Everyone cares about positive emotion and what makes us happy. But do we really know both sides of the story about our most treasured feelings? This comprehensive volume provides the first account of the light and the dark sides of positive emotion, and how they can help us and sometimes even hurt us.

Table of Contents ; Part I. Introduction ; Chapter 1. Seeing it All: The Light and Dark Sides of Positive Emotion ; June Gruber, Hillary C. Devlin, & Judith Moskowitz ; Part II. Unpacking Recent Discoveries in Positive Emotion ; Chapter 2. The Psychological Construction of Positive Emotion as a Window Into Well-Being ; Paul Condon, Christine Wilson-Mendenhall & Lisa Feldman Barrett ; Chapter 3. Origins and Functions of Positive Affect: A Goal Regulation Perspective ; Charles Carver, Michael F. Scheier, & Sheri L. Johnson ; Chapter 4. Shared and Differentiating Features of the Positive Emotion Domain ; Belinda Campos & Dacher Keltner ; Chapter 5. The Role of Positive Affect on Thinking and Decision-Making: A Tribute to Alice Isen ; Judith Moskowitz, Margaret S. Clark, Anthony Ong, & June Gruber ; Chapter 6. Another Little Piece of My Heart: Positive Emotions and the Autonomic Nervous System ; Michelle N. Shiota & Alexander F. Danvers ; Chapter 7. Positive Emotion and the Brain: The Neuroscience of Happiness. ; Tabitha Kirkland, Vincent Y. Man, & William A. Cunningham ; Part III. The Light Side: When and Why Are Positive Emotions Good for Us? ; Chapter 8. Understanding the Neurobiology of Core Positive Emotions through Animal models: Affective and Clinical Implications ; Jaak Panksepp ; Chapter 9. Genetic and Environmental Influences on Positive Emotionality ; Ragnhild Bang Nes ; Chapter 10. The Dark and Light Sides of Humor: An Emotion Regulation Perspective ; Andrea C. Samson & James J. Gross ; Chapter 11. Positive Affect: A Pathway to Better Physical Health ; Sarah D. Pressman & Stephanie L. Bowlin ; Chapter 12. How Positive Social Emotions Motivate Actions for the Future Self: Building Bonds, Attaining Ambitions, and Establishing Esteem ; Lisa A. Williams & David DeSteno ; Chapter 13. Positive Affect and Adolescent Development: Emerging Levels of Understanding and Clinical Implications Dana L. McMakin & Ronald E. Dahl ; Part IV. The Dark Side: When Positive Emotion Goes Wrong ; Chapter 14. Older and Happier? Age-related effects on positive emotion ; Monika Lohani, Mary Jo Larcom, & Derek M. Isaacowitz ; Chapter 15. Positive Emotions in the Aftermath of Loss ; Anthony D. Ong, George A. Bonanno, and C. S. Bergeman ; Chapter 16. The Value of Positive Emotion: Philosophical Doubts and Reassurances ; Daniel M. Haybron ; Chapter 17. On the Downside of Feeling Good: Evidence for the Motivational, Cognitive and Behavioral Disadvantages of Positive Affect ; Joseph P. Forgas ; Chapter 18. Turning the Tables: How We React to Others' Happiness ; Margaret S. Clark & Joan K. Monin ; Chapter 19. The Cultural Shaping of Happiness: The Role of Ideal Affect ; Jeanne Tsai and BoKyung Park ; Chapter 20. The Paradoxical Effects of Pursuing Positive Emotion: When and Why Wanting to Feel Happy Backfires ; Brett Q. Ford & Iris B. Mauss ; Part V. Just Right: Cultivating Healthy Positive Emotion ; Chapter 21. Positive Urgency and Negative Outcomes: The Dispositional Tendency to Rash Action During Positive Emotional States ; Melissa A. Cyders ; Chapter 22. Positive Affect Systems in Depression: The Road Less Traveled ; Greg Siegle, Erika Forbes, Jennifer Silk ; Chapter 23. Positive Emotion Disturbance in Bipolar Disorder across the Lifespan ; Elizabeth J. Reeves, Ellen Leibenluft, & June Gruber ; Chapter 24. Positive Emotion: The Sirens' Song of Substance Use and the Trojan Horse for Recovery from Addiction Adam W. Carrico ; Chapter 25. The How, Why, What, When, and Who of Happiness: Mechanisms Underlying the Success of Positive Activity Interventions ; Kristin Layous, Sonja Lyubomirsky ; Chapter 26. Mindfulness and Balanced Positive Emotion ; Richard Branstrom, Larissa G. Duncan ; Chapter 27. Positive Affect Interventions to Reduce Stress: Harnessing the Benefit while Avoiding the Pollyanna ; Laura R. Saslow, Michael Cohn, & Judith Tedlie Moskowitz ; Part VI. Conclusions ; Chapter 28. Positive Emotions: The Good, The Bad, The Inert, and The Complicated ; Barbara Fredrickson

"This book is a captivating look at the light and dark sides of positive emotions. It addresses the topic of positive emotion fairly comprehensively and provides therapeutic applications as well." --Gary B Kaniuk, Doody's Health Science Book Review

Selling point: Provides a fully balanced treatment of positive emotion and happiness Selling point: Discusses the dark sides of positive emotion - how, when, and why it is not always good for you Selling point: First edited positive psychology volume to investigate the negative as well as positive impacts of positive emotion Selling point: Suggests future research to better understand the nature of positive emotion

Selling point: Provides a fully balanced treatment of positive emotion and happiness Selling point: Discusses the dark sides of positive emotion - how, when, and why it is not always good for you Selling point: First edited positive psychology volume to investigate the negative as well as positive impacts of positive emotion Selling point: Suggests future research to better understand the nature of positive emotion