Broaden-and-build

The broaden-and-build theory in positive psychology suggests that positive emotions (such as happiness, and perhaps interest and anticipation) broaden one's awareness and encourage novel, exploratory thoughts and actions.^[1] Over time, this broadened behavioral repertoire builds useful skills and psychological resources. The theory was developed by Barbara Fredrickson around 1998.^[2]

Positive emotions have no immediate survival value, because they take one's mind off immediate needs and stressors. However, the skills that broadened behavior strengthens over time enhance survival.^[2] For example, curiosity about a landscape becomes navigational knowledge, pleasant interactions with a stranger become a supportive friendship, and aimless physical play becomes valuable exercise. According to Fredrickson, the resources gained through positive emotions outlive the emotions from which they were acquired. Resources build up over time and increase the individual's overall well-being. This forms a positive cycle: increased well-being leads to more positive emotions which lead to higher resilience, which leads to increased well-being.^[3] Happiness, then, is not only the result of success and high-functioning behavior, but also a precondition for it.^[4]

This is in contrast to negative emotions, which prompt narrow, survival-oriented behaviors. For example, anxiety leads to the specific fight-or-flight response. A limited number of urges, called specific action tendencies, quickens response times.^[3]