In my work on the moral emotions I have stumbled upon a class of emotions that is almost completely unstudied: the emotions we feel when other people do good, skillful, or admirable things. These emotions are unusual in that they are not primarily about ourselves, our goals, and our normal petty concerns. These emotions give people a sense of uplift and inspiration; they make us feel like better people; they are self-transcendent. I have focused my work on the emotion of moral elevation (a reaction to moral beauty). But I have also begun to study gratitude (with Sara Algoe) and awe (with Patrick Seder and Dacher Keltner).
Papers on elevation:
Here is the major current statement on elevation: ** Haidt,
J. (2003). Elevation and the positive psychology of
morality. In C. L. M. Keyes & J. Haidt (Eds.) Flourishing:
Positive psychology and the life well-lived.
Here is a shorter, earlier statement: Haidt, J . (2000). The positive emotion of elevation. Prevention and Treatment, 3,
Here is an article showing that moral elevation causes lactation, perhaps by triggering the release of oxytocin: Silvers, J., & Haidt, J. (2008). Moral Elevation Can Induce Lactation. Emotion, 8, 291-295.
Here are two short articles written for a general (non-academic) audience:
Haidt, J. (2001). “Elevation and the revelation of our better selves.” Research News in Science and Theology, October.
Haidt,
J. (2005). “Disgust and Elevation: Opposing Sources of ‘Spiritual
Information’”. In C. L. Harper, Jr.
"Spiritual information": 100 perspectives.
Papers on awe and other positive emotions:
Keltner, D., & Haidt, J . (2003). Approaching awe, a moral, spiritual, and aesthetic emotion. Cognition and Emotion, 17, 297-314.
Haidt, J. & Keltner, D . (2004). Appreciation of beauty and excellence. In C.
Peterson and M. E. P. Seligman (Eds.) Character
strengths and virtues.
Algoe, S., & Haidt, J., & Gable, S. (in press). Beyond reciprocity: Gratitude and relationships in everyday life. Emotion.
And here is a paper on prestige and admiration that I didn’t
write, but it is so good and so relevant to elevation that I want everyone to
read it: Henrich,
J. & Gil-White, F. (2001) The Evolution of
Prestige: freely conferred status as a mechanism for enhancing the benefits of
cultural transmission. Evolution and
Human Behavior, 22, 1-32.
Papers by other researchers on moral elevation:
Landis, S., Sherman, M., Piedmont, R., Kirkhart, M., Rapp, E., & Bike, D. (in press). "Elevation and its incremental validity above and beyond the five factor model of personality." Journal of Positive Psychology.
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Last Updated June 23, 2008