AWE, WONDER, BEAUTY & NEW FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY

LAURIE PARMA

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING WE CAN EXPERIENCE IS THE MYSTERIOUS. IT IS THE SOURCE OF ALL TRUE ART AND SCIENCE. HE TO WHOM THIS EMOTION IS A STRANGER, WHO CAN NO LONGER PAUSE TO WONDER AND STAND RAPT IN AWE, IS AS GOOD AS DEAD: HIS EYES ARE CLOSED.

Albert Einstein

INTRO

ACTIVITY 1

WHICH EXPERIENCES HAVE ELICITED WHAT ALBERT EINSTEIN DESCRIBES AS THE MOST IMPORTANT EXPERIENCE IN LIFE?

COURSE PLAN

PART 1 - AWE AND WONDER INTRODUCTION - DEFINITION, &DESCRIPTION PHYSIOLOGY OF AWE COGNITION & AWE PART 2 - BEAUTY WHY DO WE MAKE ART? PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSE TO BEAUTY BEAUTY AND OUR BEHAVIOUR PART 3 - WHAT WORKS WHAT IS POLICY? WHAT WORKS WELLBEING - THE 5 WAYS AND BIT NEW HORIZONS

DEFINING AWE

AN EMOTIONAL RESPONSE TO PHYSICALLY OR CONCEPTUALLY EXTRAORDINARY STIMULI THAT CHALLENGE OUR DAY TO DAY FRAME OF REFERENCE AND ARE NOT ALREADY INTEGRATED IN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD.

INTRODUCTION TO AWE

INTRODUCTION TO AWE

WHY IS AWE IMPORTANT?? Science perspective

…a constellation of effect that help us take in large amounts of information from the environment changing how we process, understand and think about the world around us.

Humanistic perspective

… A fundamental aspects of the human experience which enriches our sense of meaning in life.

SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCE OF AWE

Experiment - Recall a time when you felt awe and write about it in details.

- panoramic nature lanscape

- extraordinary sun rises and sunsets

- incredible weather phenomenon (eg northern light)

- extraordinary pieces of architecture

- painting or other work of art (music, dance, etc)

- intellectual epiphany

INTRODUCTION TO AWE

CONTRASTING AWE & ACCOMPLISHMENT

Accomplishment —> Pride

What comes up in Awe?

—> Small, insignificant, presence of something greater, sense of connection, soothing, calming.

Awe might help shift our focus from our narrow self-interest to the interests of the group to which we belong.

INTRODUCTION TO AWE

SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCE OF AWE, IN DEPTH

- Goosebumps

- ‘collective emotion’ it motivates people to do things that enhance the greater good.

- helps bind us to others, motivating us to act in collaborative ways that enable strong groups and cohesive communities.

- awe imbues people with a different sense of themselves, one that is smaller, more humble and part of something larger.

INTRODUCTION TO AWE

COURSE PLAN

PART 1 - AWE AND WONDER INTRODUCTION - DEFINITION, &DESCRIPTION PHYSIOLOGY OF AWE

PHYSIOLOGY OF AWE

WHAT IS INFLAMMATION?

= Immune system activity

Cytokines = molecular marker of inflammation

Chronic and consistent high levels of cytokines are associated with:

- poor health and disease

- Life expectancy shortening (by 5-6years)

- like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and depression.

INFLAMMATION

PHYSIOLOGY OF AWE

IMPLICATION OF AWE AND INFLAMMATION

awe is otherwise associated “with curiosity and a desire to explore,” which would suggest these behaviors don’t match up to the behavior responses of those with inflammation; patients with inflammation typically withdraw from their environment.

PHYSIOLOGY OF AWE

WHAT’S THE EFFECT OF POSITIVE MOOD ON THE AUTONOMOUS NERVOUS SYSTEM? CAN YOU GUESS?

CAN YOU GUESS THE EFFECT OF AWE ON EACH BRANCHES OF THE AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM?

Fight flight

Sympathetic branch of the nervous system

…Or defence mode

Rest-digest

Parasympathetic branch of the nervous system

… Or discovery mode

PHYSIOLOGY OF AWE

AWE AND BODY

PHYSIOLOGY

A most valuable state of alertness.

Decrease both sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system…

As a result: Alertness and exploration behaviours are maximised through a decrease in both stress and restful disengagement

COURSE PLAN

PART 1 - AWE AND WONDER INTRODUCTION - DEFINITION, &DESCRIPTION PHYSIOLOGY OF AWE COGNITION & AWE

AWE AND COGNITION

POSITIVE EMOTION’S EFFECT ON COGNITION

Positive emotions tend to make us cognitively sloppy

WHY? it is efficient because using the existing knowledge to filter and frame the experience that is going on relying on what’s already known so it

makes sense positive motions would facilitate that.

Consequences on processing new in positive emotions:

- reliance on heuristics or shortcuts

- increase in fundamental attribution error

- increased use of stereotyping

- Increase use of the gist of information rather than details

POSITIVE EMOTION’S EFFECT ON COGNITION

AWE AND COGNITION

IS AWE DIFFERENT FROM OTHER POSITIVE EMOTIONS

STUDY DESIGN: EMOTION INDUCTION OF EMOTION (POSITIVE, NEUTRAL OR AWE)

LISTENING TO AN AUDIO STORY ABOUT GOING ON A ROMANTIC DINNER

TASK - REMEMBERING THE AUDIO DESCRIPTION MEASUREMENT - ACCURACY IN RECALL (EG: WAS THERE A CANDLE ON THE TABLE?)

POSITIVE, NEUTRAL OR AWE INDUCED, WHO WAS MOST ACCURATE?

AWE AND COGNITION

AWE AND PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

1,500 individuals across the United States

MEASURES: Assess how much awe, among other emotions, they experienced on a regular basis.

The give: Scientists gave each person 10 lottery tickets that would be entered in his (or her) name for a cash prize drawing. We told each person that the tickets were his to keep,

The catch: … but that if he wanted to, he could share a portion of them with another unidentified individual in the study who had not received any tickets.

AWE AND SOCIAL COGNITION

AWE AND PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

RESULTS Participants who reported experiencing more awe in their lives, who felt more regular wonder and beauty in the world around them, were more generous to the stranger. They gave approximately 40 percent more of their tickets away than did participants who were awe-deprived.

AWE AND SOCIAL COGNITION

HOW DO WE PERCEIVE PERSUASIVENESS

▸ Propose a new student policy: take an additional test for all student graduating

▸ Present a set of good arguments

▸ Present a set of weak arguments

▸ Measure - attitude towards message (favourable vs hostile)

▸ What would you expect to see for people under positive emotions VS awe?

AWE AND COGNITION

AWE AND BODY

HOW AND WHY AWE MIGHT CHANGE THE WAY WE SEE THE WORLD

๏ Subjective feeling of awe is pleasant, calming , plus attention away from the self and toward the worlds around us

๏ Physiology: reduction in both fight-flight and rest and digest activity, reduced inflammation

๏ Reduced tendency to filter our current experience through what we think we already know. Opening up the opportunity to see the world in a new way

HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=8QYVZRV3D3O

PART 2 - BEAUTY

BEAUTY

INTRO

throughout human history and around the world, our species has displayed an undying impulse to create art—to adorn ourselves, our artifacts, and our surroundings; to make music, dance, dramatize, and poeticize. And we often spend vast quantities of time, energy, and material resources doing so. What lies behind the age-old, persistent human urge to make the ordinary extraordinary?

BEAUTY

FUNCTION OF BEAUTY

EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY displays of virtuosity, creativity, physical skill, strength, and stamina attract mates and thereby improve reproductive success, especially that of males (Geoffrey Miller in his book The Mating Mind)

WHY DOES THIS EXPLANATION FEEL INSUFFICIENT? What we today call the arts has been instrumental in fostering the kind of collective identity and bonding necessary to maintaining human societies. By reinforcing a group’s like-mindedness and one-heartedness, artistic rituals and ceremonies help persuade people to devote themselves to ideals that transcend narrow self-interest: loyalty, generosity, hard work, unselfishness, patriotism, and even the sacrifice of one’s life.

HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=SVELRHUX66U

ACTIVITY ON PASSION

NO PASSION YOU SAY??

TRIANGULATING TO FIND YOU PASSION

PASSION

TRIANGULATING METHOD

Step One: Make A List… of 25 things you’re curious about.

Curious? And by curious, all I really mean is that if you had a spare weekend, you’d be interested in reading a couple books on the topic and maybe having a conversation or two with an expert.

Be as absolutely specific as possible. EG food, football and punk-rock music are too vague.

PASSION

TRIANGULATING METHOD

Step Two: Hunt for IntersectionsNow look for places where these 25 ideas intersect.

Curiosity alone is not enough to create true passion. There’s just not enough energy there. Not enough focus or commitment. Instead, you want to look for places where three or four items on your curiosity list intersect.

PASSION

TRIANGULATING METHOD

Step Three: Play

Devote 10 or 20 minutes a day to listening to lectures, watching videos, reading articles, books, whatever, on the topic. Feed those curiosities a little bit at a time, but feed them on a daily basis.

PASSION

TRIANGULATING METHOD

Step 4: go public Why?

For starters, positive feedback from others. Thus, once you’re at this point in the process take things public. Talk to other folks. We humans are social creatures and adding social reinforcement to your passion is key.

PASSION

TRIANGULATING PASSIONS

Step Four: Turning Passion Into Purpose

write down a list of 15 massive problems you would love to see solved. (something everyone has to deal with or some of the world’s biggest problems.

Now look for places where your passion intersects with a grand, global challenge. A place where your passion is a solution to some giant problem. That linkage—now that’s purpose.