Abstract: Admiration is a feeling of great liking and respect for an excellent person or an emotional response to witness excellent deeds or character, whose prototypical components are appreciation and inspiration. This emotion is evoked by many factors including extraordinary skill, virtue, positive attitude, self-improvement motive, and similar values and so on. Secretion of oxytocin can be facilitated by admiration for virtue. Admiration for skill and virtue activate separate but also overlapping brain area. Admiration can function to inspire oneself, increase self-efficacy and outcome expectation, influence vocational intention, and motivate prosocial and affiliative behavior. Future research should broaden the concept and component of admiration, distinguish between admiration and worship, conduct the study of application and cross-cultural or localized research.

Key words: admiration, admiration for virtue, admiration for skill, upward comparison, model