Kama muta : discovering the connecting emotion / Alan Page Fiske.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fiske, Alan Page, 1947- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Emotions.

Ethnopsychology.

Culture--Psychological aspects.

Culture.

Physical Description:

xxii, 387 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2020.

Summary:

"This book describes a ubiquitous and potent emotion that has only rarely and recently been studied in any systematic manner. The words that come closest to denoting it in English are being moved or touched, having a heart-warming feeling, feeling nostalgic, feeling patriotic or pride in family or team. In religious contexts when the emotion is intense it may be labeled ecstasy, mystical rapture, burning in the bosom, or being touched by the Spirit. All of these are instances of what scientists now call 'kama muta' (Sanskrit, 'moved by love'). Alan Page Fiske shows that what evokes this emotion is the sudden creation, intensification, renewal, repair, or recall of a communal sharing relationship - when love ignites or people feel newly connected. He explains the social, psychological, cultural, and likely evolutionary processes involved-and how they interlock. Kama muta is described as it manifests in diverse settings at many points in history across scores of cultures, in everyday experiences as well as the peak moments of life. The chapters illuminate the occurrence of kama muta in a range of contexts, including religion, oratory, literature, sport, social media and nature. The book will be of interest to students and scholars from a number of disciplines who are interested in emotion or social relationships"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Part I The feeling p. 1

1 Cuteness and cosmos p. 3

Moving experiences with adult animals p. 11

Humankind, nature, and the cosmos: Feeling one with the wild p. 14

Peak experiences p. 19

Online notes p. 24

2 The signs and sensations p. 26

Love is a warm feeling in the heart p. 35

Online notes p. 47

3 Universal narrative prototypes of reunion, culturally adapted to evoke kama muta p. 49

Recognizing Odysseus p. 53

Online Notes p. 57

Part II The basic theory and everyday experiences p. 59

4 Homo movens: What evokes kama muta experiences, and what motives emerge? p. 61

Equivalence among bodies makes persons socially equivalent: Consubstantial assimilation p. 73

Kama muta's psychosocial and adaptive functions p. 76

The cultural constitution of an evolved psychological adaptation p. 79

What kama muta is p. 90

Negative affect leading up to, accompanying, or following kama muta p. 92

Online notes p. 94

5 Compassion, heroism, and victory p. 96

Cry dates p. 96

Charity volunteers, caretakers, and therapists p. 100

Addiction recovery groups and support groups p. 102

Forgiveness p. 107

Sports and war p. 109

Weeping winners and their weeping fans p. 112

Online notes p. 117

6 Strategic evocation of kama muta p. 118

Oratory p. 119

The Moving China Award p. 124

Moving merchandise p. 126

Online notes p. 129

Part III Getting deeper into it p. 131

A pivotal idea: Kama muta is a long-run cause of the cultural practices that evoke it p. 133

7 How not to reify words p. 137

The lexical fallacy: Using vernacular words as psychological constructs p. 155

Methodological challenges p. 159

Online notes p. 165

8 The arts of kama muta p. 166

Uncle Tom's Cabin and Tortilla Flat p. 166

The melodrama of superheroes and fighting machines p. 172

Reading poetry p. 176

"Guaranteed to make you cry:" Sharing glurge on the Internet p. 180

Emotibytes: Off-the-shelf emotions-on-demand p. 181

Touching painting and sculpture p. 183

Moving dancers, actors, and other artists p. 186

Online notes p. 192

9 Disasters, memorials, and mementos p. 193

Monuments and memorial sites p. 194

Objects of affection p. 200

Online notes p. 205

10 The kama muta experience is generated by a culturally-tuned psychological mechanism, the psype p. 206

The psychological mechanism for kama muta is a function mapping communal sharing intensifications onto motivations p. 207

The kama muta psype is a natural kind, culturally informed by precedents, prototypes, precepts, and other preos p. 218

Narrower constructs:-Bits of kama muta p. 227

Social emotions are immediate proxies for the long-term benefits of social relationships p. 229

Drivers: Institutions, practices, narratives, roles, art, and artifacts whose function is to evoke the psype p. 231

Doing, feeling, and performing p. 233

Online Notes p. 235

Part IV Religion p. 237

11 Mystical religious experiences p. 239

Knowing p. 243

Online notes p. 247

12 Hinduism and Buddhism p. 249

Bhakti: Sacred erotic love for Krishna p. 249

Buddhism p. 255

Ciji in Contemporary Taiwan p. 257

Jainism p. 261

Online notes p. 263

13 Islam p. 264

Sufi chanting and moving together p. 266

Online notes p. 270

14 Kama muta in pilgrimage p. 271

15 Millennia of meanings of Christian tears p. 275

Contemporary Christianity p. 285

Online notes p. 296

16 The locus of kama muta in religion p. 297

Collective effervescence in communal sharing with immaterial beings and fellow worshippers p. 302

Cultural selection of religious kama muta drivers p. 305

Online notes p. 306

17 Psychological, social, cultural, and evolutionary dynamics of kama muta p. 309

The co-adaptation of the psype and its drivers p. 310

The psype itself p. 312

Online notes p. 320

18 The joys of knowing kama muta p. 322

Conclusions we can draw p. 322

Why does understanding kama muta matter? p. 325

The ostensive characterization of kama muta p. 326

Provocations p. 330

19 The adventures of the unknown p. 333

Awe at the sudden intensification of authority ranking p. 336

Are there distinct emotions mediating each kind of transition of each relational model? p. 339

A final touch p. 344.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Fiske, Alan Page, 1947- Kama muta

ISBN:

9780367220938

0367220938

9780367220945

0367220946

OCLC:

1114380522