Positive affect and behavior change

Affect and emotion have potent motivational properties that can be leveraged to promote desirable behavior change. Although interventions often employ fear appeals in an effort motivate change, both theory a growing body of empirical evidence suggest positive affect emotions change by serving as proximal rewards for desired behaviors. This article reviews examples such efforts the domains healthy diet exercise, prosocial behavior, pro-environmental documenting strong potential offered behavioral using this approach. The extent which experience prospectively drives (as distinct from rewarding behavior) is less clear. However, variety possible indirect pathways involving incidental effects specific deserve rigorous future study.