Suddenly enlightened: awe promotes wise reasoning via self-transcendence

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.

Study at a glance

Abstract

ABSTRACT Awe, a self-transcendent emotion, has been theoretically posited as a precursor to wise reasoning. However, direct empirical evidence supporting this relationship and the underlying mechanism has been limited. In four studies (N = 3700), we examined the relationship between awe and wise reasoning, as well as the mediating effect of self-transcendence, employing cross-sectional, longitudinal, and experimental designs. We consistently found that awe had a lagged effect on (Study 1), enhanced (Studies 2 & 3), and was associated with (Study 4) wise reasoning. Furthermore, self-transcendence mediated this relationship (Studies 3 & 4). The impact of awe on wise reasoning and mediating effect of self-transcendence could not solely be attributed to awe’s predominantly positive nature, and the mediation model was established beyond the influence of self-smallness (Studies 3–4). These findings contribute to understanding the emotional trigger of wise reasoning, the cognitive implications of awe, and its role in promoting wise conflict resolution.