Viral videos and virtue: Moral elevation inductions shift affect and interpersonal goals in daily life

The war next-door-A pilot study on Romanian adolescents' psychological reactions to potentially traumatic experiences generated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Introduction

Romania shares the longest UE border with Ukraine, and since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, many have been involved in helping the refugees. Consequently, children and adolescents might be directly and indirectly exposed to war-related trauma. In the present exploratory research, we investigated Romanian adolescents' potential risk and protective factors related to the psychological outcomes of war exposure. Our cross-sectional study was conducted shortly after February 24th (i.e., the first invasion day).

Methods

The sample included 90 Romanian adolescents aged 11 to 15 (M = 12.90, SD = 1.17), residents in Iași, Romania (i.e., 205,7 km from the Ukrainian border). Participants completed self-reported measures of peritraumatic dissociative experiences, knowledge about the conflict in Ukraine, personal, school, and family implications in volunteering/helping behavior, discussions about the conflict, threat perception (self and perceived parental threat), anxiety, social media engagement, resilience, and moral elevation.

Results

The main findings suggested that participants involved in helping behaviors toward Ukrainian refugees present higher peritraumatic dissociative experiences, anxiety symptoms, and higher moral elevation than boys and participants not involved in these behaviors. Moreover, anxiety symptoms were positively associated with threat perception, peritraumatic dissociation, and social media engagement and negatively related to resilience.

Discussions

Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings concerning their practical utility in managing peritraumatic exposure to war by using interventions designed to increase adolescents' resilience during difficult times.

Transmission of environmentally responsible behavior between tourist destination employees and tourists: The role of moral elevation and environmental knowledge

Introduction

Tourists’ environmental misconduct is the primary reason for the environmental destruction that tourist sites experience; nevertheless, their environmentally responsible behavior is also a major push for the improvement of the environment. The main goal of this study is to induce tourists to adopt proactive environmental responsibility behaviors.

Methods

A total of 455 valid questionnaires were obtained from China and analyzed using multiple linear regression.

Results

The findings of this study indicate employees’ environmentally responsible behavior (E-ERB) in tourist destinations has a positive impact on tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior (T-ERB). In the mediating variable of moral elevation, the correlation between E-ERB and T-ERB is mediated by elevating emotions and views of humanity. And desire to be a better person did not play a mediating role in the relationship between E-ERB and T-ERB. Additionally, environmental knowledge moderates the transmission path of the impact of E-ERB and T-ERB via elevating emotions. With high environmental knowledge, the transmission path of the impact of employees’ environmentally responsible behavior of the tourist destination on tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior via elevating emotions will be enhanced.

Discussion

We propose a new perspective to explain the transmission mechanism between employees’ environmentally responsible behavior and tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior in tourism destinations, which will help to expand our understanding of the relationship between employees’ behavior and tourists’ behavior. We expect our study to spark more exploration of the contagion of positive behavior in the field of environmental psychology.

Development and Validation of the State Moral Elevation Scale: Assessing State-Level Elevation Across Nonclinical and Clinical Samples

Research on moral elevation has steadily increased and identified several psychosocial benefits that bear relevance to both the general population and people with psychological distress. However, elevation measurement is inconsistent, and few state-level measures have been created and critically evaluated to date. To address this gap, the State Moral Elevation Scale (SMES) was developed and tested using an online sample (N = 930) including subsamples of general participants (nonclinical) and those who screened positive for mental health symptoms (clinical). Factor analysis indicated a single factor structure with nine items that demonstrated excellent reliability. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis indicated good fit statistics and strict measurement invariance across clinical and nonclinical subsamples. Lastly, correlational analyses with related constructs provided evidence of construct validity for both subsamples. Thus, the SMES is a psychometrically valid and reliable assessment tool for state-level elevation which can be used in both general and clinical populations.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10902-022-00533-2.

Changes in Trauma-Related Cognitions and Emotions After Eliciting Moral Elevation: Examining the Effects of Viewing Others' Virtuous Behavior on Veterans with PTSD

Moral elevation is described as feeling inspired after witnessing someone perform a virtuous act. Past work suggests the features of moral elevation may be contrary to PTSD, yet few studies have directly tested its impact on relevant symptoms. This experimental study assessed changes in trauma-related cognitions and emotions from after a trauma reminder task to after an elevation induction exercise. We hypothesized that higher elevation after the induction exercise would be associated with greater reductions in cognitions and emotions. Veterans with probable PTSD (N = 38) completed measures of trauma-related cognitions and emotions, once after a written trauma narrative exercise (T1) and again after watching two videos designed to elicit elevation (T2). Veterans also completed measures of state elevation after each video. Results suggest veterans experienced small, significant decreases in self-blame (d = 0.36) and negative beliefs about others (d = 0.46), and medium, significant decreases in guilt (d = 0.68), shame (d = 0.60), and negative beliefs about self (d = 0.69) between T1 and T2. As hypothesized, higher elevation was associated with significantly greater reductions in multiple outcomes above and beyond the effects of general positive affect. Specifically, there were medium effects for changes in shame (β = -0.42, SE = 0.17, p = .019, Δf ² = 0.25), negative view of others (β = -0.34, SE = 0.16, p = .044, Δf ² = 0.20), and a large effect for changes in negative view of self (β = -0.31, SE = 0.13, p = .019, Δf ² = 0.54). These findings suggest elevation may be well-suited to target trauma-related symptoms and future research should further examine its clinical utility.

Anthropomorphism in comparative affective science: Advocating a mindful approach

Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human-like capacities and traits to non-human entities. Anthropomorphism is ubiquitous in everyday life and in scientific domains, operating both implicitly and explicitly as a function of the human lens through which we view the world. A rich history of work in psychology, animal behavior, cognitive science, and philosophy has highlighted the negative and, to a lesser degree, the positive implications of anthropomorphism. In this article, we aim to provide a nuanced perspective of how anthropomorphism impacts the work of comparative affective science. Specifically, we discuss three domains of empirical inquiry in which lessons can be drawn about the benefits and pitfalls of anthropomorphism: responses to death, inequity aversion, and prosocial behavior. On balance, we advocate a mindful approach to anthropomorphizing in comparative affective science, and comparative science more generally.