Awe is an emotional response to perceptually vast stimuli that transcend current frames of reference. Guided by prior work documenting that awe promotes humility, increases perceptions of uncertainty, and diminishes personal concerns, across 3 studies (N = 776) we tested the hypothesis that awe results in reduced conviction about one’s ideological attitudes. In Study 1, participants induced to experience awe, relative to those feeling amusement or in a neutral control condition, expressed less conviction regarding their attitudes toward capital punishment. In 2 subsequent studies, we showed that experiencing awe decreased perceptions of ideological polarization in the U.S. vis-à-vis racial bias in the criminal justice system (Study 2) and reduced desired social distance from those with different viewpoints regarding immigration (Study 3)—effects that were partially mediated by reduced conviction. These findings indicate that awe may lead to uncertainty and ambivalence regarding one’s attitudes, a form of epistemological humility, and that this in turn may promote reduced dogmatism and increased perceptions of social cohesion.

“I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief”

—(Spence, 1995, p. 98)

Awe is an emotional response to perceptually vast stimuli that transcend current frames of reference (e.g., Keltner & Haidt, 2003; Shiota, Keltner, & Mossman, 2007). Although feelings of awe are fleeting and often elicited by nature, music, and art, these experiences can transform the individual’s beliefs about the world. Experiences of awe, as the quote above suggests, would appear to lead to an open rather than closed...