Positive emotional intentions - Essay Example

They can also improve motivation that supports community actions. Finally, positive emotions boost interpersonal judgment and positive emotional contagion that can help improve social relationship management skills. Society will benefit from encouraging and spreading positive emotions. Positive emotions may not resolve all social problems, but it is a good source of positive social changes. Positive Emotional Intentions Produce Constructive Outcomes in Society A happy man tends to be a better citizen and human being, and so feeling positive is good for society too.

Nezlek and Kuppens (2008) and McMurran (2011) supported the connection between positive emotions and positive social outcomes. Emotions, such as love, hope, humor, and joy, can directly affect people’s positive perceptions, attitudes, and actions (McMurran, 2011, p.629). Emotions, after all, are bodily changes, and biology, aside from environmental factors, shapes human behaviors (McMurran, 2011, p.629). This essay explores the outcomes of positive emotional intentions for individuals and the society in general.

Emotional intentions refer to emotions and their target goals. Positive emotional intentions produce constructive outcomes in society, particularly lower crime rate, higher participation in community-building activities, and stronger social relationships. . Nezlek and Kuppens (2008) studied two emotion regulation strategies, reappraisal and suppression, and how these strategies influence other dimensions of psychological functioning. Reappraisal refers to changing how an experience is perceived, so that its emotional effects are managed (Nezlek & Kuppens, 2008, p.562). Suppression happens when people stop the expression of certain feelings (Nezlek & Kuppens, 2008, p.563). Nezlek and Kuppens (2008) used survey research to answer their research questions, and 153 undergraduate students participated.

Findings showed that reappraisal can lead to better psychological adjustment and affective experiences than suppression (Nezlek & Kuppens, 2008, p.574). The implication of their findings is that people who cannot regulate their emotions can have psychological problems, which can result to possible criminological attitudes. For example, Jim is an employee who has a verbally abusive employer, Alex. If Jim does not regulate his emotions, his suppressed anger can lead to low self-esteem, and soon, he will feel so mad that he will engage in risk-taking behaviors, such as doing drugs and drinking alcohol.

Afterwards, one time, he is so drunk that he kills his boss. This may be a hypothetical scenario but not impossible. Positive emotional intentions can help people regulate bad feelings and result to greater control over potentially criminal actions. Furthermore, positive emotional intentions can include the production of moral emotions. McMurran (2011) described moral emotions as “secondary emotions” that help people choose “good” over “bad” decisions (p.631). She hypothesized that moral emotions impact moral cognition, which in turn result to moral behaviors (McMurran, 2011, p.632). Moral emotions can reduce crime