Beate Seibt

• Asmundardottir, Dora Soldis; Hauge, Åshild Lappegard; Haugestad, Christian Andres Palacios & Seibt, Beate (2026). Negotiating sustainability: expert discourses on battery sustainability in the energy transition. Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy. 22(1), p. 1–20. doi: 10.1080/15487733.2026.2713910. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Despite the necessity of batteries for a successful energy transition, the battery value chain poses numerous environmental, social, and governance challenges that are further exacerbated by rapidly growing demand. although the sustainability of batteries is gaining increasing attention in policy and industry, no research to date has addressed how experts construct, negotiate, and evaluate their inherent characteristics. this article seeks to address this gap by reporting on interviews with battery industry experts in Norway. Drawing on social representations theory and critical discursive psychology, we attend to both the construction (what is said) and the function (why it is said) of expert talk. the analysis illustrates that the hegemonic representations of battery sustainability align with weak sustainability, framing batteries as a necessary solution compatible with continued growth and prosperity. Respondents use the flexibility of the sustainability concept to legitimize social and environmental consequences, thereby justifying the status quo and maintaining the existing system of inequality. Yet, critical (polemic) representations also appear in the interviews, where the experts question electrification and batteries as the path to a sustainable future. these alternative representations emphasize systemic transformation and sufficiency, opening space for stronger forms of sustainability. Overall, the results highlight how expert discourse shapes the meaning and practical use of sustainability in the energy transition, primarily reinforcing dominant understandings of sustainability, while expressing personal aspirations for more transformative alternatives.

• Schubert, Thomas Wolfgang & Seibt, Beate (2026). How to get from here to a relational social psychology. Behavioral and Brain Sciences. ISSN 0140-525X. 49. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X2510126X. Full text in Research Archive
• Seibt, Beate (2026). Beyond commodification: A taxonomy of relational model degradation and the limits of the UDHR framework. Theory and society. ISSN 0304-2421. 55(3). doi: 10.1007/s11186-026-09713-y. Full text in Research Archive
• Fiske, Alan Page; Schubert, Thomas Wolfgang & Seibt, Beate (2025). Seeking Communal Emotions in Social Practices That Culturally Evolved to Evoke Emotions: Worship, Kitten Videos, Memorials, Narratives of Love, and More. Annual Review of Psychology. ISSN 0066-4308. 76(1), p. 607–633. doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-020124-023338. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In many instances, emotions do not simply happen to people by chance; Often, people actively seek out an emotion by engaging in practices that have culturally evolved to evoke that emotion. Such practices tend to be perpetuated and spread if people want to experience the emotion, like to recall it and tell others about it, want to give the emotion to others and experience it together, and/or regard the emotion as a sign of something wonderful. We illustrate this with a newly delineated emotion, kama muta. Many social practices around the world are structured to evoke kama muta. In those culturally evolved practices, and outside them, what typically evokes kama muta is a sudden intensification of communal sharing, or a sudden shift of attention to a communal sharing relationship. It seems probable that other social-relational emotions are also evoked by sudden changes in relationships or the sudden salience of a relationship. This change or saliencing may be incorporated in social practices that are perpetuated because they evoke the sought-after emotion. We suggest that such practices, as well as sudden changes in relationships that occur elsewhere, are especially promising places to discover social-relational emotions.

• Steinnes, Kamilla Knutsen; Lyshol, Johanna Katarina Blomster; Zickfeld, Janis H.; Schubert, Thomas Wolfgang & Seibt, Beate (2024). Kama Muta: The Cuteness Emotion. In Al-Shawaf, Laith & Shackelford, Todd K. (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Evolution and the Emotions. Oxford University Press. ISSN 9780197544754. p. 339–356. doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197544754.013.16. Full text in Research Archive
• Seibt, Beate; Zickfeld, Janis Heinrich & Østby, Nora (2023). Global heart warming: kama muta evoked by climate change messages is associated with intentions to mitigate climate change. Frontiers in Psychology. 14. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1112910. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Concern about climate change is often rooted in sympathy, compassion, and care for nature, living beings, and future generations. Feeling sympathy for others temporarily forms a bond between them and us: we focus on what we have in common and feel a sense of common destiny. Thus, we temporarily experience communal sharing relationships. A sudden intensification in communal sharing evokes an emotion termed kama muta, which may be felt through tearing up, a warm feeling in the chest, or goosebumps. We conducted four pre-registered studies (n = 1,049) to test the relationship between kama muta and proenvironmental attitudes, intentions, and behavior. In each study, participants first reported their attitudes about climate change. Then, they received climate changerelated messages. In Study 1, they saw one of the two moving video clips about environmental concerns. In Study 2, participants listened to a more or less moving version of a story about a typhoon in the Philippines. In Study 3, they listened to a different, also moving version of this story or an unrelated talk. In Study 4, they watched either a factual or a moving video about climate change. Participants then indicated their emotional responses. Finally, they indicated their intentions for climate mitigation actions. In addition, we measured time spent reading about climate-related information (Studies 1, 2, and 4) and donating money (Study 4). Across all studies, we found that feelings of kama muta correlated positively with pro-environmental intentions (r = 0.48 [0.34, 0.62]) and behavior (r = 0.10 [0.0004, 0.20]). However, we did not obtain evidence for an experimental effect of the type of message (moving or neutral) on pro-environmental intentions (d = 0.04 [−0.09, 0.18]), though this relationship was significantly mediated by felt kama muta across Studies 2–4. The relationship was not moderated by prior climate attitudes, which had a main effect on intentions. We also found an indirect effect of condition through kama muta on donation behavior. In sum, our results contribute to the question of whether kama muta evoked by climate-change messages can be a motivating force in efforts at climate-change mitigation.

• Lyshol, Johanna Katarina Blomster; Seibt, Beate; Oliver, Mary Beth & Thomsen, Lotte (2022). Moving political opponents closer: How kama muta can contribute to reducing the partisan divide in the US. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations. ISSN 1368-4302. 26(2), p. 493–511. doi: 10.1177/13684302211067152. Full text in Research Archive
• Vuoskoski, Jonna Katariina; Zickfeld, Janis Heinrich; Alluri, Vinoo; Moorthigari, Vishnu & Seibt, Beate (2022). Feeling moved by music: Investigating continuous ratings and acoustic correlates. PLOS ONE. 17(1). doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0261151. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The experience often described as feeling moved, understood chiefly as a social-relational emotion with social bonding functions, has gained significant research interest in recent years. Although listening to music often evokes what people describe as feeling moved, very little is known about the appraisals or musical features contributing to the experience. In the present study, we investigated experiences of feeling moved in response to music using a continuous rating paradigm. A total of 415 US participants completed an online experiment where they listened to seven moving musical excerpts and rated their experience while listening. Each excerpt was randomly coupled with one of seven rating scales (perceived sadness, perceived joy, feeling moved or touched, sense of connection, perceived beauty, warmth [in the chest], or chills) for each participant. The results revealed that musically evoked experiences of feeling moved are associated with a similar pattern of appraisals, physiological sensations, and trait correlations as feeling moved by videos depicting social scenarios (found in previous studies). Feeling moved or touched by both sadly and joyfully moving music was associated with experiencing a sense of connection and perceiving joy in the music, while perceived sadness was associated with feeling moved or touched only in the case of sadly moving music. Acoustic features related to arousal contributed to feeling moved only in the case of joyfully moving music. Finally, trait empathic concern was positively associated with feeling moved or touched by music. These findings support the role of social cognitive and empathic processes in music listening, and highlight the social-relational aspects of feeling moved or touched by music.

• Lyshol, Johanna Katarina Blomster; Pich, Olivia & Seibt, Beate (2022). Moved to Norway, Then Moved by Norway: How Moments of Kama Muta Is Related With Immigrants’ Acculturation. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. ISSN 0022-0221. 53(9), p. 1117–1144. doi: 10.1177/00220221221104944. Full text in Research Archive
• Swarbrick, Dana; Seibt, Christa Beate; Grinspun, Noemi & Vuoskoski, Jonna Katariina (2021). Corona Concerts: The Effect of Virtual Concert Characteristics on Social Connection and Kama Muta. Frontiers in Psychology. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.648448. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The popularity of virtual concerts increased as a result of the social distancing requirements of the coronavirus pandemic. We aimed to examine how the characteristics of virtual concerts and the characteristics of the participants influenced their experiences of social connection and kama muta (often labeled “being moved”). We hypothesized that concert liveness and the salience of the coronavirus would influence social connection and kama muta. We collected survey responses on a variety of concert and personal characteristics from 307 participants from 13 countries across 4 continents. We operationalized social connection as a combination of feelings and behaviors and kama muta was measured using the short kama muta scale (Zickfeld et al., 2019). We found that (1) social connection and kama muta were related and predicted by empathic concern, (2) live concerts produced more social connection, but not kama muta, than pre-recorded concerts, and (3) the salience of the coronavirus during concerts predicted kama muta and this effect was completely mediated by social connection. Exploratory analyses also examined the influence of social and physical presence, motivations for concert attendance, and predictors of donations. This research contributes to the understanding of how people can connect socially and emotionally in virtual environments.

• Zickfeld, Janis Heinrich; Arriaga, Patrícia; Santos, S. Vilar; Schubert, Thomas & Seibt, Beate (2020). Tears of joy, aesthetic chills and heartwarming feelings: Physiological correlates of Kama Muta. Psychophysiology. ISSN 0048-5772. 57(12). doi: 10.1111/psyp.13662. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Situations involving increased closeness or exceptional kindness are often labeled as moving or touching and individuals often report bodily symptoms, including tears, goosebumps, and warmth in the body. Recently, the kama muta framework has been proposed as a cross‐cultural conceptualization of these experiences. Prior research on kama muta has mostly relied on subjective reports. Thus, our main goal of the present project was to examine the pattern of physiological responses to kama muta inducing videos and compare it to the patterns for the similar, though distinct emotions of sadness and awe. One hundred forty‐four Portuguese and Norwegian participants were individually exposed to all three emotion conditions. Several psychophysiological indexes of the autonomic nervous system were collected continuously during exposure, including cardiovascular, respiratory, and electrodermal activity, facial EMG, skin temperature, as well as piloerection and lachrymation using cameras. Overall, the results partly replicated previous findings on being moved experiences and self‐report studies. Strong self‐reported experiences of kama muta were associated with increased phasic skin conductance, skin temperature, piloerection, and zygomaticus activity, while they were associated with reduced heart rate, respiration rate, and tonic skin conductance. The physiological profile of kama muta was successfully distinguished from sadness and awe, partly corroborating self‐report evidence. We obtained no clear evidence of a kama muta association with the occurrence of lachrymation or heart rate variability. Our findings provide a systematic overview of psychophysiological response to experiences of kama muta, and help to inform future research on this emotion and positive emotions in general.

• Kosakowska-Berezecka, Natasza; Jurek, Paweł; Besta, Tomasz; Korzeniewska, Lubomiła & Seibt, Beate (2020). De-gender them! Gendered vs cooperative division of housework – cross-cultural comparison of Polish and Norwegian students. Current Psychology. ISSN 1046-1310. 39(6), p. 2276–2284. doi: 10.1007/s12144-018-9915-6. Full text in Research Archive
• Blomster, Johanna Katarina; Thomsen, Lotte & Seibt, Beate (2020). Moved by Observing the Love of Others: Kama Muta Evoked Through Media Fosters Humanization of Out-Groups. Frontiers in Psychology. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01240. Full text in Research Archive
• Fiske, Alan Page; Seibt, Beate & Schubert, Thomas (2019). The Sudden Devotion Emotion: Kama Muta and the Cultural Practices Whose Function Is to Evoke It. Emotion Review. ISSN 1754-0739. 11(1), p. 74–86. doi: 10.1177/1754073917723167. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  When communal sharing relationships (CSRs) suddenly intensify, people experience an emotion that English speakers may label, depending on context, “moved,” “touched,” “heart-warming,” “nostalgia,” “patriotism,” or “rapture” (although sometimes people use each of these terms for other emotions). We call the emotion kama muta (Sanskrit, “moved by love”). Kama muta evokes adaptive motives to devote and commit to the CSRs that are fundamental to social life. It occurs in diverse contexts and appears to be pervasive across cultures and throughout history, while people experience it with reference to its cultural and contextual meanings. Cultures have evolved diverse practices, institutions, roles, narratives, arts, and artifacts whose core function is to evoke kama muta. Kama muta mediates much of human sociality.

• Steinnes, Kamilla Knutsen; Blomster, Johanna Katarina; Seibt, Christa Beate; Zickfeld, Janis Heinrich & Fiske, Alan P. (2019). Too Cute for Words: Cuteness Evokes the Heartwarming Emotion of Kama Muta. Frontiers in Psychology. 10(387). doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00387. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  A configuration of infantile attributes including a large head, large eyes, with a small nose and mouth low on the head comprise the visual baby schema or Kindchenschema that English speakers call “cute.” In contrast to the stimulus gestalt that evokes it, the evoked emotional response to cuteness has been little studied, perhaps because the emotion has no specific name in English, Norwegian, or German. We hypothesize that cuteness typically evokes kama muta, a social-relational emotion that in other contexts is often labeled in English as being moved or touched, heartwarming, nostalgia, patriotic feeling, being touched by the Spirit, the feels, etcetera. What evokes kama muta is sudden intensification of a communal sharing (CS) relationship, either CS between the person and another, or CS between observed others. In accord with kama muta theory, we hypothesize that a kama muta response to cuteness results from a sudden feeling of CS with the cute target. In colloquial terms, the perceiver adores the cute kittens and their heart goes out to them. When a person perceives cute targets interacting affectionately – that is,i ntensifying CS between them – this should strengthen a kama muta response. We experimentally investigated these predictions in two studies (N = 356). Study 1 revealed that videos of cute targets evoked significantly more kama muta than videos of targets that were not particularly cute. Study 2, pre-registered, found that, as hypothesized, when cute targets interacted affectionately they evoked more kama muta and were humanized more than when they were not interacting. We measured the level of kama muta by self-reports of sensations and signs and of feelings labeled heartwarming, being moved, and being touched. Participants’ ratings of kama muta were positively correlated with reported cuteness. In addition, as in our previous Research on kama muta elicited by other types of stimuli, trait empathic concern predicted kama muta responses and perceived cuteness. The studies thus provide first evidence that cute stimuli evoke the heartwarming emotion of kama muta.

• Hu, Chuan-Peng; Yin, Ji-Xing; Lindenberg, Siegwart; Dalğar, İlker; Weissgerber, Sophia C. & Vergara, Rodrigo C. [Show all 32 contributors for this article] (2019). Data from the Human Penguin Project, a cross-national dataset testing social thermoregulation principles. Scientific Data. 6:32, p. 1–7. doi: 10.1038/s41597-019-0029-2. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In the Human Penguin Project (N = 1755), 15 research groups from 12 countries collected body temperature, demographic variables, social network indices, seven widely-used psychological scales and two newly developed questionnaires (the Social Thermoregulation and Risk Avoidance Questionnaire (STRAQ-1) and the Kama Muta Frequency Scale (KAMF)). They were collected to investigate the relationship between environmental factors (e.g., geographical, climate etc.) and human behaviors, which is a long-standing inquiry in the scientific community. More specifically, the present project was designed to test principles surrounding the idea of social thermoregulation, which posits that social networks help people to regulate their core body temperature. The results showed that all scales in the current project have sufficient to good psychometrical properties. Unlike previous crowdsourced projects, this dataset includes not only the cleaned raw data but also all the validation of questionnaires in 9 different languages, thus providing a valuable resource for psychological scientists who are interested in cross-national, environment-human interaction studies.

• Zickfeld, Janis Heinrich; Schubert, Thomas; Seibt, Beate & Fiske, Alan P. (2019). Moving Through the Literature: What Is the Emotion Often Denoted Being Moved? Emotion Review. ISSN 1754-0739. doi: 10.1177/1754073918820126. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  When do people say that they are moved, and does this experience constitute a unique emotion? We review theory and empirical research on being moved across psychology and philosophy. We examine feeling labels, elicitors, valence, bodily sensations, and motivations. We find that the English lexeme being moved typically (but not always) refers to a distinct and potent emotion that results in social bonding; often includes tears, piloerection, chills, or a warm feeling in the chest; and is often described as pleasurable, though sometimes as a mixed emotion. While we conclude that it is a distinct emotion, we also recommend studying it in a more comprehensive emotion framework, instead of using the ambiguous vernacular term being moved as a scientific term.

• Schubert, Thomas; Zickfeld, Janis Heinrich; Seibt, Beate & Fiske, Alan Page (2018). Moment-to-moment changes in feeling moved match changes in closeness, tears, goosebumps, and warmth: time series analyses. Cognition & Emotion. ISSN 0269-9931. 32(1), p. 174–184. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2016.1268998. Full text in Research Archive
• Zickfeld, Janis Heinrich; Schubert, Thomas; Seibt, Beate; Blomster, Johanna Katarina; Arriaga, Patrícia & Basabe, Nekane [Show all 35 contributors for this article] (2018). Kama Muta: Conceptualizing and Measuring the Experience Often Labelled Being Moved Across 19 Nations and 15 Languages. Emotion. ISSN 1528-3542. 19(3), p. 402–424. doi: 10.1037/emo0000450. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  English-speakers sometimes say that they feel “moved to tears,” “emotionally touched,” “stirred,” or that something “warmed their heart;” other languages use similar passive contact metaphors to refer to an affective state. The authors propose and measure the concept of kama muta to understand experiences often given these and other labels. Do the same experiences evoke the same kama muta emotion across nations and languages? They conducted studies in 19 different countries, 5 continents, 15 languages, with a total of 3,542 participants. They tested the construct while validating a comprehensive scale to measure the appraisals, valence, bodily sensations, motivation, and lexical labels posited to characterize kama muta. The results are congruent with theory and previous findings showing that kama muta is a distinct positive social relational emotion that is evoked by experiencing or observing a sudden intensification of communal sharing. It is commonly accompanied by a warm feeling in the chest, moist eyes or tears, chills or piloerection, feeling choked up or having a lump in the throat, buoyancy, and exhilaration. It motivates affective devotion and moral commitment to communal sharing. Although the authors observed some variations across cultures, these 5 facets of kama muta are highly correlated in every sample, supporting the validity of the construct and the measure.

• Seibt, Beate; Schubert, Thomas; Zickfeld, Janis Heinrich & Fiske, Alan Page (2018). Touching the Base: Heart-Warming Ads from the 2016 U.S. Election Moved Viewers to Partisan Tears. Cognition & Emotion. ISSN 0269-9931. 33, p. 197–212. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2018.1441128. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Some political ads used in the 2016 U.S. election evoked feelings colloquially known as being moved to tears. We conceptualise this phenomenon as a positive social emotion that appraises and motivates communal relations, is accompanied by physical sensations (including lachrymation, piloerection, chest warmth), and often labelled metaphorically. We surveyed U.S. voters in the fortnight before the 2016 U.S. election. Selected ads evoked the emotion completely and reliably, but in a partisan fashion: Clinton voters were moved to tears by three selected Clinton ads, and Trump voters were moved to tears by two Trump ads. Viewers were much less moved by ads of the candidate they did not support. Being moved to tears predicted intention to vote for the candidate depicted. We conclude that some contemporary political advertising is able to move its audience to tears, and thereby motivates support. This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Cognition and Emotion on 07 Mar 2018, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/02699931.2018.1441128

• IJzerman, Hans; Lindenberg, Siegwart; Dalgar, Ilker; Weissgerber, Sophia C.; Vergara, Rodrigo C. & Cairo, Athena [Show all 31 contributors for this article] (2018). The Human Penguin Project: Climate, Social Integration, and Core Body Temperature. Collabra: Psychology. ISSN 2474-7394. 4(1). doi: 10.1525/collabra.165. Full text in Research Archive
• Seibt, Beate; Schubert, Thomas; Zickfeld, Janis Heinrich; Zhu, Lei; Arriaga, Patrícia & Simão, Cláudia [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2017). Kama Muta: Similar emotional responses to touching videos across the US, Norway, China, Israel, and Portugal. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. ISSN 0022-0221. 49(3), p. 418–435. doi: 10.1177/0022022117746240. Full text in Research Archive
• Zickfeld, Janis Heinrich; Schubert, Thomas; Seibt, Beate & Fiske, Alan Page (2017). Empathic Concern is Part of A More General Communal Emotion. Frontiers in Psychology. 8(MAY). doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00723. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Seeing someone in need may evoke a particular kind of closeness that has been conceptualized as sympathy or empathic concern (which is distinct from other empathy constructs). In other contexts, when people suddenly feel close to others, or observe others suddenly feeling closer to each other, this sudden closeness tends to evoke an emotion often labeled in vernacular English as being moved, touched, or heart-warming feelings. Recent theory and empirical work indicates that this is a distinct emotion; the construct is named kama muta. Is empathic concern for people in need simply an expression of the much broader tendency to respond with kama muta to all kinds of situations that afford closeness, such as reunions, kindness, and expressions of love? Across 16 studies sampling 2918 participants, we explored whether empathic concern is associated with kama muta. Meta-analyzing the association between ratings of state being moved and trait empathic concern revealed an effect size of, r(3631) = .35 [95% CI: .29, .41]. In addition, trait empathic concern was also associated with self-reports of the three sensations that have been shown to be reliably indicative of kama muta: weeping, chills, and bodily feelings of warmth. We conclude that empathic concern might actually be a part of the kama muta construct.

• Żemojtel-Piotrowska, Magdalena A.; Piotrowski, Jarosław P.; Cieciuch, Jan; Calogero, Rachel M.; Hiel, Alain Van & Argentero, Piergiorgio [Show all 35 contributors for this article] (2017). Measurement of psychological entitlement in 28 countries. European Journal of Psychological Assessment. ISSN 1015-5759. 33(3), p. 207–217. doi: 10.1027/1015-5759/a000286. Full text in Research Archive
• Schubert, Thomas; Seibt, Beate; Zickfeld, Janis Heinrich; Blomster, Johanna Katarina & Fiske, Alan Page (2017). Being moved is a positive emotion, and emotions should not be equated with their vernacular labels. Behavioral and Brain Sciences. ISSN 0140-525X. 40(e374), p. 39–39. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X17001820. Full text in Research Archive
• Seibt, Beate; Schubert, Thomas; Zickfeld, Janis Heinrich & Fiske, Alan Page (2017). Interpersonal closeness and morality predict feelings of being moved. Emotion. ISSN 1528-3542. 17(3), p. 389–394. doi: 10.1037/emo0000271. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The emotion commonly labeled in English as being moved or touched is widely experienced but only tacitly defined, and has received little systematic attention. Based on a review of conceptualizations from various disciplines, we hypothesize that events appraised as an increase in interpersonal closeness, or as moral acts, when sufficiently intense, elicit a positive emotion typically labeled “being moved,” and characterized by tears, goosebumps, and a feeling of warmth in the chest. We predicted this to be true for events a person participates in, as well as for events they observe. In Study 1, we elicited reports of recent episodes of weeping evoked by something positive, and also weeping because of something negative; we measured emotion terms, bodily sensations, and appraisals in a U.S. sample. We discovered that events of positive tears, rather than negative tears, were associated with self-reported being moved or touched, with goosebumps, with feelings of chest warmth, and with the appraisals of increased closeness and moral acts. These appraisals mediated the difference in being moved between positive and negative events. We further found that appraisal patterns for personally experienced events were similar to the patterns for observed events. Finally, the 2 appraisals were more closely associated with being moved than with other emotion labels. This was corroborated in Study 2 in the U.S. and Norway, where we induced being moved, sadness, anxiety, and happiness through videos and measured these emotions, plus the appraisals and sensations from Study 1. The final version of this research was published in Emotion. © American Psychological Association.

• Fiske, Alan Page; Schubert, Thomas & Seibt, Beate (2017). “Kama muta” or ‘being moved by love’: A bootstrapping approach to the ontology and epistemology of an emotion. In Cassaniti, Julia L. & Menon, Usha (Ed.), Universalism without uniformity: Explorations in mind and culture. University of Chicago Press. ISSN 9780226501680. p. 79–100. doi: 10.7208/chicago/9780226501710.001.0001. Full text in Research Archive
• Gaspar, Rui; Luis, Silvia; Seibt, Beate; Lima, Maria Luisa; Marcu, Afrodita & Rutsaert, Pieter [Show all 9 contributors for this article] (2016). Consumers' avoidance of information on red meat risks: Information exposure effects on attitudes and perceived knowledge. Journal of Risk Research. ISSN 1366-9877. 19(4), p. 533–549. doi: 10.1080/13669877.2014.1003318. Full text in Research Archive
• Gaspar, Rui; Pedro, Claudia; Panagiotopoulos, Panos & Seibt, Beate (2016). Beyond positive or negative: Qualitative sentiment analysis of social media reactions to unexpected stressful events. Computers in Human Behavior. ISSN 0747-5632. 56, p. 179–191. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2015.11.040. Full text in Research Archive
• Gaspar, Rui; Barnett, Julie & Seibt, Beate (2015). Crisis as seen by the individual: the Norm Deviation Approach. Psyecology. ISSN 2171-1976. 6(1), p. 103–135. doi: 10.1080/21711976.2014.1002205. Full text in Research Archive
• Seibt, Beate; Mühlberger, Andreas; Likowski, Katja & Weyers, Peter (2015). Facial mimicry in its social setting. Frontiers in Psychology. 6. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01122. Full text in Research Archive
• Verbeke, Wim; Marcu, Aphrodite; Rutsaert, Pieter; Gaspar, Rui; Seibt, Beate & Fletcher, Dave [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2015). 'Would you eat cultured meat?': Consumers' reactions and attitude formation in Belgium, Portugal and the United Kingdom. Meat Science. ISSN 0309-1740. 102, p. 49–58. doi: 10.1016/j.meatsci.2014.11.013. Full text in Research Archive
• Rutsaert, Pieter; Barnett, Julie; Gaspar, Rui; Marcu, Aphrodite; Pieniak, Zuzanna & Seibt, Beate [Show all 9 contributors for this article] (2015). Beyond information seeking: Consumers’ online deliberation about the risks and benefits of red meat. Food Quality and Preference. ISSN 0950-3293. 39(1), p. 191–201. doi: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2014.07.011. Full text in Research Archive
• Marcu, Aphrodite; Gaspar, Rui; Rutsaert, Pieter; Seibt, Beate; Fletcher, Dave & Verbeke, Wim [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2015). Analogies, metaphors, and wondering about the future: Lay sense-making around synthetic meat. Public Understanding of Science. ISSN 0963-6625. 24(5), p. 547–562. doi: 10.1177/0963662514521106. Full text in Research Archive
• Seibt, Beate; Waldzus, Sven; Schubert, Thomas & Brito, Rodrigo (2015). Conservatism is not the missing viewpoint for true diversity. Commentary on Duarte et al. Behavioral and Brain Sciences. ISSN 0140-525X. 38:e157, p. 38–39. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X14001290. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The target article diagnoses a dominance of liberal viewpoints with little evidence, promotes a conservative viewpoint without defining it, and wrongly projects the U.S. liberal-conservative spectrum to the whole field of social psychology. Instead, we propose to anticipate and reduce mixing of theorizing and ideology by using definitions that acknowledge divergence in perspective, and promote representative sampling and observation of the field, as well as dialogical publication.

• Simão, Cláudia & Seibt, Beate (2015). Friendly touch increases gratitude by inducing communal feelings. Frontiers in Psychology. 6. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00815. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Communion among people is easily identifiable. Close friends or relatives frequently touch each other and this physical contact helps identifying the type of relationship they have. We tested whether a friendly touch and benefits elicit the emotion of gratitude given the close link between gratitude and communal relations. In Study 1, we induced a communal mindset and manipulated friendly touch (vs. non-touch) and benefit to female participants by a female confederate. We measured pre- and post-benefit gratitude, communal feelings, and liking toward the toucher, as well as general affect. In Study 2, we manipulated mindset, friendly touch and benefit, and measured the same variables in female pairs (confederate and participants). In both studies the results showed a main effect of touch on pre-benefit gratitude: participants who were touched by the confederate indicated more gratitude than those not touched. Moreover, benefit increased gratitude toward a confederate in the absence of touch, but not in the presence of touch. Additionally, perceiving the relationship as communal, and not merely liking the confederate, or a positive mood mediated the link between touch and gratitude. The results further support a causal model where touch increases communal feelings, which in turn increase gratitude at the end of the interaction, after having received a benefit from the interaction partner. These results support a broader definition of gratitude as an emotion embodied in communal relationship cues.

• Gaspar, Rui; Gorjão, Sara; Seibt, Beate; Lima, Luisa; Barnett, Julie & Moss, Adrian [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2014). Tweeting during food crises: A psychosocial analysis of threat coping expressions in Spain, during the 2011 EHEC outbreak in Europe. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies. ISSN 1071-5819. 72, p. 239–254. doi: 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2013.10.001. Full text in Research Archive
• Simão, Cláudia & Seibt, Beate (2014). Gratitude Depends on the Relational Model of Communal Sharing. PLOS ONE. 9(1). doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0086158. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  We studied the relation between benefits, perception of social relationships and gratitude. Across three studies, we provide evidence that benefits increase gratitude to the extent to which one applies a mental model of a communal relationship. In Study 1, the communal sharing relational model, and no other relational models, predicted the amount of gratitude participants felt after imagining receiving a benefit from a new acquaintance. In Study 2, participants recalled a large benefit they had received. Applying a communal sharing relational model increased feelings of gratitude for the benefit. In Study 3, we manipulated whether the participant or another person received a benefit from an unknown other. Again, we found that the extent of communal sharing perceived in the relationship with the stranger predicted gratitude. An additional finding of Study 2 was that communal sharing predicted future gratitude regarding the relational partner in a longitudinal design. To conclude, applying a communal sharing model predicts gratitude regarding concrete benefits and regarding the relational partner, presumably because one perceives the communal partner as motivated to meet one's needs. Finally, in Study 3, we found in addition that being the recipient of a benefit without opportunity to repay directly increased communal sharing, and indirectly increased gratitude. These circumstances thus seem to favor the attribution of communal norms, leading to a communal sharing representation and in turn to gratitude. We discuss the importance of relational models as mental representations of relationships for feelings of gratitude.

• Seibt, Beate; Weyers, Peter; Likowski, Katja; Pauli, Paul; Mühlberger, Andreas & Hess, Ursula (2013). Subliminal Interdependence Priming Modulates Congruent and Incongruent Facial Reactions to Emotional Display. Social Cognition. ISSN 0278-016X. 31, p. 613–631. doi: 10.1521/soco.2013.31.5.613. Full text in Research Archive

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• Werth, Lioba; Seibt, Beate & Mayer, Jennifer (2000). Sozialpsychologie–Der Mensch in sozialen Beziehungen. Springer. ISBN 9783662538999. 491 p. Full text in Research Archive

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• Javed, Muhammad Shahzad; Fossheim, Karin; Guzik, Matylda; Seibt, Beate & Zyringer, Marianne (2025). How can youth perspectives shape Norway's 2050 electricity system? doi: 10.5194/egusphere-egu25-18405. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  While participatory research seeks to engage stakeholders, young people—who will bear the consequences of recent policy decisions—remain largely overlooked, as evidenced by climate strikes and environmental movements highlighting their growing distrust in the energy transition process. In this interdisciplinary study, we conducted workshops with students to develop diverse scenarios assessing the impact of pupils’ socio-techno-economic choices on the snapshots of a 2050 net-zero electricity system for Norway. We use those scenarios in an electricity system model for Norway. Our results indicate that pupil landscape preferences reduce Norway’s land-based capacity potential by more than half, resulting in an approximate 9% increase in the Levelized Cost of Electricity, from 790 to 880 NOK/MWh. Given that 68% of pupils favored offshore wind, integrating their technological preferences reduces the onshore wind portfolio from 33 GW to nearly zero in the most conservative scenario, accompanied by a reduction in solar capacity from 30 GW to 6 GW. Regional preferences lead to a concentrated allocation of new offshore wind installations predominantly in the west and south of Norway, areas with existing hydropower, potentially inducing local socio-political issues. Moreover, pupils supported new transmission lines and electricity trading under the condition of self-sufficiency, reducing system costs by approximately 8%, providing a win-win scenario for Norway and Europe. The cumulative impact of pupil choices significantly depends on how they are prioritized. The median system cost for achieving a net-zero emission system could likely be reduced by 7%-8% if Norway prioritizes investments in transmission infrastructure locally and through interconnections with neighboring countries while honoring youth preferences. Building on evolving participatory research, this study not only provides a framework for fostering mutual understanding with youth but also demonstrates their capacity for meaningful participation in energy transition discussions, thus promoting an inclusive and swift energy transition.

• Swarbrick, Dana; Grinspun, Noemi; Seibt, Beate & Vuoskoski, Jonna Katariina (2020). Virtually Together: Concerts during the Coronavirus. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Government responses to the coronavirus led to unprecedented social distancing measures across the world. These measures were challenging for many; however, musicians adapted quickly by providing online virtual concerts. Anecdotally, viewers commented that virtual concerts made them feel socially connected despite the restrictions and the technologically mediated interactions. Little research has previously examined engagement at virtual concerts (Pursiainen, 2016), and to the best of our knowledge, no research has specifically examined which aspects of virtual concerts promote feelings of togetherness and being moved. We aimed to examine what aspects of the virtual concert experience and participant characteristics 1) make people feel socially connected and 2) make people feel moved. This research addresses the topical question of how people can feel socially connected in a time of social distancing. Both performing artists and societies can benefit from what this study might reveal about the online concert experience.

• Swarbrick, Dana; Seibt, Beate; Grinspun, Noemi & Vuoskoski, Jonna Katariina (2020). Virtually together: Concerts during the coronavirus. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Government responses to the coronavirus led to unprecedented social distancing measures across the world. These measures were challenging for many; however, musicians adapted quickly by providing online virtual concerts. Anecdotally, viewers commented that virtual concerts made them feel socially connected despite the restrictions and the technologically mediated interactions. Little research has previously examined engagement at virtual concerts (Pursiainen, 2016), and to the best of our knowledge, no research has specifically examined which aspects of virtual concerts promote feelings of togetherness and being moved. We aimed to examine what aspects of the virtual concert experience and participant characteristics 1) make people feel socially connected and 2) make people feel moved. Participants watched at least 15 minutes of an online concert and reported information on the concert characteristics, emotional and social outcomes, and their demographics, motivations, listening technologies, and musical experience. The main outcomes are the Kama Muta Scale (Zickfeld et al., 2019) which measures feeling moved, and the social connectedness between the participant and the other attendees and performers. Mediation analyses will examine what aspects led to increased connectedness and feeling moved. 310 participants from 14 countries across the Americas (n = 212), Europe (n = 84), and Asia (n = 12) completed the survey. On average, participants reported on a 5-point scale that they felt moderately connected to the performer (M = 3.7), less connected to other audience members (M =2.3), and moderate feelings of being moved or touched (M = 3.7). Further mediation analyses will aim to understand what concert aspects led to these feelings. This research addresses the topical question of how people can feel socially connected in a time of social distancing. Both performing artists and societies can benefit from what this study might reveal about the online concert experience.

• Swarbrick, Dana; Grinspun, Noemi; Seibt, Beate & Vuoskoski, Jonna Katariina (2020). Quarantine Concerts. Full text in Research Archive
• Swarbrick, Dana; Seibt, Beate; Grinspun, Noemi & Vuoskoski, Jonna Katariina (2020). Virtually Together: Concerts during the Coronavirus. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Background Government responses to the coronavirus led to unprecedented social distancing measures across the world. These measures were challenging for many; however, musicians adapted quickly by providing online virtual concerts. Anecdotally, viewers commented that virtual concerts made them feel socially connected despite the restrictions and the technologically mediated interactions. Little research has previously examined engagement at virtual concerts (Pursiainen, 2016), and to the best of our knowledge, no research has specifically examined which aspects of virtual concerts promote feelings of togetherness and being moved. Aims We aimed to examine what aspects of the virtual concert experience and participant characteristics 1) make people feel socially connected and 2) make people feel moved. Method Participants watched at least 15 minutes of an online concert and reported information on the concert characteristics, emotional and social outcomes, and their demographics, motivations, listening technologies, and musical experience. The main outcomes are the Kama Muta Scale (Zickfeld et al., 2019) which measures feeling moved, and the social connectedness between the participant and the other attendees and performers. Mediation analyses will examine what aspects led to increased connectedness and feeling moved. Results 310 participants from 14 countries across the Americas (n = 212), Europe (n = 84), and Asia (n = 12) completed the survey. On average, participants reported on a 5-point scale that they felt moderately connected to the performer (M = 3.7), less connected to other audience members (M =2.3), and moderate feelings of being moved or touched (M = 3.7). Further mediation analyses will aim to understand what concert aspects led to these feelings. Conclusions This research addresses the topical question of how people can feel socially connected in a time of social distancing. Both performing artists and societies can benefit from what this study might reveal about the online concert experience.

• Vuoskoski, Jonna Katariina; Zickfeld, Janis Heinrich; Alluri, Vinoo & Seibt, Beate (2018). Moved by music: Investigating continuous ratings and contributing musical features. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In the past few years, the emotion commonly labelled ‘being moved’ has attracted increasing research interest in the context of the arts (e.g., Wassiliwizky et al., 2015; Eerola et al., 2016). ‘Being moved’ is typically characterized as a mixed or predominantly positive emotion, with joy and sadness as its main ingredients. In the context of music listening, feelings of being moved have been found to mediate the enjoyment of sad music (Vuoskoski & Eerola, 2017). However, little is known about the time course of such experiences. The aim of the present study was to investigate continuously rated experiences of ‘being moved’ in response to music, and how these experiences relate to perceived sadness, happiness, and beauty. 415 participants took part in a pre-registered online experiment where they heard 7 moving music excerpts (3 sad, 3 happy, and 1 neutral; duration 121-186 s) and continuously rated their experience or perception (1 scale per participant per excerpt). Before analyses, the continuous rating data was averaged (within each song), de-trended, and downsampled. Perceived beauty cross-correlated highly with being moved across all excerpts (CCF0 = .59). Being moved correlated with perceived happiness in both joyfully (CCF0 = .66) and sadly (CCF0 = .52) moving excerpts, but with perceived sadness only in the sadly moving excerpts (CCF0 = .48). An exploratory analysis of computationally extracted musical features revealed partly excerpt-dependent patterns of correlations, but RMS energy and spectral entropy – reflecting changes in loudness and broadness of the frequency range – significantly correlated with being moved across most pieces.

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