Awe—the emotion we really feel within the presence of one thing huge or highly effective that challenges our understanding—has the outstanding means to assist us transcend ourselves. It makes us feel smaller and extra one with others and the world. It additionally makes us kinder and extra generous towards others.
Now, a new study finds one other social impact of awe that will shock you: It will increase conformity.
For his or her experiment, researchers Claire Prade of Aix-Marseille College in France and Vassilis Saroglou of the Catholic College of Louvain in Belgium randomly assigned 308 members to recollect both a time after they had been “within the presence of a surprising pure panorama” (designed to evoke awe), “a selected occasion throughout which [they] laughed with mates” (designed to evoke amusement), or the final time they went grocery procuring (impartial). Individuals had been requested to attempt to immerse themselves within the reminiscence after which to write down about it. They then rated how a lot they felt totally different feelings, together with these related to awe.
X
Subsequent, members learn a sequence of temporary descriptions of people who pointed to 10 core values, together with achievement (“It’s vital to her to point out her skills. She needs individuals to admire what she does”), hedonism (“He seeks each likelihood he can to have enjoyable. It is very important him to do issues that give him pleasure”), and conformity (“It is very important her all the time to behave correctly. She needs to keep away from doing something individuals would say is incorrect”). Contributors rated how a lot they thought they had been like every individual.
In the end, members who recalled an awe reminiscence recognized extra with the individuals who valued conformity in comparison with those that recalled amusing and impartial recollections. This impact could possibly be fully defined by how a lot awe they felt after their memory, suggesting that experiencing awe does improve how a lot we worth conformity.
That is “the primary empirical proof that awe promotes social conformity,” write the researchers. “Awe was discovered to drive people to worth the respect of social norms.”
The researchers’ second experiment was designed to check whether or not awe encourages us to evolve to a majority opinion, along with simply valuing conformity. On this experiment, 289 members had been randomly assigned to view both an awe-evoking, amusement-evoking, or impartial three-minute video after which to price how a lot they felt particular feelings.
Individuals then seen two shows of blue geometric shapes that differed solely in how a lot the shapes contrasted with the background. A check with different members had discovered that most individuals choose the configuration with extra distinction—no matter what video they watch beforehand—however members on this experiment had been informed the alternative (that most individuals choose the configuration with much less distinction). Individuals then chosen which configuration they most well-liked.
Whereas solely 37% of the individuals who watched the amusing video and 32% who watched the impartial video went together with the faux majority opinion, 52% of people that watched the awe-evoking video did. Because of this a three-minute video was sufficient to nudge individuals to associate with the group—which could possibly be very related to the big numbers of people that watch movies on social media, the researchers level out.
Collectively, these outcomes recommend that awe evokes us not solely to wish to assist others but additionally to agree with them and to stick to social norms. This consequence is especially fascinating in gentle of different research which have discovered that awe additionally will increase humility and reduces each personal ideological convictions and perceptions of ideological polarization. Awe seems to behave as a lever that decenters our personal opinions, encouraging us to go alongside to get alongside, so to talk, and to deal with our shared humanity.
Unpacking the consequences of awe
There are apparent downsides to social conformity. When weaponized, conformity can result in discrimination and atrocities. By selling conformity, awe could also be a method that leaders—together with harmful ones—have garnered extra energy all through historical past (and prehistory).
“From an evolutionary perspective, awe could have resulted because the emotional response of a subordinate towards a determine disposing energy or status,” write the researchers, noting that an elevated consideration to imitating and complying with a frontrunner could as soon as have been important for survival. Whereas this tendency could have helped our ancestors dwell, we are able to all consider instances when giving a charismatic chief extra energy has had dire penalties.
That mentioned, social norms govern a lot of our actions, typically guiding us to behave in ways in which don’t alienate or hurt different individuals. They’ll additionally assist us cope with uncertainty, and that will really be one more reason why we advanced to expertise awe within the first place.
“Conforming to social norms or to others’ decisions gives steering for serving to people to cope with unsure conditions as a result of it provides order and that means,” write the researchers. “Awe could thus be an adaptive emotional response that permits recognition of the boundaries of 1’s information and a higher endorsement of others’ views and behaviors.”
Since that is solely the primary examine to discover the connection between awe and social conformity, it’s unclear how generalizable its findings are, and there are numerous avenues for future exploration. For instance, it could possibly be fascinating to see how awe-inspiring content material influences on-line conduct in social networks. Would watching a Planet Earth clip on social media make you extra more likely to endorse the bulk opinion or candidate on a ballot? Would we be extra seemingly to make use of good netiquette when awed? Would we be kind of more likely to name out somebody exhibiting problematic conduct?
On the identical time, earlier work discovered that awe will increase critical thinking, which may require going towards the bulk opinion, so future analysis might be able to reconcile these findings. The researchers notice some vital limitations of their work, comparable to the truth that a lot of the members had been ladies, the experiments had been performed on-line and in non-public, and solely constructive experiences in nature had been used to evoke awe.
Ultimately, awe is probably not the one constructive emotion that drives adherence to social norms. This examine means that amusement doesn’t improve conformity, whereas a earlier examine discovered that gratitude—however not pleasure—does. In keeping with Prade and Saroglou, this may increasingly recommend that other-centered feelings—like awe and gratitude—usually tend to encourage conformity as a result of feeling near others motivates us to behave out of concern for the group. So the subsequent time you’re in a gaggle that’s having hassle reaching consensus, a small dose of awe may assist.
