My all-time favorite topic in positive psychology is the study of positive emotions. I'm fascinated by how pleasant experiences, which can be so subtle and fleeting, can add up over time to change who we become. I'm especially excited these days about investigating how positive emotions change the very ways that our cells form and function to keep us healthy.  Barbara Fredrickson

Anyone can become angry - that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way - this is not easy.   Aristotle

We transmit and catch moods from each other in what amounts to a subterranean economy of the psyche in which some encounters are toxic, some nourishing.    Daniel Goleman

Emotions give life colour & vitality.  Yet we are often relatively unaware of our emotional states.

Yaden & Hebron's recent paper The emotional state assessment tool: a brief, philosophically informed, and cross-culturally sensitive measure with its abstract reading "A large empirical literature in psychology has established a two-dimensional model of measuring affect (positive and negative emotion) as well as circumplex-based models. The present series of studies begins with items developed from a philosophical theory of affect, which were iteratively reduced to a 6-factor, 18-item measure of emotional well-being, which provides more arousal-based granularity of positive and negative affect. In study 1 (N = 727), using exploratory factor analysis, we found evidence for the classic two-dimensional structure of affect based on parsimony: 1) positive emotion and 2) negative emotion, in addition to a six-dimensional model closer to circumplex-based approaches based on model fit and other factor analytic criteria, consisting of: 1) cheerfulness, 2) vitality, 3) serenity, 4) sadness, 5) lethargy, and 6) stress. In study 2 (N = 667), using confirmatory factor analysis, we found that the two-factor solution provided inadequate fit, as did other prominent two-factor emotion measures, while the six-factor model provided excellent fit (CFI = .98, RMSEA = .055). The resulting measure, the Emotional State Assessment Tool (ESAT), provides a philosophically grounded, brief, versatile, and more cross-culturally sensitive measure of affect to complement existing measures of affect."

More to follow ...