Why Does Awe Have Prosocial Effects? New Perspectives on Awe and the Small Self

Abstract

Awe is an emotional response to stimuli that are perceived to be vast (e.g., tall trees, sunsets) and that defy accommodation by existing mental structures. Curiously, awe has prosocial effects despite often being elicited by nonsocial stimuli. The prevailing explanation for why awe has prosocial effects is that awe reduces attention to self-oriented concerns (i.e., awe makes the self small), thereby making more attention available for other-oriented concerns. However, several questions remain unaddressed by the current formulation of this small-self hypothesis. How are awe researchers defining the self, and what implications might their theory of selfhood have for understanding the “smallness” of the self? Building on theories regarding psychological selfhood, we propose that awe may interact with the self not just in terms of attentional focus but rather at multiple layers of selfhood. We further reinterpret the small self using the notion of the quiet ego from personality psychology. Linking awe to an enriched model of the self provided by personality psychology may be fruitful for explaining a range of phenomena and motivating future research.

Dispositional Awe and Online Altruism: Testing a Moderated Mediating Model

“…This study extends the prosociality of dispositional awe, whether in face-to-face communication or via the digital world. As a self-transcendent emotion, dispositional awe can lead people to transcend their current frame of reference and trigger a relative diminishment of self, thereby increasing prosocial behavior (Piff et al, 2015 ; Perlin and Li, 2020 ). The prosociality of dispositional awe is supported by the co-construction theory (Subrahmanyam et al, 2006 ; Wright and Li, 2011 ).…”

Why dispositional awe promotes psychosocial flourishing? An investigation of intrapersonal and interpersonal pathways among Chinese emerging adults

“…Moreover, dispositional awe has been found to be positively correlated with several indicators that can reflect psychosocial flourishing (Danvers et al, 2016;Piff et al, 2015;Prade & Saroglou, 2016;Stellar et al, 2017;Stellar et al, 2015;Zhao et al, 2018Zhao et al, , 2019. For instance, dispositional awe has been proven to encourage people to participate in various prosocial behaviors (Li et al, 2019;Perlin & Li, 2020;Piff et al, 2015;Prade & Saroglou, 2016;Rudd et al, 2012;Zhao et al, 2018) and reduce aggressive behaviors (Yang et al, 2016), while engaging in more positive prosocial behaviors and fewer risky antisocial behaviors is precisely the sign of flourishing in emerging adulthood (Nelson & Padilla-Walker, 2013). Taken together, evidence is accumulating in support of the notion that dispositional awe contributes to psychosocial flourishing.…”

Revisiting Redemption: A Life Span Developmental Account of the Functions of Narrative Redemption

“…Still, making the claim that redemption is not equivalent to growth does not provide a theoretically precise account of what redemption is when it is not growth, and this is the point that existing research has failed to sufficiently clarify. Furthermore, growth clearly cannot be subsumed by or subordinated to the construct of redemption, given that a narrative can be entirely positive and still communicate personal growth (for more on postecstatic growth and arguments for psychological maturity following positive experiences, see Mangelsdorf & Eid, 2015;Mangelsdorf et al, 2019;Perlin & Li, 2020;Roepke, 2013). That is, the emotional tone of the narrative need not shift from negative to positive for a narrative to illustrate growth, whereas such a shift is necessary for a narrative to be coded as redemptive.…”