Moral Elevation and Economic Games: The Moderating Role of Personality.
Level 2 - randomized trial
Randomized controlled laboratory experiment (graded by design analogy for non-clinical behavioral science)
PubMed 31316415 · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01381
What was done
Researchers randomized 144 US college students to watch either a morally uplifting video clip or a humorous control video. Following the video, participants completed personality measures (Engagement with Moral Beauty, Honesty-Humility, Agreeableness vs. Anger, and Need for Cognition), played a dictator game and an ultimatum game, and were asked whether they would volunteer for an additional time-consuming experiment.
What was found
Experimentally induced state elevation increased prosocial behavior in the dictator game, but not in the ultimatum game or volunteering task. In the experimental group, higher Need for Cognition and Engagement with Moral Beauty were associated with increased prosocial behavior, whereas Honesty-Humility and Agreeableness vs. Anger were not. Personality traits did not moderate the self-reported experience of elevation itself, only its subsequent behavioral consequences. The abstract does not report specific numerical values, test statistics, or effect sizes.
Why it matters
The findings suggest that the behavioral expression of moral elevation depends on specific cognitive and aesthetic personality traits, clarifying why individuals may respond differently to witnessing virtuous behavior.
Limits
The study is limited to a single sample of US college students (N = 144), restricting generalizability. Prosocial behavior was measured using simulated economic games and an immediate volunteering request rather than real-world long-term actions, and exact statistics or effect magnitudes are omitted from the abstract.
Cited by
- supports Observing acts of service or charity induces a state known as moral elevation in humans.