What does it mean to be moved by love?

Researchers from UCLA and the University of Oslo have documented a complex but universally felt emotion they call kama muta — a Sanskrit term that means “moved by love.”For the past five years they have documented the physical sensations people report when they feel kama muta, and what kind of events, images and experiences bring it about.Forthe research, which was published in the journal Emotion, the authors studied 3,543 participants in 19 countries on five continents. Their observations suggest that kama muta is a distinct positive social emotion evoked by experiencing or observing a sudden intensification of communality.The emotion is typically accompanied by moist eyes or tears, chills or goosebumps, a warm feeling in the body, a feeling of exhilaration and a motivation to help or share — sensations that in common English might be labeled as moving, touching or heartwarming. Reactions to stimuli that inspire feelings of patriotism, acts of heroism or the shared joy of a sports team all fall in the realm of kama muta.“Ultimately, we hope to find ways for kama muta to connect people across political divides; we’d like to make the world more peaceful and connected,” said Alan Fiske, a UCLA professor of anthropology and one of the report’s co-authors. “We hope to find out how kama muta may motivate people to come together to effectively care for refugees, the hungry and the poor. We are merely scholars, but we hope to discover how kama muta may move the wo...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news