Worry and anger can be used to achieve great things as compared to joy and relaxation but at the cost of your health. Multi-national research led by The University of Essex has revealed how the brain processes ‘achievement feelings’. The paper – published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology – scientifically identified 12 emotions that fuel and influence success. Despite being viewed as negative emotions, anxiety and anger were found to be as energizing as joy and hope.
However, these deep feelings are associated with a lack of strategic thinking and poor health, including stress-related psychosomatic symptoms such as headache, nausea, back pain, and lack of sleep. Holistic hope is the most powerful emotion – the pursuit of positive perceptions and feelings of control with study leads to the joy of learning, the desire to succeed, and the pride in achievement. It turned out that if two students of equal ability took a test, the optimistic student would score a grade higher than his or her more negative-minded peer.
This could mean that a less optimistic person would get a failing D while a positive student would get a C. Professor Reinhard Pekrön, study lead from the University of Essex’s Department of Psychology, said: “This is the first study that has developed a 3D model for success. Emotions. Although the model may seem abstract at first glance, it shows that feelings of achievement play a role in our lives. How our emotions relate to critically important parts of our lives and can define how we perform in job interviews, tests, and other stressful situations.
“Interestingly we found that emotions such as anxiety and anger can sometimes motivate us more than pleasure or relaxation. However, despite its energizing powers, the knife edge of anxiety can lead to mental health issues, immune This can degrade system performance, and lead to performance degradation in the long run.
“Overall hope was the healthiest and best way to arouse success and promote long-term happiness. It is not failure and struggle that define one’s future, it is the perception of failure that exerts a strong influence on emotional responses.”
The psychological study included students from several universities and the general adult population. This happened in four different countries – UK, Germany, USA and Canada. It looked at over 1,000 people and assessed them in a variety of challenging situations at university and in the workplace. It is now hoped that the research will influence how coaches, teachers and managers inspire achievement.
The paper found that promoting the value, meaning and interestingness of tasks, rather than emphasizing success, produced better results. The findings suggest that it may be important for leaders to demonstrate enthusiasm to instill enthusiasm and hope in colleagues, students and athletes.