Passion and optimal functioning
Passion is a powerful motivational force towards an activity, an object, a cause, or a person that we love, find meaningful and to which we are committed. Passion affects the quality of people’s engagement in their activities. There are two types of passion, harmonious and obsessive. While harmonious passion remains under the control of the person and leads to positive consequences, obsessive passion comes to control the person and leads to maladaptive consequences. Over a hundred studies have documented these effects on mental and physical health, personal relationships and high performance, among other things.
Inspiring research
The Canada research chair’s facilities are located at the Research Laboratory on Social Behavior (RLSB) of the Psychology Department. The research carried out by the Chair focuses on the concept of passion and optimal functioning. The Chair and the RLSB have three main objectives: 1) to conduct theoretical research in the context of social psychology and passion, 2) to conduct theoretically inspired applied research on the implications of passion in a natural environment and 3) the training of future researchers and university professors.
Benefits for society
- Scientific proof that harmonious passion leads to adaptive consequences and that obsessive passion leads to less adaptive and sometimes maladaptive consequences.
- Better understanding of the role of passion in the person’s contribution towards society.
- Prevention of mental and physical health problems in individuals related to their type of passion.
- Identification of the processes by which passion leads to excellence in various domains such as sport, work, music and arts.
- Development of strategies promoting a harmonious passion in several areas: sport, education, work, interpersonal relationship, etc.
- More than 25 university professors have been trained in our laboratory.
Example projects
Our passion can take us very far except that…
Research on the role of harmonious passion in high-level performance shows that it is possible to achieve high levels of performance while enjoying a high level of physical and psychological well-being. On the other hand, obsessive passion also enables high-level performance to be achieved but represents a risk factor with respect to interpersonal conflict, burnout and physical health in sports, studies, music, arts or work.
When playing is no longer a game
With harmonious passion, the person is in control of the activity. He or she can decide to participate or not in the activity on a given day. This is not the case with obsessive passion, because the activity has taken control over the person and causes him or her to persist even when it is uncalled for. Such rigid persistence causes the person to continue the activity even if permanent negative consequences are experienced, eventually leading to addiction. Results of several studies show that obsessive passion may contribute to pathological gambling, excessive online gambling or online shopping addiction whereas harmonious passion does not
Partnerships
Canada Research Chairs Program; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council; Fonds de recherche du Québec- Société et Culture; Fédération de l’âge d’or du Québec; Casino de Montréal; Réseau du sport étudiant-Québec
Keywords
Passion | Motivational processes | Optimal functioning | Self-determination | Health | Well-being | IdentityTo find out more
Chaires de recherche du Canada Canada research chair in motivational processes and optimal functioningChairholder
Robert J. Vallerand, professor, Psychology Department514-987-3000 poste 4836
