practicing relaxation and increasing pleasant activities. Notably, these two strategies emerged from psychology’s era of behaviorism, which did not favor reference to emotional states. Reconsidering them now from an emotions perspective illuminates mechanisms through which they may have achieved their success, as well as pathways along which they may be further fine-tuned.