From Myself to Ourselves: Transcendent emotions, collective gatherings and rituals

In this chapter we will present a type of emotion that allows individuals to transcend their self-oriented perception and connect with the group or environment. These emotions, known as transcendent emotions, emphasise the relational aspect among the individual and the collective. Afterwards, we address the study on emotions at different levels (individually, group-based and collective), illustrating with examples transcendent emotions’ effects on groups and societies. Finally, we analyse how collective gatherings and rituals produce instances of emotional convergence, that is an attribute of collective emotions, and therefore facilitate the expression of this family of emotions and produce beneficial outcomes for both the individual and the collectives.