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Folkman 2000
Folkman 2000
Although research on coping over the past 30 years has Discussions of this lack of progress often cite limitations of
produced convergent evidence about the functions of cop- assessment techniques (e.g., Coyne & Gottlieb, 1996;
ing and the factors that influence it, psychologists still have Coyne & Racioppo, 2000, this issue; Stone, Greenberg,
a great deal to learn about how coping mechanisms affect Kennedy-Moore, & Newman, 1991) and the underutiliza-
diverse outcomes. One of the reasons more progress has tion of qualitative methods (Lazarus, 1999), or they cite the
not been made is the almost exclusive focus on negative lack of attention to the interpersonal aspects of coping (e.g.,
outcomes in the stress process. Coping theory and research Lepore, 1997; O'Brien & DeLongis, 1997).
need to consider positive outcomes as well. The authors These criticisms all have merit and need to be ad-
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
focus on one such outcome, positive affect, and review dressed, but we believe there is another reason that coping
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
findings about the co-occurrence of positive affect with research has fallen short of its promise to explain the
negative affect during chronic stress, the adaptive func- psychological mechanisms through which people manage
tions of positive affect during chronic stress, and a special stress effectively. Historically, coping has most often been
class of meaning-based coping processes that support pos- evaluated in relation to its effectiveness in regulating dis-
itive affect during chronic stress. tress. This orientation is completely understandable given
the history of coping and its origins in ego psychology
(e.g., Menninger's, 1963, and Vaillant's, 1977, classic
models) in which the primary concern was the regulation of
action tendencies associated with negative emotions, ful circumstances may interrupt and thereby short-circuit
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Fredrickson reviewed evidence showing that positive emo- this rumination spiral and prevent the decline into clinical
tions broaden the individual's attentional focus and behav- depression.
ioral repertoire and, as a consequence, build social, intel- Work by Reich and Zautra and their colleagues sup-
lectual, and physical resources--resources that can become ports this possibility. They found that positive life events
depleted under chronically stressful conditions. (and presumably the positive affect associated with them)
Empirical evidence for the function of positive affect were related to decreased distress as well as increased
has begun to accumulate. Isen and her colleagues have positive affect in individuals who were experiencing the
shown in a number of studies that positive affect promotes chronic stress of disability (Zautra, Reich, & Guamaccia,
creativity and flexibility in thinking and problem solving 1990) or who had recently experienced many negative life
(Isen & Daubman, 1984; Isen, Daubman, & Nowicki, events (Reich & Zautra, 1981). However, the association
1987; Isen & Geva, 1987; Isen, Johnson, Mertz, & Robin-
between positive events and decreased distress may be
son, 1985). Positive affect also facilitates the processing of
specific to contexts that are stressful (Zautra, Potter, &
important (e.g., self-relevant) information even if that in-
Reich, 1997), because for control groups who were not
formation is negative and may potentially damage self-
experiencing stress, positive events were associated with
esteem (Reed & Aspinwall, 1998; Trope & Neter, 1994;
increased positive affect only and not with decreased dis-
Trope & Pomerantz, 1998).
tress (Reich & Zautra, 1981; Zautra et al., 1990).
Positive affect may also serve as a buffer against
In a study of AIDS-related caregiving, Moskowitz,
adverse physiological consequences of stress. Positive af-
Acree, and Folkman (1998) explored the possibility that
fect, for example, has been shown to offset the potentially
positive affect helps prevent clinical depression. Mosko-
damaging physiological concomitants of negative affect.
Fredrickson and Levenson (1998) induced negative emo- witz et al. compared the average levels of positive and
tion in participants by showing them a film that elicited negative affect (assessed with modified versions of Brad-
fear. Participants were then shown one of four films de- bum's, 1969, positive and negative affect scales) of men
signed to elicit contentment, amusement, sadness, or no who did and did not experience clinical depression over the
emotion (neutral condition). Measures of cardiovascular course of the study. Not surprisingly, men who experienced
reactivity indicated that those individuals who were shown clinical depression (as assessed by a version of the Struc-
the contentment or amusement film had faster recovery to tured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical
baseline than did participants shown the sad or neutral film. Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd ed., revised [SCID];
This study suggests one route by which positive emotions Spitzer, Williams, Gibbon, & First, 1988) had significantly
may undo some of the negative physiological effects asso- higher levels of negative affect on average in the interviews
ciated with negative emotions. prior to becoming clinically depressed than did men who
Another route through which positive affect may off- did not become clinically depressed. In addition, however,
set the deleterious physiological effects of stress is through depressed men also reported significantly lower average
the neuroendocrine system. Suggestive preliminary data levels of positive affect (Moskowitz et al., 1998). Although
come from a study by Epel, McEwen, and Ickovics (1998) these correlational data cannot prove that the combination
in which women who reported finding positive meaning in of increased negative affect and decreased positive affect
response to a traumatic event had more adaptive hormonal caused clinical depression, the data are consistent with the
responses to a subsequent laboratory stressor. The wom- possibility that without the protective effects of sufficient
en's positive affect as a result of meaning-based coping in levels of positive affect, people who are experiencing high
response to traumatic events may have made them more levels of negative affect are more likely to become clini-
physiologically resilient in the face of subsequent stress cally depressed.
concepts of benefit reminding (Affleck & Tennen, 1996) identify goals and experience efficacy, mastery, and control
and downward social comparisons (e.g., Wills, 1981; in situations that appear uncontrollable and even worsening
Wood, 1989), both of which refer to cognitive coping (e.g., Taylor et al., 1991). Often this requires relinquishing
strategies that enable the individual to appraise a difficult previous goals that are no longer tenable and turning to
situation more positively. Positive reappraisal is often new, realistic goals (for a discussion, see Carver & Scheier,
taught and encouraged in cognitive behavioral therapy 1998; Folkman & Stein, 1996).
(e.g., Fava, Rafanelli, Cazzaro, Conti, & Grandi, 1998), This point was driven home to us in our studies of
and it is assessed by many contemporary paper-and-pencil AIDS caregivers (e.g., Folkman et al., 1994; Moskowitz et
measures of coping (e.g., Billings & Moos, 1984; Carver, al., 1996). One of the most prominent themes in partici-
Scheier, & Weintraub, 1989; Folkman & Lazarus, 1988). pants' narrative accounts of their stressful events was their
Positive reappraisal has been associated with positive affect sense of helplessness because of the unpredictability and
in stressful events (for a review, see Aldwin, 1994). This uncontrollability of their partners' disease (Folkman et al.,
was the case in Moskowitz et al.'s (1996) study of care- 1994). As much as they wanted to make their partners
giving and bereavement. Moskowitz et al. selected 110 better, they could not. However, participants were not
participants whose positive reappraisal had been assessed passive in the face of uncontrollability; instead, they pur-
with a scale from the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (Folk- sued realistic, attainable goals by focusing on specific,
man & Lazarus, 1988) and whose positive and negative proximal tasks or problems related to caregiving. In fact,
affect had been assessed with modified versions of Brad- problem-focused coping actually increased significantly
bum's (1969) positive and negative affect scales. Partici- from three months to one month prior to a partner's death
pants completed these assessments three months and one (Moskowitz et al., 1996). The increase in problem-focused
month before the deaths of their partners and three months coping during this period attests to the need and the ability
and five months after the deaths of their partners. On each to assert control in situations that appear uncontrollable. In
of the four occasions, positive reappraisal was significantly addition, problem-focused coping was positively and sig-
and independently associated with increases in positive nificantly related to positive affect during this period, con-
affect, controlling for the previous month's positive affect trolling for the previous month's affect and for other types
and for the other seven types of coping assessed with the of coping.
Ways of Coping Questionnaire (Moskowitz et al., 1996). Ordinarily, problem-focused coping might not seem to
Positive reappraisal often involves deeply held values have much to do with meaning; it is, after all, task focused
that are activated by the stressful situation. In qualitative and instrumental in its nature. Yet, problem-focused coping
data, for example, caregivers commented on how their can be very meaningful, first, because it involves identify-
caregiving activities demonstrated their love and preserved ing situation-specific goals that engage the individual and
the dignity of their ill partners (Folkman, Chesney, & focus his or her attention, and, second, because the enact-
Christopher-Richards, 1994). Thus, the potentially painful, ment of problem-focused coping makes it possible for the
exhausting, and stressful experience of being a caregiver individual to feel effective and experience situational mas-
was reappraised as very worthwhile. Awareness of the tery and control. Both of these meaning-based functions of
value of caregiving activities should have a motivational problem-focused coping are critical for positive well-being
effect on subsequent caregiving. This kind of coping, in (Carver & Scheier, 1998; Klinger, 1998). The sense of
which people focus on the value of their efforts and ap- mastery and control engendered by successful problem-
praise them positively, may thus be especially important in focused efforts helps explain caregivers' reports of positive
helping people sustain efforts, such as those associated affect in the midst of their distress. At the same time,
with caregiving, over long periods of time. problem-focused coping included caregiving-related in-
of the 1,794 interviews that asked about such an event to the process of coping itself. The manner in which people
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
(Folkman, 1997a). The participants were clearly noting and use meaning as part of the coping process has usually been
remembering positive events in the midst of their distress, described in relation to the reconstitution of global mean-
and they had little trouble recalling these events when ing, such as existential beliefs or distal goals that define
asked. Little was unusual about the events per se. The vast one's identity in the aftermath of trauma (see reviews in
majority were seemingly ordinary events of daily life. Half Aldwin, 1994: Baumeister, 1991; Tedeschi, Park, & Cal-
the positive events were planned, such as preparing a houn, 1998). In contrast, we emphasize the importance of
special meal or getting together with friends, suggesting coping processes that locus on the creation of situational
that caregivers took initiative in creating them, and half the meaning in the proximal, ongoing stressful context. We
events just happened, such as seeing a beautiful flower or described three coping processes that serve this function;
receiving a compliment for something minor, suggesting there are undoubtedly many more that could be identified
that caregivers also took advantage of ordinary events by by studying people who are faced with severe and persis-
infusing them with positive meaning (Folkman et al., tent stress.
1997).
The key question is whether people who are not ex- Some Methodological Challenges
periencing intense stress would note and remember these Research on the role of positive affect and on coping that
events. Several studies have shown that within individuals, generates positive affect in the stress process poses some
positive and negative events tend to be moderately posi- particularly challenging methodological issues. We touch
tively correlated (Headey & Wearing, 1989; Magnus, Die- on two of these here. The first has to do with the reciprocal
ner, Fujita, & Pavot, 1993; Reich & Zautra, 1981; Sub, relationship between affect and coping. On the one hand,
Diener, & Fujita, 1996) such that individuals who experi- depressed people are more likely to engage in maladaptive
ence many negative events also experience many positive coping strategies, such as emotional discharge, escape-
events. It may be that when a negative event occurs, the avoidance, and rumination (Billings & Moos, 1984; Nolen-
individual creates a positive event or interprets an other- Hoeksema, Larson, & Grayson, 1999), that make things
wise ordinary event as positive as a way of offsetting the worse, whereas people who are not depressed are probably
negative affective consequences of the negative event. more likely to engage in the kinds of meaning-based coping
Hobfoll (1998) commented that people are keyed to re- processes that we have described. People high in optimism,
spond to the adverse sequelae of loss by turning their for example, are more likely to engage in problem-focused
attention to their resources and looking for positive aspects coping, which in turn is more likely to be associated with
of their lives. Cognitive behavioral therapists have long positive affect (Scheier et al., 1989; Taylor et al., 1992). On
recognized the benefits of having patients schedule positive the other hand, findings from several longitudinal studies
events to help remediate depressive mood (Lewinsohn, are consistent with the idea that coping explains changes in
Sullivan, & Grosscup, 1980; Reich & Zautra, 1981). Thus, emotion (Carver & Scheier, 1994; Holahan, Holahan,
some evidence suggests that under stressful conditions, Moos, & Brennan, 1997; Moskowitz et al., 1996). Which
individuals may be more likely to bring about, note, or direction of causation is of greater importance depends on
remember ordinary positive events, but explicit tests of this the research question. For example, if the question is how
hypothesis await further research. best to intervene to reduce depression, the direction of
interest is from coping to emotion. On the other hand, if the
The Special Role of Situational Meaning question is the prediction of who will be able to engage in
Positive reappraisal, problem-focused coping, and the pos- adaptive coping under distressing conditions, then the di-
itive events that we described in the context of AIDS rection of interest is more likely to be from emotion to
caregiving all involve creating, reinstating, or reinforcing coping.
clearly show that people who are not clinically depressed, Oxford University Press.
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
but who nonetheless report very high levels of depressed Carver, C. S., Scheier, M. F., & Weintraub, J. K. (1989). Assessing coping
mood, retain the capacity to engage in meaning-based strategies: A theoretically based approach. Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology, 56, 267-283.
coping and experience positive affect. This phenomenon Coyne, J. C., & Gottlieb, B. H. (1996). The mismeasure of coping by
may be critical in understanding how people manage to checklist. Journal of Personality, 64, 959-991.
minimize the negative consequences of stress and produce Coyne, J. C., & Racioppo, M. W. (2000). Never the twain shall meet?
positive outcomes. Closing the gap between coping research and clinical intervention
research. American Psychologist, 55, 655-664.
Davidson, R. J. (1992). Anterior asymmetry and the nature of emotion.
Conclusion Brain and Cognition, 20, 125-151.
Epel, E S., McEwen, B. S., & Ickovics, J. R. (1998). Embodying psy-
The theme of affect and emotion in the stress process has chological thriving: Physical thriving in response to stress. Journal of
been dominated by discussions of negative affect and other Socia! lssues, 54, 301-322.
adverse outcomes. Positive affect and other positive out- Fava, G. A., RafaneIli, C.. Cazzaro, M., Conti, S., & Grandi, S. (1998).
comes have been given much less consideration. Psychol- Well-being therapy: A novel psychotherapeutic approach for residual
symptoms of affective disorders. Psychological Medicine, 28, 475-
ogists need to understand more clearly the adaptational
480.
significance of positive affect in the midst of stress, and Feldman Barrett, L., & Russell, J. A. (1998). Independence and bipolarity
they need to learn how people generate and sustain positive in the structure of affect. Journal of PersonaliG and Social Psychology,
affect under these conditions. What are the psychological 74, 967-983.
conditions that are necessary to generate and sustain posi- Folkman, S. (1997a). Positive psychological states and coping with severe
stress, Social Science and Medicine, 45, 1207-1221.
tive affect? What are the coping processes that people use Folkman, S. (1997b). Using bereavement narratives to predict well-being
to generate positive affect in the midst of stress? Which in gay men whose partners died of AIDS: Four theoretical perspectives,
kinds of coping generate positive affect in the moment, and Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 851-854.
which kinds require time for the positive effects to be Folkman, S., Chesney, M. A., & Christopher-Richards, A. (1994). Stress
and coping in partners of men with AIDS. Psychiatric Clinics of North
perceived? Do positive affect and negative affect indepen-
America, 17, 35-55.
dently influence physical health and other outcomes such as Folkman, S., & Lazarus, R. S. (1985). If it changes it must be a process:
social functioning and health behavior? Broadening models Study of emotion and coping during three stages of a college exami-
of stress and coping to include positive as well as negative nation. Journal of Personalit~ and Social Psychology, 48, 150-170.
affect will change the kinds of questions psychologists ask Folkman. S., & Lazarus, R. S. (1988). Manual for the Ways of Coping
Questionnaire. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
about coping. In addition, psychologists will gain greater Folkman, S., Lazarus, R. S., Dunkel-Schetter, C., DeLongis, A., & Gruen,
insight into not only how coping helps people avoid or R. (1986). The dynamics of a stressful encounter: Cognitive appraisal,
minimize adverse effects of chronic stress but, of equal coping and encounter outcomes. Journal of Personality and Social
importance, how coping promotes psychological well- Psychology, 50, 992-1003.
Folkman, S., & Moskowitz, J. T. (in press). Stress, positive emotions, and
being and other positive outcomes in the context of chronic
coping. Current Directions in Psychological Science.
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meaningful events and coping in the context of HIV/AIDS. In B. H.
Gottlieb (Ed.), Coping with chronic stress (pp. 293-314). New York:
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