What is the study about: The paper tests whether experiencing awe promotes humility. In Study 3, participants are randomly assigned to watch either an awe-inducing or a neutral video. Afterwards, everyone spends two minutes writing about their strengths and weaknesses, beginning their strengths. Humility is measured as how balanced the person’s self-presentation is, i.e. whether they give a fair account of both strengths and weaknesses rather than inflating the strengths. Participants also rate how much awe, wonder, and amazement they felt while watching the video as the manipulation check.
Suggested number of participants: 100
Can it be conducted online: YES
Mandatory data analyses: t-test with logarithmic transformation
Note: Manual coding is required for open ended questions regarding self-descriptions.
The CREP team advice:
(The mentors are obliged to read the full paper before committing to the replication)
More information *click*
Participants complete the following in this order:
Video: Participants are randomly assigned to watch a short video – either awe-inducing, showing vast natural scenes, or neutral – regarding the proper way to build a fence.
Self-descriptions: Participants spend two minutes (limited time) writing about their strengths and weaknesses, starting with the strengths. Two coders who were “blind to condition” counted the number of strengths and weaknesses mentioned by each participant.
Manipulation check: Participants rate how much they felt awe, wonder, and amazement while watching the video (1 = not at all to 7 = very much).
Results obtained in the paper:
Participants who watched the awe video wrote a more balanced account of their strengths and weaknesses than participants who watched the neutral video. The awe video also produced more reported awe than the neutral one, supporting the experimental induction. The authors interpret the finding as evidence that awe leads to humility, as measured by a more balanced view of the self.