Awe's Power: Restoring Minds, Fostering Connection, Countering Modern Deprivation - Episode Hero Image

Awe's Power: Restoring Minds, Fostering Connection, Countering Modern Deprivation

Hidden Brain · · Listen to Original Episode →
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TL;DR

  • Experiencing awe, whether through nature, art, or human virtue, destabilizes existing mental frameworks, prompting a "need for accommodation" that rearranges knowledge structures to make sense of vast mysteries.
  • Awe quiets the egoistic, self-focused identity by diminishing the sense of self-importance, fostering a collective, communal self and increasing prosocial behaviors like sharing and cooperation.
  • Awe has measurable physiological benefits, including elevating vagal nerve activation to slow heart rate and reduce inflammation, suggesting nature and wonder can promote physical restoration.
  • Modern society is "awe deprived" due to over-structuring, technology's self-focus, and constant social comparison, leading to increased anxiety and depression, particularly among young people.
  • Awe acts as a "reset button" for the mind, enabling a fresh, contemplative perspective and fostering a "beginner's mind" that is more receptive to new learning and understanding.
  • Experiencing awe, even briefly, can reduce narcissistic tendencies and entitlement, making individuals less focused on personal needs and more inclined to engage with the world around them.
  • Awe connects individuals to collectives and larger systems, fostering a sense of belonging and understanding one's place within a broader ecological or social context.

Deep Dive

The core argument is that awe, an emotion often associated with wonder and vastness, is a fundamental human experience with significant benefits for well-being, learning, and societal connection. This realization stems from both personal experiences and scientific study, revealing that awe can be found in everyday moments and has tangible physiological and psychological effects, offering a powerful counterpoint to modern society's increasing detachment and stress.

The implications of understanding awe are far-reaching. On a personal level, actively seeking out awe-inspiring experiences--whether through nature, art, music, or acts of moral beauty--can act as a "reset button" for the mind, reducing anxiety, stress, and feelings of self-importance. This is supported by scientific findings showing that awe can lower inflammation, increase vagal nerve activation, and quiet the ego-centric self, leading to greater prosocial behaviors like sharing and cooperation. For example, studies involving awe walks in natural settings or simply standing before a T-Rex skeleton demonstrated a shift towards a more collective sense of self and reduced feelings of narcissism and entitlement.

Systemically, the concept of awe highlights a critical deficiency in modern life and education. Dacher Keltner argues that contemporary society, with its emphasis on technology, self-comparison, and rigid structures, is becoming "awe-deprived," leading to increased rates of depression and anxiety, particularly among young people. The educational system, often focused on standardized outcomes rather than the student's subjective experience and developmental journey, can exacerbate this by neglecting the role of wonder and deeper meaning-making--what Mary Helen Immordino-Yang terms "transcendent thinking." This approach, which connects learning to personal relevance, community, and broader life skills, has been shown to foster deeper engagement and more robust learning, as evidenced by studies comparing Montessori students to those in traditional classrooms. The failure to cultivate transcendent thinking can leave individuals ill-equipped to navigate complex, multifaceted real-world problems that lack single "correct" answers, underscoring the need for educational reform that prioritizes human development and innate curiosity over rote memorization and standardized outputs. Ultimately, fostering awe and transcendent thinking offers a pathway to greater personal resilience, enhanced learning, and a more connected, cooperative society.

Action Items

  • Audit personal engagement with nature: Dedicate 30 minutes weekly to an "awe walk" in a local park or natural setting to observe details and vastness.
  • Measure personal impact of awe: Track daily distress levels and self-perception for 4 weeks after engaging in awe-inspiring activities (nature, art, music).
  • Create a "systems view" journal: Dedicate 15 minutes daily to document observations of interconnectedness in daily tasks or social interactions.
  • Evaluate personal "reset button" triggers: Identify 3-5 activities that consistently induce awe and reduce self-focus, and schedule them bi-weekly.

Related Episodes

Key Quotes

"And I have felt a presence which disturbs me with the joy of elevated thoughts: a sense sublime of something far more deeply interfused, whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, and the round ocean, and the living air, and the blue sky, and in the mind of man."

This quote from William Wordsworth, as referenced by the podcast, illustrates an early articulation of experiencing awe. The poet describes a profound psychological and spiritual connection to the natural world, suggesting a feeling that transcends ordinary perception. This highlights the historical and literary roots of the concept of awe, predating scientific study.

"The romantic poets were sometimes given to literary excess; they felt things deeply and they wrote effusively, but more than two centuries after Wordsworth composed his poem, some scientists today are asking an unusual question: were the romantics onto something?"

Shankar Vedantam poses this question, framing the podcast's exploration of awe. He suggests that while romantic poets may have expressed their feelings intensely, their experiences might hold scientific validity. This sets up the episode's goal: to investigate the scientific basis and benefits of awe.

"My god, you know, for those people out in the audience who've had real panic attacks, they are spectacular and they hit you and you literally the brain says you're dying and your body is telling you you, Dacher Keltner, are dying and you're about to die right here."

Dacher Keltner describes his personal experience with severe anxiety and panic attacks. This quote vividly conveys the overwhelming and terrifying nature of such episodes, where the mind and body signal imminent death. It underscores the profound suffering he experienced, which later motivated his research into emotions that could counteract such states.

"And when I'd walk to the gym, it felt like a sanctuary that I would go there and leave behind the anxiety. I want to play a clip of music here, Dacher. It's from Raw Power, the 1973 album by Iggy Pop and the Stooges."

Keltner explains how engaging in activities like playing basketball provided him with a temporary escape from his anxiety. He then transitions to music, specifically Iggy Pop, as another powerful experience that offered solace. This highlights his early, personal discoveries of activities that could alleviate his suffering and provide a sense of aliveness.

"And I think what I was doing in these experiences is I was, I was getting outside of myself on the basketball court, it's just the emotion and the physicality and the, you're playing with five people. I was losing myself and I lost myself right up front, like in a mosh pit and you're seeing Iggy Pop and feeling the music and I lost myself in the storm."

Keltner articulates a common thread across seemingly disparate experiences: the act of losing oneself. He describes how basketball, a concert mosh pit, and even a storm allowed him to transcend his own anxieties by immersing himself in something larger. This concept of "losing oneself" is presented as a key mechanism through which these experiences combat personal preoccupations.

"Awe requires what we called the need for accommodation; you have to rearrange your knowledge structures just to make sense of what you've encountered."

Keltner, with collaborator Jonathan Haidt, defines a core element of awe. This quote explains that awe is not simply observing something grand, but rather an experience that challenges our existing understanding of the world. It necessitates a mental adjustment, a "rearrangement of knowledge structures," to incorporate the new, vast, and often mysterious information encountered.

"The most universal and the most common was the goodness or moral beauty of other people right around them. And I'm not talking about Mahatma Gandhi or Mother Teresa. It is like neighbors and strangers and grandmothers and the like and roommates that almost on a weekly basis are triggering us to feel like, God, people are good."

Keltner shares a significant finding from his research: that witnessing the moral goodness of ordinary people is a primary source of awe. This quote emphasizes that awe is not solely derived from grand natural phenomena but can be powerfully evoked by acts of kindness, courage, and virtue in everyday life. It suggests that observing such qualities in others inspires a belief in inherent human goodness.

"And I noticed that I wasn't anxious on the flight. I didn't need to power down a whiskey to make it home. You know, and then I got there and I was at the carousel and of course my luggage was lost and I literally laughed it off and I think I said, 'Good, it's time to shed all that stuff.'"

Following an encounter with the Dalai Lama, Keltner describes a tangible reduction in his long-standing flight anxiety and a newfound ability to handle minor inconveniences with ease. This quote illustrates the profound and practical impact of awe-inspiring experiences, suggesting they can lead to a sense of inner strength and resilience against everyday stressors.

"The deeper structural conditions of our lives are in some ways, especially for young people today, working against awe. And I really sense this teaching thousands of students a year at a big university like Berkeley. They are awe deprived because too much is structured and they are not allowed to wander like I did as a kid."

Keltner argues that modern society, particularly for younger generations, is experiencing a decline in awe. He attributes this "awe deprivation" to overly structured lives, a lack of unstructured exploration, and the self-focus often encouraged by technology. This highlights a societal trend that he believes is detrimental to well-being.

"And we found, thanks to Amy Gordon and Jenny Stellar, you know, that little brief experiences of awe, seeing an inspiring image, hearing about moral beauty, elevates your Vegas nerve activation."

Keltner discusses the physiological benefits of awe, citing research that links awe experiences to increased vagal nerve activation. This quote points to the scientific evidence suggesting that awe can have measurable positive effects on the body's nervous system, contributing to a sense of calm and well-being.

"The most important sort of central aspect of the learning process that enables you to have information to recall that information and to utilize it adventitiously effectively in the world moving forward comes through the connection of this information into our subjective experience of being in the space as a learner."

Mary Helen Immordino-Yang emphasizes that effective learning is deeply connected to a student's subjective experience and emotional engagement. She argues that information is best retained and utilized when it is integrated into a learner's personal experience, rather than simply being stored as isolated facts. This highlights the importance of emotional and personal connection in the learning process.

"So the ability to sort of move beyond the immediate current details of the things you can directly discern and witness and infer from a situation and to grapple with how those connect to bigger ideas and powerful, uh, values and beliefs and stories, uh, and concepts, that, that's what we're calling transcendent thinking."

Immordino-Yang defines "transcendent thinking" as the capacity to look beyond immediate details and connect

Resources

External Resources

Books

  • "Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life" by Dacher Keltner - Mentioned as the author's book on the science of awe.
  • "The Prelude" by William Wordsworth - Mentioned as an example of Romantic poetry that explores profound emotional experiences in nature.
  • "Raw Power" (Album) by Iggy Pop and the Stooges - Mentioned as music that provided solace and a sense of aliveness during a difficult period.
  • "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (Album) by The Beatles - Mentioned as music listened to with family that pointed towards awe.

Articles & Papers

  • "Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey" by William Wordsworth - Mentioned as a poem describing the psychological effect of natural beauty.

People

  • William Wordsworth - English poet whose work explored the profound emotional impact of nature.
  • Dacher Keltner - Psychologist at UC Berkeley who studies prosocial emotions, particularly awe.
  • Mary Helen Immordino-Yang - Psychologist and neuroscientist at USC who studies learning and transcendent thinking.
  • Iggy Pop - Musician, referred to as a "godfather of punk rock," whose concerts provided an escape from anxiety.
  • Camus - Mentioned in relation to feeling like a stranger in a strange land.
  • Joe LaDoux - Mentioned in relation to the amygdala being the rage in scientific discussion.
  • Molly (Keltner's wife) - Mentioned as adapting to weather and climate with Dacher Keltner.
  • Natalie (Keltner's daughter) - Mentioned as backpacking with Dacher Keltner during a lightning storm.
  • Jonathan Haidt - Collaborator with Dacher Keltner on early work on awe.
  • Paul Vazquez (Bear) - Creator of a video capturing a double rainbow experience in Yosemite, described as mystical.
  • Mahatma Gandhi - Mentioned as an example of a widely recognized figure of moral beauty.
  • Mother Teresa - Mentioned as an example of a widely recognized figure of moral beauty.
  • The Dalai Lama - Spiritual leader with whom Dacher Keltner had an awe-inspiring encounter.
  • D.H. Lawrence - Mentioned as an author whose work was loved by Mary Helen Immordino-Yang's mother.
  • Virginia Woolf - Mentioned as an author whose portrayals of the mind were loved by Mary Helen Immordino-Yang's mother.
  • William Blake - Mentioned as an author whose quotes were shared by Mary Helen Immordino-Yang's mother.
  • Ralph Waldo Emerson - Mentioned in relation to his writings on awe and nature.
  • P.R. Carlo Valdesolo - Mentioned as having a study showing certain kinds of awe make us see patterns where there aren't patterns.
  • Yang Bai - Collaborator with Dacher Keltner on a study in Yosemite exploring the sense of self.
  • Lani Shiota - Collaborator with Dacher Keltner on an experiment involving a T-Rex skeleton.
  • Paul Piff - Professor at UC Irvine who conducted a study in a eucalyptus grove.
  • Silvan Tomkins - Mentioned as having written about how being startled can reset the mind.
  • Stacy Bear - Veteran friend of Dacher Keltner who leads veterans into outdoors programs.
  • Amy Gordon - Mentioned in relation to research on the vagus nerve and awe.
  • Jenny Stellar - Mentioned in relation to research on the vagus nerve and inflammation response.
  • Neha John Henderson - Mentioned in relation to research on awe and inflammation response.
  • Rolf (Keltner's brother) - Mentioned as a companion in awe and an example of moral beauty, who passed away from colon cancer.
  • Joan Didion - Mentioned in relation to her writing about grief.
  • Shankar Vedantam - Host of Hidden Brain.
  • Mary Helen Immordino-Yang - Psychologist and neuroscientist at USC, author of "Emotions, Learning, and the Brain."
  • Rashid - Listener who shared an experience of receiving an "F" in swimming lessons.
  • Tolani Norfar - Teacher who applied math concepts to community financial advising.
  • Rose - Listener who asked about the impact of beauty and wonder on learning.
  • Samir Zeki - Researcher at University College London who studied mathematicians' responses to beautiful equations.
  • Eileen - Teacher who wrote about the challenges of unrealistic pacing guides and scripted curricula.
  • Charles - Teacher with 25 years of experience who started a nonprofit to address scalability issues in education.
  • Sangita - Listener who asked about supporting parents in an AI-driven world.
  • Chris - Listener who noted similarities between Mary Helen Immordino-Yang's ideas and the Montessori system.
  • Solange Denervaud - Young scientist in Geneva who studied the effects of Montessori versus traditional classroom experiences.
  • Taylor - Listener who asked about applying educational engagement strategies to employee engagement.
  • Molly - Listener who described a non-traditional elementary school experience focused on student-led projects and collaboration.

Organizations & Institutions

  • Hidden Brain (Podcast) - The podcast where the discussion is taking place.
  • Brookdale Senior Living - Sponsor mentioned for their support of Hidden Brain.
  • AT&T - Sponsor mentioned for their support of Hidden Brain.
  • State Street Investment Management - Sponsor mentioned for their support of Hidden Brain.
  • Lowe's - Sponsor mentioned for their support of Hidden Brain.
  • University of Wisconsin - Where Dacher Keltner started his career as a professor.
  • University of California, Berkeley - Where Dacher Keltner is a psychologist.
  • University of Southern California (USC) - Where Mary Helen Immordino-Yang is a psychologist and neuroscientist.
  • Pro Football Focus (PFF) - Mentioned in relation to Kevin Cole's background.
  • NFL (National Football League) - Mentioned in relation to sports analytics.
  • New England Patriots - Mentioned as an example team for performance analysis.
  • Cal State Sacramento - Where Mary Helen Immordino-Yang's mother taught English.
  • QAnon - Mentioned as an example of a group that might experience awe from unsubstantiated stories.
  • Hidden Brain Media - The production company for the podcast.
  • Apple - Mentioned in relation to subscribing to Hidden Brain Plus.
  • GiveDirectly.org - Organization mentioned for their poverty alleviation efforts.
  • Fidelity - Sponsor mentioned for their support of Hidden Brain.
  • Renewal by Andersen - Sponsor mentioned for their support of Hidden Brain.
  • Walmart - Sponsor mentioned for their support of Hidden Brain.
  • Sonos - Mentioned as a tech gift available at Walmart.
  • Samsung - Mentioned as a tech gift available at Walmart.
  • Nintendo - Mentioned as a tech gift available at Walmart.
  • Repatha - Mentioned as a medication for lowering LDL cholesterol.

Websites & Online Resources

  • StateStreet.com/iam - Website for State Street Investment Management prospectus.
  • Lowes.com/samedelivery - Website for Lowe's same-day delivery details.
  • Support.hiddenbrain.org - Website for subscribing to Hidden Brain Plus.
  • Apple.co/hiddenbrain - Website for subscribing to Hidden Brain Plus via Apple.
  • GiveDirectly.org/hiddenbrain - Website for donations to Pods Fight Poverty.
  • Fidelity.com/tradertplus - Website for Fidelity Trader Plus.
  • RenewalbyAndersen.com - Website for Renewal by Andersen consultations.
  • Repatha.com - Website for more information on Repatha.

Other Resources

  • The Great Take (Podcast) - Mentioned as a podcast tackling difficult conversations.
  • The Laughing Amygdala - Name of a basketball team formed by Dacher Keltner and fellow academics.
  • The Stranger (Camus) - Mentioned in relation to feeling like a fish out of water.
  • Prosocial Emotions - The category of emotions studied by Dacher Keltner, including awe.
  • Awe - The central concept discussed in the episode, defined as encountering vast mysteries.
  • Moral Beauty - The concept of other people's kindness and courage inspiring us.
  • Epiphanies - Mentioned as a subtle source of awe where big ideas suddenly make sense.
  • Homo Economicus - Mentioned as a Western scientific mindset contrasted with compassion.
  • Vagus Nerve - Mentioned in relation to its role in physiological effects of awe.
  • Cytokine System - Mentioned in relation to the body's inflammation response and awe.
  • Awe Walk - A practice of walking with a child-like sense of wonder to experience awe.
  • Transcendent Thinking - The concept of making deeper meaning out of experiences, connecting to bigger ideas and values.
  • Reading Readiness Program - A traditional educational program from the 1950s.
  • Experiential Learning - An alternative educational approach.
  • Problem-Based Learning - An alternative educational approach.
  • Project-Based Learning - An alternative educational approach.
  • Flipped Classrooms - An alternative educational approach.
  • Whole Child Education - An alternative educational approach.
  • Affective Neuroscience - The field of study related to emotions, learning, and the brain.
  • Pacing Guides - Mentioned as a constraint in education.
  • Scripted Curriculums - Mentioned as a constraint in education.
  • State Standards - Mentioned as a constraint in education.
  • Chronic Absenteeism - Mentioned as a challenge in education.
  • Developmental Scientists - How teachers are encouraged to see themselves.
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) - Technology transforming education and parenting.
  • Montessori System - An educational approach focused on self-directed learning.
  • Earth Day - Mentioned in relation to a student project for a zero-trash celebration.
  • Edible Tableware - Used in a student project for a zero-trash Earth Day celebration.

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