The Science Of Awe

The Science Of Awe: Psychologists define awe as the feeling of facing something vast that your current understanding cannot hold; research shows it shrinks the sense of self, calms inflammation, stretches our sense of time and makes people kinder and more generous.

Dacher Keltner: His team gathered awe stories from people in 26 countries and found the most common trigger was not nature or art but witnessing the courage and kindness of other people.

Jonathan Haidt: Along with Keltner, he wrote the 2003 paper that launched awe research, and he named a related feeling, elevation, the warm uplift of seeing someone act with moral beauty.

Paul Piff: In a 2015 study, people who spent one minute gazing up at towering eucalyptus trees picked up more dropped pens for a stranger than people who stared at a building.

Overview Effect: Writer Frank White coined the term in 1987 for the profound shift astronauts report after seeing Earth from space as a fragile ball without borders.

Edgar Mitchell: Returning from Apollo 14 in 1971, he described an 'instant global consciousness' and was so changed that he founded an institute to study human consciousness.

Earthrise: Bill Anders snapped the photo of Earth rising over the Moon on Christmas Eve 1968, and it is often credited with helping spark the environmental movement and the first Earth Day.

Pale Blue Dot: In 1990 Voyager 1 photographed Earth from about 6 billion kilometers away as a speck less than a pixel wide, prompting Carl Sagan's famous reflection on human smallness.

Jennifer Stellar: Her 2015 study found that people who felt awe more often had lower levels of IL-6, a marker of inflammation linked to disease.

Melanie Rudd: Her 2012 research found awe makes people feel they have more time available, making them more patient and more willing to volunteer.

Yang Bai: Her team found that tourists at Yosemite drew themselves noticeably smaller than people at a busy city attraction, a measurable version of the 'small self' awe creates.

Virginia Sturm: In her 2020 'awe walk' study, older adults who sought out wonder on weekly walks felt more joy, and their selfies over time showed more scenery and less of themselves.

Michiel van Elk: His brain scan research found awe quiets the default mode network, the brain system tied to self focused thinking and mind wandering.

Stendhal: After nearly fainting at the beauty of Florence's Santa Croce church in 1817, the French writer gave his name to Stendhal syndrome, dizziness and racing heart in front of overwhelming art.

William James: His 1902 book 'The Varieties of Religious Experience' was one of the first serious scientific attempts to study moments of overwhelming wonder and transcendence.

Edmund Burke: His 1757 essay on the sublime argued that the vast and even terrifying, like storms and cliffs, stirs the strongest emotion the mind can feel.

Abraham Maslow: He called awe filled moments of wholeness 'peak experiences' and believed the healthiest, most fulfilled people had them most often.

Craig L. Anderson: His 2018 study found that military veterans who felt awe on whitewater rafting trips showed a significant drop in PTSD symptoms.

Michelle Shiota: Her research found people feeling awe become more skeptical of weak arguments, suggesting awe makes the mind pay closer attention.

Alice Chirico: Her virtual reality studies found that immersive awe inspiring scenes, like towering forests and views of Earth from space, boosted people's creative thinking.

Hubble Deep Field: In 1995 astronomers pointed Hubble at a tiny patch of seemingly empty sky for ten days and found it packed with about 3,000 galaxies.

Great American Eclipse: Researchers analyzing millions of tweets from the 2017 total solar eclipse found people in the path of totality used more humble and collective 'we' language.

Roland Griffiths: In his 2006 Johns Hopkins study, most volunteers given psilocybin rated the awe filled experience among the most meaningful of their entire lives.

Rachel Carson: In 'The Sense of Wonder' she argued every child needs at least one adult to share the joy of nature, and wished for a sense of wonder that would last a lifetime.

John Muir: In 1903 he took President Theodore Roosevelt camping in Yosemite, and the awe of that trip helped push Roosevelt to protect millions of acres of American wilderness.