Awe Sparks Prosociality in Children

Abstract

Rooted in the novel and the mysterious, awe is a common experience in childhood, but research is almost silent with respect to the import of this emotion for children. Awe makes individuals feel small, thereby shifting their attention to the social world. Here, we studied the effects of art-elicited awe on children’s prosocial behavior toward an out-group and its unique physiological correlates. In two preregistered studies (Study 1: N = 159, Study 2: N = 353), children between 8 and 13 years old viewed movie clips that elicited awe, joy, or a neutral (control) response. Children who watched the awe-eliciting clip were more likely to spend their time on an effortful task (Study 1) and to donate their experimental earnings (Studies 1 and 2), all toward benefiting refugees. They also exhibited increased respiratory sinus arrhythmia, an index of parasympathetic nervous system activation associated with social engagement. We discuss implications for fostering prosociality by reimagining children’s environments to inspire awe at a critical age.

When rule breaking in art falls flat: Cultural tightness deflates deviant artists’ impact.

“…For instance, Sloboda (1991) found that marked violations of expectations in music correlate with the feeling of “chills” or “shivers down the spine,” which are associated with increases in blood flow in reward- and euphoria-related regions of the brain (e.g., ventral striatum and orbitofrontal cortex; Blood & Zatorre, 2001). Chills or goose bumps are a common physiological marker of awe, the profound emotion we experience in response to novel, vast, or mysterious stimuli and remarkable works of art (Keltner & Haidt, 2003; Stamkou, Brummelman, et al, 2023; Zickfeld et al, 2020). Theories of visual perception, too, suggest that incongruent and unfamiliar stimuli can cause interest (Berlyne, 1970).…”

Seeing Awe: How Children Perceive Awe-Inspiring Visual Experiences

“…Among various experiences we may have in life, some experiences are able to profoundly move us beyond our usual concerns and the boundary of the self. Awe-inspiring experiences --experiences that induce the feeling of perceiving something vast that transcends one's current understanding --is one such selftranscendent experience (Keltner, 2023). Awe has been central in spiritual and peak experiences (e.g., Burke, 1757Burke, /1990James, 1902James, /1987Maslow, 1964) and has been theorized to help our ancestors survive during evolutionary times (e.g., Chirico & Yaden, 2018;Keltner & Haidt, 2003).…”

“…On the one hand, the lack of developmental research on awe is largely due to the assumption that such complex emotional experiences may only be present later in life (Stamkou et al, 2023). Awe has been viewed as a complex subjective experience involving multiple social, cognitive, and self-related facets (Yaden et al, 2019) and even a profound ineffable experience associated with religion and spirituality (Van Cappellen & Saroglou, 2012).…”

“…Children's literal small size and newness in the world means that they may need to accommodate more experiences in life compared to adults and, thus, may have awe experiences quite often. Awe has been assumed to be a common experience in childhood (Kelter, 2023;Stamkou et al, 2023), but there is little direct evidence regarding this claim. To date, it has been found that brief exposures to awe-inspiring experiences make children more likely to explore novel toys (Colantonio & Bonawitz, 2018) and motivate 8-13-year-olds to help members of a national minority (Stamkou et al, 2023).…”

“…Children could select any one or multiple answers. A recent study showed that art stimuli could induce awe-inspired responses in children (Stamkou et al, 2023). We instead wanted to adopt the strongest and most reliable awe-inducing stimuli--vast scenes involving nature.…”