Openness to Experience, Extraversion, and Subjective Well-Being Among Chinese College Students: The Mediating Role of Dispositional Awe

Abstract

Awe is the emotion experienced when people confront stimuli so vast and novel that they require accommodation. Dispositional awe, in contrast, captures individual differences in the tendency to experience awe. Previous research has found that state awe could predict life satisfaction; however, no study has focused on the indirect effects of dispositional awe on the relationship between personality traits and subjective well-being. Previous studies have found that both openness to experience and extraversion were significant predictors of subjective well-being. Both openness to experience and awe involve cognitive flexibility. Awe can also arise from engaging in social events. Previous research has found that those who are higher in dispositional awe tend to be more extraverted and open to experience. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to test the mediating role of dispositional awe among openness to experience, extraversion, and subjective well-being. To test this hypothesis, a total of 332 Chinese college students were invited to complete an anonymous survey using a cross-sectional design. The results of structural equation modeling showed that openness to experience and extraversion predicted higher levels of dispositional awe, while dispositional awe predicted higher levels of subjective well-being. Moreover, dispositional awe mediated the effects of openness to experience and extraversion on subjective well-being. The findings of this study suggest that openness to experience and extraversion may invite more experiences of awe and thus promote subjective well-being.

Moderating Role of Self-Esteem Between Perceived Organizational Support and Subjective Well-Being in Chinese Nurses: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…A higher score means higher SWB. The Chinese version of SWB has been widely used with good reliability and validity (Xu et al, 2016; Dong and Ni, 2019). The Cronbach’s α coefficient of the IWB in this study was 0.969.…”

The potential synergistic effects between psychedelic administration and nature contact for the improvement of mental health

“…The experience of awe has been linked to enhanced well-being (Anderson et al, 2018b; Dong and Ni, 2019; Rudd et al, 2012), life satisfaction (Rudd et al, 2012), prosociality (Bai et al, 2017; Piff et al, 2015; Sturm et al, 2020), and reduced negative affect (Lopes et al, 2020), and mental distress (Sturm et al, 2020), in addition to being associated with nature relatedness (Bethelmy and Corraliza, 2019) and pro-environmental behaviour (Wang and Liu, 2019; Zhao et al, 2018), all enduring effects associated with psychedelic use (Gandy, 2019). Psychedelics have been found to elicit feelings of awe (Griffiths et al, 2006; Hendricks, 2018; Noorani et al, 2018; Riba et al, 2001; Richards et al, 1977; Watts et al, 2017), and an enhancement of awe may persist beyond the acute experience (Noorani et al, 2018).…”

“…Psychedelics have been shown to increase personality trait openness to experience in an enduring way (Barrett et al, 2020; Carhart-Harris et al, 2016b; Erritzoe et al, 2018; Griffiths et al, 2018; Lebedev et al, 2016; MacLean et al, 2011; Madsen et al, 2020; Netzband et al, 2020). Openness is one of the primary personality correlates of connectedness to nature (Lee et al, 2015; Nisbet et al, 2009; Richardson and Sheffield, 2015) and pro-environmental behaviour (Markowitz et al, 2012; Puech et al, 2019; Wuertz, 2015), and predicts a propensity for awe-like experiences (Dong and Ni, 2019), including in response to nature (Silvia et al, 2015). It is associated with a number of traits including aesthetic appreciation (MacLean et al, 2011), one of the enduring effects linked to psilocybin usage (Noorani et al, 2018; Watts et al, 2017; Studerus et al, 2011).…”

How does future focus promote study engagement? A moderated mediation model of self‐esteem and dispositional awe

“…More intriguing in this model is the moderating role of dispositional awe in the relationship between future focus and study engagement via self‐esteem. Dispositional awe reflects the epistemological emotional tendency that implies that some individuals have a stronger disposition to experience awe than others (Dong & Ni, 2020; Shiota et al, 2006). Awe, as a positive emotion, is defined as a profound emotional response that requires rapid cognitive accommodation when a vast stimulus is perceived that is beyond current mental and knowledge structures (Keltner & Haidt, 2003; Shiota et al, 2007; Van Cappellen & Saroglou, 2012; Zhao et al, 2019).…”

“…Additionally, we postulate that dispositional awe moderates the indirect effect of future focus and study engagement via self‐esteem. Based on the broaden‐and‐build theory, we posit that students with high dispositional awe adjust their psychological states and rebuild their mental processes when facing situations of change (Dong & Ni, 2020; Keltner & Haidt, 2003). Keltner and Haidt (2003) proposed that awe is the center of collective behavior.…”