[3] Elevation can also be a deliberate act, characteristic habit, or virtue that is characterized by disdaining the trivial or undignified in favor of more exalted or noble themes.
Psychologist Jonathan Haidt also posits that elevation is the opposite of social disgust, which is the reaction to reading about or witnessing "any atrocious deed.
Positive psychologists are interested in understanding the motivations behind prosocial behavior in order to learn how to encourage individuals to help and care for each other.
[3] Haidt asserts that elevation elicits warm, pleasurable sensations in the chest, and it also motivates individuals to act more virtuously themselves.
In his explanation of elevation, Haidt describes the three dimensions of social cognition:[3] Elevation exemplifies Barbara Fredrickson's broaden and build theory of positive emotions,[5] which asserts that positive emotions expand an individual's scope of attention and cognition in the moment while also building resources for the future.
They conducted a study in which participants were prompted to remember a time when they had experienced an event that would elicit elevation, gratitude, admiration, or joy.
Michelle Shiota and others assert that elevation is a self-transcendent positive emotion that serves to direct attention away from the self towards appreciating an exceptional human action or remarkable aspect of the natural world.
For example, elevation may help individuals select with partiality their caring relationship partners by eliciting affection for people who exhibit altruism or compassion.
[3] They induced elevation in a laboratory setting by showing undergraduates a ten-minute video clip documenting the life of Mother Teresa.
[3] Jennifer Silvers and Jonathan Haidt found that elevation may increase the amount of oxytocin circulating in the body by promoting the release of the hormone.
[10] In the first study, participants either viewed a clip of professional musicians expressing gratitude to their mentors, which was designed to elicit elevation, or a neutral video.
For ten days, participants completed brief daily surveys to assess elevation, feelings of competence, interpersonal functioning, symptoms, and compassionate goals.
Their findings indicated that on days that clinically distressed individuals experienced high elevation in relation to their normal levels, they reported a greater desire to help others and to be close to others.
[dubious – discuss] In a 2010 study, Michelangelo Vianello, Elisa Maria Galliani, and Jonathan Haidt found that an employer's ability to inspire elevation in employees strengthened positive attitudes and enhanced virtuous organizational behavior.
The researchers concluded that witnessing another person's altruistic behavior elicits elevation, which leads to tangible increases in altruism.
[8] However, researchers are investigating the precise physiological mechanisms responsible for the warm, open sensation in the chest elicited by elevation.
Video clips designed to evoke elevation have been observed to lead to a decrease in vagal parasympathetic impact[vague] on the heart.
Haidt suggests that instances of profound elevation can function as a "mental reset button," replacing cynical or pessimistic emotions with feelings of hope, love, and moral inspiration.