Together we cry: Social motives and preferences for group-based sadness

Abstract

Group-based emotions play an important role in helping people feel that they belong to their group. People are motivated to belong, but does this mean that they actively try to experience group-based emotions to increase their sense of belonging? In this investigation, we propose that people may be motivated to experience even group-based emotions that are typically considered unpleasant to satisfy their need to belong. To test this hypothesis, we examined people's preferences for group-based sadness in the context of the Israeli National Memorial Day. In two correlational (Studies 1a and 1b) and two experimental (Studies 2 and 3) studies, we demonstrate that people with a stronger need to belong have a stronger preference to experience group-based sadness. This effect was mediated by the expectation that experiencing sadness would be socially beneficial (Studies 1 and 2). We discuss the implications of our findings for understanding motivated emotion regulation and intergroup relations.

Sad as a Matter of Evidence: The Desire for Self-Verification Motivates the Pursuit of Sadness in Clinical Depression

“…To assess the degree of motivation to experience sadness, we averaged across ratings of depressed, melancholic, downhearted, sad, and gloomy (α = 0.83). The construct and predictive validity of this measure for assessing the degree of motivation to experience emotions has been established (e.g., Hackenbracht and Tamir, 2010;Tamir et al, 2013;Millgram et al, 2015;Porat et al, 2016).…”

Can Crime Foster Social Participation as Conflict Can?*

“…This moment corresponds to what Jasper (:292) calls a “moral shock.” It produces a sensation that “the world is not as one had thought.” As a result, victims of violence experience a diverse set of emotions, such as anger, fear, sadness, loss of safety, guilt, hatred, or helplessness in different stages after the victimizing event (McCann, Sakheim, and Abrahamson, ). These emotions imply certain action tendencies (Frijda, ; Nussio, ): anger, for example, is particularly mobilizing (Reifen Tagar, Federico, and Halperin, ); fear can both produce avoidance and collective coping (Miethe, ); and sadness and feelings of loneliness can lead to an increased need to belong (Porat et al., ). The individual responses vary depending on the emotional reactions and the specific stressors.…”

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“…With the acknowledgement that emotional processes may be driven by various motivations, there have been growing attempts to understand the role of motivation in emotional processes that go beyond the individual, focusing on motivations for more social processes such as empathy (Zaki, 2014). In the group context, Porat and colleagues have conducted studies showing how group-related motivations lead group members to increase or decrease their emotions in group contexts (Porat, Halperin, Mannheim, & Tamir, 2016;. For example, group members may be motivated to experience sadness in collective memorial ceremonies, as such sadness provides the instrumental value of signaling true group membership (Porat, Halperin, Mannheim, et al, 2016).…”

“…In the group context, Porat and colleagues have conducted studies showing how group-related motivations lead group members to increase or decrease their emotions in group contexts (Porat, Halperin, Mannheim, & Tamir, 2016;. For example, group members may be motivated to experience sadness in collective memorial ceremonies, as such sadness provides the instrumental value of signaling true group membership (Porat, Halperin, Mannheim, et al, 2016).…”