title: Positive affect and markers of inflammation: discrete positive emotions predict lower levels of inflammatory cytokines.
abstract: Negative emotions are reliably associated with poorer health (e.g., Kiecolt-Glaser, McGuire, Robles, & Glaser, 2002), but only recently has research begun to acknowledge the important role of positive emotions for our physical health (Fredrickson, 2003). We examine the link between dispositional positive affect and one potential biological pathway between positive emotions and health-proinflammatory cytokines, specifically levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6). We hypothesized that greater trait positive affect would be associated with lower levels of IL-6 in a healthy sample. We found support for this hypothesis across two studies. We also explored the relationship between discrete positive emotions and IL-6 levels, finding that awe, measured in two different ways, was the strongest predictor of lower levels of proinflammatory cytokines. These effects held when controlling for relevant personality and health variables. This work suggests a potential biological pathway between positive emotions and health through proinflammatory cytokines.
authors.affiliation: Department of Management, University of Toronto.
authors.forename: Jennifer E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Stellar
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Behavioral Medicine, University of Pittsburgh.
authors.forename: Neha
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: John-Henderson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California-Berkeley.
authors.forename: Craig L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California-Berkeley.
authors.forename: Amie M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Gordon
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California-Berkeley.
authors.forename: Galen D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: McNeil
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California-Berkeley.
authors.forename: Dacher
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Keltner
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000339:Affect; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000097:blood*; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D010551:Personality; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D016207:Cytokines; D015850:Interleukin-6