Positive Side of Negative Emotions

W. Gerrod Parrott, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at Georgetown University. His central interest is the nature of human emotion. His published work has focused on three areas: philosophical and historical approaches to the concept of emotion; emotion's social foundations and functions, including such social emotions as embarrassment, shame, guilt, envy, and jealousy; and the influence of emotion and emotional self-regulation on thought. Dr. Parrott is the author of over 75 scholarly chapters, articles, and books. He is past editor of the journal Cognition and Emotion and past president of the International Society for Research on Emotion.

Parrott is one of the most creative thinkers and gifted writers in the field of psychology. His beautifully rendered articles on jealousy and envy and his classic 'Beyond Hedonism,' still well cited after 20 years, have always left me wanting to read more on these topics. And now we can: Parrott has assembled some of the most intriguing thinkers studying human emotion and asked them to consider how unpleasant emotions from anger to embarrassment to jealousy might actually be adaptive for individuals and societies. The contributors address issues at the heart of basic research as well as clinical practice, and they challenge long-standing assumptions about negative emotions as feelings to 'manage' or even eliminate.--Peter Salovey, PhD, President and Chris Argyris Professor of Psychology, Yale UniversityThis book is a gem! In Parrott’s beautifully orchestrated volume, a select cast of authors share important insights about emotion. Both beginners and experts will be surprised to learn from this engrossing and memorable book how beneficial our negative emotions can be.--Gerald L. Clore, PhD, Commonwealth Professor of Psychology, University of VirginiaAn excellent volume that provides an up-to-date overview of a timely topic. This is the first book to integrate the range of existing research on the positive effects of anger, anxiety, shame, sadness, jealousy, and other negative emotions. While offering broad coverage of different emotions and theoretical perspectives, the book has a unifying focus on the counterintuitive notion that negative emotions can be good, even if they feel bad. Students and scholars will feel challenged by the abundance of research and depth of theorizing.--Agneta H. Fischer, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands-Superbly edited by a prolific researcher and leader in the field of emotion research….The contributions…are notable for the diverse, fine-grained analyses of emotion regulation they present….Highly recommended. All readers.--Choice Reviews, 12/1/2014

• I. Specific Negative Emotions1. Can Sadness Be Good for You?: On the Cognitive, Motivational, and Interpersonal Benefits of Negative Affect, Joseph P. Forgas2. Anxiety as an Adaptive Emotion, Adam M. Perkins and Philip Corr3. Anger Is a Positive Emotion, Ursula Hess4. Can Negative Social Emotions Have Positive Consequences?: An Examination of Embarrassment, Shame, Guilt, Jealousy, and Envy, Nicole E. Henniger and Christine R. HarrisII. Social and Cultural Aspects of Negative Emotions5. When Negative Emotions Benefit Close Relationships, Levi R. Baker, James K. McNulty, and Nickola C. Overall6. On the Social Influence of Negative Emotional Expressions, Gerben A. Van Kleef and Stéphane Côté7. Listening to Negative Emotions: How Culture Constrains What We Hear, Yulia E. Chentsova-Dutton, Nicole Senft, and Andrew G. Ryder8. The Function of Negative Emotions in the Confucian Tradition, Louise SundararajanIII. The Desirability of Negative Emotions9. Why Might People Want to Feel Bad?: Motives in Contrahedonic Emotion Regulation, Maya Tamir and Yochanan Bigman10. Negative Emotions and the Meaningful Sides of Media Entertainment, Mary Beth Oliver, Anne Bartsch, and Tilo Hartmann11. The Right Tool for the Job: Functional Analysis and Evaluating Positivity/Negativity, Julie K. Norem12. Feeling, Function, and the Place of Negative Emotions in a Happy Life, W. Gerrod Parrott