The science of positive emotions: Why comparing and contrasting matters

The science of positive emotions has blossomed over the past two decades, with researchers demonstrating the impact of specific 'feel good' states (e.g., pride, gratitude, interest, hope, awe) on a range of behavioral (e.g., facial expressions) and social (e.g., charitable donations) outcomes. Yet much of this work has traditionally been conducted in silos. In my research, I build a case for why it may be meaningful to compare between positive emotions, and what such an approach could contribute to our understanding of affective processes. To do so, I will touch on three lines of work I have engaged in, each tied to positive emotions within specific contexts: (a) application to social questions (i.e., are some positive states better enablers of charity?), (b) beliefs about expressions (i.e., do we think the rich are happier than the poor?), and (c) communication of affect (i.e., how differentiable is hope from interest?). Taken together, I postulate that investigating multiple positive emotions in tandem - rather than in isolation - could lead to more novel insights for psychological science.