Experiencing respect elongates the orienting response

Respect is an emotion that enhances self-improvement, often experienced when recognizing superior traits in others. The present study aimed to investigate one of its action tendencies. Since previous studies have suggested that respected persons are role models, we hypothesized that respect prolongs the orienting response of focusing attention on the persons and examined the related phasic decrease in heart rates (HRs). We presented a stimulus (an episode followed by a photo) about their parents, teachers, affectively respected persons (other than parents and teachers) of each participant, and that of the unknown persons as a control. Participants read the episode, looked at the photo, and rated the extent of experiencing respect. As a result, we found that the averaged HRs across conditions declined during stimulus presentation but that the change scores of HRs from the minimum value rose in the control condition only: the HRs by parents, teachers, and affectively respected persons did not recover. Furthermore, we confirmed a significant correlation between the rating of respect and reduction of HRs by performing a partial correlation analysis that controlled for the familiarity with the persons. These results indicate that respect elongates the orienting response.