Above the Pale Blue Dot: Awe and Humility in Immersive Virtual Environments -- Supplemental Documents

Seeing Earth from space, astronauts frequently report awe—an emotion entailing vastness and cognitive accommodation—as well as “feeling small,” a description that evokes humility. To discover the conditions under which an awe-inspiring experience might lead to humility, we simulated a prototypical awe experience in immersive virtual environments (IVE). Nine-five participants were randomly assigned either to 1) view Earth zooming away (as if aboard a spaceship) while hearing selections from Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot or 2) observe models of Earth and Pluto while hearing space-related facts. Relative to controls, those who viewed the Pale Blue Dot experienced greater awe (r = .41) and humble feelings (r = .21), changes that were partially mediated by feelings of connection to others and thoughts about oneself. However, other-connectedness only increased humility in people with high self-esteem, and self-relevant thoughts only increased humility in those who experienced awe. Our results show that awe and humility are positive experiences, conceptually related by common mediators (other-connectedness and self-relevant thoughts) with a pathway from awe to humility dependent on the self-relevance of the awe experience. Our research validates a novel humility- and awe-enhancing intervention and highlights the utility of IVE technology in psychological research.