title: Arousing "gentle passions" in young adolescents: Sustained experimental effects of value affirmations on prosocial feelings and behaviors.
abstract: When people reflect on their important values, they may become more attuned to the needs of others. Two longitudinal field experiments examined whether a subtle value-affirmation manipulation can initiate relatively enduring increases in young adolescents' prosocial feelings (Study 1; Mage = 12.9) and prosocial behaviors (Study 2; Mage = 12.9). Participants completed a brief writing exercise that affirmed the values they deemed either most important (value-affirmation group) or unimportant (control group). As predicted, the value affirmation, coupled with a booster affirmation 6 weeks later, caused increases in prosocial feelings and behaviors over the 3-month study period. Antisocial students who were value-affirmed showed especially strong increases in prosocial behavior. These results suggest that "gentle passions" can be aroused in youth by cost- and time-efficient means. The practical utility of value affirmations will need to be evaluated in future work.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands. s.thomaes@uu.nl
authors.forename: Sander
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Thomaes
authors.forename: Brad J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Bushman
authors.forename: Bram Orobio
authors.initials: BO
authors.lastname: de Castro
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Reijntjes
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D011594:Psychometrics; D012919:Social Behavior; D012931:Social Environment