The positive emotion of Elevation

Psychologist Jonathan Haidt defines elevation as a positive emotion "elicited by acts of virtue or moral beauty; it causes warm, open feelings ... in the chest; and it motivates people to behave more virtuously themselves ...."

Haidt and his collaborators conducted two controlled studies, one in which they asked participants to "think of a specific time when you saw a manifestation of humanity's 'higher' or 'better' nature" and the other in which they we induced elevation by having participants watch video clips of Mother Teresa. They report that in both studies, participants in whom elevation was evoked

"were more likely to report physical feelings in their chests, especially warm, pleasant, or "tingling" feelings, and they were more likely to report wanting to help others, to become better people themselves, and to affiliate with others."

It's worth noting that in each study, there was a group of participants in whom happiness (but not elevation) was intentionally induced. In each of the happiness groups (as contrasted to the elevation groups), participants were "energized to engage in private or self-interested pursuits, while those in the elevation group seemed to open up and turn their attention outwards, towards other people."

Haidt suggests that elevation is in line with Barbara Fredrickson's (1998) "broaden and build" model of the positive emotions, where positive emotions are said to "open people up to new possibilities through which they can become motivated cultivate skills and and relationships to use as resources at some future time.

Haidt closes his article with words from David Whitford, which Haidt relates "give a more eloquent description of elevation that any thing I could write."

"There's [a] kind of tear... about the joy of receiving love, or maybe just detecting love (whether it's directed at me or at someone else). It's the kind of tear that flows in response to expressions of courage, or compassion, or kindness by others.... [A] tear of celebration, a tear of receptiveness to what is good in the world, a tear that says it's okay, relax, let down your guard, there are good people in the world, there is good in people, love is real, it's in our nature. That kind of tear is ... like being pricked ... [so]... the love pours in."

For more information about Haidt's work on the emotion he calls Elevation, visit here .