Now Is That Gratitude?

We examined the effects of each moral sentiment measure (e.g. pride-proneness) on GM volume across the whole brain while using the other moral sentiment of equal valence (e.g. gratitude-proneness) as a covariate of no interest to control for effects of valence. We thus used two separate models to test for positive and negative emotions. All reported results were thus partial effects of one moral sentiment controlled for the adjusted effect of the equal-valence moral sentiment.The Value-related Moral Sentiment Task (VMST) consists of 180 descriptions of positive or negative interactions between a participant and their best friend in which either they (self-agency, N=90), or their best friend (other-agency, N=90), acted in accord with (N=90) or counter to (N=90) social and moral values. The four conditions thus measured proneness to:Pride (POS_SELF): positive self-agency (e.g. ‘Yourself acting in a generous way towards Sam [best friend]’)Gratitude (POS_OTHER): positive other-agency (e.g. ‘Sam acting in a generous way towards you’)Guilt (NEG_SELF): negative self-agency (e.g. ‘Yourself acting in a stingy way towards Sam’)Indignation (NEG_OTHER): negative other-agency (e.g. ‘Sam acting in a stingy way towards you’)The task was to choose the most fitting label (pride, gratitude, embarrassment [not examined here], guilt, indignation/anger, or none/other) for what they'd feel in response to each example. Participants then rated the unpleasantness or pleasantnes...
Source: The Neurocritic - Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Source Type: blogs