The lost e-mail: Prosocial reactions induced by uniquely human emotions

Leyens et al. (2000) have developed a theory on the role of secondary emotions as a uniquely human characteristic. An implication of this theory is that the use of secondary emotions, compared to primary emotions, will increase prosocial intentions and behaviours. Given the uniquely human character...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:British journal of social psychology 2002-12, Vol.41 (4), p.521-534
Main Authors: Vaes, Jeroen, Paladino, Maria-Paola, Leyens, Jacques-Philippe
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis of Variance
Attitude
Attitudes
Behavior. Attitude
Belgium
Biological and medical sciences
Communication
Computer Communication Networks
Electronic Mail
Emotional responses
Emotions
Empathy
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Group behaviour
Human behaviour
Humans
Male
Personality
Prosocial behaviour
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Social Behavior
Social psychology
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Summary:Leyens et al. (2000) have developed a theory on the role of secondary emotions as a uniquely human characteristic. An implication of this theory is that the use of secondary emotions, compared to primary emotions, will increase prosocial intentions and behaviours. Given the uniquely human character of secondary emotions, people who express themselves in terms of these emotions are tacitly seen as more human. As a consequence, these individuals share the human nature that we usually reserve for our own group or ourselves and will therefore evoke prosocial attitudes and behaviours. In two studies, French‐speaking participants were confronted with an e‐mail that started with either a primary or a secondary emotion. As expected, secondary emotion messages, compared to primary emotion messages, provoked stronger intentions to help the sender (Expt 1) and elicited ‘nicer’ responses (Expt 2). Implications for intergroup relations are discussed.
ISSN:0144-6665
2044-8309
DOI:10.1348/014466602321149867