Garnering support for distressing experiences is highly important, yet notoriously challenging. We examine whether expressing positive thoughts and feelings when seeking support for negative events can help people elicit support, and we present a theoretical process model that explains why it might do so. The model includes three support-eliciting pathways through which expressing positivity could increase support: by strengthening providers’ prorelational motives, increasing providers’ positive mood, and enhancing providers’ expected support effectiveness. It also includes a support-suppressing pathway through which expressing positivity could decrease support: by undermining providers’ appraisals of support seekers’ needs. After presenting the model and providing evidence for each indirect pathway, we review research regarding the direct pathway. We then consider various types of positivity, discuss possible moderators, and identify directions for future research. Our model highlights support seekers’ underemphasized role in shaping support receipt and provides a novel perspective on positive expressivity’s potential value in distress-related contexts.

获得对痛苦经历的支持非常重要，但也是众所周知的挑战。我们研究了在为消极事件寻求支持时表达积极的想法和感受是否可以帮助人们获得支持，我们提出了一个理论过程模型来解释为什么可能会这样做。该模型包括三个支持引发途径，通过这些途径表达积极性可以增加支持：通过加强提供者的亲缘动机、增加提供者的积极情绪以及提高提供者的预期支持有效性。它还包括抑制支持的途径，通过该途径表达积极性可能会减少支持：通过破坏提供者对寻求支持者需求的评估。在介绍模型并为每个间接途径提供证据后，我们回顾了有关直接途径的研究。然后我们考虑各种类型的积极性，讨论可能的调节因素，并确定未来研究的方向。我们的模型强调了寻求支持者在塑造支持接收方面的作用被低估，并提供了一个关于积极表达在遇险相关环境中的潜在价值的新视角。