Observing prosociality and talent: the emotional characteristics and behavioral outcomes of elevation and admiration in 6.5- to 8-year-old children

Seeing others getting the help they need and deserve elicits positive emotions in young children (Hepach et al., 2012; Hepach & Tomasello, 2020). However, it remains unclear whether the positive emotions elicited are an indicator of the moral emotion of elevation which has been shown to be a distinct emotion that leads to increased prosocial behaviour in adults (Cox, 2010; Haidt, 2000, 2003; Schnall et al., 2010). Here we examined the specific emotional characteristics and behavioural outcomes of two closely related other-praising moral emotions: elevation and admiration. We exposed 182 6.5- to 8.5-year-old children being raised in Aotearoa, New Zealand, to an elevation- and admiration-inducing video clip. Afterwards children’s emotion experiences and prosocial behaviour was measured. Findings revealed higher levels of happiness, care and warmth in the elevation condition and higher levels of upliftment in the admiration condition. Perhaps surprisingly, findings revealed no differences in prosocial behaviour between the elevation and admiration conditions. This is the first study to assess elevation in childhood and offers a novel paradigm to investigate the role of moral emotions as potential motivators underlying helping.