Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
December 2, 2021
Tonglin Jiang, Constantine Sedikides
166 citations
Awe, an emotion experienced when encountering something vast and beyond one's current understanding, can prompt people to pursue their authentic selves. This pursuit of an authentic self was associated with higher general prosocial behavior, but lower inauthentic prosocial behavior, based on a sample of 868 participants. The findings suggest that awe's relationship with the self is complex and nuanced, inviting further examination.
Emotion (Washington, D.C.)
August 1, 2025
Wenying Yuan, Junyao Chang, Feng Jiang et al.
Awe can quickly boost self-compassion, even during difficult times. Across five studies, including three preregistered ones, awe was linked to higher self-compassion, whether measured by self-report or real-life behavior. This effect was not simply due to general positive feelings or being in nature. Self-transcendence—a sense of being part of something larger—explained why awe helped. The findings suggest that awe promotes self-compassion by expanding one's perspective beyond the self.
Journal of Positive Psychology
February 6, 2025
Yuling Wang, Tonglin Jiang, Wei Yan
Awe, an emotion that makes people feel part of something larger than themselves, appears to promote wise reasoning—the ability to consider different perspectives, seek compromise, and recognize the limits of one's own knowledge. Across four studies involving 3,700 participants, including cross-sectional, longitudinal, and experimental designs, awe consistently predicted or enhanced wise reasoning. This effect was not simply due to awe being a positive emotion, nor to feeling small. Instead, the relationship was explained by a sense of self-transcendence, or feeling connected to something beyond the self. The findings suggest that experiencing awe can help people reason more wisely, especially in conflicts.
Journal of Positive Psychology
August 21, 2024
Xinyu Pan, Tonglin Jiang
Awe, a self-transcendent emotion, fosters optimism by promoting a sense of self-transcendence. Four experiments showed that experiencing awe boosted optimism more than amusement, and that this effect was driven by self-transcendence rather than feelings of self-smallness. The findings suggest that cultivating awe can enhance optimism through self-transcendence.
Journal of Positive Psychology
September 7, 2023
Yuwan Dai, Tonglin Jiang
Awe promotes inspiration, and this effect is explained by self-transcendence—the feeling of being part of something larger than oneself. Across five studies with 941 participants, awe increased inspiration as measured by actual behavior, ratings by others, and self-reported scales. The effect held when awe was compared with general positive emotions (amusement and happiness) and with nature, and when the awe experience was threatening. Self-transcendence consistently mediated the link between awe and inspiration.