Decoupling Awe and Self-Transcendence
(A2026-134283)

AUTHORS

Francine Espinoza Petersen, HEC Lausanne; Adeepan Chakraborty, HEC Lausanne; Craig Anderson, HEC Paris

ABSTRACT

Awe is often seen as a self-transcendent emotion. This research dissociates awe from self-transcendence to better understand awe’s unique effects on consumer psychology. Self-transcendence is a transient state characterized by self-loss and connection, and we find that not all awe experiences produce it to the same extent. Across two studies (N=569), we elicited beauty or threat awe. Study 1 found that threat awe led to less salient self-transcendence and greater powerlessness than beauty awe; self-diminishment mediated the effect of threat (vs. beauty) awe on feelings of powerlessness. Study 2 identified safety as key to self-transcendence and replicated the effect of threat awe on its salience and self-diminishment, with self-diminishment mediating its effect on feelings of powerlessness. Through this research, we contribute conceptually and methodologically to the literature of awe and self-transcendence, and specifically to threat-awe, about which we know very little.