Losada line

The Losada Line, also known as the "Losada ratio," was found by psychologist Marcial Losada while researching the differences in positivity/negativity between high and low performance teams (Losada, 1999, 2004). The Losada Line has a positivity/negativity ratio of 2.9013 and it represents the lower bound of the Losada Zone. It was corroborated by Barbara Fredrickson, a psychologist at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in individuals and by Waugh and Fredrickson in relationships (Waugh & Fredrickson, 2006). They found that the Losada Line separates people who are able to reach a complex understanding of others from those who do not. People who "flourish" are above the Losada Line, and those who "languish" are below it (Fredrickson & Losada, 2005; Fredrickson, 2009). The Losada Line bifurcates the type of dynamics that are possible for an interactive human system. Below it, we find limiting dynamics represented by fixed-point attractors; at or above it, we find innovative dynamics represented by complex order attractors (complexor).

References

• Fredrickson, B.L. (2009). Positivity. Crown Publishers, New York.
• Fredrickson, B.L. & Losada, M. (2005). Positive affect and the complex dynamics of human flourishing. American Psychologist, 60(7), 678–686.
• Losada, M. (1999). The complex dynamics of high performance teams. Mathematical and Computer Modelling, 30(9–10), 179–192.
• Losada, M. & Heaphy, E. (2004). The role of positivity and connectivity in the performance of business teams: A nonlinear dynamics model. American Behavioral Scientist, 47(6), 740–765.
• Waugh, C.E. & Fredrickson, B.L. (2006). Nice to know you: Positive emotions, self-other overlap, and complex understanding in the formation of a new relationship. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 1(2), 93–106.

External links

• http://blog.enablersnetwork.com/2009/11/01/marcial-losada-explains-his-research-for-our-blog-readers/
• http://PositivePsychologyNews.com/news/guest-author/200812081289
• http://PositivePsychologyNews.com/news/guest-author/200812091298
• http://endlessknots.netage.com/endlessknots/2009/04/the-algorithm-for-happiness31.html
• http://www.utne.com/Spirituality/Finding-Happiness-Cultivating-Positive-Emotions-Psychology.aspx
• http://losada.socialpsychology.org