May Amusement Serve as a Social Courage Engine?

Abstract

According to Fredrickson's (1998, 2001) “Broaden-and-Built Theory of Positive Emotions”positive emotions have different effects in social life and are based on different mechanisms than negative emotions do. Moreover positive emotions vary among themselves - there are quality differences between them and they shall not be treated only as a single positive mood. Three simple studies presented here and inspired by the Fredrickson's theory demonstrate that amusement, in comparison to neutral condition as well as to another positive emotion, may serve as a social courage engine. Amused participants were more courageous in the radio (study 1) as well as in the TV interview (study 2) and declared more courage in case of meeting new hypothetical person (study 3). © 2010, Versita. All rights reserved.