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    J Pers Soc Psychol. 2001 Jan;80(1):112-24.

    Expressions of positive emotion in women's college yearbook pictures and their relationship to personality and life outcomes across adulthood.

    Source

    Department of Psychology, Institute of Personality and Social Research, University of California, Berkeley 94720-5050, USA. lharker@mindspring.com

    Abstract

    To test hypotheses about positive emotion, the authors examined the relationship of positive emotional expression in women's college pictures to personality, observer ratings, and life outcomes. Consistent with the notion that positive emotions help build personal resources, positive emotional expression correlated with the self-reported personality traits of affiliation, competence, and low negative emotionality across adulthood and predicted changes in competence and negative emotionality. Observers rated women displaying more positive emotion more favorably on several personality dimensions and expected interactions with them to be more rewarding; thus, demonstrating the beneficial social consequences of positive emotions. Finally, positive emotional expression predicted favorable outcomes in marriage and personal well-being up to 30 years later. Controlling for physical attractiveness and social desirability had little impact on these findings.

    PMID:
    11195884
    [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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