A Three-Systems Investigation of Emotion-Processing in Very Happy People
Robert F. Simons and Lindsay Dillinger
Department of Psychology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
In recent years,
there has been an increasing movement towards research in positive
psychology. Diener and Seligman (Diener
& Seligman, 2000) used questionnaires to successfully outline the necessary
life attributes associated with ‘very happy people.’ In the present paper, the positive psychology research of Diener
and Seligman is expanded to include physiological recordings. This project identifies a group of very
happy people, elicits emotions in the laboratory, and with verbal and physiological
measures attempts to identify ways in which these happy people differ from a
control group of volunteers whose happiness is average.
Heart rate (HR), Skin conductance (SCR), and Facial Electromyogram (EMG),
were recorded while subjects watched a series of emotion-eliciting film
clips. It was found that although
happy subjects consistently rated themselves as ‘happy’ on self-report
questionnaires, physiological responses and self-reported emotional reactions show no significant differences between
happy and control groups in response to positive, negative and neutral
stimuli. We suggest that these results
occurred due to a number of reasons, including an emphasis on intensity rather
than frequency of positive emotions. 
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