PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE This article was downloaded by: [Honnold Mudd Library] On: 9 March 2011 Access details: Access Details: [subscription number 918420803] Publisher Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37- 41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK The Journal of Positive Psychology Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t724921263 Elevation predicts domain-specific volunteerism 3 months later Keith S. Coxa a Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA Online publication date: 20 October 2010 To cite this Article Cox, Keith S.(2010) 'Elevation predicts domain-specific volunteerism 3 months later', The Journal of Positive Psychology, 5: 5, 333 ��� 341 To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/17439760.2010.507468 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2010.507468 Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.

The Journal of Positive Psychology Vol. 5, No. 5, September 2010, 333���341 Elevation predicts domain-specific volunteerism 3 months later Keith S. Cox* Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA (Received 15 July 2009 final version received 5 August 2010) Elevation, the feeling of moral uplift when viewing the virtuous action of another, has been shown to be a distinct moral emotion [Algoe, S.B., & Haidt, J. (2009). Witnessing excellence in action: The ���other-praising��� emotions of elevation, gratitude, and admiration. Journal of Positive Psychology, 4, 105���127]. Prosocial behaviors have been theorized to be one of the behavioral effects of elevation, but this behavioral connection has not been strongly established. This study followed college students in a naturalistic setting known to induce elevation, a spring break service trip. Self-reports of elevation during service trip were collected from participants at the conclusion of the trip. At 1 week and 3 months later, participants reported on trip-related and general volunteerism. Self- reports of elevation during the trip predicted trip-specific volunteerism at 1 week and 3 months, but did not relate to general volunteerism at either time. This predictive connection was maintained even when pre-trip volunteerism, trait empathy, and the dispositions of Extraversion, Openness to Experience, and Agreeableness were controlled for. These results suggest that the experience of elevation motivated participants to volunteer in the domain in which they felt elevation. This finding supports the hypothesis that prosocial responses are a behavioral effect of elevation, but further refines this hypothesis by suggesting that the prosocial response occurs in a domain linked to the context in which elevation was experienced. Keywords: elevation moral emotions prosocial behavior volunteerism Introduction Jefferson (1975) wrote, ���When any signal act of charity or gratitude . . . is presented either to our sight or imagination, we are deeply impressed with its beauty and feel a strong desire in ourselves of doing charitable and grateful acts also.��� (p. 349). Haidt (2003) devel- oped and expanded Jefferson���s notion that viewing virtuous acts done by others can arouse emotion and engender novel motivations. Haidt suggested that the emotional response of observing others displaying virtue or moral goodness is a distinct emotion. Following Jefferson���s usage, Haidt termed this theo- rized emotion as elevation, or moral elevation. Haidt argued that elevation included a positive moral appraisal of the displayer of the virtuous act and of the displayer���s action, a sense of being ���uplifted���, ���elevated���, or ���moved���, by the virtuous display, the physical sense of warmness in chest, and the motiva- tional aim to emulate the virtuous person or more generally to become a better person. Subsequent research has suggested that elevation is in fact a distinct moral emotion. At the same time, the behav- ioral effects of elevation have not been adequately established. For example, does the motivational set of elevation, to emulate the moral exemplar or more generally become a better person, reliably connect to subsequent behaviors? Or in more general terms, does elevation have a consistent action tendency? This study attempts to address such questions by longitu- dinally following participants after an elevating experience. Algoe and Haidt (2009) theorized that elevation was part of a family of other-praising emotions including gratitude and admiration. The common feature of the other-praising emotions is the appraisal that someone else has performed a praiseworthy act. Algoe and Haidt argued that the other-praising emo- tions were distinct from each other and also from more general positive emotional states such as joy. They described elevation as the emotional response to witnessing acts of virtue or moral beauty. Gratitude was described as a characteristic emotional response to the perception that one is the beneficiary of the actions of another. Admiration was described as a character- istic emotional response to witnessing displays of non-moral excellence. Across three studies, Algoe and Haidt found evidence that elevation was distinct from admiration, gratitude, and joy. Using three different methods of induction, they found elevation to be consistently associated with the desire to emulate the exemplar, to become a better person, and to act prosocially. *Email: kcox@u.northwestern.edu ISSN 1743���9760 print/ISSN 1743���9779 online �� 2010 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/17439760.2010.507468 http://www.informaworld.com