Newly published research by Andrew Gregory, Jordi Quoidbach, Claudia Haase, and Blum Center Associate Director Paul Piff identifies one of the unexpected upsides of uncertainty.
The research, titled “Be here now: Perceptions of uncertainty enhance savoring,” showed that people exposed to feelings of uncertainty were more likely to savor positive emotions in the current moment when compared to people who were exposed to feelings of order or people in a control condition. The findings have important implications during the current pandemic. As the authors concluded:
“This research comes at a time of great uncertainty brought about by the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic and the social, environmental, and economic instability it has triggered. As coronavirus cases wane and spike again seemingly without warning and people’s lives are upended, our findings underscore one possible avenue to help with coping: upregulating positive emotion by savoring the present moment.”
Paying attention to the present and savoring its positive elements could be an important coping strategy for dealing with uncertain times. The full article, published in Emotion, can be accessed here.