The psychology of being moved (感动), characterized as a passive and involuntary emotional state triggered by external stimuli, has garnered increasing academic interest for its profound social and psychological implications. This study aims to systematically explore the attributes and eliciting mechanisms of the emotion, building on evidence from diverse methodological perspectives, including questionnaires, experimental studies, cognitive neuroscience, and cross-cultural research. By synthesizing findings, it examines the subjective experiences, physiological responses, and key factors involved in eliciting the emotion, as well as their interconnections. Furthermore, the research highlights the broader implications of being moved, particularly its role in fostering personal growth, enhancing social cohesion, and contributing to societal governance.
The study identifies the primary emotional attributes of being moved through self-reported studies, indicating that chills, tears, and a sense of warmth in the chest area are common subjective experiences. These subjective feelings often correspond to physiological responses involving both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. Chills, frequently accompanied by goosebumps, are linked to increased heart rate and heightened skin conductance, reflecting arousal mediated by the sympathetic nervous system. In contrast, tears are associated with parasympathetic activity, inducing a state of physiological calmness. The co-occurrence of chills and tears during emotional arousal represents a unique interplay of both nervous systems, underpinning the distinctiveness of being moved. Additionally, subjective warmth in the chest may reflect metaphorical expressions of positive emotional states, potentially associated with vagus nerve activation.
The paper further investigates the theoretical underpinnings of the emotion, employing three primary frameworks: relational models theory, attachment theory, and core values theory. Relational models theory posits that being moved arises from the sudden strengthening of communal relationships, as supported by empirical evidence linking the emotion to heightened social connections. Attachment theory extends this perspective by suggesting that the emotion is evolutionarily rooted in attachment mechanisms that enhance social bonds and prosocial behaviors. Furthermore, the extended attachment hypothesis highlights the role of “dearness,” wherein individuals perceive significance in abstract entities, such as art or moral values, as an extension of attachment processes. Core values theory, meanwhile, situates being moved within the context of universal moral and aesthetic principles, emphasizing the role of self-transcendence and meaningfulness. Events or experiences that instantiate core values such as friendship, peace, or beauty are particularly potent in evoking the emotion, providing a broader explanatory framework that integrates relational and attachment perspectives.
Cross-cultural studies reveal significant variability in the elicitation and expression of being moved across different societies. In collectivist cultures such as China, the emotion is often elicited by acts of altruism, moral integrity, or self-sacrifice, emphasizing the individual’s role within the collective. Conversely, in individualistic Western cultures, being moved frequently arises from personal achievement, struggle, or resistance, highlighting its motivational and transformative dimensions. These findings underscore the importance of cultural context in shaping the triggers, expressions, and functions of the emotion, calling for further cross-cultural investigations to examine its universality and cultural specificity.
The paper emphasizes the broader implications of being moved, noting its capacity to enhance prosocial behaviors, strengthen social bonds, and foster a sense of moral and cultural identity. Experimental evidence suggests that experiences of being moved can promote empathy, reduce prejudice, and even inspire pro-environmental behaviors. On an individual level, the emotion serves as a reflective state, enabling personal growth and shifts in cognitive frameworks. Adolescents’ emotional experiences of being moved, for example, may play a critical role in shaping identity development and emotional resilience. On a societal level, the emotion can be strategically utilized in public policy, education, and media to reinforce shared values, foster social cohesion, and enhance collective well-being.
In conclusion, the psychology of being moved represents a complex interplay of emotional, physiological, and social mechanisms, deeply embedded in cultural contexts and evolutionary processes. Future research should prioritize experimental designs that explore the causality between cognitive appraisals and physiological responses, leveraging advanced neuroscientific tools such as fMRI and EEG to track dynamic changes in neural activity. Additionally, investigating individual differences in emotional sensitivity and empathy may offer valuable insights into personalized interventions. Finally, the cross-cultural dimensions of being moved remain an essential avenue for exploration, with implications for fostering global understanding and collaboration. By advancing theoretical and empirical knowledge, research on being moved can provide a robust foundation for practical applications, enhancing personal development and societal governance.
Key words
cooperative behavior /
rationality /
irrationality /
bounded rationality
{{custom_sec.title}}
{{custom_sec.title}}
{{custom_sec.content}}
References
[1] 艾娟. (2020). 感动: 心理学阐释及其作为社会情感治理策略. 学术交流, 5, 146-155.
[2] Aron A., Aron E. N., & Smollan D. (1992). Inclusion of other in the self scale and the structure of interpersonal closeness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63(4), 596-612.
[3] Bartsch A., Kalch A., & Oliver M. B. (2014). Moved to think: The role of emotional media experiences in stimulating reflective thoughts. Journal of Media Psychology, 26(3), 125-140.
[4] Blomster Lyshol J. K., Thomsen L., & Seibt B. (2020). Moved by observing the love of others: Kama Muta evoked through media fosters humanization of out-groups. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, Article 1240.
[5] Caracciolo, M. (2021). Being moved by nature in the anthropocene: on the limits of the ecological sublime. Emotion Review, 13(4), 299-305.
[6] Cova, F., & Boudesseul, J. (2023). A validation and comparison of three measures of participants' disposition to feel moved (introducing the Geneva Sentimentality Scale). Cognition and Emotion, 37(5), 908-926.
[7] Cova, F., & Deonna, J. A. (2014). Being moved. Philosophical Studies, 169(3), 447-466.
[8] Cova F., Deonna J., & Sander D. (2017). "That' s deep!": The role of being moved and feelings of profundity in the appreciation of serious narratives. In D. R. Wehrs & T. Blake (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of affect studies and textual criticism (pp. 347-369). Palgrave Macmillan.
[9] Cullhed, E. (2020). What evokes being moved? Emotion Review, 12(2), 111-117.
[10] Eerola T., Vuoskoski J. K., & Kautiainen H. (2016). Being moved by unfamiliar sad music is associated with high empathy. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, Article 1176.
[11] Eerola T., Vuoskoski J. K., Kautiainen H., Peltola H. R., Putkinen V., & Schäfer K. (2021). Being moved by listening to unfamiliar sad music induces reward-related hormonal changes in empathic listeners. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1502(1), 121-131.
[12] Fiske A. P., Schubert T. W., & Seibt B. (2017). The best-loved story of all time: Overcoming all obstacles to be reunited, evoking Kama Muta. Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture, 1(1), 67-70.
[13] Fiske A. P., Seibt B., & Schubert T. W. (2019). The sudden devotion emotion: Kama Muta and the cultural practices whose function is to evoke it. Emotion Review, 11(1), 74-86.
[14] Gračanin A., Bylsma L. M., & Vingerhoets, A. J. J. M. (2018). Why only humans shed emotional tears: Evolutionary and cultural perspectives. Human Nature, 29(2), 104-133.
[15] Haidt, J. (2003). Elevation and the positive psychology of morality. In C. L. M. Keyes & J. Haidt (Eds.), Flourishing: Positive psychology and the life well-lived (pp. 278-289). American Psychological Association.
[16] Hänninen, V., & Koski-Jännes, A. (2023). Being moved: A meaningful but enigmatic emotional experience. Human Arenas. Advance online publication.
[17] Herting, A. K., & Schubert, T. W. (2022). Valence, sensations and appraisals co-occurring with feeling moved: Evidence on Kama Muta theory from intra-individually cross-correlated time series. Cognition and Emotion, 36(6), 1149-1165.
[18] Kimura K., Haramizu S., Sanada K., & Oshida A. (2019). Emotional state of being moved elicited by films: A comparison with several positive emotions. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, Article 1935.
[19] Kuehnast M., Wagner V., Wassiliwizky E., Jacobsen T., & Menninghaus W. (2014). Being moved: Linguistic representation and conceptual structure. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, Article 1242.
[20] Landmann H., Cova F., & Hess U. (2019). Being moved by meaningfulness: Appraisals of surpassing internal standards elicit being moved by relationships and achievements. Cognition and Emotion, 33(7), 1387-1409.
[21] Lizarazo Pereira D. M., Schubert T. W., & Roth J. (2022). Moved by social justice: The role of Kama Muta in collective action toward racial equality. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, Article 780615.
[22] Lyshol J. K. B., Pich O., & Seibt B. (2022). Moved to Norway, then moved by Norway: How moments of Kama Muta is related with immigrants' acculturation. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 53(9), 1117-1144.
[23] Martínez-Molina N., Mas-Herrero E., Rodríguez-Fornells A., Zatorre R. J., & Marco-Pallarés J. (2016). Neural correlates of specific musical anhedonia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 113(46), E7337-E7345.
[24] Matsumoto, D. (1990). Cultural similarities and differences in display rules. Motivation and Emotion, 14(3), 195-214.
[25] Menninghaus W., Wagner V., Hanich J., Wassiliwizky E., Kuehnast M., & Jacobsen T. (2015). Towards a psychological construct of being moved. PLoS ONE, 10(6), Article e0128451.
[26] Mori, K., & Iwanaga, M. (2021). Being emotionally moved is associated with phasic physiological calming during tonic physiological arousal from pleasant tears. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 159, 47-59.
[27] Schindler I., Wagner V., Jacobsen T., & Menninghaus W. (2022). Lay conceptions of “being moved”(“bewegt sein”) include a joyful and a sad type: Implications for theory and research. PLoS ONE, 17(10), Article e0276808.
[28] Schoeller, F., & Perlovsky, L. (2016). Aesthetic chills: Knowledge-acquisition, meaning-making, and aesthetic emotions. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, Article 1093.
[29] Schubert T. W., Zickfeld J. H., Seibt B., & Fiske A. P. (2018). Moment-to-moment changes in feeling moved match changes in closeness, tears, goosebumps, and warmth: Time series analyses. Cognition and Emotion, 32(1), 174-184.
[30] Seibt B., Schubert T. W., Zickfeld J. H., & Fiske A. P. (2017). Interpersonal closeness and morality predict feelings of being moved. Emotion, 17(3), 389-394.
[31] Seibt B., Schubert T. W., Zickfeld J. H., & Fiske A. P. (2019). Touching the base: Heart-warming ads from the 2016 U.S. election moved viewers to partisan tears. Cognition and Emotion, 33(2), 197-212.
[32] Seibt B., Zickfeld J. H., & Østby N. (2023). Global heart warming: Kama Muta evoked by climate change messages is associated with intentions to mitigate climate change. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, Article 1112910.
[33] Steinnes K. K., Blomster J. K., Seibt B., Zickfeld J. H., & Fiske A. P. (2019). Too cute for words: Cuteness evokes the heartwarming emotion of Kama Muta. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, Article 387.
[34] Stellar J. E., Cohen A., Oveis C., & Keltner D. (2015). Affective and physiological responses to the suffering of others: Compassion and vagal activity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 108(4), 572-585.
[35] Strick, M., & van Soolingen, J. (2018). Against the odds: Human values arising in unfavourable circumstances elicit the feeling of being moved. Cognition and Emotion, 32(6), 1231-1246.
[36] Tong Y., Li Y., & Chen J. (2023). Warm reading: Clarifying the mechanisms of empathy in text reading. Advances in Psychological Science, 11(3), 135-145.
[37] Vingerhoets, A. (2013). Why only humans weep: Unravelling the mysteries of tears. Oxford University Press.
[38] Vuoskoski J. K., Zickfeld J. H., Alluri V., Moorthigari V., & Seibt B. (2022). Feeling moved by music: Investigating continuous ratings and acoustic correlates. PLoS ONE, 17(1), Article e0261151.
[39] Wassiliwizky E., Jacobsen T., Heinrich J., Schneiderbauer M., & Menninghaus W. (2017). Tears falling on goosebumps: Co-occurrence of emotional lacrimation and emotional piloerection indicates a psychophysiological climax in emotional arousal. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, Article 41.
[40] Wassiliwizky E., Koelsch S., Wagner V., Jacobsen T., & Menninghaus W. (2017). The emotional power of poetry: Neural circuitry, psychophysiology and compositional principles. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 12(8), 1229-1240.
[41] Wu T., Wu N. N., Bi C. Z., Yin Y. W., Chen X. R., & Yue T. (2024). Psychometric evaluation of the Geneva sentimentality scale in Chinese college students. PsyCh Journal, 10. Advance online publication.
[42] Xiong, J. (2018). The feeling of being moved (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). National University of Singapore (Singapore).
[43] Yasuda S., Shoda H., Uemiya A., & Isaka T. (2022). A review of psychological research on Kando as an inclusive concept of moving experiences. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, Article 974220.
[44] Zickfeld J. H., Arriaga P., Santos S. V., Schubert T. W., & Seibt B. (2020). Tears of joy, aesthetic chills and heartwarming feelings: Physiological correlates of Kama Muta. Psychophysiology, 57(12), Article e13662.
[45] Zickfeld, J. H., & Schubert, T. W. (2018). Warm and touching tears: Tearful individuals are perceived as warmer because we assume they feel moved and touched. Cognition and Emotion, 32(8), 1691-1699.
[46] Zickfeld J. H., Schubert T. W., Seibt B., & Fiske A. P. (2019). Moving through the literature: what is the emotion often denoted being moved? Emotion Review, 11(2), 123-139.
PDF(935 KB)
