Positivity: Top-Notch Research Reveals the 3 to 1 Ratio That Will Change Your Life

by Barbara L. Fredrickson

Seem farfetched? Let me tell you about patas monkeys. Like humans and many other mammals, when these monkeys are young, they play chase. Yet their game of chase has a twist. They run headlong into a flexible sapling or bush to catapult themselves in an unexpected direction. If you close your eyes and picture this stunt, you’ll see that it would defy getting “caught.” It turns out that adults of this species never pull this stunt themselves. Never, that is, unless they need to escape a predator. In play, patas monkeys develop a particular physical skill that might one day save their lives.8 Likewise, we’ve all heard the phrase “the family that plays together, stays together.” The wisdom in this phrase is that social play builds ties between people that are lasting and consequential. This wisdom holds outside the human family circle as well. A fascinating example comes from a certain breed of ground squirrels. Like some other mammals, when one squirrel sees a predator in the distance, it will sound an alarm call that alerts other squirrels to run for cover. It’s a risky move. In crying out, the danger-spotting squirrel draws attention to itself, which may well attract the predator. Scientists used to think that animals would risk their lives like this only for kin with whom they shared common genes. New evidence suggests, however, that squirrels also sound alarm calls for former playmates, not ge netically related.9 These squirrels developed a social resource while playing— ...