The Function of Feeling Kama Muta in Face of Collective Threat

Authors

  • Alethea H. Q. Koh Orcid
    School of Psychology, Speech and Hearing, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand; Institute for the Future of Human Society, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
  • Masataka Nakayama Orcid
    Institute for the Future of Human Society, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
  • Kongmeng Liew Orcid
    School of Psychology, Speech and Hearing, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
  • Yukiko Uchida Orcid
    Institute for the Future of Human Society, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

Abstract

Kama muta is a positive emotion that is commonly elicited against a backdrop of difficulties and reorients one’s values towards priorities in life. Hence, we expect kama muta to cause similar beneficial shifts in attitudes, when exposed to collective threat such as natural disasters. In these contexts, kama muta may help to build individuals’ resources for prosocial action, through mechanisms like reducing the perceived burden of their own personal problems. As such, the current research proposes that kama muta reduces negative attitudes towards one's personal problems (personal problem appraisals) and is simultaneously enhanced by exposure to collective threat. Across three studies on Japanese participants (N = 725), we found that participants' experiences of kama muta predicted alleviations in their personal problem appraisals, even after controlling for other positive emotions. However, kama muta was not enhanced by experimental manipulation of collective threat contexts, but was instead positively correlated with subjective perceptions of the societal impact of these threats.