Psychology of Religion and Spirituality

Awe Activates Religious and Spiritual Feelings and Behavioral Intentions Patty Van Cappellen and Vassilis Saroglou Online First Publication, October 24, 2011. doi: 10.1037/a0025986

CITATION Van Cappellen, P., & Saroglou, V. (2011, October 24). Awe Activates Religious and Spiritual Feelings and Behavioral Intentions. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1037/a0025986 Psychology of Religion and Spirituality © 2011 American Psychological Association 2011, Vol. ●●, No. ●, 000–000 1941-1022/11/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0025986 Awe Activates Religious and Spiritual Feelings and Behavioral Intentions

Patty Van Cappellen Vassilis Saroglou Universite´ Catholique de Louvain and Belgian Universite´ Catholique de Louvain National Fund for Scientific Research In two experiments, we investigated the role of awe in activating the association between religiosity/spirituality and related feelings and behavioral intentions. In Experiment 1, the induction of awe (through the recall of a relevant event), but not the induction of pride or a neutral condition, led religious and spiritual participants to endorse a spiritual (Tibet) but not a hedonistic (Haiti) travel destination. In Experiment 2, the induction (through relevant video clips) of (a) awe of nature and (b) awe at childbirth, but not the induction of humor led religious/spiritual people to express, respectively, feelings of oneness with (a) others in general and (b) friends. Implications of these findings, for instance in understanding the role of self-transcendent positive emotions in religious rituals, are discussed.

Keywords: positive emotions, awe, religion and spirituality related behavior and feelings

In the psychological research of religion, teraction (Saroglou, in press), the proscribed there is often an implicit tendency to think as character of prejudice (or lack thereof), or the if the effects, or at least the associations of cost of a moral action (Batson, Schoenrade, & religion/spirituality (R/S) with relevant con- Ventis, 1993). Other studies have shown that structs, are relatively stable in time and across religious expressions become (more) manifest situations. For instance, researchers often in- when religious norms, expectations, or beliefs vestigate whether R/S is positively related to are made salient. For instance, religious people prosocial attitudes and behaviors, value hier- were found to be charitable on Sunday but not archies, moral reasoning, prejudice, or per- on weekdays (Malhotra, 2010); and, extension sonality traits (Hood, Hill, & Spilka, 2009). of prosociality to people in need occurred after Researchers also implicitly presume that once activation of a religious but not a secular con- people define themselves as religious or spir- text (Pichon & Saroglou, 2009). Similarly, re- itual (R/S), they would, rather invariantly ligious people subscribe less than nonreligious across situations, express R/S feelings, people to porn sites only on Sunday (Edelman, thoughts, and behaviors. 2009). However, studies using social experimental The aim of the present work is to focus on designs with varying experimental conditions another important contextual factor, that is, suggest that many of the correlates or effects of R/S depend on the specific context, such as the the role of positive emotions, in particular characteristics of the target in the prosocial in- awe, in facilitating the expression of relevant feelings and behaviors as a function of R/S. More specifically, we hypothesized that awe facilitates (increases or activates) religious and spiritual people’s propensity for spiritual Patty Van Cappellen, Department of Psychology, Univer- behaviors (Experiment 1) and feelings of site´ Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, closeness with others (Experiment 2). We and Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research, Lou- vain-la-Neuve, Belgium; Vassilis Saroglou, Division of So- also hypothesized that these effects are lim- cial Psychology, Universite´ Catholique de Louvain. ited to awe and do not extend to two other Correspondence concerning this article should be ad- (non self-transcendent) positive emotions, dressed to Patty Van Cappellen, Universite´ Catholique de that is, pride (Experiment 1) and amusement Louvain, Department of Psychology, Place du Cardinal Mercier 10, B 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. E-mail: (Experiment 2). We will detail below the ra- [email protected] tionale for these hypotheses.

1 2 VAN CAPPELLEN AND SAROGLOU

Positive Emotions and Religion/Spirituality (such as a spiritual journey) or experience feel- ings of oneness with others, either proximal or Contrary to substantial research that has fo- distal. cused on the ways negative experiences and emotions (e.g., guilt, anxiety, insecurity of at- Awe as a Specific Self-Transcendent tachment, loss of loved ones, illness, depriva- Positive Emotion tion, terror) lead to R/S, shape R/S experiences, or are regulated by R/S (Hood et al., 2009; The above expectations need though to be Watts, 2007), little is known about the way specified. A recent series of studies suggests positive emotions influence R/S. A variety of that positive emotions should not be treated as a positive emotions, such as joy, gratitude, awe, single construct or as similar in valence. Like wonder, or hope, may result from R/S experi- negative emotions, positive emotions are dis- ences (Emmons, 2005), and this may explain crete and differ from (and eventually conflict the connection between R/S and well-being with) one another with regard to respective elic- (Fredrickson, 2002; Fredrickson, Cohn, Cofeey, itors, appraisals, and bodily expressions; they Pek, & Finkel, 2008). Moreover, reversing the seem to have distinct adaptive functions and causal direction, Saroglou, Buxant, and Tilquin lead to different cognitive, emotional, and be- (2008) found in two experiments that the induc- havioral outcomes (Fredrickson & Branigan, tion of positive emotions (awe in particular) 2005; Griskevicius, Shiota, & Neufeld, 2010a; increased participants’ level of reported religi- Griskevicius, Shiota, & Nowlis, 2010b; Keltner osity and spirituality. & Lerner, 2010; Shiota, Keltner, & John, 2006). In the present paper, we argue that positive For instance, positive emotions of enthusiasm emotions may also facilitate the way R/S relates and amusement tend to facilitate greater accep- and leads to relevant feelings and behavioral tance of weak persuasive messages, whereas intentions: more specifically, feelings of one- awe and nurturant love reduce persuasion by ness with others and willingness to undertake a weak messages (Griskevicius et al., 2010a). trip to a spiritual destination such as Tibet. From a personality perspective, dispositional Indeed, positive emotions have been found to in- awe mainly reflects cognitive flexibility and crease a manner of thinking that is integrative, openness, whereas dispositional joy or pride flexible, and open to information (Isen, Daubman, primarily reflects emotional stability (Shiota et & Nowicki, 1987), to enhance people’s feeling al., 2006; Shiota, Keltner, & Mossman, 2007). that life is meaningful (King, Hicks, Krull, & Del A possible key distinction between positive Gaiso, 2006), to increase the feeling of oneness emotions lies between self-transcendent emo- with others (Waugh & Fredrickson, 2006), tions (e.g., awe, love, admiration) and those that and to see both ingroup and outgroup mem- are self-oriented (e.g., pride, amusement, joy). bers as belonging to one superordinate group A key ingredient of the former, among which (Dovidio, Gaertner, Isen, & Lowrance, 1995). awe may be considered a prototype, is the pos- Religion too, and especially spirituality, im- itive evaluation of realities other than the self. plies an alternative perception of reality The latter emotions, rather, put the emphasis (Berger, 1997), the belief that life is mean- primarily on self-enhancement. We therefore ingful (Park, 2005), and empathetic emotions advance here a more specific hypothesis than and the feeling that we all belong to large the expectation presented in the previous sec- human communities (Fehr et al., 2009; Saro- tion: it is not positive emotions in general, but glou, in press). Biographical sources on con- only those that include self-transcendence as a version and religious vocation also suggest major component that should be relevant for that positive emotions play a role in facilitat- R/S’ connection with, and effects on, spiritual ing, if not activating, R/S motives, aspira- behavioral intentions and feelings of oneness tions, and decisions (Keltner & Haidt, 2003; with others. We tested this hypothesis by focus- Sundarajan, 2002). ing on the emotion of awe and comparing the Positive emotions may thus reasonably be effects of awe with the effects of the emotions suspected to enhance and facilitate, if not acti- pride and amusement. The specific rationale for vate the propensity of R/S people to undertake focusing on each of these three emotions is behaviors that express their spiritual aspirations provided below. AWE AND RELIGIOUS/SPIRITUAL OUTCOMES 3

Awe is a feeling of wonder experienced by through connection with the sacred (travel to the self when facing something vaster, Tibet) or humanity (oneness with people). greater, beyond current understanding (Kelt- Finally, amusement is the positive emotion ner & Haidt, 2003). Prototypical elicitors of experienced during social and cognitive play, awe include panoramic views and nature, most often through humor. Humor can, a pri- childbirth, and great works of art (Keltner & ori, be considered as implying self-transcen- Haidt, 2003; Shiota et al., 2007). Awe trans- dence since it is typically defined by the en- lates into a distinct facial expression (Shiota, joyment of incongruity (Morreall, 1989) and Campos, & Keltner, 2003) and has different implies a different perception of everyday life elicitors and appraisals from those of pride (Berger, 1997) and the promotion of social and amusement as well as a different focus, bonding with other people (Martin, 2007). that is, the stimulus rather than the self However, as already argued (Saroglou, (Shiota et al., 2007). This emotion shares 2002a; Saroglou & Anciaux, 2004), contrary many aspects of R/S and related feelings, to religion, which elevates reality, humor’s thoughts, and behaviors, since self-transcen- incongruity diminishes it (Wyer & Collins, dence (including that at the emotional level) 1992), and several forms of humor establish seems to be the most central motivation of social barriers and lead to social exclusion personal religiousness and spirituality (Bat- (Martin, 2007). Moreover, as Freud (1927/ son & Stocks, 2004; Demoulin, Saroglou, & 1961) argued, humor is the manifestation of a Van Pachterbeke, 2008). Moreover, awe is glorified self. Not surprisingly thus, in previ- hypothesized to have the power to transform ous research, amusement has been found, the self and to bind the individual with broad similarly to pride, to constitute a self-oriented social entities such as the nation or the human emotion (Shiota et al., 2007). In addition, the community (Keltner & Haidt, 2003). Based spontaneous creation of humor and self- and peer-rated use of humor have been found to on the above theoretical and empirical evi- negatively relate to religiosity (Saroglou, dence, we expected awe to facilitate, if not 2002b, 2004). We thus did not expect amuse- activate, tendencies to undertake an action in ment to strengthen the association of R/S with accordance with R/S aspirations (visiting a endorsement of a spiritual destination and spiritual destination such as Tibet) and to expression of oneness with others. enhance the experience of feelings of oneness with others. Experiment 1 Pride is what we feel after a valued achievement; it functions to facilitate public The objective of Experiment 1 was to inves- displays that draw positive attention to one- tigate the hypothesis that awe but not pride will self and increase one’s social status (Tracy & strengthen, if not lead to, the connection be- Robins, 2007a and b). Its bodily expressions tween R/S and the behavioral intention to travel indicate dominance among animals. It is re- to a spiritual destination, that is, Tibet. Bud- lated to high self-esteem, and in some cases, dhism in general is attractive to Westerners with when pride becomes arrogant, it reflects nar- R/S aspirations, even when they come from cissism and may contribute to interpersonal Christian religious background (Obadia, 1999). problems and hostility (Tracy & Robins, 2007 Tibet, being the “capital” of Buddhism, is thus a and b). In a way, contrarily to awe, pride’s a popular spiritual destination. This is especially source is not an external stimulus, but per- the case with people from countries with high sonal accomplishments or abilities. There is scores on secularization, like Belgium (Saro- thus no reason to expect pride to facilitate R/S glou & Dupuis, 2006), where the two experi- openness to self-transcending experiences ments were conducted. In order to guarantee such as undertaking a spiritual journey or that the “arousal” role of awe, among R/S peo- feeling oneness with others. If anything, the ple, will be specific to a spiritual destination and opposite could be true: pride implies a sense not an activation of a general willingness to of self-sufficiency, thus possibly preventing travel to any exotic destination, we also in- R/S people from being willing to participate cluded a measure of willingness to visit Haiti. in self-transcending experiences, be it The study was conducted in Fall, 2009, that is, 4 VAN CAPPELLEN AND SAROGLOU before the earthquake of Haiti (January 2010). ing on the condition] you felt.” In the neutral Therefore, at the moment of the experiment, control condition, participants received the fol- Haiti was considered a typical destination for lowing instruction: “We would like you to re- enjoyable vacations. member the last time you went to the movie theater, and to describe in a few lines, in the Method space below, the path you followed between the time you left your home and the moment when Participants your were seated in the movie theater. Try to remember how you got to the theater and de- Participants were 86 adults (33 male, 53 fe- scribe it in 3–6 lines.” (Note that five additional male) from the French-speaking part of Bel- people took part in the study but they were not gium. Their ages ranged from 19 to 64 years included in the analyses either because they (mean [M] ϭ 35.28, standard deviation [SD] recalled an event that was obviously not in ϭ 14.63). They were requested by e-mail to correspondence with the instructions or because participate in an experiment “about emotions.” the event included a strong negative compo- Recruitment was achieved through the snowball nent.) After this recalling and writing, partici- sampling technique beginning with relatives of pants, in all conditions, filled in measures of (a) the first author. The majority of participants behavioral intentions for travel destinations, (b) were Christians (Catholics) or of a Christian religiosity, and (c) spirituality, and were finally upbringing. Participants were asked to provide, thanked for their participation. in a single session, responses to an electronic questionnaire available on the University’s Measures server and were informed that this would take a maximum of 15 min. Travel destinations. Participants received the following instructions: “Imagine the follow- Procedure ing fictitious scenario: you have just won a trip, what destination would you choose?” Then, Participants were randomly assigned to one participants had to rate in two items their will- of three conditions. The two experimental con- ingness to visit Tibet and Haiti, respectively, ditions were planned to elicit either awe or using a 7-point Likert scale (ratings varied from pride. The control condition was neutral regard- 1 ϭ not willing at all to 7 ϭ totally willing). In ing positive emotions. At the start of the online a pretest we made on 13 different destinations, questionnaire, participants were asked to re- Tibet was found to be qualified as the most member a particular event that varied across spiritual destination (M ϭ 4.93, SD ϭ 0.27) and conditions. In the awe condition, they received Haiti as the least (M ϭ 1.93, SD ϭ 1.21), the the following instruction: “We would like you difference being significant, t(13) ϭ 9.54, p Ͻ to remember a particular event during which .001. However, the two destinations were you were in the presence of a natural landscape equally attractive (respectively, M ϭ 4.14, that was really beautiful. This might have been SD ϭ 1.29, and M ϭ 3.64, SD ϭ 1.50), a sunset, a prestigious view, or any other mo- t(13) ϭ 0.78, nonsignificant (ns, in all evalua- ment when, in nature, you felt awe” (instruc- tions, a 5-point Likert scale was used). The two tions adapted from Shiota et al., 2007). In the behavioral intentions, that is, willingness to pride condition, the instruction was as follows: visit Tibet and willingness to visit Haiti) were “We would like you to remember a particular unrelated to each other, r ϭ .09, ns. event during which you felt pride resulting from Religiosity. Participants filled in a measure an act, a speech or something else that you did of personal religiousness composed of the fol- by yourself.” In both experimental conditions, lowing six items (7-point Likert scale): “Reli- these instructions were completed by the fol- gion is important to me”; “Without God the lowing sentence: “Try now, for a few moments, world would be meaningless”; “The great reli- to immerse yourself again in this event, to re- gions of the world give a message that is useful member what you felt and how you lived this for everyday life”; “God is important to me”; experience. Describe in 3–6 lines, in the space “God does not exist” (reverse-scored); “Only a below, this event and the [awe or pride, depend- nonscientific approach can give a true sense to AWE AND RELIGIOUS/SPIRITUAL OUTCOMES 5 the world and to the living being.” This measure Results (the first five out of the six items) was used in a previous study on religion and positive emo- In order to test for the effect of awe, which tions (Saroglou et al., 2008). Reliability was we hypothesized would uniquely, with respect satisfactory (␣ϭ.87). to pride, moderate the association between reli- Spiritual transcendence scale (Piedmont, giosity (or spirituality) and willingness to travel 1999; french translation by Saroglou et al., to a spiritual destination (Tibet), we carried out 2008). In that scale, spirituality is understood a series of four moderated multiple regressions. as the tendency to orient oneself toward a larger In each of them, the three conditions were rep- transcendent reality that binds all things into a resented by two dummy-coded variables using unitive harmony. “It reflects the personal search the neutral condition as the reference group (for for connection with a larger sacredness” (Pied- the first dummy variable, awe was assigned a mont, 1999, p. 989). The scale consists of three value of 1, and the other conditions 0; for the subscales: universality (a belief in the unitive second dummy variable, pride was assigned a nature of life; nine items), connectedness (a value of 1, and the other conditions 0). We belief that one is part of a larger human orches- regressed the willingness to travel to Tibet on tra whose contribution is indispensable in cre- both dummy-coded variables, religiosity (or ating life’s continuing harmony; six items), and spirituality), and the two interaction terms (see prayer fulfillment (feelings of joy and content- Table 1). To ensure that the effects were unique ment that results from personal encounters with for the spiritual destination, we did the same a transcendent reality; nine items). We did not regression analyses distinctly for willingness to include in this study the third subscale because travel to Haiti (see also Table 1). we were interested in a measure where spiritu- The results confirmed the hypotheses. Al- ality is distinct from institutional religion. In- though overall there was no main effect of the deed, prayer fulfillment has an explicitly reli- induced emotions on willingness to visit Tibet, gious content (reference to God and religious the latter was predicted by a significant interac- practices such as prayer or meditation) and has tion between religiosity and awe (␤ϭ.41, p Ͻ been found to relate positively to traditional .001). Willingness to visit Tibet was also pre- religious attitudes and behaviors (Piedmont, dicted by a significant interaction between spir- 1999). Reliability was satisfactory (␣ϭ.88). ituality and awe (␤ϭ.30, p Ͻ .05). On the

Table 1 Moderated Multiple Regression of Emotions, Religious Measures, and Their Interaction on Travel Destinations (Study 1) Travel destination Tibet Haiti Predictors Bt-test Bt-test ءءϪ.34 Ϫ2.68 ءReligiosity Ϫ.26 Ϫ2.08 Awe Ϫ.14 Ϫ1.42 Ϫ.09 Ϫ0.89 Pride Ϫ.01 Ϫ0.10 Ϫ.01 Ϫ0.08 0.74 09. ءءءAwe ϫ Religiosity .41 3.69 Pride ϫ Religiosity .13 1.24 .01 1.12 R2 ϭ .14, .08 Spirituality Ϫ.01 Ϫ0.09 Ϫ.16 Ϫ1.11 Awe Ϫ.15 Ϫ1.52 Ϫ.08 Ϫ0.76 Pride .00 0.01 Ϫ.03 Ϫ0.29 0.25 03. ءAwe ϫ Spirituality .30 2.34 Pride ϫ Spirituality Ϫ.01 Ϫ0.10 .16 1.40 R2 ϭ .11, .03 Note. N ϭ 86. For each emotion, a dummy variable is computed with the target emotional condition coded as 1 and the other two conditions coded as 0. .p Ͻ .001 ءءء .p Ͻ .01 ءء .p Ͻ .05 ء 6 VAN CAPPELLEN AND SAROGLOU contrary, the interaction of the pride condition with either religiosity or spirituality had no ef- fect on the willingness to visit Tibet; the pride condition acted as the neutral condition. The above significant interactions were unique in predicting willingness to visit Tibet and were not found when computing similar regressions on the willingness to visit Haiti (all ps Ͼ .16). Finally, for willingness to visit Tibet and Haiti, a main effect of religiosity was found (respec- tively for Tibet and Haı¨ti ␤s ϭϪ.26, Ϫ.34; ps Ͻ .05, .01). Simple slope analyses clarified the meaning of the significant interactions. As can be seen in Figure 1, in the awe condition, religiosity (up) and spirituality (bottom), as hypothesized, were positively and significantly related to willing- ness to visit Tibet respective ␤s ϭ .46, .47; ps Ͻ .01. They were unrelated to this outcome in the neutral condition (respective ␤s ϭϪ.18, .11; ns). Religiosity was even negatively related to the same outcome in the pride condition (re- spective ␤ϭϪ.35; p ϭ .04).

Discussion

The hypothesized moderating role of a posi- tive self-transcendent emotion was confirmed. In comparison to an emotionally neutral control condition, elicitation of awe, through the recall of a relevant experience, pushed participants scoring high in religiosity and/or spirituality to express willingness to undertake traveling to Tibet, which is a spiritual destination. This ac- tivation effect was not extended to a nonspiri- tual travel destination (Haiti) and was not inde- pendent of participants’ religiosity. This finding confirms the inherent affinity theorists have postulated between awe (strictly speaking, a secular emotion) and religion/spirituality, and is in favor of awe’s causal or facilitating role with regard to religious and spiritual expressions. Moreover, as suspected, induction of pride, a nonself-transcendent positive emotion, did not Figure 1. Spiritual behavioral intention (willingness to follow awe in the above mentioned effects. This visit Tibet) as a function of emotions and religiosity (up) or spirituality (bottom)—Study 1. confirms our suspicion that positive emotions which do not imply transcendence of the self, and might even glorify the self at the expense of others (like pride), may have no effects on re- condition, willingness to visit Haiti. Thus, lack ligious and spiritual attitudes and expressions. of humility and self-transcendent aspirations In the present study, pride actually had an effect seem to be in conflict. on the nonspiritual destination: it increased, as Note, finally, that across conditions, there compared with awe, but also to the neutral was a tendency of religiosity to be negatively AWE AND RELIGIOUS/SPIRITUAL OUTCOMES 7 associated with willingness to visit Haiti (global of Experiment 1. In the present experiment, r ϭϪ.24, p ϭ .006). This country was known emotions were elicited through relevant videos to be a pleasant, or even hedonistic, destination and the sample was composed of students. for vacations (remember that the data were col- On the basis of the rationale developed in the lected previous to the 2010 Haiti earthquake). introduction as well as the results of Experi- This may suggest a contrast between religious ment 1, we expected the induction of awe to and spiritual behavioral intentions (activated by augment or activate the relationship between awe) and other behavioral intentions (activated R/S and oneness with friends and others. Such by pride) implying hedonistic and materialistic an arousal effect regarding the connection be- values that are known not to be highly endorsed tween R/S and oneness should not be observed by religious and spiritual people (Saroglou, when participants were exposed to a humorous Delpierre, & Dernelle, 2004; see aslo Dy– video. Finally, given the direct interpersonal Liacco, Piedmont, Murray–Swank, Rodgerson, character of awe at childbirth and the more & Sherman, 2009). holistic, in a way impersonal, character of awe of nature, greater, if not exclusive, affinities Experiment 2 were expected (a) between awe at childbirth, connectedness, and oneness with friends, and The aim of Experiment 2 was to replicate and (b) between awe of nature, universality, and extend Experiment 1 in several ways. First, we oneness with humankind. focused on another relevant outcome, that is, feelings of closeness with others, a construct Method that is related less directly to R/S in comparison to spiritual journey. We used a more projective Participants measure of this outcome. Second, we distin- guished between two kinds of targets of feelings A total of 133 students (15 male, 116 fe- of oneness: (a) friends, who are proximal tar- male, 2 not reporting gender) of first- and sec- gets, and (b) people in general. Such a distinc- ond-year psychology courses at a French- tion is particularly important regarding the issue speaking Belgian University participated in this of whether R/S implies empathy and prosocial- experiment in exchange for course credit (age: ity limited to one’s ingroup and proximal tar- M ϭ 19.2, SD ϭ 2.7). The majority of partici- gets or extended to humanity as a whole (Saro- pants were Christians (Catholics) or of Chris- glou, in press). tian upbringing. The study was advertised as an Third, we compared induction of awe with investigation on friendship relations. induction of a different (from pride) self- focused positive emotion, that is, amusement Procedure (humor). Moreover, we distinguished between two kinds of self-transcendent positive emo- Participants arrived at the lab individually tions: awe of nature and awe at childbirth. and were randomly assigned to one of four These two emotional experiences, despite their conditions, that is, specific emotions induced strong similarities, differ in some ways (Keltner by the respective video clips: (1) awe of na- & Haidt, 2003; Saroglou et al., 2008). The ture (n ϭ 44), (2) awe at childbirth (n ϭ 45), former does not really imply perception of, and (3) amusement (n ϭ 44). After being and interaction, with specific others; this, on given instructions for the study, participants the contrary, is the case with the latter. In were left alone to watch one of the video parallel, in the analyses we distinguished be- clips; each was of 3-min duration. After the tween two components of spirituality, that is, video had finished, participants completed a universality, which includes connection to questionnaire which was left face-down on humankind as a whole, and connectedness, the table in front of them. Once completed, which includes commitment to specific others participants were debriefed and thanked for in the community and in the circle of inter- their participation. personal relations (Piedmont, 1999). All video clips were taken from Saroglou et Finally, the method for inducing emotions al. (2008) where they have been pretested for and the nature of the sample differed from those the emotions elicited. The awe of nature video 8 VAN CAPPELLEN AND SAROGLOU included panoramic views of beautiful land- connectedness (␣ϭ.54). Because of our in- scapes with waterfalls, deserts, oceans, large terest on outcomes that could be specifically rivers, and high mountains. With no reference related to one dimension of spirituality or the to any living being, this video was in a way other, we ran separate analyses for the two “impersonal.” The awe at childbirth video subscales of spirituality. Indeed, according to depicted a young heterosexual couple that the respective definitions and content of the was filmed at many points during the wom- items, the subscale of universality refers to an’s pregnancy. There were images of both the belief in the unity and purpose of life, and parents during the first sonogram, the birth of connection with the humankind as a whole. the baby in the maternity hospital, and the On the contrary, the subscale of connected- mother holding her infant in the first minutes ness refers to a sense of personal responsibil- after childbirth. This awe video was focused ity and commitment to specific others in one’s on humans and interpersonal relations. Fi- own community. nally, the amusement video included sketches with a French humorist imitating an old man Results trying to understand the menu at a fast food restaurant. A series of six multiple regression analyses The pretest by Saroglou et al. (2008) were computed, distinctly for each outcome showed that all three positive emotion videos (oneness with friends and oneness with people (amusement and two kinds of awe) induce in general), and for each religious/spiritual mea- more pleasure, enjoyment, and emotional in- sure (religiosity, spirituality–universality, and tensity as compared with a neutral video. spirituality–connectedness). As in Experi- However, the awe of nature and awe at child- ment 1, the three conditions were represented birth videos, but not the amusement video, by two dummy-coded variables using the induced, in addition, the emotions of ecstasy, amusement condition as the reference group respect, wonder, and humility. Awe at child- (for the first dummy variable, awe at childbirth birth elicited more tender feelings and affec- was assigned a value of 1, and the other condi- tion than awe of nature. tions 0; for the second dummy variable, awe of nature was assigned a value of 1, and the other Measures conditions 0). We thus regressed either oneness with friends or oneness with people in general Oneness with friends and people in gen- on both dummy-coded variables, the relevant eral. We used the Inclusion of the Other in R/S measure, and the two interaction terms (see the Self Scale (Aron, Aron, & Smolan, 1992) Table 2). that is a pictorial measure of interpersonal in- In line with expectations, oneness with terconnectedness. The scale is composed by di- friends was predicted by the interaction be- agrams, each representing different degrees of tween awe at childbirth and religiosity (␤ϭ overlap of two circles representing the self and .22, p Ͻ .05) but also connectedness (␤ϭ.19, the other. The overlap progresses linearly in p ϭ .06). Oneness with people was negatively seven steps starting with no overlap and ending predicted by the interaction between univer- in almost total overlap. We used this scale in sality and awe at childbirth (␤ϭϪ.19, p ϭ two versions in order to assess oneness of the .06). All other regression terms were not sig- self with (a) friends and (b) people in general. nificant (all ps Ͼ .08). Participants were told: “Choose the best dia- Simple slopes analyses clarified the direction gram that describes your relationship between of the significant interactions. As can be seen in you and your friends,” and “between you and Figure 2, in the awe at childbirth condition, people in general.” religiosity (up left), and connectedness (up Religiosity and spirituality. The same right) were positively related to oneness with measures of religiosity and spirituality as in friends (respective ␤s ϭ .30, .28; ps ϭ .025, Study 1 were administered. Five-point Likert .03). They were unrelated to this outcome in the scales were used in this study. Reliability for other two conditions. Universality, in the awe at all scales was satisfactory, that is, for religi- childbirth condition, (see Figure 2, bottom) was osity (␣ϭ.86), universality (␣ϭ.71), and unrelated to oneness with people in general AWE AND RELIGIOUS/SPIRITUAL OUTCOMES 9

Table 2 Moderated Multiple Regression of Emotions, Religious Measures, and Their Interaction on Feelings of Oneness (Study 2) Oneness with: Friends People in general Predictors Bt-test Bt-test Religiosity Ϫ.08 Ϫ0.53 .14 0.87 Awe of nature .09 0.94 .09 0.94 Awe at childbirth .13 1.28 .07 0.73 0.60 08. ءAwe of nature ϫ Religiosity .22 1.66 Awe at childbirth ϫ Religiosity .02 0.19 .01 0.06 R2 ϭ .04, .05 STS-connectedness Ϫ.07 Ϫ0.43 Ϫ.01 Ϫ0.02 Awe of nature .07 0.66 .09 0.81 Awe at childbirth .12 1.10 .07 0.66 Awe of nature ϫ STS-connectedness Ϫ.08 Ϫ0.53 Ϫ.03 Ϫ0.18 Awe at childbirth ϫ STS-connectedness .19 1.53† .08 0.66 R2 ϭ .05, .01 STS-universality .11 0.75 .17 1.14 Awe of nature .09 0.90 .11 1.12 Awe at childbirth .13 1.25 .08 0.76 Awe of nature ϫ STS-universality Ϫ.11 Ϫ0.82 .04 0.30 Awe at childbirth ϫ STS-universality Ϫ.17 Ϫ1.46 Ϫ.19 Ϫ1.56† R2 ϭ .03, .05 Note. N ϭ 133. For each emotion, a dummy variable is computed with the target emotional condition coded as 1 and the other two conditions coded as 0. STS: Spiritual Transcendance Scale (Piedmont, 1999). .p Ͻ .05 ء .p ϭ .06 †

(␤ϭϪ.19, ns.): however, in the awe of nature cuses on our relations with specific others and condition, universality was positively related to known people, alive or dead (see two sample oneness with people in general (␤ϭ.24, p ϭ items: “I am a link in the chain of my family’s .06). heritage, a bridge between past and future”; “It is important for me to give something back to my Discussion community”). Religiosity, and probably specific forms of spirituality, is particularly concerned As expected, in comparison to the neutral with feelings of warmth toward relatives and and/or amusement conditions, induction of awe members of our extended, cultural kinship (Saro- (through relevant video clips) pushed religious glou, in press). Awe at childbirth may thus be and spiritual participants to express high feelings powerful in activating such feelings as a function of oneness with others. This is in line with Exper- of religion/spirituality. iment 1, since it was the self-transcendent positive Awe of nature (induced through video pre- emotion (awe), but not the nonself-transcendent sentation of beautiful landscapes) functioned in one (amusement) that had the expected effects on a slightly different way. It seemed to activate religion- and spirituality-related feelings. among people scoring high in universality, feel- The results in this experiment were more spe- ings of oneness with people in general, but not cific, with respect to the results from Experi- necessarily oneness with friends. Very likely, ment 1, to the kind of awe and the religious/ awe of nature is powerful in activating the con- spiritual dimension concerned. Awe at childbirth nection between the universalistic dimension of seemed to activate, among religious people, feel- spirituality and closeness with humankind, the ings of oneness with proximal targets (friends) but world, and life taken as a whole. Here are two not necessarily oneness with people in general. powerful sample items of the universality sub- This was also the case for people scoring high in scale: “Although individual people may be dif- connectedness, a dimension of spirituality that fo- ficult, I feel an emotional bond with all of 10 VAN CAPPELLEN AND SAROGLOU

Figure 2. Oneness with others as a function of emotions and religiosity–spirituality: oneness with friends as a function of emotions and religiosity (up left) or spirituality–connectedness (up right); oneness with people in general as a function of emotions and spirituality– universality (bottom)—Study 2. humanity”; “I feel that on a higher level all of us Amusement does not seem to play a role with share a common bond.” respect to the connection between religion/ In sum, our results suggest a correspondence spirituality and oneness with proximal or distal between impersonal versus interpersonal forms of others. This, as argued in the introduction, can be awe and universalistic (in a way impersonal) ver- attributed to the fact that amusement does not sus embodied in interpersonal relations forms of necessarily mean openness to a broader or greater religious and spiritual attachment to others. reality. AWE AND RELIGIOUS/SPIRITUAL OUTCOMES 11

General Discussion that are in correspondence with, if not resulting from, their faith and spirituality. These findings Across two experiments, and using different may be of interest for understanding the specific positive emotions, methods of inducing emo- role religious rituals (chants, sermons, symbols, tions, populations, and study environments, ev- prayer, ritual acts, reading sacred texts) have in idence was provided for awe’s power with re- activating not only intellectually, but also emo- gard to religion and spirituality-related feelings tionally, R/S motivations, projects, and deci- and behavioral intentions. It was only when sions. This can explain why, although God is awe, a self-transcendent emotion, was induced, believed to be everywhere, and spiritual deci- but not in the neutral condition (Experiment 1) sions can be taken at any moment, humans, or when nonself-transcendent emotions (pride across religions, have created formal moments or humorous amusement, Experiments 1 and 2) and spaces that provide emotional arousal to were induced, that religion and spirituality were R/S aspirations. In a similar vein, the present positively related to the willingness to visit a experiments suggest that religiosity and spiritu- spiritual destination (Tibet) and feelings of self- ality, like other individual differences (see other overlap with friends or humanity. Leary & Hoyle, 2009; Rhodewalt, 2008), may This study provides experimental evidence in not constitute fixed attitudes and stable “ways of favor of the hypothesized transformative power being,” but are importantly sensitive to the con- of awe (Keltner & Haidt, 2003) and strengthens text, including emotion. previous anecdotal evidence from biographical Interesting additional information was pro- sources (Keltner & Haidt, 2003; Sundarajan, vided in Experiment 2, when we distinguished 2002). It also confirms our additional hypothe- between two dimensions of spirituality, that is, sis that, with respect to R/S, not all positive universality and connectedness (as defined in emotions are effective in shaping related the Spiritual Transcendence Scale; Piedmont, thoughts, aspirations, and behaviors. This inclu- 1999), between two kinds of awe elicitors (na- sion of a self-transcendent dimension, that is, ture and childbirth), and between two kinds of the focus on realities which are perceived as feelings (oneness with all human beings, and vaster and greater than the self (awe) rather than oneness with proximal targets, i.e., friends). a focus on, and glorification of, the self (pride, Two pathways were attested. On one hand, par- humor), seems to be a necessary condition for a ticipants endorsing universality (belief in the positive emotion to effectively lead to specific unitive nature of life and attachment to human- outcomes that are a function of religiosity and kind as a whole) showed high feelings of one- spirituality. ness with all humans (but not necessarily Note that we had hypothesized that awe will friends) after they were exposed to the awe facilitate (increase or activate) the connection video of pure nature. On the other hand, partic- between R/S and relative feelings and behav- ipants endorsing connectedness (belief in life’s ioral intentions. In fact, in both experiments, harmony through responsibility toward familiar awe activated these connections. This study others and the community) showed high feel- suggests that some of the well-known correlates ings of oneness with friends (but not necessarily or effects of religion (which are most often of with humans in general) after being exposed to modest size) may be highly dependent on con- the awe of childbirth video. Although the two textual features. This is in line with two recent spirituality dimensions are interrelated (Pied- studies. In the first one, religious Christian peo- mont, 1999), they may translate specific forms/ ple were not found to be prosocial in general, components of spirituality (i.e., a more imper- but only after having attended Sunday mass sonal and universalistic version vs. a more em- (Malhotra, 2010). In the second one, similarly, bodied to concrete interpersonal relationships it is on Sunday, but not on other weekdays that version), and thus have distinct consequences. religious service attendees differ from nonreli- An important limitation of these experiments gious peers by subscribing less to porn sites is that, although the induction of emotions was (Edelman, 2009). efficient, religiosity, behavioral intentions to The present experiments indicate the impor- travel, and feelings of oneness were not mea- tant role of (some) positive emotions in activat- sured both pre- and postexperimentally. Thus, ing, among R/S people, aspirations and feelings although we adopted a description of the results 12 VAN CAPPELLEN AND SAROGLOU that highlights how emotions shape religious/ and Social Psychology, 63, 596–612. doi:10.1037/ spiritual people’s behavioral intentions and 0022-3514.63.4.596 feelings, a different causal pathway is not ex- Basso, M. R., Schefft, B. K., Ris, M. 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