Admiration is a social emotion caused by the approval of people who demonstrate their talent or skills that exceed generally accepted standards. [1] Admiration facilitates social learning in groups [2] and motivates self-improvement through role-based learning. [3]
Content
Definition
Sarah Elgow and Jonathan Heidt include admiration in the category of approving emotions , along with reverence, exaltation and gratitude . They suggest that admiration is an emotion that we experience for moral perfection (that is, we observe an act of excellent craftsmanship), while exaltation is an emotion that we experience for moral perfection (that is, we observe an unprecedented spiritual impulse). Other authors divided these emotions into admiration for skill and admiration for virtue . [4] Richard Smith categorizes admiration as an externally oriented assimilative emotion that encourages the individual to strive to be like those whom he admires. He contrasts the admiration of envy (another externally oriented comparative emotion), suggesting that envy makes us feel upset with other people's abilities, while admiration uplifts and motivates.
Purpose
Skills training is so important for evolution that we have gained the ability to feel positively from the actions of talented and skilled people, to listen to them and repeat their actions. [five]
Reachability
Based on the opinion that admiration is a function of cognition and self-improvement, some authors suggested that admiration appears only when we believe that improvement is possible for us, however, one empirical study suggested the opposite, that admiration is a passive contemplation of someone else’s superiority, while envy is a motive that works when one feels that the subject of admiration is reachable. [6]
Associated Behaviors
Self-Behavior
Using fMRI it was shown that admiration can be associated with a higher level of cognitive processes involved in motivation (e.g. planning, achieving goals), but also associated with a decrease in the level of activation of mechanisms, demonstrating that admiration is a physically excited emotion.
Social Behavior
According to some reports, admiration is also associated with a desire for contact and intimacy with the object of admiration. [7]
See also
- Attraction
- Awe
- Dignity
- Envy
- Feeling
- friendship
- Thanks
- Respect
- Romance
Notes
- ↑ Algoe, SB, & Haidt, J. (2009). Witnessing excellence in action: The 'other-praising'emotions of elevation, gratitude, and admiration. The journal of positive psychology, 4 (2), 105-127.
- ↑ Haidt, J., & Seder, P. (2009). Admiration and Awe. Oxford Companion to Affective Science (pp. 4-5). New York: Oxford University Press.
- ↑ Smith, RH (2000). Assimilative and contrastive emotional reactions to upward and downward social comparisons. Handbook of social comparison: Theory and research, 173-200.
- ↑ Immordino-Yang, MH, McColl, A., Damasio, H., & Damasio, A. (2009). Neural correlates of admiration and compassion. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106 (19), 8021.
- ↑ Henrich, J., & Gil-White, FJ (2001). The evolution of prestige: Freely conferred deference as a mechanism for enhancing the benefits of cultural transmission. Evolution and human behavior, 22 (3), 165-196.
- ↑ Van De Ven, N., Zeelenberg, M., & Pieters, R. (2011). Why Envy Outperforms Admiration. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37 (6), 784-795.
- ↑ Cuddy, AJ., Fiske, ST, & Glick, P. (2007). The BIAS map: Behaviors from intergroup affect and stereotypes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92 (4), 631.