Awe and elevation are self-transcendent emotions, possibly triggered by witnessing acts of human moral beauty or virtue and often giving people the desire to improve themselves and work toward the greater good.
This is another area with rather light coverage from the PPND authors.
 By David J. Pollay:
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 By Kathryn Britton:
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| Haidt, J. (2006). The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom. New York: Basic Books.
Visit the Happiness Hypothesis site for information about the book, including some of the chapters available online (but not this one.) Haidt, J. (2003). Elevation and the positive psychology of morality. C. L. Keyes & J. Haidt (Eds.), Flourishing: Positive Psychology and the Life Well-Lived (pp. 275-290). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association. |
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Keltner, D. & Haidt, J. (2003). Approaching awe: A moral, spiritual, and aesthetic emotion. Cognition and Emotion, 17, 297-314. Available here. Bibliography of Haidt and Keltner papers on elevation and self-transcendent emotion, including links to most articles. Keltner, D. (2009). Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life. New York: W. W. Norton & Co. |
| Peterson, C. & Seligman, M. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jon Haidt and Dacher Keltner were the primary authors of Chapter 23, which describes the character strength, Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence [Awe, Wonder, Elevation]. Jon Haidt has made the Beauty and Excellence chapter available on the Web. |
| Vaillant, G. (2008). Spiritual Evolution: A Scientific Defense of Faith. New York: Broadway Press. |
