More than a Feeling: Love 2.0: How Our Supreme Emotion Affects Everything We Feel, Think, Do, and Become
by Barbara L. Fredrickson
Hudson Street Press, 2013 ($25.95)

Emotion researcher Fredrickson wants to revamp our view of love. In Love 2.0., she has us reimagine love as a series of micromoments in which any two people, even strangers, can click with each other. This feeling might pop up multiple times a day, perhaps when smiling at a stranger or striking up a conversation while waiting in line for coffee.

Fredrickson builds her case by expanding on research that shows how sharing a strong bond with another person alters our brain chemistry. She describes a study in which best friends' brains nearly synchronize when exchanging stories, even to the point where the listener can anticipate what the storyteller will say next. Fredrickson takes the findings a step further, concluding that having positive feelings toward someone, even a stranger, can elicit similar neural bonding.

This leap, however, is not supported by the study and fails to bolster her argument. In fact, most of the evidence she uses to support her theory of love falls flat. She leans heavily on subjective reports of people who feel more connected with others after engaging in mental exercises such as meditation, rather than on more objective studies that measure brain activity associated with love.

Fredrickson's strongest section is her exploration of how we can turn her insights into practice. For instance, she argues that loving-kindness meditation, which focuses on directing good-hearted wishes to others, can enhance our ability to connect. In one study, she found that regular use of this practice strengthens vagal tone, a measure of the vagus nerve, which relays sensory information between the brain and other areas. People with higher vagal tone are physically healthier, exhibiting less inflammation associated with cancer, and are more adept at bonding with others.

Love 2.0 offers a new perspectiveon a well-worn topic. Despite the book's flaws, Fredrickson's aim in broadening our view of the emotion is to spread the love. A worthy goal.

This article was originally published with the title More than a Feeling.

2 Comments

1. 1. SkipGrieser 11:45 AM 3/18/13

   Respectfully, to offer a different perspective on two points --
   
   First, Murphy referred to "the book's flaws" and wrote that, "In fact, most of the evidence she (Fredrickson) uses to support her theory of love falls flat" and that she "leans heavily on subjective reports ... rather than on more objective studies ..."
   
   However, LOVE 2.0 contains: a) a large number of objective scientific studies cited throughout the book; b) 192 numbered notes in the back of the book, many of which are references to scientific studies and journal articles; c) almost countless phrases like, "studies show," "research shows," "studies after studies show," etc.; and d) an acknowledgement, particularly relevant to the latter point, which explains that Fredrickson's editor helped her "shave off the excesses of academic language and theory."
   
   LOVE 2.0 is clearly and carefully written for general audiences. Although Fredrickson does specifically cite many scientifically objective studies of her own and others, her frequent use of phrases such as "research shows" is common when researchers write differently for general audiences than for academic journals and textbooks.
   
   According to the website of Fredrickson's Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology Laboratory (http://www.unc.edu/peplab/purpose.html), the first of the lab's three "core deals" is "to do high-quality science." Fredrickson deserves credit for doing so, and for presenting it to the general public in a readable but very amply supported way. There are plenty of references offered for those who want to dig deeper into the science.
   
   Second, positivity resonance and the new view of love that Fredrickson offers -- safe connections between people -- is not a "well-worn topic" but rather is: a) filled with new and ongoing discoveries, and b) sorely needed for us to thrive in our personal and professional relationships, and in our communities and our world. And positive psychology, although preceded by the works of William James, Abraham Maslow and others, is a new field of study, generally acknowledged to have started in 1998 with Martin Seligman's theme as president of the American Psychological Association.
   
   For one example, the subfield of positive organizational scholarship seeks, among other things, and in so many words, to help us bring our love (positivity resonance) to work, so that we are not mired in the dysfunctional and dispirited work environments and organizational cultures that so many experience daily.
   
   Yes, Murphy's conclusion is right ... spreading the love is a worthy goal.

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2. 2. SkipGrieser 12:21 PM 3/18/13

   Correction -- the "core deals" of Fredrickson's PEPLab should be "core ideals"

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