Looking for co-researchers on a study of elevation emotions and well-being

Dear fellow QS-ers,

I’m new to this forum – and look forward to gtetting to know more about everyone’s work here. I’m writing from NYC.

I’d like to invite you to participate in a mixed methods study I’m conducting as a PhD candidate. Essentially, I’m looking at the well-being effects of value-congruence in experiences that we invest our time and money in. Value-congruence is a catch-all term I’m using to describe qualitative actions that are in alignment with pro‐social emotions, character strengths, virtues and morals. Sometimes, when we witness these values being expressed by others in movies and other media, we experience what emotion researchers call ‘cinematic elevation’ – a brief state that is usually marked by physical sensations such as a warmth, glowing, or openness in the chest; and/or tingling in the skin, particularly along the back, neck and head. I’m looking at how an increased frequency of these moments contributes to well-being. (On average, it only happens about 2% of the time for most of us).

At a broader scale, the study involves deepening our understanding of how we search for meaning when we purchase things that are beyond our basic survival needs, and will help to refine a larger project designed to explore value-congruence in intrinsic consumer experiences overall — experiences such as movies, plays, vacations, books, TV viewing, dining, concerts, etc.

The fact that you’re on this forum (and presumably interested in the kind of self-reflection required to do QS work) makes you a perfect candidate for this study and future iterations (should you be interested enough to continue on). Your experiences could be important for understanding how we can use our financial choices to cultivate meaning and well-being. Indeed, this study will refer to participants as co-researchers and all information you share will remain strictly confidential. A pseudonym of your choice will be used for any quotes that you provide which might be included in the final research report.

I’ve conducted two earlier pilots, and can report that people seem to enjoy the process. However, it’s a time commitment of about six hours over a 20 day period (June 1st - June 20th) mostly viewing 4-5 hours of prescribed movies using an on-line service such as Amazon or Netflix.

If you decide to participate, you can decline from answering any question asked of you; you can also withdraw from the study at any time without any consequences to you. There’s no financial remuneration for participating in this study. You’ll be required to have access to email and internet – with sufficient bandwidth to view on-line movies. You’ll be required to purchase your own movies. Further, you should have sufficient time (about 6 hours) between the 20 day period of June 1st – June 20th th to participate in the study. You must be over 18 to participate.

If interested, please email me at rb@real.org, and I’ll send you further details and instructions.

If you’d like, you can also reach me by phone at 212-877-5915, or by email at rb@real.org.

Thanks again,

Renee