Witnessing excellence in action: the ‘other-praising’ emotions of elevation, gratitude, and admiration

By Sara B. Algoe, Jonathan Haidt. Journal of Positive Psychology, 2009

1,164 citations recorded by the source corpus.

People are often profoundly moved by the virtue or skill of others, yet psychology has little to say about the ‘other-praising’ family of emotions. Here we demonstrate that emotions such as elevation, gratitude, and admiration differ from more commonly studied forms of positive affect (joy and amusement) in many ways, and from each other in a few ways. The results of studies using recall, video induction, event-contingent diary, and letter-writing methods to induce other-praising emotions suggest that: elevation (a response to moral excellence) motivates prosocial and affiliative behavior, gratitude motivates improved relationships with benefactors, and admiration motivates self-improvement. Mediation analyses highlight the role of conscious emotion between appraisals and motivations. Discussion focuses on implications for emotion research, interpersonal relationships, and morality.

Subfields: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/5b155d2cda40b48c613a4d276510cd29b485e2ff

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Citations in the corpus

It's the little things: Everyday gratitude as a booster shot for romantic relationships (2010, background): “Admiration is theoretically related to gratitude in that it is another positive emotion caused by the person’s praiseworthy actions with the potential for certain positive relational outcomes (see Algoe & Haidt, 2009) and is therefore a relevant comparison.”
Exemplars and nudges: Combining two strategies for moral education (2018, positive): “To trigger the most admiration, it is useful to look at its antecedents: admiration arises from the perception that someone exceeds a standard (Algoe & Haidt, 2009).”
A moral act, elevation, and prosocial behavior: Moderators of morality (2013, methodology): “…1, 50–64, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2012.754926 2013 Taylor & Francis experimenters, across different contexts, across different samples with diverse ages and ethnicities, and using a variety of manipulation types (e.g. Algoe & Haidt, 2009; Cox, 2010; Vianello, Galliani, & Haidt, 2010).”
Openness to experience and awe in response to nature and music: Personality and profound aesthetic experiences. (2015, background): “Another possibility is a family of elevated interpersonal emotions (Algoe & Haidt, 2009), such as gratitude, elevation, and inspiration (Thrash & Elliot, 2003).”
Challenging the Norm of Self-Interest: Minority Influence and Transitions to Helping Norms in Work Units (2012, background): “…wrote, “When any . . . act of charity or of gratitude, for instance, is presented either to our sight or imagination, we are deeply impressed with its beauty and feel a strong desire in ourselves of doing charitable and grateful acts also” (1975/1771: 349; quoted in Algoe & Haidt, 2009: 106).”
Funders' positive affective reactions to entrepreneurs' crowdfunding pitches: The influence of perceived product creativity and entrepreneurial passion (2017, background): “For these reasons, creative products (i.e., those that are deemed to be both novel and meaningful; Andrews and Smith, 1996) have the potential to elicit positive affective reactions in those who view them (Algoe and Haidt, 2009; Baron, 2008).”
Ethically adrift: How others pull our moral compass from true North, and how we can fix it (2013, background): “…states, such as inspiration (Thrash, Elliot, Maruskin, & Cassidy, 2010) and elevation (Haidt, 2000, 2003a), also increase pro-social behavior, by harnessing the power of positive social relationships that allow us to spend time with people we want to emulate and assist (Algoe & Haidt, 2009).”
Elevation at work: The effects of leaders’ moral excellence (2010, positive): “…provided a scale specifically addressed to organizational settings – but easily adaptable to different contexts – drawing on the theoretical model that Algoe and Haidt (2009) recently proposed on the basis of three studies using recall, video induction, daily diary, and letter-writing methods to…”
Pay It Forward: Gratitude in Social Networks (2011, methodology): “(Algoe and Haidt 2009; Algoe et al. 2008; Tsang 2007). This secondary effect seems to come from the beneficiary’s intention and action to reciprocate after experiencing the emotion of gratitude. And it is inherently a helping behavior. Moreover, Bartlett and DeSteno (2006) found that when an individ”
Celebrity influences on consumer decision making: new insights and research directions (2019, background): “Admired celebrity figures are inspirational role models who encourage others to improve and achieve their ideal self-images and life aspirations (Algoe & Haidt, 2009; Bush, Martin, & Bush, 2004; Escalas & Bettman, 2003; Lockwood et al., 2002; Lockwood & Kunda, 1997; Ruvio, Gavish, & Shoham, 2013;…”
Charismatic leadership: Eliciting and channeling follower emotions (2018, background): “…have been identified in multiple theoretical works as action tendencies characteristic of admiration (Henrich & Gil-White, 2001; Keltner & Haidt, 2003) and have been associated with it empirically (Algoe & Haidt, 2009; Galliani & Vianello, 2012; Sweetman, Spears, Livingstone, & Manstead, 2013).”
Religion and Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Positive Emotions (2014, background): “Gratitude is the emotional response toward a benefactor prompting an individual to be prosocial (Algoe and Haidt 2009).”
Approach, Ability, Aftermath: A Psychological Process Framework of Unethical Behavior at Work (2015, background): “Positive moral emotions, such as gratitude and elevation, induce individuals to behave in more morally optimal ways through inspiration (Algoe & Haidt, 2009), while empathy motivates moral behavior through compassion for others (Clark, 1980; Eisenberg & Miller, 1987; Jackson, Brunet, Meltzoff, &…”