The Effects Of Awe On Moral Behavior And Its Psychological Mechanism

Awe as an important human emotion has a long history,but the empirical research of psychology on awe has only a short history since the prototype model of awe was put forward in 2003.Some studies have shown the relationship between awe and moral-related behavior,but there is still a lack of research to systematically explore awe's effect on moral behavior directly,and in particular,examining the two aspects of moral behavior respectively,that's prescriptive morality(shown as behaving moral behavior)and proscriptive behavior(shown as not behaving immoral behavior).What's more,the psychological mechanism of awe's effect on moral behavior is not yet clear.There is also a relative lack of domestic empirical research of psychology on awe.Continuing to carry out applied research and local research on awe is an important research direction in this field.The psychological mechanism of awe's effect on awe may be that awe affects the level of self-identity,making people define themselves from the universal level,transcending individual,relationship,and group level,and recognize themselves and act as a member of human society and the vast nature,which makes them compliance with prescriptive morality and reduce violations of proscriptive morality.This research explores the impact of awe on moral behavior through four empirical studies.Study 1 explores the relationship between dispositional awe and moral behavior from the perspective of personality differences.It was found that people who are more likely to feel awe in their lives also show more ethical behavioral tendencies.Study 2 used extraordinary natural picture which is the most universal awe-inspiring thing to induce awe and verified the mediating effect of universal-self on moral behavior.However,when examining the two aspects of moral behavior respectively,it was found that the universal self only had mediating effect on prescriptive morality,but has no significant mediating effect on proscriptive morality.Study 3 used a recall task to induce awe and changed the situation of moral behavior,examining the asymmetric mediating effects of universal-self on the two kinds of moral behavior showed in study 2.Study 4 examined the ecological validity of the influence of awe on the moral behavior through field exploration.And in order to have a more complete understanding of the whole process from the situation to the behavior,the observation of awe will be traced back to the emotional stimulus.In conclusion,this research draws the following conclusions:(1)Individuals with high dispositional awe show more ethical behavioral tendencies,including prescriptive morality and proscriptive morality.(2)Individuals who are in a state of awe can also exhibit more moral behaviors,including prescriptive morality and proscriptive morality(3)Universal self only had mediating effect on prescriptive morality,but has no significant mediating effect on proscriptive morality.There may be different psychological mechanisms for the influence of awe on two kinds of moral behaviors.(4)Individuals appraising the environment as "vastness" and "need for accommodation"(the two core elements of prototype model of awe)can induce awe.This research uses different methods to manipulate awe and validates the impact of awe on moral behavior through rich moral situations and various investigation methods.It also explores psychological mechanism from the perspective of awe changing the level of self-identity,making contribution to the research of awe on moral field.