The role of positive emotions and ego-resilience in personal strivings.

Using the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions (Fredrickson, 1998) as a foundation, this research examined the role of individual differences in positive emotions and ego-resilience in personal striving and eudaimonic well-being in two separate, but related studies. In Study 1, 182 undergraduate students (48 men 134 women) completed measures of positive emotions, ego-control, ego-resilience, personal strivings, and eudaimonic well-being. Ego-resilience was related to the proportion of self-transcendent goals, and both positive emotions and ego-resilience were related to goal ratings of positivity, personal growth, and personal expressiveness, goal progress, and eudaimonic well-being however, regression analyses revealed that ego-resilience mediated the relationship between positive emotions and these goal striving variables. In Study 2, 133 (37 men 96 women) undergraduate students completed measures of ego-resilience and positive emotions, after which they were randomly assigned to view a short positive emotion inducing video (designed to elicit either amusement or awe), or a neutral (control) video and then asked complete a measure in which they were asked to outline several personal goals they would like to accomplish within four weeks. Four weeks later, participants returned to the lab to complete a follow-up assessment of their goal progress, measures of eudaimonic well-being, positive emotions, and perceived stress, as well as a re-assessment of their level of ego-resilience. The results of the emotion manipulation revealed that individuals in the awe condition reported significantly more personal growth goals. Self-reported positive emotions both at Time 1 and over the intervening four weeks predicted increase in ego-resilience supporting Fredrickson's (1998) hypothesis that positive emotions build' resources and character strengths. Ego-resilience did not interact with emotion condition to predict goal striving however, ego-resilience again partially mediated the relationsThe original print copy of this thesis may be available here: http://wizard.unbc.ca/record=b186347