Special lecture by psychologist Barbara Fredrickson

Are the moments of positive interpersonal connection we experience positive health behaviors? Positivity resonance is a momentary affective state co-experienced by two or more people simultaneously, marked by the amplifying trio of: shared positive affect; mutual care and concern; and cross-person synchrony in behavioral and biological dynamics. Dr. Fredrickson will share her most recent empirical evidence that positivity resonance—whether indexed by self-report, behavior, or biology—predicts mental and physical health, measured concurrently or prospectively.  

Barbara Fredrickson is a Kenan Distinguished Professor and Director of Positive Emotions and Psychopsychology Laboratory at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the recipient of numerous honors for her research in positive emotions, including the American Psychological Association's inaugural Templeton Prize in positive psychology and the Society for Experimental Social Psychology's Career Trajectory Award. A pioneer in the field of positive psychology, Dr. Fredrickson's research illuminates the vital impact of positive social connection on psychological and physical well-being, and offers important implications for the fields of psychology, technology, and business as well as our personal physical and mental health. She is also the author of Love 2.0 (2013).

Presented as part of the Advancing Wellbeing Seminar Series