This article provides an analysis of moral emotions from an attributional point of view, guided by the metaphors of man as a naïve scientist (Heider, 1958) and as a moral judge (Weiner, 2006). The theoretical analysis focuses on three concepts: (a) The distinction between the actor and the observer, (b) the functional quality of moral emotions, and (c) the perceived controllability of the causes of events. Moral emotions are identified (admiration, anger, awe, contempt, disgust, elevation, embarrassment, envy, gratitude, guilt, indignation, jealousy, pity, pride, rage, regret, remorse, resentment, respect, schadenfreude, scorn, shame, and sympathy). A classification of these moral emotions is suggested and the empirical evidence briefly summarized. In discussing our results, we identify unresolved issues awaiting further analyses and research.

The present study investigated the experience of schadenfreude among children. Participants were 4- to 8-year-old children (n = 100) who were told stories of another child experiencing a misfortune while pursuing a morally positive versus morally negative goal. Schadenfreude, sympathy, and helping behaviour towards the suffering child were assessed. Results showed that beginning at the age of 4, emotional and behavioural reactions towards a misfortune of another child were predicted by the moral valence of the other child's goal. Furthermore, morally negative goals decreased helping behaviour and morally positive goals increased helping behaviour. Multilevel mediation analysis revealed that the relation between goal valence and helping behaviour was mediated by both schadenfreude and sympathy. However, those effects were especially pronounced in older children.

In this article, we investigate the influence of responsibility, moral emotions, and empathy on help giving for stigmatized persons in need. Both characteristics of the recipient of help and the help giver are analyzed within a general theoretical framework. Based on an online study (N = 332), structural equation models confirm and extend an attributional explanation of help-giving, based on a thinking-feeling-acting model. Conditions promoting help giving are identified: (i) A potential help giver who regards himself or herself as responsible for the recipient's misfortune is likely to experience guilt, regret, and shame, thus increasing the likelihood of help. (ii) A potential recipient of help who is regarded as being not responsible for his or her plight elicits sympathy and is thus more likely to receive help. In contrast, when the person in need is regarded as being responsible for his or her plight, anger and even schadenfreude are elicited, and likelihood of help giving decreases. (iii) Different aspects of empathy as a stable personal characteristic exert direct and indirect (i.e., emotionally mediated) effects on help giving. Using structural equation modeling, we outline an attributional model of helping conceptualizing helping behavior within an actor-observer system integrating a variety of moral emotions involved in help giving.The notion that moral emotions guide our social interactions has a long tradition in philosophy (e.g., Hume, 1740; Smith, 1759 Smith, /2005. However, it was not until recently that moral emotions became an important re-

Moral emotions are typically elicited in everyday social interactions and regulate social behavior. Previous research in the field of attribution theory identified ought (the moral standard of a given situation or intended goal), goal-attainment (a goal can be attained vs. not attained) and effort (high vs. low effort expenditure) as cognitive antecedents of moral emotions. In contrast to earlier studies, mainly relying on thought experiments, we investigated autobiographical recollections of N = 312 participants by means of an online study. We analyzed a diverse range of moral emotions, i.e., admiration, anger, contempt, indignation, pride, respect, schadenfreude, and sympathy, by using a mixed-method approach. Qualitative and quantitative methods clearly corroborate the important role of ought, goal-attainment, and effort as eliciting conditions of moral emotions. Furthermore, we built categorical systems based on our participants’ descriptions of real-life situations, allowing for more fine-grained distinctions between seemingly similar moral emotions. We thus identify additional prerequisites explaining more subtle differences between moral emotion clusters as they emerge from our analyses (i.e., cluster 1: admiration, pride, and respect; cluster 2: anger, contempt, and indignation; cluster 3: schadenfreude and sympathy). Results are discussed in the light of attributional theories of moral emotions, and implications for future research are derived.

Zusammenfassung. Wir untersuchten die Wirkung eines gesundheitsorientierten Krafttrainings auf verschiedene Aspekte des psychischen Wohlbefindens für einen Zeitraum von 3 (t1) und 6 Monaten (t2). N = 531 Teilnehmer führten 6 Mal monatlich ein präventives (PKT, n = 317) oder medizinisches gesundheitsorientiertes Krafttraining (MKT, n = 109) durch oder gehörten einer Warte-Kontrollgruppe (KG, n = 105) an. Nach 6 Monaten zeigten sich Verbesserungen des Körperbildes. Für beide Trainingsformen verbesserte sich die vitale Körperdynamik (PKT: d = 0.59, MKT: d = 0.40), die ablehnende Körperbewertung reduzierte sich (PKT: d = –0.44, MKT: d = –0.32). Für Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung und Lebenszufriedenheit fanden wir anhand von Strukturgleichungsmodellen und Pfadanalysen indirekte Wirkmechanismen: Das durch gesundheitsorientiertes Krafttraining verbesserte Körperbild fördert eine Zunahme der Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung, die wiederum eine höhere Lebenszufriedenheit begünstigt (χ2 = 3.35, p = .501, df = 4, NFI = .98, CFI = 1.00, RMSEA = .00). Die Ergebnisse werden im Hinblick auf das Zusammenspiel der zugrunde liegenden körperlichen und psychischen Wirkmechanismen untersucht.