Self-Transcendent Emotions and Their Social Effects: Awe, Elevation and Kama Muta Promote a Human Identification and Motivations to Help Others.

Abundant literature shows the effects of negative emotions on motivations to engage in collective action (i.e., to collectively mobilize personal resources to achieve a common objective), as well as their influence on the creation of shared identities. In this proposal, we focus on the possible role of Self-Transcendent Emotions (STEs) defined as positive-valence emotions that have been key in the creation and maintenance of collective identities, as well as in promoting individuals well-being. In detail, we examine their influence in (a) strengthening a global identification, (b) increasing willingness to collectively help others, and (c) improving people's wellbeing. For this reason, we conducted a preliminary literature review of k = 65 independent studies on the effects of STEs on connection to others. Through this review (fully available in Supplementary Materials), we selected a sample of STEs (Awe, Elevation, and Kama Muta) and elicitors to conduct a video-base study. In it, 1,064 university students from 3 different cultural regions (from Spain and Ecuador) were randomized to answer one of three STE scales (i.e., each measuring one of the selected STEs), and evaluate three videos in random order (i.e., each prototypical for the selected STEs). Participants also answered a measure of global identification and intentions to collectively help others (after each video), as well as self-transcendent and well-being (at the end of the survey). Results from SEM analyses show these STEs motivated a fusion of identity with all humanity, as well as collective intentions to help others, even controlling for individuals' value orientations. In addition, the three of them indirectly increased participants' well-being through a higher global identity. While there are differences among them, these three STEs share common elements and their effects are constant across the different cultural regions. It is concluded that Awe, Elevation, and Kama Muta, even individually experienced, have a significant potential to influence people's behavior. Specifically, in various forms of collective action aimed at helping others.

Antecedents of moral pride: the harder the action, the greater the pride?

The study’s aim was to analyze if some specific types of action generate higher levels of moral pride. Three variables were analyzed: whether the actions involved going against the group majority, whether they involved a personal cost of a different kind and whether they were the result of a prior intention. Participants were 160 adolescents aged between 14 and 16. Sixteen scenarios were designed (two for each combination of the three variables) in which someone needed help. Half of the participants were presented with 8 of these scenarios, and half with the other 8. In each scenario, participants were asked to state what they would feel and do and how much pride they would feel if they helped. Curiously enough, both prosocial behaviors which involved going against the majority, F(1, 140) = 60.36, p = .001, η2 = .301 and those which involved a personal cost of a different kind, F(1, 140) = 10.17, p = .002, η2 = .068 generated less moral pride (AU)

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Antecedents of moral pride: the harder the action, the greater the pride?

The study's aim was to analyze if some specific types of action generate higher levels of moral pride. Three variables were analyzed: whether the actions involved going against the group majority, whether they involved a personal cost of a different kind and whether they were the result of a prior intention. Participants were 160 adolescents aged between 14 and 16. Sixteen scenarios were designed (two for each combination of the three variables) in which someone needed help. Half of the participants were presented with 8 of these scenarios, and half with the other 8. In each scenario, participants were asked to state what they would feel and do and how much pride they would feel if they helped. Curiously enough, both prosocial behaviors which involved going against the majority, F(1, 140) = 60.36, p = .001, η2 = .301 and those which involved a personal cost of a different kind, F(1, 140) = 10.17, p = .002, η2 = .068 generated less moral pride.

Both Freud and Hoffman are right: Anxious-aggressive and empathic dimensions of guilt.

The purpose of the study was to confirm a model which proposed two basic dimensions in the subjective experience of guilt, one anxious-aggressive and the other empathic, as well as another dimension associated but not intrinsic to it, namely, the associated negative emotions dimension. Participants were 360 adolescents, young adults and adults of both sexes. They were asked to relate one of the situations that most frequently caused them to experience feelings of guilt and to specify its intensity and that of 9 other emotions that they may have experienced, to a greater or lesser extent, at the same time on a 7-point scale. The proposed model was shown to adequately fit the data and to be better than other alternative nested models. This result supports the views of both Freud and Hoffman regarding the nature of guilt, contradictory only at a first glance.

Both Freud and Hoffman are Right: Anxious-Aggressive and Empathic Dimensions of Guilt

The purpose of the study was to confirm a model which proposed two basic dimensions in the subjective experience of guilt, one anxious-aggressive and the other empathic, as well as another dimension associated but not intrinsic to it, namely, the associated negative emotions dimension. Participants were 360 adolescents, young adults and adults of both sexes. They were asked to relate one of the situations that most frequently caused them to experience feelings of guilt and to specify its intensity and that of 9 other emotions that they may have experienced, to a greater or lesser extent, at the same time on a 7- point scale. The proposed model was shown to adequately fit the data and to be better than other alternative nested models. This result supports the views of both Freud and Hoffman regarding the nature of guilt, contradictory only at a first glance (AU)

El objetivo de este estudio fue confirmar un modelo que proponía dos dimensiones básicas de le experiencia subjetiva de la culpa, una ansiosa-agresiva y la otra empática, además de otra dimensión asociada pero no intrínseca a la culpa, es decir, la dimensión de las emociones negativas asociadas. Participaron en el estudio 360 adolescentes, jóvenes y adultos de ambos sexos. Se les pidió que relataran una de las situaciones que les hacían sentirse culpables con mayor frecuencia y que especificaran su intensidad y la de otras 9 emociones que hubieran podido experimentar, en mayor o menor grado, al mismo tiempo en una escala de 7 puntos. El modelo propuesto se ajustaba a los datos y se observó que era mejor que otros modelos alternativos anidados. Este resultado apoya los puntos de vista tanto de Freud como de Hoffman con respecto a la naturaleza de la culpa, sólo aparentemente contradictorios (AU)