Awe

Awe is the feeling of meeting something so vast that it does not fit what we already understand. In experiments it made people feel smaller, and that smaller self turned them towards others: they gave more, helped more and made more ethical choices. Awe also made time feel more plentiful, made weak arguments less persuasive and raised curiosity and the wish to learn and create.

What the report found

1. Awe is common, not rare. It rests on two things: a sense of vastness and a need to make sense of it. In diaries kept in several countries, people felt awe two or three times a week, and the most common source was not nature or art but other people doing good.
2. Awe makes the self feel small, and that feels good. Tourists at a great viewpoint drew themselves smaller, and older adults on weekly awe walks took photographs in which they filled less and less of the frame while their smiles grew.
3. A smaller self turns towards others. People who had just felt awe gave more in economic games, made more ethical choices and helped more. A review of 77 studies found awe linked to caring for the natural world.
4. Awe stretches time and opens the mind. People who felt awe felt they had more time, were more patient, preferred experiences to things, were less swayed by weak arguments and were keener to learn and create.
5. Awe can mislead. When the vast thing is threatening, awe brings fear and a sense of powerlessness, and awe can leave people eager for any explanation. It works best when it is real, safe and paired with good understanding.

What is inside

1. What awe is and why we have it
2. The small self
3. Awe turns us towards others
4. Time, attention and an open mind
5. Awe across life
6. When awe misleads

Plus a map of where awe shapes choices, a diagram of its two core appraisals, three debates set out side by side and a table grading each common claim.

Who it is for

For designers of places, events and experiences, marketers, educators, managers and anyone who wants to understand what awe does to people and how to use it well.

How we work

Human Forces reports explain one deep human need: what it is and why we have it, the mechanisms through which it works, how it shows up across life, and when it misleads us. Every claim is graded, and where researchers disagree, as they do on whether awe shrinks the self or reveals it, both sides are set out before we say where we stand.

Cite this report

The Why We Project (2026) Awe: Feeling small before something vast. Human Forces No. 18. Dubai: Why We Tech Ltd. Available at: thewhyweproject.com