mass media
8 Tragic and poignant entertainment
The gratifi cations of meaningfulness as emotional response
Mary Beth Oliver and Julia K. Woolley
It is understandable that media entertainment is most often associated with gratifi cations and responses related to pleasure and diversion (see Bryant 2004).
The landscape of entertainment is populated with genres such as sitcoms, action movies, teen romance comedies, and game shows. Such fare affords individuals ample opportunity to laugh at buffoons, cheer for antagonists, and fall in love with heart-throbs on the screen. Perhaps as a result of the popularity of funny, cheerful, and thrilling entertainment, theorizing in media psychology has tended to broadly characterize the predominant desired and experienced outcome of entertainment consumption in terms of enjoyment. Scholars routinely use this term to assess favora-ble responses to entertainment (e.g., ‘Please rate the extent to which you enjoyed the program’) or to measure anticipated gratifi cations (e.g., ‘How much do you think you would enjoy this movie?’) (see Oliver and Nabi 2004 for a discussion of this issue).
One potential problem in conceptualizing entertainment in terms of enjoyment is that the term can be understood in overly narrow terms. Given that the root word of
‘enjoyment’ is ‘joy,’ it follows that enjoyment of entertainment may be understood as meaning that the entertainment was fun, pleasant, or positively valenced. Yet it is clear that there exist many examples of entertainment that, although ‘enjoyed’ by viewers, provide gratifi cations that do not necessarily rely only on positive affect. Mournful love songs, tear jerkers, tragic dramas, and disturbing documentaries are but a few examples of entertainment genres that are diffi cult to understand if positive affect is assumed to be the desired end (Oliver 1993; de Wied et al. 1994; Zillmann 1998).
Nevertheless, the enduring popularity and perceived artistic accomplishment of these forms of entertainment throughout history attest to the idea that they provide some form of gratifi cation, though enjoyment or hedonic pleasure (e.g., positively valenced affect, see Zillmann 1985), may not be the most apt descriptor. What form, then, might these gratifi cations take? This chapter suggests that entertainment, in addition to providing viewers with pleasure, can also provide viewers with insight about the human condition. By recognizing the importance of meaningfulness as an additional gratifi cation, entertainment theory may be in a better position to consider the appeal of entertainment that may seem puzzling in light of assumed hedonic considerations.
We begin this chapter by considering various explanations for the appeal of ‘sad’
or ‘tragic’ entertainment that are consistent with hedonic concerns. We then turn to explanations that focus on meaningfulness as an additional dimension of gratifi ca-tions that individuals may experience. Finally, we end our chapter by overviewing the phenomenology of meaningfulness – in terms of its emotional qualities, its
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cognitive qualities, and what it may imply about enjoyment as the predominate response to media entertainment.
Hedonic motivations and the enjoyment of tragedy
In attempting to unravel the seeming paradox of the enjoyment of sad fi lms, a number of explanations have been considered – all of which are plausible (e.g., Feagin 1983;
Mills 1993; Zillmann 1998; cf. also Schwab and Schwender, this volume). Further, these explanations have intuitive appeal, as they are consistent with the notion that sad fi lms may ultimately result in the experience of positive affect (or the repair of negative affect).
Tragedy as ultimately uplifting
Perhaps one of the most straightforward explanations for the enjoyment of sad fi lms is that they generally end on positive or uplifting notes, leading to what is ultimately a positive emotional experience on the part of the viewer. From this perspective, such uplifting experiences may be contingent upon eventual narrative resolution (Bryant and Miron 2002), success of liked characters (Zillmann 1991), or themati-cally inspiring endings. In the fi rst case, it is possible that the affective relief due to narrative resolution is actually augmented by feelings of distress in reaction to narra-tive events (de Wied et al. 1994). In the second case, as described by disposition theory, enjoyment is dependent on the outcomes for characters with whom audi-ences identify or empathize (Bryant and Miron 2002; Raney 2003, 2004). This approach assumes that liked characters eventually ‘win in the end’ – which is obvi-ously not always the case. One might argue, then, that although the outcomes for liked characters are not as one might hope, audiences may recognize that the moral values reinforced by the fi lm transcend the outcomes for individual characters.
Cathartic functions
Although a number of sad fi lms or tear jerkers undoubtedly end on inspiring or uplifting notes, this explanation alone has a diffi cult time accounting for fi lms with decidedly tragic or somber endings (e.g., Leaving Las Vegas, Midnight Cowboy, or Dancer in the Dark). In the absence of thematically inspired endings as noted above, how might such fi lms and other tragic stories ultimately engender positive affective experi-ences? Perhaps one explanation harkens back to Aristotle’s (1961) observation that one effect of tragedy is the arousal and purging of pity and fear. From this perspec-tive, sad fi lms or other forms of tragic entertainment should elicit negative emotions during the process of viewing, but should ultimately result in improvements in affect subsequent to viewing after negative affect has been ‘purged.’ Although evidence for cathartic effects of other types of behaviors or emotions such as aggresion and anger has received limited empirical support (Bushman 2002), there appears to exist con-siderable popular appeal for the notion that sad fi lms or tear jerkers can purge viewers of negative affect. For example, references to ‘having a good cry’ or ‘getting it all out’ are very common, with popular books such as Cinematherapy: The Girl’s Guide to Movies for Every Mood (Peske and West 1999) encouraging readers to select ‘weepies’
and ‘tear jerkers’ when feeling blue or melancholy as a means of purging and venting.
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and catharsis revealed that almost all of the columns (94 percent) advised readers that crying and weeping was healthy and benefi cial.
Although the cathartic functions of tragic entertainment appear to hold wide-scale appeal, the idea that the expression of sadness or crying serves to reduce sad affect has been called into question (e.g., Zillmann 1998). If crying at a sad fi lm fails to lead to lower levels of sadness, what, then, might explain the popularity of cathartic expla-nations for the appeal of tragedy? Perhaps one explanation rests on individuals’ ten-dencies to misattribute or mischaracterize their affect to what is most salient in their surroundings (Loewenstein and Schkade 1999). With this in mind, given that crying and expressions of grief often result in soothing or supportive behaviors by others (Vingerhoets et al. 2000), individuals may misattribute feelings of positive affect to the expression of grief per se rather than the positive emotional support that often accompanies it. Likewise, Miceli and Castelfranchi (2003) argued that although people routinely report that crying allows for the venting of sadness, the more proba-ble explanation is that crying allows for the venting of tension that accompanies the inhibition of emotional expression.
Therapeutic functions
The aforementioned discussion of catharsis implies that the expression of sadness may not lead directly to the reduction of negative affect (or to the enhancement of positive affect). Yet the idea that tragic entertainment somehow makes viewers ‘feel better’ can be explained by processes other than catharsis. Zillmann (2000) employed such reasoning in his discussion of telic hedonism, noting that, at times, people’s entertainment choices may refl ect the delaying of immediate pleasure for some longer-term good. Consistent with this argument, a number of researchers have sug-gested that sad fi lms or negatively valenced content can assist viewers in coping with or refl ecting upon their own lives, thereby ultimately increasing positive affect.
For example, Mares and Cantor (1992) argued that the viewing of sad or tragic media portrayals may lead to more positive affect among some viewers (e.g., those who are lonely or sad), as such portrayals allow for downward social comparison (Festinger 1954) to characters who are even worse off than themselves. In support of this reasoning, Mares and Cantor found that higher levels of loneliness were associ-ated with a greater preference for viewing negative over positive media portrayals, and particularly for characters who were similar to themselves. Further, for lonely partici-pants, viewing a media portrayal of a sad, downtrodden character resulted in higher levels of positive affect, whereas viewing more cheerful portrayals was ineffective at breaking the lonely viewers out of their bad moods. Although Mares and Cantor inter-preted their results in terms of downward comparison, Zillmann (2000) suggested an additional interpretation of these fi ndings. That is, it is possible that sad or unhappy portrayals may hold informational utility for those who are sad themselves, which may ultimately prove benefi cial in helping viewers overcome their undesirable states.
The idea that mournful or tragic media may provide viewers with assistance in coping has been considered by a number of scholars (see Nabi et al., this volume).
For example, Nabi et al. (2006) found that viewers experiencing regret reported greater interest in viewing media content featuring a character who also experienced a similar regretful experience. These authors suggested that, at times, individuals
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may be motivated to consume media portrayals that are negatively valenced but rele-vant to their life experiences, thereby helping them cope with negative life events.
Similar fi ndings have also been obtained in terms of individuals’ musical selections.
For example, Knobloch and Zillmann (2003) found a tendency for individuals who lacked (but desired) romantic companionship to prefer lamenting over love-celebrating music. These results were interpreted, in part, as suggesting that lovelorn individuals take comfort or consolation in realizing that they are not alone (see also Gibson et al. 2000; Knobloch et al. 2004).
Summary
Many of the aforementioned explanations for the appeal of tragic or sad entertain-ment have received empirical support, and all are basically consistent with hedonic explanations of entertainment selection and enjoyment. Whether it be coping, venting, or ultimately feeling uplifted after viewing a sad fi lm, these explanations rely on the notion that entertainment plays an important role in assisting individuals in their quest for positive affect. Undoubtedly, this motivation plays a crucial role in the entertainment experience for most people. At the same time, though, this type of explanation has forced us to expand the boundaries of what is meant by ‘pleasure’ in order to accommodate entertainment fare that appears to be at odds with hedonic concerns. In the next section we suggest that an additional motivation – the search for and experience of meaningfulness – may be a fruitful additional direction in explorations of the gratifi cations associated with more somber or contemplative entertainment.
The gratifi cations of meaningfulness
When considering what makes for ‘happiness,’ one naturally conjures up notions of pleasure or delight. At the same time, though, many ancient writers and contemporary scholars suggest that such hedonic concerns may be only one aspect of individuals’
experience of well-being. For example, Aristotle in Nicomachean Ethics (1931) distin-guished between hedonic happiness and ‘true’ happiness – labeled ‘eudaimonia,’
with the latter being characterized as the expression of virtue or living a life that is worth living. Recent theorizing has similarly adopted these distinctions. Based on Aristotelian writing, Waterman (1993) employed the terms eudaimonia to refer to hap-piness that is conceptualized in terms of personal expressiveness, and hedonic haphap-piness that is conceptualized in terms of pleasure. Although Waterman reported that these two conceptualizations of happiness were empirically correlated, he also argued that eudaimonic happiness was more closely akin to feelings of self-realization and personal development.
Keyes et al. (2002) also argued for the importance of distinguishing between subjec-tive well-being and psychological well-being, with the former being associated with high levels of positive affect and low levels of negative affect, and the latter being associated with feelings associated with personal growth, self-acceptance, and purpose in life.
Similar distinctions were also noted by Ryan and Deci (2001) in their description of the role of affect in hedonic and eudaimonic conceptualizations of well-being. For hedonic conceptualizations, well-being is signifi ed by higher levels of positive affect and lower levels of negative affect; for eudaimonic conceptualizations, the valence of
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these authors described, ‘under some conditions (e.g., the death of a loved one) a person would be considered to be more fully functioning, and, ultimately, to have greater well-being, if he or she experienced rather than avoided the negative feeling of sadness’ (pp. 150–1).
Applying these distinctions to the entertainment experience suggests that whereas media selection and gratifi cation may often (or even primarily) refl ect hedonic motivations such as the experience of fun, pleasure, or thrills, other entertainment consumption may refl ect alternative eudaimonic motivations – greater insight about what makes life valuable, self-refl ection, or contemplations of poignancy (Oliver 2008;
Oliver and Raney 2008). Such a motivation is consistent with Zillmann’s (1998) discussion of the most apt descriptor of the gratifi cations associated with tragedy:
It may be considered ill-advised, in fact, to focus on enjoyment as a redeeming value of tragedy. Perhaps we should return to Aristotle’s (Poetica) declaration of tragedy’s object, namely the evocation of pity, and grant redeeming value to tragic drama’s capacity for honing our empathic sensitivities and for making us cognizant of our vulnerabilities, compassions, and needs for emotional wellness – a capacity that tragedy seems to possess to a greater degree than alternative dramatic forms.
(p. 12) The extent to which entertainment can provide viewers with the opportunity to contemplate human poignancies has long been recognized by scholars in the humanities, and particularly for some forms of entertainment such as music or cinema. In contrast, social scientifi c explorations have been much more infrequent.
However, some research from a uses-and-gratifi cations perspective points to the idea that insight, meaningfulness, and contemplations of the human condition may be important gratifi cations offered by entertainment. For example, Tesser et al.’s (1988) research on motivations for movie consumption identifi ed three primary motivations: self-escape, entertainment, and self-development. Hedonic considera-tions appear most evident for the self-escape and entertainment motives, as these motives were characterized by selecting movies to forget problems, to escape bad moods, and when there was simply free time available. In contrast, eudaimonic considerations appear most evident for the self-development motivation, as this motivation was characterized by wanting to view movies to see how others think and feel, by selecting fi lms that were successful in producing strong emotions, and with greater preferences for fi lms such as Kramer vs. Kramer and Ordinary People over more light-hearted comedy movies. Similar uses-and-gratifi cations research points to anal-ogous distinctions between hedonic and eudaimonic gratifi cations for media use in general. Namely, Katz et al. (1973) found that ‘self-gratifi cation’ was an important need routinely fulfi lled by media consumption. Although this gratifi cation was associated with using media for purposes of entertainment and release of tension (consistent with hedonic concerns), this gratifi cation was also associated with using media for purposes of raising morale and experiencing beauty – purposes that are more akin to eudaimonic considerations.
Whereas prior research in uses and gratifi cations implies the utility of distin-guishing between hedonic motivations (seeking pleasure or positive affect) and
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eudaimonic motivations (seeking meaningfulness), investigations into the specifi c, empirical viability of these distinctions have only recently begun to be undertaken.
However, this growing body of research does suggest that these two motivations may refl ect both trait-like motivations or enduring preferences, and state-like moti-vations or more transient interests. Recently, Oliver and Raney (2008) provided evidence of the validity of trait-like eudaimonic motivations by showing that these motivations (unlike hedonic motivations) were predicted by individual differences such as need for cognition (Cacioppo et al. 1984), self-refl ectiveness (Trapnell and Campbell 1999), and search for meaning in life (Steger et al. 2006). Further, these motivations were associated with greater preferences for fi lm genres such as dramas, documentaries, and sad fi lms. In contrast, individual differences such as optimism, humor, and spontaneity (Goldberg 1990) predicted greater hedonic motivations, with these motivations in turn being associated with greater preferences for comedic fi lms, action movies, and (to a slightly lesser extent) romances.
It is important to note that across these studies, scores on the hedonism sub-scale were generally signifi cantly higher than were scores on the eudaimonic sub-scale, pointing to the prevalence of hedonic concerns as a primary entertainment motiva-tion. At the same time, however, it is also worth highlighting that across the different samples that have completed the hedonism and eudaimonic scales (e.g., college stu-dents, adults, elderly populations), hedonism and eudaimonia scores were only weakly correlated. In other words, higher levels of hedonic motivations did not necessarily imply low levels of eudaimonic motivations or vice versa. Rather, the two dimensions appear to be orthogonal to one another. This fi nding is important to stress, as it sug-gests that it may be misguided to characterize the enjoyment of tragedy as necessarily
‘counter-hedonistic.’ Rather, such gratifi cations appear to represent an additional dimension that is not clearly described in terms of pleasure (or lack thereof) per se.
Research on eudaimonia as a state-like motivation is only beginning to emerge and is therefore merely suggestive at this point. However, recent fi ndings suggest that it may be a viable explanation that could help to account for situations in which seemingly sad or melancholy individuals appear to prefer sad or tragic enter-tainment. Namely, Oliver (2008) recently reported a series of studies suggesting that people seeking meaningfulness or insight (a quest that may be associated with feel-ings of sadness) tend to prefer entertainment that focuses on the human condition, including both its joys and its tragedies. These studies supported the idea that tender affective states (characterized by feelings of tenderness, kindness, and sympathy) pre-dicted greater interest in entertainment focused on human relationships (e.g., sad fi lms, dramas, and romantic fi lms), but that feelings of sadness or happiness specifi -cally were largely unrelated to these preferences. One implication of these fi ndings is that positive and negative affective states per se (i.e., pleasure and displeasure) are not always predictive of media preferences, whereas mixed affective states signifying greater meaningfulness may serve as useful predictors for some genres or types of portrayals. Future research that more specifi cally assesses hedonistic and eudaimonic states is clearly in order, not only to establish how and why these states may fl uctuate over time, but also to assess the specifi c affective and cognitive elements that may accompany such states.
To summarize, research growing out of scholarship on notions of well-being and happiness suggests that a fruitful explanation for the seeming paradox of the enjoyment of sad fi lms may rest on the recognition of an additional entertainment
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serve functions of both pleasure and insight – functions that are not necessarily polar opposites – the gratifi cations associated with more somber, contemplative, or even tragic entertainment may begin to seem less puzzling. Given that the explora-tion for this line of reasoning is relatively new, however, many quesexplora-tions remain concerning meaningfulness as an entertainment experience. Among them are ques-tions regarding what meaningfulness feels like while viewing and how the viewing experience may best be characterized. It is toward these sorts of questions that we direct our attention in the last section of our chapter.
The phenomenology of meaningfulness as an entertainment experience
The experience of viewing many types of entertainment is often identifi ed by reference to a primary emotion: comedies – humor; horror – fear; action – thrill.
Tragedies in particular are often referred to in terms of the primary emotional response that they are thought to elicit: tear jerkers, weepies, three-hankie movies.
Yet emotional and cognitive responses are clearly more complex than these singular descriptors, as affective reactions undoubtedly fl uctuate throughout the viewing experience. Further, how individuals interpret their responses certainly plays an important role in the overall evaluation of the entertainment process (Oliver 1993;
Bartsch et al. 2008). Likewise, affect and cognition surely facilitate engagement in narratives, and engagement itself – separate from the valence of the affect that may accompany it – undoubtedly represents a crucial part of enjoyment.
This brief discussion alone illustrates the complexity of the role of affect and cog-nition in entertainment, but applying these concepts to the experience of meaningful-ness is even more tricky, as the experience of meaningfulmeaningful-ness does not appear to be associated with any single discrete emotion or any identifi able valence. Further, we believe that the feeling of meaningfulness may be closely tied to cognitive engage-ment (as suggested by the positive correlations between eudaimonia and need for cognition). Consequently, we divide this fi nal section of the chapter into three related discussions. First, we review research on engagement and transportation, as these perspectives differ from hedonic considerations in terms of the emphasis placed on affective valence. We then turn to a discussion of the affective and cogni-tive elements that may best characterize engagement in terms of meaningfulness or eudaimonic concerns. Finally, we suggest, as did Zillmann (1998), that terms other than ‘enjoyment’ may be better descriptors of viewer response when meaningfulness is the most salient gratifi cation.
Engagement
Many scholars argue that experiential engagement with entertainment narratives is in and of itself an enjoyable experience, regardless of the valence of the affect associated with that experience. Transportation theory, for example, holds that affective, cognitive, and imagery involvement in a narrative leads to greater enjoy-ment, irrespective of content valence (Green et al. 2004). In this sense, transporta-tion is related to concepts such as absorptransporta-tion (Zillmann 1988), presence (Lee 2004), and fl ow (Sherry 2004). In the case of absorption, however, engagement with
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media content may ultimately be gratifying because it serves to diminish negative mood states by interfering with the cognitive ‘rehearsal process’ (Zillmann 1998).
In contrast, according to transportation theory, engagement is not necessarily prem-ised upon hedonic gratifi cations in particular.
A recent conceptualization which illuminates the process of transportation is Busselle and Bilandzic’s (2008) model of narrative engagement. Their model is based upon the idea that building an understanding of narrative events is an ongoing and absorbing mental exercise. This explanation of narrative engagement is closely related to the concept of fl ow, in which the challenge of building mental models in response to narrative events is an enjoyable experience, irrespective of the mood it may accompany (Busselle and Bilandzic 2008).
Transportation could also explain positive evaluations of viewers’ negative emotions due to the ability of the transportation experience to facilitate identifi cation, under-standing of one’s own life circumstances, and ‘self-transformation’ (Green et al. 2004;
Green 2005). Feelings of identifi cation with story characters may precede, follow, or occur simultaneously with experiences of transportation (Bilandzic and Busselle 2006).
To the extent that transportation increases identifi cation with story characters, such experiences may thus be found enjoyable based on the human desire for companion-ship, belonging, and connectedness (Green et al. 2004). In the case of negatively valenced content, Green (2005), citing the earlier work of Oatley (1999), argues that the transportation experience may also ‘provide a middle ground where emotions are experienced enough for their meaning to be understood, but where these emotions do not overwhelm the reader’ (p. 61). Such a process could allow a space in which viewers are allowed a refl ective experience of negative mood, even while that mood is not necessarily diffused.
Meaningfulness and affect
Engagement and transportation is clearly a crucial part of the entertainment experi-ence, and it speaks to the idea that enjoyment may not necessarily directly correspond to the valence of the affect that is elicited. We also believe that it is an important component of eudaimonic experiences, as the importance of meaning (or meaning-making) is crucial to both perspectives. With that said, though, we further suggest that feelings of meaningfulness may be associated with unique affective reactions, though not ones that are as easily identifi ed as discrete, primary emotions such as joy, sadness, fear, or disgust. Namely, we take the position that the affective state that we charac-terize as ‘meaningfulness’ may be better described by conceptualizing it not only in terms of affective blends, but also in terms of the cognitive elements that are part of the affective state. Rather than conceptualizing the role of cognition in meaningful-ness only as an instigator of the state (i.e., cognitive appraisal leading to the state), our conceptualization of meaningful affect includes cognitive elements such as introspec-tion or contemplaintrospec-tion (as well as affective elements such as warmth and tenderness) that are part of the experience of the state itself. Below we fi rst review research on nostalgia, poignancy, and elevation to suggest that meaningfulness is likely associated with mixed affective states. We then turn to research on viewers’ responses to tender, meaningful, and tragic media entertainment, and we ultimately suggest that affective responses that accompany meaningful or eudaimonic entertainment consumption likely refl ect a blend of cognitive and affective components that signify higher levels
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positively and negatively valenced feelings.
The experience of nostalgia is one example of the types of affective reactions that we believe are related to meaningfulness. Although research on nostalgia is argua-bly only recently beginning to attract systematic scholarly attention, this growing body of research suggests that nostalgia refl ects the co-occurrence of positive and negative affect as it relates to feelings of meaningfulness. Sedikides et al. (2004) highlighted the importance of meaningfulness and human connection in the expe-rience of nostalgia: ‘Nostalgia is an existential exercise in search for identity and meaning, a weapon in internal confrontations with existential dilemmas, and a mechanism for reconnecting with important others’ (pp. 202–3; see also Routledge et al. 2008).
Importantly, too, research on nostalgia suggests that it refl ects both positive and negative elements. For example, Holak and Havlena’s (1998) research reported that when describing nostalgic events, individuals often refer to both pleasant emo-tions (e.g., warmth, affection, tenderness) and unpleasant emoemo-tions (e.g., sorrow, wistfulness). Likewise, Wildschut et al. (2006) found that although the experience of nostalgia was primarily associated with positive affect, participants in their research reported both positive and negative features of nostalgia (e.g., being happy, remem-bering fun times, feeling sadness, feeling loss).
‘Poignancy’ is an additional affective response related to the experience of mean-ingfulness, and like the experience of nostalgia, appears to be associated with the co-occurrence of positive and negative affect. Indeed, Ersner-Hershfi eld et al. (2008) recently argued that feelings of poignancy can be conceptualized and operationalized as ‘a mixed emotional experience that occurs when one is reminded of the passing of time during a meaningful experience’ (p. 165). In this research, meaningful endings could refer to the awareness of the loss or potential loss of something that holds partic-ular meaning (e.g., a person, a period of time, an important event), including the broad awareness of one’s life as ultimately fl eeting. Importantly, an awareness of the fragility of human life may result in poignant feelings – feelings associated with the simultaneous experience of positive and negative affect.
The feeling of inspiration is a fi nal affective state that some researchers believe is related to meaningfulness. Recent research in positive psychology has turned its attention to the types of affective responses associated with perceptions of morality.
Specifi cally, Haidt’s (2003a) research on ‘moral emotions’ has identifi ed an affective state that he labeled ‘elevation.’ Elevation, similar to notions of inspiration, is broadly characterized as feeling emotional or moved in response to ‘seeing humanity’s higher or better nature’ (p. 864), including such acts as kindness, sacrifi ce, and loyalty. Further, Haidt (2003b) suggests that elevation is associated with unique affec-tive experiences, such as feeling uplifted or optimistic about humanity, unique physi-ological reactions, such as a warmth or tingling in the chest, and unique motivational tendencies, such as wanting to help others or desiring to be a better person.
Although elevation is generally characterized in terms of positive affective reactions, Silvers and Haidt (2008) recently noted that elevation is also often associated with tinges of sadness. In their research, participants watched either an amusing comedy clip or a moving musical tribute (designed to elicit elevation). Although both groups reported equally high levels of happiness and joy, participants in the elevation condi-tion also reported greater feelings of chills or goosebumps, and experienced a