Dynamics of Awe and Mindfulness in Awe Elicitation among Young Adults in Malaysia

Awe is an experience, similar to wonder, that expands one’s thoughts and emotions, facilitates the formation of belief systems, and generates significant therapeutic benefits. Researchers continue to call for new ways to elicit significant levels of awe in a lab setting because awe via natural phenomenon is rare, and virtual reality equipment, to mimic it, is expensive. The objective of this study was to investigate how much of each of the six aspects of awe (vastness, time-alteration, connection, physical sensation & accommodation) could be experienced in a lab through 2D video and group interactive reflections in comparison with a control group. The study design focused on intensifying awe through increasing attentional resources with mindfulness and increasing awe-immersion through relevance, variety, and longer awe exposures. The methodology was composed of sixty-eight young adults who were randomly assigned to a control group or an awe-intervention group, and then experienced a mindfulness exercise, either awe-intervention activities (videos and interactive reflection) or neutral videos, and afterwards, both completed the AWE-S scale. The findings indicated a significant difference in the total awe level of the two groups (t(66) = 3.195, p = 0.002), particularly in the aspects of vastness (p < 0.001) and self-diminishment (p = 0.006). However, both the control group and the awe group experienced levels of awe above a neutral threshold, suggesting that mindfulness potentially had awe-eliciting power. This expands upon current research suggesting that mindfulness could not only be a primer to awe but might also produce aspects of awe.