Awe promotes moral expansiveness via the small-self

Abstract

The experience of awe has been shown to challenge how people think about themselves and the world around them, linking them to something greater than themselves. We investigated whether this emotional experience of awe may also challenge the boundaries of our moral consideration, leading to a generalized expansion in our moral worlds. Across five studies (N = 990), we examined whether awe might promote moral expansiveness; that is, increased moral concern across a broad range of entities (e.g., out-groups, animals, plants, environments). Cross-sectional Studies 1a and 1b, found dispositional awe was related to greater moral expansiveness. Experimental Studies 2 and 3, using video-induced awe, found consistent indirect effects on moral expansiveness, via self-reported awe and the small-self sense of vastness. Experimental Study 4, using Virtual Reality induced awe, found those in the awe condition (vs. control) reported greater moral expansiveness, and this was fully mediated by the small-self sense of vastness. Our findings show awe expands our sense of connectedness to the broader world, and through this, increases the breath of our moral concern.

Cross-Cultural Insights into Moral Expansiveness: Selective Valuation of Nature Versus Humans

“…Through the use of metrics like the Moral Expansiveness Scale (MES 9,15,16 ) and a moral allocation task 4,14 , researchers have mapped variation in the size of individuals' moral circles to robustly predict a host of prosocial humanitarian (e.g., a sense of identification with all of humanity, universalism, donations, self-sacrifice for humans, perspective taking and empathetic concern) and proenvironmental (e.g., connectedness to nature, willingness to sacrifice for non-human agents, mind perceptions for animals) attitudes and actions. Additional research has examined the antecedents of expansive moral concern, suggesting that awe 17 , compassion 18,19 , liberal political ideology 4,14 , and intergenerational valuation 10,12 predict larger and more diverse/inclusive moral circles. In contrast, cross-national research suggests that low levels of generalized trust, perceived deterioration of the social fabric of society, and greater perceived economic inequality predict smaller and more constrained moral circles 20 .…”