Relations of admiration and adoration with other emotions and well-being

Abstract

Background: Admiration and adoration (also referred to as reverence or worship) have received little empirical attention, although the two emotions theoretically have been related to individual and collective well-being. This research tested for associations of dispositional admiration and adoration with dimensions of psychological well-being and life satisfaction. Methods: We developed a new measure of dispositional admiration and adoration and employed it in a questionnaire study with 342 participants. Additional measures included various emotion dispositions and dimensions of well-being. Results: While admiration was linked to greater levels of personal growth and adoration to greater levels of purpose in life, the two emotions were unrelated to environmental mastery, self-acceptance, and life satisfaction. A multiple-step multiple mediator model revealed that counteractive positive and negative indirect effects of admiration and adoration on mastery, self-acceptance and life satisfaction were hidden beneath the nonsignificant total effects. Specifically, there were positive indirect effects of admiration and adoration via inspiration and gratitude and negative indirect effects via fascination and envy on well-being. Conclusions: Taken together, the findings suggest that admiration and adoration bind people to ideals irrespective of their ability to move closer to them, thereby providing a potential source of satisfaction as well as frustration.