Abstract

People can be moved and touched by exceptional closeness between people or by outstanding willpower. We investigated the causal effect of these feelings on motivations. We based our research on the previously identified phenomenon that feelings of being moved are stronger in unfavourable circumstances (e.g. psychological closeness after conflict, high achievement against all odds). In two studies in the US (N1 = 136) and in Germany (N2 = 161), we independently varied context (love vs. willpower) and circumstances (favourable vs. unfavourable) in short stories and assessed feelings of being moved as well as the motivation to show love and the motivation to show willpower after each story. In both contexts and consistent across the two studies, unfavourable circumstances elicited stronger motivations to show love as well as stronger motivations to show willpower. Multilevel mediation modelling revealed that these effects were mediated by feelings of being moved. This indicates that feelings of being moved enhance pro-social as well as achievement-related motivations.