Could the sense of "awe" promote altruistic, helpful behavior?

New findings published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology reveal that feelings of reverence and admiration can help us to escape our own egos.

Like Us on Facebook

During the study, researchers asked a representative sample of more than 1,500 people from across the United States to complete a questionnaire that measured how predisposed they were to awe. Participants were then asked to be involved in a game that gave them 10 raffle tickets and asked them to decide how many they might share with another participant if they did not have any tickets.

Findings revealed a significant association between the tendency to experience awe and generosity.

Furthermore, four other experiments asked the participants to watch a video or look at something in their environment that was designed to elicit a number of responses, including awe, a neutral state or other reactions.

Then, participants engaged in behaviors that measured pro-social behaviors, otherwise known as things like acceptance and friendship.

Researchers noted that awe can help to let go of one's ego and diminish the sense of self, shifting focus away from an individual's need toward the greater good.

"When experiencing awe, you may not, egocentrically speaking, feel like you're at the center of the world anymore," lead study author Paul Piff concluded, in a statement. "By shifting attention toward larger entities and diminishing the emphasis on the individual self, we reasoned that awe would trigger tendencies to engage in pro-social behaviors that may be costly for you but that benefit and help others."