Norenzayan et al. describe extravagant displays as the primary means of religious-belief transmission in complex societies, where free-riding is otherwise difficult to detect. Beliefs in omniscient, moralising and punishing gods are described as enhancers of prosociality in such societies.
A body of literature in philosophy and experimental psychology suggests that extravagant displays and monumental architecture might elicit an “awe” emotion that had prosocial effects independent of belief in punishing gods (Bulbulia Reference Bulbulia2011; Keltner & Haidt Reference Keltner and Haidt2003). Specific hypotheses centre around Keltner and Haidt's (Reference Keltner and Haidt2003) definition of awe as an evolved emotion that combines a perception of vastness with difficulties accommodating the stimulus into existing conceptual schemes. Although the notions of perceived vastness and accommodation difficulty are yet to be operationalised, one self-report emotion measurement instrument now recognises awe as a discrete emotion (Fredrickson Reference Fredrickson, Devine and Plant2013).
In theorising about the awe-prosociality pathway, Rudd et al. (Reference Rudd, Vohs and Aaker2012) hypothesised that the accommodation difficulties characterising awe result in increased focus on the present moment. Arguably, this leads to the perception of time as more expansive, increasing the perceived time available for helping others. In line with this hypothesis, Rudd et al. found that priming with an awe-inspiring commercial resulted in greater perceived time (and greater perceived time for helping others), as compared to a happiness-inducing commercial. Notably, verification is needed that the observed effect was the result of the degree of experienced awe rather than the differing conceptual domains activated by the awe and comparison conditions. The awe-inducing commercial presented impossible scenes of waterfalls in cityscapes, whereas the happiness-inducing commercial presented more realistic scenes of a city street carnival.
Another hypothesis points to the vastness perception inherent in awe as the beginning of the awe-prosociality pathway. According to Shiota et al. (Reference Shiota, Keltner and Mossman2007, see also Joye & Verpooten Reference Joye and Verpooten2013), perceived vastness causes perceptual space to be divided into the more abstract categories of “big” and “small.” The self is resultantly conceived of as a group member – a part of the “all things small” category. The results of a survey-based study by Shiota et al. indicated that, indeed, those who reported being more dispositionally prone to awe were more likely to describe themselves as members of more universal categories in a series of 20 open-ended answers to the question “Who am I?” Problematically, however, this study did not explore whether the findings reflected the influence of a personality trait on both awe-proneness and self-concept. Among the personality traits that could have given rise to the observed correlation are openness to experience (McCrae Reference McCrae2007), need for cognitive closure (Shiota et al. Reference Shiota, Keltner and Mossman2007; Webster & Kruglanski Reference Webster and Kruglanski1994), and sensation-seeking (Zuckerman Reference Zuckerman1994).
A third and final hypothesis, put forward by numerous authors, proposes that beliefs in moralising high gods might encourage prosociality more strongly in the presence of awe than alone (Bulbulia Reference Bulbulia2011; Joye & Verpooten Reference Joye and Verpooten2013; Valdesolo & Graham Reference Valdesolo and Graham2014). Under this hypothesis, accommodation difficulties activate automatic agency-detection mechanisms (Barrett Reference Barrett2000), whereas vastness perceptions increase the likelihood of detecting superhuman agency in particular. If the society's superhuman agents are known to have a moralising nature, awe-inducing stimuli serve as a constant and immediate reminder of divine observation. Valdesolo and Graham (Reference Valdesolo and Graham2014) accordingly found that participants who viewed an awe-inspiring video, as opposed to an amusing one, were more likely to label strings of randomly arranged 1s and 2s as having been created by a human rather than a computer. This suggestion of a heightened sense of agency in the face of awe is yet to be supplemented by evidence of a heightened sense of superhuman agency. There is also, as yet, no evidence that, in societies endorsing moralising high gods, superhuman agency perceptions act as a mediator of prosocial behaviour. Moreover, given the nature of the agency measure used by Valdesolo and Graham (Reference Valdesolo and Graham2014), it is possible that awe influences pattern detection systems rather than perceived agency.
Although empirical work on the connection between awe and prosociality is clearly in its infancy, the existence of any such connection would mitigate certain trappings of belief in moralising high gods. Firstly, as an automatic emotional reaction, awe would have enhanced prosociality even amidst individual differences in degree of belief. Secondly, if the hypotheses regarding awe's effect on time perception and self-concept are right, the prosociality encouraged by expanded time perception and universal categorisation of the self would have countered a pervasive tendency towards “temporal discounting.” This is the tendency to choose immediate gains (from free-riding) over the delayed, larger gains (from supernatural good will; Ariely & Zakay Reference Ariely and Zakay2001; Myerson & Green Reference Myerson and Green1995). Finally, any prosocial effects of awe would have mitigated situations where group members witnessed individuals escaping punishment for antisocial acts (Bulbulia et al. Reference Bulbulia, Atkinson, Gray, Greenhill, Czachesz and Uro2013).
Hence, the direct enhancement of prosocialty could have been an adaptive side-effect of belief transmission through elaborate displays and architecture. Further experimental research on awe's phenomonelogy and prosocial effects would confirm this. Our group at Masaryk University is conducting a series of experiments to further investigate the third postulated pathway from awe to prosociality. En route, we plan to operationalise “accommodation difficulty,” use primes matched on conceptual domain, and examine possible dispositional determinants of awe-proneness.
Norenzayan et al. describe extravagant displays as the primary means of religious-belief transmission in complex societies, where free-riding is otherwise difficult to detect. Beliefs in omniscient, moralising and punishing gods are described as enhancers of prosociality in such societies.
A body of literature in philosophy and experimental psychology suggests that extravagant displays and monumental architecture might elicit an “awe” emotion that had prosocial effects independent of belief in punishing gods (Bulbulia Reference Bulbulia2011; Keltner & Haidt Reference Keltner and Haidt2003). Specific hypotheses centre around Keltner and Haidt's (Reference Keltner and Haidt2003) definition of awe as an evolved emotion that combines a perception of vastness with difficulties accommodating the stimulus into existing conceptual schemes. Although the notions of perceived vastness and accommodation difficulty are yet to be operationalised, one self-report emotion measurement instrument now recognises awe as a discrete emotion (Fredrickson Reference Fredrickson, Devine and Plant2013).
In theorising about the awe-prosociality pathway, Rudd et al. (Reference Rudd, Vohs and Aaker2012) hypothesised that the accommodation difficulties characterising awe result in increased focus on the present moment. Arguably, this leads to the perception of time as more expansive, increasing the perceived time available for helping others. In line with this hypothesis, Rudd et al. found that priming with an awe-inspiring commercial resulted in greater perceived time (and greater perceived time for helping others), as compared to a happiness-inducing commercial. Notably, verification is needed that the observed effect was the result of the degree of experienced awe rather than the differing conceptual domains activated by the awe and comparison conditions. The awe-inducing commercial presented impossible scenes of waterfalls in cityscapes, whereas the happiness-inducing commercial presented more realistic scenes of a city street carnival.
Another hypothesis points to the vastness perception inherent in awe as the beginning of the awe-prosociality pathway. According to Shiota et al. (Reference Shiota, Keltner and Mossman2007, see also Joye & Verpooten Reference Joye and Verpooten2013), perceived vastness causes perceptual space to be divided into the more abstract categories of “big” and “small.” The self is resultantly conceived of as a group member – a part of the “all things small” category. The results of a survey-based study by Shiota et al. indicated that, indeed, those who reported being more dispositionally prone to awe were more likely to describe themselves as members of more universal categories in a series of 20 open-ended answers to the question “Who am I?” Problematically, however, this study did not explore whether the findings reflected the influence of a personality trait on both awe-proneness and self-concept. Among the personality traits that could have given rise to the observed correlation are openness to experience (McCrae Reference McCrae2007), need for cognitive closure (Shiota et al. Reference Shiota, Keltner and Mossman2007; Webster & Kruglanski Reference Webster and Kruglanski1994), and sensation-seeking (Zuckerman Reference Zuckerman1994).
A third and final hypothesis, put forward by numerous authors, proposes that beliefs in moralising high gods might encourage prosociality more strongly in the presence of awe than alone (Bulbulia Reference Bulbulia2011; Joye & Verpooten Reference Joye and Verpooten2013; Valdesolo & Graham Reference Valdesolo and Graham2014). Under this hypothesis, accommodation difficulties activate automatic agency-detection mechanisms (Barrett Reference Barrett2000), whereas vastness perceptions increase the likelihood of detecting superhuman agency in particular. If the society's superhuman agents are known to have a moralising nature, awe-inducing stimuli serve as a constant and immediate reminder of divine observation. Valdesolo and Graham (Reference Valdesolo and Graham2014) accordingly found that participants who viewed an awe-inspiring video, as opposed to an amusing one, were more likely to label strings of randomly arranged 1s and 2s as having been created by a human rather than a computer. This suggestion of a heightened sense of agency in the face of awe is yet to be supplemented by evidence of a heightened sense of superhuman agency. There is also, as yet, no evidence that, in societies endorsing moralising high gods, superhuman agency perceptions act as a mediator of prosocial behaviour. Moreover, given the nature of the agency measure used by Valdesolo and Graham (Reference Valdesolo and Graham2014), it is possible that awe influences pattern detection systems rather than perceived agency.
Although empirical work on the connection between awe and prosociality is clearly in its infancy, the existence of any such connection would mitigate certain trappings of belief in moralising high gods. Firstly, as an automatic emotional reaction, awe would have enhanced prosociality even amidst individual differences in degree of belief. Secondly, if the hypotheses regarding awe's effect on time perception and self-concept are right, the prosociality encouraged by expanded time perception and universal categorisation of the self would have countered a pervasive tendency towards “temporal discounting.” This is the tendency to choose immediate gains (from free-riding) over the delayed, larger gains (from supernatural good will; Ariely & Zakay Reference Ariely and Zakay2001; Myerson & Green Reference Myerson and Green1995). Finally, any prosocial effects of awe would have mitigated situations where group members witnessed individuals escaping punishment for antisocial acts (Bulbulia et al. Reference Bulbulia, Atkinson, Gray, Greenhill, Czachesz and Uro2013).
Hence, the direct enhancement of prosocialty could have been an adaptive side-effect of belief transmission through elaborate displays and architecture. Further experimental research on awe's phenomonelogy and prosocial effects would confirm this. Our group at Masaryk University is conducting a series of experiments to further investigate the third postulated pathway from awe to prosociality. En route, we plan to operationalise “accommodation difficulty,” use primes matched on conceptual domain, and examine possible dispositional determinants of awe-proneness.