With all of the stress and conflict in our daily lives, it's hard to believe that in 2023 positive emotions returned.
According to a survey from Gallup that was released last month, for the first time since 2104 experiences of stress, sadness, anger, worry and physical pain each edged downward.
Gallup asked adults in 142 countries if they had five different negative experiences on the day before the survey -- and then compiled the results into an index. The index and each of its components remain higher than they were a decade ago.
Of the five negative emotions, stress declined the most falling three percentage points in 2023 to 37%. While stress was down from the levels measured during the pandemic, they were higher than a decade ago at 33%.
Last year, three of the five emotions were stable compared with the previous year. Over seven in 10 people worldwide said they felt well-rested (71%), experienced a lot of enjoyment (73%), or smiled or laughed a lot (73%).
Other emotions measured included respect. In the survey 85% felt they were treated with respect. While this sounds high, it was in fact down two percentage points from the previous year.
Another aspect of the survey was inquiring whether the respondent had learned or did something interesting the previous day. That number increased to a record-high 54%, up four points from the year before.
So how does this relate to safety? Well it can have an effect on psychological safety, which is a more recent goal of most organizations. In a February 2024 study, the authors studied the relationship between a leader's positive emotions and how they affect employees. The research discovered that there a "positive association between leaders' positive emotions and employees' psychological safety, and leader-member exchange has a cross-level moderating influence on the link between leaders' positive emotions and subordinates' psychological safety."
We have written about psychological safety over the past couple of years. Herea are some articles.
