An emotional path to ourselves.

Abstract

Self-transcendence of the self has been approached theoretically and empirically in a variety of forms and can be experienced in the form of Self-Transcendent Emotions (STEs). These different emotional episodes orientate ourselves towards other people's needs and welfare, and result of significance due to their psychological effects in interpersonal, intra- and intergroup relations. The present thesis focuses on these and extends on the study of collective instances STEs are intertwined: Collective gatherings and rituals. Part I starts differentiating two STEs (i.e., awe and elevation) from positive affect (i.e., mirth), and shows how they motivate a greater socio-emotional connection with a superordinate identity (S1). With the necessity of a more precise assessment instrument, an awe scale was created (S2) and then compared to other STEs (i.e., elevation and kama muta) focusing on their activation pattern and effects on human identification, and collective action intentions (S3). Part II centres on the study of psychological processes in collective gatherings in general, and rituals in specific. S4 explores online emotional expression and the effects of perceived emotional synchrony (PES) in accounting for the positive individual- and group-level outcomes. S5 replicates previous results and besides PES, examines Shared Flow's effect on compassion for others, in a quasi-experimentally manipulated collective ritual. Finally, Part III presents the conceptualization of a social human emotion based on a fundamental form of social relationship: Authority Ranking. It is described an emotion felt in the presence of legitimateauthority figures, including a revision of culture, work and evolutionary psychology (S5). The main discussion centres on these results' implications on socio-emotional relations, collective identities, and the comprehensive study of human emotions.