Awe has been theorized as a collective emotion, one that enables individuals to integrate into social collectives. In keeping with this theorizing, Bai et al. propose that awe diminishes the sense of self and shifts attention away from individual interests and concerns. Their findings were observed across collectivist and individualistic cultures, but also varied across cultures in magnitude and content. Evidence from the last two studies showed that the influence of awe upon the small self accounted for increases in collective engagement, fitting with claims that awe promotes integration into social groups. Discussion focused on how the small self might mediate the effects of awe on collective cognition and behavior, the need to study more negatively valenced varieties of awe, and other potential cultural variations of the small self.

While philosophers and religious scholars have explored awe for centuries, it was largely ignored by psychologists until the early 2000s. Since then, there has been growing interest in exploring awe empirically. This has led to a number of fascinating discoveries about the nature of awe, while also raising many questions still to be explored. In this white paper prepared for the John Templeton Foundation by the Greater Good Science Center, Allen explores the topic of awe–its definitions, causes, characteristics, and effects on people.

Dacher Keltner is a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley who has focused on the subject of awe for two decades. His recent book, Awe, concludes that the human ability to experience awe is an evolutionary development that remains central to forming healthy individuals and groups. In this article, Henry Wismayer delves into Keltner’s theories on awe, with interspersed personal reflections and vignettes of his time spent getting to know Keltner.