Exuberance: The Passion for Life

Science has put considerable effort into studying the sadder side of human nature, focusing on negative or destructive emotions. Kay Redfield Jamison is hoping science will look in the other direction -- at exuberance.
"Joy may be less philosophically satisfying than pain," Redfield said. "But it's just as important -- and a lot more fun."

Jamison is a scientist, writer and professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

The following excerpt is taken from the article Psychiatry Expert Probes Roots of Exuberance
: "Theorists suspect that as many as one in 10 people are lucky enough to embrace a temperament built on long-lasting energy and enthusiasm, she said -- people who are 'born bold, active and fearless, people who feel intensively alive.'
Jamison said that an exuberant temperament creates Nobel Prize-winners like Watson and renowned physicist Richard Feynman, whom Alan Alda portrayed on Broadway in 'QED.' And she suspects that scientists in particular may benefit from a high dose.

'Science is full of failure, and you need people to bounce back and get re-enthused,' she said. 'Exuberance is contagious,' and that energy motivates others to pursue similar ideas.
To understand the chemistry that drives high energy and high mood is to capture the force behind many great discoveries, she said. 'Exuberance is not recognized for the vital role it plays in discovery, creativity, leadership and survival itself ... It forces us out into a greater arena of life.'

But push exuberance too far, and mad things can happen. "