Awe is a complex emotional state we experience when the enormity of what we see or feel exceeds what we understand. When positive, it is great for mental health.
Astronauts report the feeling mentioned here, when confronted with the vastness of space and the Earth’s tiny place within it. This experience – sometimes known as the “global vision effect” – could forever change the way people who have seen Earth from afar think about life here.
But you don’t have to travel to the Moon and back to experience it. admiration. Beautiful art, a walk in nature or dancing in a crowd can give you this overwhelming, transcendent feeling.
Neuroscience suggests that experiences of awe can be good for your mental health – when they’re positive. So when is wonder good for us? And what exactly is happening in the brain?
Admiration can be both positive and negative
Positive admiration is probably what comes to most people’s minds when they think of admiration. If you’ve ever been moved by something immense and beautiful – like a majestic mountain or a sunset – you’ve probably experienced this sense of calm and wonder.
However, psychologists sometimes describe awe as an experience in border between pleasure and fear. Both pleasure and fear can result in a similar body activation – rapid heartbeat, goosebumps and chills – but how we interpret this as emotion will depend on the context.
The same thing can happen when we experience something vast and overwhelming.
Negative admiration can occur when we feel threatened or out of control, such as during an earthquake or terrorist attack.
Imagine yourself standing in front of a tsunami and seeing it approaching. You may feel helpless and filled with dread, while at the same time being overcome by a sense of insignificance in the face of the majesty and power of nature. This is the complexity of admiration.
Trying to make sense of the unexpected
Our brains are constantly making predictions and integrating our experiences into what we already know.
We tend to “filter out” sensory signals that match our expectations, and instead focus on being prepared to respond to information that is surprising.
New information is processed by parts of the brain that help fit it into our pre-existing understanding of the world, knowledge structures known as schemas.
According to schema theory, we either assimilate this new information into an existing schema, or we have to change the schema to accommodate the new knowledge.
Not all new experiences will evoke awe. This occurs when we experience both the inability to assimilate an experience in current knowledge as a sense of vastness.
For example, you might have a schema for “waterfall” – a mental framework of what you expect (rocks, water, beauty). But as he confronts the roar of Niagara Falls, its size and speed, the way the sun hits the mist, he experiences awe; It is unlike any waterfall you have ever seen and exceeds your expectations.
What happens in the brain when we experience awe?
When we experience awe, activity decreases in regions of the brain associated with internal or self-referential processing. This network is what drives our memory and understanding of our place in the world.
When activity in these regions decreases, there is a shift in focus from self to processing external information. This may explain why you tend to “feel small” when you experience awe.
But positive and negative admiration can have different effects on our nervous system.
A negative admiration is associated with the activity of the sympathetic nervous system, which drives our response to “fight or flight”.
A positive admirationon the other hand, is associated with increased parasympathetic activity. This reduces heart rate and activation, which is why we can feel calmer.
How admiration can be good for us
If you’re someone who seeks experiences bigger than yourself – hiking to stunning views, enjoying meditation, art, or getting lost in the roar of a crowd – you probably already know that awe can make you feel fantastic.
Now, research is exploring why. Emerging evidence suggests that awe may be good for mental health and well-being in five ways:
- improve the nervous system’s ability to relax
- decrease focus on yourself
- make us more likely to help other people
- connect us to others
- increase sense of meaning
More work is needed before we can say whether awe results in lasting benefits. But deliberately seek admiration can help you feel less stressed, more satisfied and happier.
Finding wonder in the everyday
What evokes awe is likely to be different for different people. But we know that some things are more likely to induce this complex feeling, like experiences of art, music, and natural environments that move us.
Many people also find admiration in collective experiences, especially those that involve shared music or movementor religious rituals. These help us transcend ourselves and become part of something bigger. Contemplating inspiring and complex intellectual ideas when learning something new can also have this effect.
So can you actively cultivate wonder? One way to start is to do “walks of admiration”. These involve walking with the intention of noticing beauty, vastness and wonder.
Connect to your own sense of spirituality – even if it’s not religious – it can also evoke awe.
In many cases, the vast and overwhelming experience of awe can begin with simple acts of observation.
