Rethinking self-transcendent positive emotions and religion: Insights from psychological and biblical research.

Abstract

At the heart of many religious and spiritual traditions is the aspiration to transcend the self to achieve a sense of connectedness with the world and/or with a Higher Power and to serve the greater good. Recent research suggests that the emergence of such self-transcendence can be facilitated by specific uplifting emotions termed self-transcendent positive emotions (STPEs); STPEs are short, positive responses to witnessing instances of beauty or good outside the self. The author reviews the defining characteristics of STPEs and the related current empirical research in psychology. Next, still building upon research in psychology, she examines how they are intertwined with spirituality and religion (beliefs and practices) and serve important functions when experienced in a religious context. The emerging biblical research on how positive emotions are constructed in the Hebrew Bible and in the New Testament is the studied, and how the religious context may modify the interpretation and phenomenological experience of positive emotions is discussed. Future avenues for research include the study of the specific emotion of joy and a better consideration of emotion's embodiment.

Positive affective processes underlie positive health behaviour change

“…Using a similar longitudinal experimental design (i.e., 6-week meditation workshops, daily reports of positive emotions) we found that a common genetic variant associated with oxytocin signaling predict the degree to which mid-aged participants reported positive affect in response to loving-kindness meditation (Isgett, Algoe, Boulton, Way, & Fredrickson, 2016). In another study (Van Cappellen, Way, Isgett, & Fredrickson, 2016), we found that dual-blind administration of exogenous oxytocin vs. a placebo increased mid-aged men's positive affective responses – assessed with both implicit and explicit measures – to an initial 20-minute introduction to meditation, with effects especially evident for meaningful and self-transcendent affective experiences, such as gratitude and awe (Van Cappellen, in press). Future work is needed to investigate whether the oxytocin system influences positive affective responses to health behaviors other than meditation.…”

The Mediating Role of Shared Flow and Perceived Emotional Synchrony on Compassion for Others in a Mindful-Dancing Program

“…The effect of PES on compassion through common humanity is also consistent with a model proposed by Valdesolo and DeSteno (2011), which posits that synchronous movements may serve as a cooperation-enhancing mechanism, seemingly binding individuals together into a larger whole and, thus, facilitating reciprocal empathic and altruistic responses among them. There is also evidence indicating that collective synchrony increases willingness to help an out-group member as well as pro-sociality towards out-group members more generally (Reddish et al 2016;Van Cappellen 2017). More specifically, understanding and embracing the principles of harmonized "sangha-based" mindfulness appears to facilitate identifying with a sense of global human identity (de Rivera and Carson 2015), and universality (Piedmont 2012), as well as increased motivation to participate in collective gatherings (Basabe et al 2018).…”

Evaluating the relationships among religion, social virtues, and meaning in life

“…It is important to examine the relationship between the beneficial aspects of religion in conjunction with the ways in which religion may be detrimental to health and well-being. Sixth, as we discussed earlier, researchers have identified other psychological factors that may influence a sense of meaning in life, such as positive emotions (Van Cappellen, 2017). To more correctly specify the nature of the relationship between social aspects of religion and meaning in life, it is important to include more psychological factors in the analyses.…”