Open AccessAutonomic Nervous System Activity During Positive Emotions: A Meta-Analytic Review
Author(s) -
Maciej Behnke,
Sylvia Kreibig,
Łukasz Kaczmarek,
Mark Assink,
James J. Gross
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
emotion review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.798
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1754-0747
pISSN - 1754-0739
DOI - 10.1177/17540739211073084
Subject(s) - psychology , gratitude , amusement , pride , contentment , reactivity (psychology) , emotional control , developmental psychology , social psychology , cognitive psychology , cognition , neuroscience , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology , political science , law
Autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity is a fundamental component of emotional responding. It is not clear, however, whether positive emotional states are associated with differential ANS reactivity. To address this issue, we conducted a meta-analytic review of 120 articles (686 effect sizes, total N = 6,546), measuring ANS activity during 11 elicited positive emotions, namely amusement, attachment love, awe, contentment, craving, excitement, gratitude, joy, nurturant love, pride, and sexual desire. We identified a widely dispersed collection of studies. Univariate results indicated that positive emotions produce no or weak and highly variable increases in ANS reactivity. However, the limitations of work to date – which we discuss – mean that our conclusions should be treated as empirically grounded hypotheses that future research should validate.