Cookies?
Library Header Image
LSE Research Online LSE Library Services

Why people are in a generally good mood

Diener, Ed, Kanazawa, Satoshi ORCID: 0000-0003-3786-8797, Suh, Eunkook M. and Oishi, Shigehiro (2015) Why people are in a generally good mood. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 19 (3). pp. 235-256. ISSN 1088-8683

Full text not available from this repository.
Identification Number: 10.1177/1088868314544467

Abstract

Evidence shows that people feel mild positive moods when no strong emotional events are occurring, a phenomenon known as positive mood offset. We offer an evolutionary explanation of this characteristic, showing that it improves fertility, fecundity, and health, and abets other characteristics that were critical to reproductive success. We review research showing that positive mood offset is virtually universal in the nations of the world, even among people who live in extremely difficult circumstances. Positive moods increase the likelihood of the types of adaptive behaviors that likely characterized our Paleolithic ancestors, such as creativity, planning, mating, and sociality. Because of the ubiquity and apparent advantages of positive moods, it is a reasonable hypothesis that humans were selected for positivity offset in our evolutionary past. We outline additional evidence that is needed to help confirm that positive mood offset is an evolutionary adaptation in humans and we explore the research questions that the hypothesis generates.

Item Type: Article
Official URL: http://journals.sagepub.com/home/psr
Additional Information: © 2014 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology,
Divisions: Management
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Date Deposited: 13 Mar 2018 17:33
Last Modified: 19 Sep 2024 05:06
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/87201

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item