TY - JOUR
T1 - Kama muta: Conceptualizing and measuring the experience often labelled being moved across 19 nations and 15 languages.
AU - Zickfeld, Janis H.
AU - Schubert, Thomas W.
AU - Seibt, Beate
AU - Blomster , J. K.
AU - Arriaga, Patrícia
AU - Basabe, Nekane
AU - Blaut, Agata
AU - Caballero, Amparo
AU - Carrera, Pilar
AU - Dalgar, I
AU - Ding, Y
AU - Dumont, Kitty
AU - Gaulhofer, V
AU - Gračanin, Asmir
AU - Gyenis, R
AU - Chuan-Peng, H
AU - Kardum, Igor
AU - Lazarevic, Ljiljana B.
AU - Mathew, L
AU - Mentser, Sari
AU - Nussinson, Ravit
AU - Onuki, M
AU - Páez, Darío
AU - Pásztor, A
AU - Peng, K
AU - Petrović, B
AU - Pizarro, José J.
AU - Schönefeld, Victoria
AU - Śmieja, Magdalena
AU - Tokaji, A
AU - Vorster, A
AU - Vuoskoski, Jonna K.
AU - Fiske, Alan Page
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - English-speakers sometimes say that they feel “moved to tears,” “emotionally touched,” “stirred,” or that something “warmed their heart;” other languages use similar passive contact metaphors to refer to an affective state. The authors propose and measure the concept of kama muta to understand experiences often given these and other labels. Do the same experiences evoke the same kama muta emotion across nations and languages? They conducted studies in 19 different countries, 5 continents, 15 languages, with a total of 3,542 participants. They tested the construct while validating a comprehensive scale to measure the appraisals, valence, bodily sensations, motivation, and lexical labels posited to characterize kama muta. The results are congruent with theory and previous findings showing that kama muta is a distinct positive social relational emotion that is evoked by experiencing or observing a sudden intensification of communal sharing. It is commonly accompanied by a warm feeling in the chest, moist eyes or tears, chills or piloerection, feeling choked up or having a lump in the throat, buoyancy, and exhilaration. It motivates affective devotion and moral commitment to communal sharing. Although the authors observed some variations across cultures, these 5 facets of kama muta are highly correlated in every sample, supporting the validity of the construct and the measure. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)
AB - English-speakers sometimes say that they feel “moved to tears,” “emotionally touched,” “stirred,” or that something “warmed their heart;” other languages use similar passive contact metaphors to refer to an affective state. The authors propose and measure the concept of kama muta to understand experiences often given these and other labels. Do the same experiences evoke the same kama muta emotion across nations and languages? They conducted studies in 19 different countries, 5 continents, 15 languages, with a total of 3,542 participants. They tested the construct while validating a comprehensive scale to measure the appraisals, valence, bodily sensations, motivation, and lexical labels posited to characterize kama muta. The results are congruent with theory and previous findings showing that kama muta is a distinct positive social relational emotion that is evoked by experiencing or observing a sudden intensification of communal sharing. It is commonly accompanied by a warm feeling in the chest, moist eyes or tears, chills or piloerection, feeling choked up or having a lump in the throat, buoyancy, and exhilaration. It motivates affective devotion and moral commitment to communal sharing. Although the authors observed some variations across cultures, these 5 facets of kama muta are highly correlated in every sample, supporting the validity of the construct and the measure. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)
U2 - 10.1177/0022022117746240
DO - 10.1177/0022022117746240
M3 - Article
SN - 1528-3542
VL - 19
SP - 402
EP - 424
JO - Emotion
JF - Emotion
IS - 3
ER -