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Contents
- Abstract
- Awe, Vastness, Accommodation, and the Small Self
- Awe and Prosocial Behavior
- The Present Research
- Study 1: Dispositional Levels of Awe Predict Generosity in an Economic Game
- Method
- Participants
- Materials and procedure
- Results and Discussion
- Is dispositional awe associated with increased generosity?
- Does awe predict generosity over and above other positive emotions?
- Study 2: Awe Increases Ethicality via Feelings of a Small Self
- Method
- Participants
- Materials and procedure
- Results and Discussion
- Does awe influence the small self?
- Do awe and pride influence ethical decision-making in different ways?
- Mediation analysis
- Study 3: Awe Increases Generosity via the Small Self
- Method
- Participants
- Materials and procedure
- Results and Discussion
- Does awe create the sense of a small self?
- Does awe influence generosity?
- Does the small self mediate the effects of awe upon generosity?
- Study 4: Negative Awe and Nonnature Awe Increase Prosociality via the Small Self
- Method
- Participants
- Materials and procedure
- Results and Discussion
- Does awe influence the small self?
- Does awe influence prosociality?
- Does the small self mediate the effects of awe upon prosociality?
- What are the specific indirect effects of vastness vis-à-vis the self and self-diminishment on prosociality?
- Study 5: Awe and Prosocial Behavior Amid a Grove of Towering Trees
- Method
- Participants
- Materials and procedure
- Results and Discussion
- Does in vivo awe increase helping behavior?
- Does in vivo awe influence ethical decision-making?
- Does in vivo awe reduce entitlement?
- General Discussion
- Implications and Future Directions
- Conclusion
Figures and Tables
Abstract
Awe is an emotional response to perceptually vast stimuli that transcend current frames of reference. Guided by conceptual analyses of awe as a collective emotion, across 5 studies (N = 2,078) we tested the hypothesis that awe can result in a diminishment of the individual self and its concerns, and increase prosocial behavior. In a representative national sample (Study 1), dispositional tendencies to experience awe predicted greater generosity in an economic game above and beyond other prosocial emotions (e.g., compassion). In follow-up experiments, inductions of awe (relative to various control states) increased ethical decision-making (Study 2), generosity (Study 3), and prosocial values (Study 4). Finally, a naturalistic induction of awe in which participants stood...