Browsing by Subject "Positive emotions"
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Item Open Access Caring and thriving: An international qualitative study of caregivers of orphaned and vulnerable children and strategies to sustain positive mental health(Children and Youth Services Review, 2019-03-01) Proeschold-Bell, RJ; Molokwu, NJ; Keyes, CLM; Sohail, MM; Eagle, DE; Parnell, HE; Kinghorn, WA; Amanya, C; Vann, V; Madan, I; Biru, BM; Lewis, D; Dubie, ME; Whetten, K© 2018 Background: Child well-being is associated with caregiver mental health. Research has focused on the absence or presence of mental health problems, such as depression, in caregivers. However, positive mental health – defined as the presence of positive emotions, psychological functioning, and social functioning – likely prevents depression and in caregivers may benefit children more than the mere absence of mental health problems. Little attention has been given to how caregivers sustain positive mental health, particularly when doing challenging work in impoverished settings. Objective: The study's objective was to determine what successful caregivers of orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) in diverse countries do to sustain their positive mental health. Methods: Using a mixed-methods, cross-sectional study design, trained local interviewers recruited a convenience sample of OVC caregivers through residential care institutions from five geographic regions (Kenya; Ethiopia; Cambodia; Hyderabad, India; and Nagaland, India). Participants completed surveys and in-depth interviews about strategies used to sustain their mental health over time or improve it during challenging times. Results: Sixty-nine OVC caregivers from 28 residential care institutions participated. Positive mental health survey scores were high. We organized the strategies named into six categories ordered from most to least frequently named: Religious Practices; Engaging in Caregiving; Social Support; Pleasurable Activities; Emotion Regulation; and Removing Oneself from Work. Prayer and reading religious texts arose as common strategies. Participants reported promoting positive emotions by focusing on their work's meaning and playing with children. The similar findings across diverse regions were striking. Some differences included more emphasis on emotion control in Ethiopia; listening to music/singing in Kenya and Hyderabad; and involving children in the tasks the participants enjoyed less (e.g., cleaning) in Cambodia. Conclusions: Under real-world conditions, small daily activities appeared to help sustain positive mental health. In addition, fostering structures that allow caregivers to engage regularly in rewarding caregiving tasks may be an affordable and scalable idea which could potentially benefit caregivers, children, and employers.Item Open Access Feeling Good and Doing Better: How Specific Positive Emotions Influence Consumer Behavior and Well-being(2009) Cavanaugh, Lisa AnnMarketers seek to create and consumers seek to cultivate a variety of positive emotional experiences. Despite their importance to consumer behavior, researchers have lacked a clear understanding of the distinct behavioral consequences of specific positive emotions. My dissertation examines how different positive emotions (e.g., hope, love, and pride) can differentially affect consumers' decisions and behaviors. I find that positive emotions can not only be differentiated but also that specific positive emotions lead to distinctly different patterns of consumption behavior, such as considering more options, donating in different ways, engaging in more effortful actions, or performing more socially conscious consumption behaviors benefiting distant others. I find important differences both with momentary emotional experiences and downstream consequences of chronic emotional experiences.
Positive emotions differ reliably in the degree to which they create a lens of problem-solving, social connection, and perceived control. For example, I find that positive emotions characterized by a social connection lens (e.g., love and gratitude) lead to increases in socially conscious behaviors benefiting distant others. The tendency to perceive one's environment through a problem-solving lens (which characterizes hope and interest but not love and gratitude) leads to larger consideration sets and engagement in more effortful environmental actions. I also examine how positive emotions characterized by different lenses, such as perceived control (e.g., pride) and social connection (e.g., love), produce distinct behaviors within the same consumption context (e.g., giving in different ways in response to a fundraising appeal). Five studies demonstrate that positive emotions can be characterized in ways that allow prediction of distinct forms of broadening and specific consumption behaviors.
Item Open Access The Influence of Amusement and Love on Consumers’ Choice between National Brands and Private Labels(2019-11-26) Chen, CocoLove and amusement are positive emotions that are commonly used in marketing. Although a plethora of research has shown that emotions have influence on consumer choice, few prior studies have examined the influence of discrete position emotions (i.e. love and amusement) on consumers’ preference between national brands and store-owned brands. The present study primed amusement, love, and neutral emotions in 195 participants via memory recall, then participants were presented with a $75 budget to choose between nine pairs of national brand and private label products. Although no significant difference was found between emotions and brand choice, people who felt more love were more likely to purchase private label household products. With participant exclusion, people who felt more amusement were emerged as more likely to purchase private label food products. These findings have implications for both advertisers and consumers, suggesting that discrete positive emotions have influence on purchase decisions in various product categories.