<p>In classrooms, teachers often use collective encouragement to affirm and motivate all students; however, only limited research has examined the immediate consequences of these words of encouragement or the underlying mechanisms. This study evaluated whether collective verbal encouragement contributes to task-related emotions and intrinsic motivation among Chinese young adults via gratitude and elevation. A total of 263 psychology undergraduates were recruited from four courses to complete the initial set of Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM) and to rate their emotions and intrinsic motivation as part of an assignment. These students were divided into two conditions: the encouragement condition (in which students received feedback concerning SPM scores alongside verbal encouragement) and the control condition (in which students received only feedback concerning SPM scores). They assessed the genuineness and credibility of these messages and reported their feelings of gratitude and elevation. Finally, the students in both groups completed the second set of Raven’s SPM and documented their task-related emotions and intrinsic motivation. Importantly, the undergraduates in the encouragement condition exhibited higher levels of task-related positive emotions, stronger feelings of gratitude and elevation, and perceptions of genuineness and credibility than did those in the control condition. The relationships between verbal encouragement and both task-related positive emotions and intrinsic motivation were mediated by feelings of gratitude and elevation. Our research supports the immediate emotional and motivational effects of brief and standardized forms of collective verbal encouragement.</p>