The Undoing Effect of Positive Emotions
What is the Undoing Effect? Can Positive Emotions Undo the Health-Damaging Cardiovascular Reactivity of Negative Emotions?

The undoing effect hypothesizes that positive emotions can undo the cardiovascular aftereffects of negative emotions. Participants experiencing anxiety-induced cardiovascular reactivity viewed a film that elicited either contentment, amusement, neutrality, or sadness. Contentment and amusing-eleciting films produced faster cardiovascular recovery than neutral or sad films, supporting the undoing effect.

The Undoing Effect of Positive Emotions

Positive emotions are hypothesized to undo the cardiovascular aftereffects of negative emotions. Study 1 tests this undoing effect. Participants (n = 170) experiencing anxiety-induced cardiovascular reactivity viewed a film that elicited (a) contentment, (b) amusement, (c) neutrality, or (d) sadness. Contentment-eliciting and amusing films produced faster cardiovascular recovery than neutral or sad films did. Participants in Study 2 (n = 185) viewed these same films following a neutral state. Results disconfirm the alternative explanation that the undoing effect reflects a simple replacement process. Findings are contextualized by Fredrickson’s broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions (B. L. Fredrickson, 1998).

Fredrickson, B. L., Mancuso, R. A., Branigan, C., & Tugade, M. M. (2000). The Undoing Effect of Positive Emotions. Motivation and emotion, 24(4), 237–258.