Why does one want to feel socially engaging emotions? The role of self-transcendence values on desired emotions among adolescents

The value-based account of desired emotions proposed that values were related to desired emotions. However, it is unclear that whether the associations are applicable to adolescents. In study 1, adolescents rated their self-transcendence and self-enhancement values and corresponding desired emotions. In study 2, adolescents were divided into two groups based on the scores of the two values, and the two groups completed the image-selection task. The results showed that (1) the self-transcendence values could positively predict desired socially engaging emotions (e.g., empathy and love), but the self-enhancement values could not predict desired socially disengaging emotions (e.g., anger and hostility); and (2) adolescents in self-transcending group chose to view more social-engaging and neutral images than that of adolescents in self-enhancement group. This study provides more evidences for the value-based account of desired emotions among adolescents, and implications of these results are discussed.