Why unhappy people avoid enjoyable activities
Scientific litsketch on boosting mental health
One great antidote for reducing our negative emotions is to do an activity that we enjoy. However, research shows that feeling negative emotions prevents us from engaging in an enjoyable activity (Shen et al., 2020). This makes it difficult for people to recover from their negative emotions.
One strategy the research found to be useful for preventing our negative emotions from taking away our willingness to engage in an enjoyable activity is to imagine the outcome for that activity rather than to imagine the process. For example, imagining the outcome of how good we would feel after having a party at a bar would help us to be more willing to join the party. We are less likely to join the party if we image the process of how good we would feel while being in the party.
In an experiment, people were divided into two groups. Group One was asked to describe a negative personal experience to make them feel negative emotions while Group Two was asked to describe a typical day in their life to make them feel neutral. Both groups were presented with two songs - We wish you a merry Christmas, (a more enjoyable song to sing), and Silent Night (a less enjoyable song to sing), then asked to either imagine how they would feel while they were singing each song, or imagine how they would feel after they finished singing each song. Finally, they were asked which song they would prefer to sing, and how difficult it is to imagine singing each song.
The results showed that Group One that was made to feel unhappy was less willing to sing a more enjoyable song because they found it difficult to imagine doing an enjoyable activity. However, when they imagined how they would feel after singing the song, they were more likely to sing the more enjoyable song than when they imaged how they would feel while singing the song. In other words, unhappy people are more likely to avoid enjoyable activities, but imagining how they would feel after engaging in an enjoyable activity will help them overcome the inertia.
When you feel unhappy, imagine how you would feel after doing the activities that you find enjoyable. This will help you overcome the psychological barriers that prevent you from doing the enjoyable activities.
Shen, Hao, Aparna Labroo, and Robert S. Wyer Jr. "So difficult to smile: Why unhappy people avoid enjoyable activities." Journal of personality and social psychology 119, no. 1 (2020): 23.