The undoing effect of positive emotions

Positive emotions are hypothesized to undo the cardiovascular aftereffects of nega-tive emotions. Study 1 tests this undoing effect. Participants (nD 170) experiencing anxiety-induced cardiovascular reactivity viewed a film that elicited (a) content-ment, (b) amusement, (c) neutrality, or (d) sadness. Contentment-eliciting and amusing films produced faster cardiovascular recovery than neutral or sad films did. Participants in Study 2 (n D 185) viewed these same films following a neu-tral state. Results disconfirm the alternative explanation that the undoing effect reflects a simple replacement process. Findings are contextualized by Fredrickson’s broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions (B. L. Fredrickson, 1998). Positive emotions feel good. Plus, the balance of people’s positive and negative emotions contributes to their judgments of life satisfaction (Diener & Larsen, 1993). Beyond this, however, positive emotions may also be useful, pointing to reasons for the pursuit of happiness beyond intrinsic enjoyment. Existing evidence suggests that positive emotions reliably alter people’s thinking and actions. To-gether with this past work, the experiments described in this article suggest tha