Not All Awe Is Equal: Divergent and Unstable Effects of Positive and Negative Awe on Aggressive Behavior

Emotions play an important role in shaping aggressive behavior, and understanding their underlying psychological mechanisms is particularly relevant among college students. However, existing research has predominantly focused on reactive aggression, while comparatively less attention has been paid to proactive aggression, which is more instrumental in nature and associated with more severe social consequences. In addition, empirical evidence regarding the valence-specific effects of awe remains limited. The present study aimed to examine the differential effects of positive and negative awe on proactive aggression and to explore the role of empathy as a potential mediating mechanism. A total of 110 college students were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: positive awe, negative awe, or neutral emotion. Awe was induced through video clips depicting natural landscapes. Proactive aggression was assessed using a modified bug-killing paradigm, including two behavioral indicators: force intensity and proportion of bugs killed. Empathy was measured using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. The results revealed a clear differentiation based on the valence of awe. Participants in the positive awe condition exhibited significantly lower levels of proactive aggression than those in the neutral condition across both force intensity (M = 2.86, SD = 0.81 vs. M = 4.17, SD = 0.81) and proportion of bugs killed (M = 0.68, SD = 0.25 vs. M = 0.93, SD = 0.11). In contrast, the inhibitory effects of negative awe were weaker and less consistent. Compared with the neutral condition, negative awe was associated with a lower proportion of bugs killed, although this effect only reached marginal significance (p = 0.06, η2 = 0.04), and no significant difference was observed for force intensity. Mediation analyses indicated that empathy partially mediated the association between positive awe and proactive aggression. Empathy accounted for 31% of the total effect in the force intensity pathway (B = −0.02, t = −4.25, p < 0.001, 95% CI [−0.04, −0.01]) and 18% in the proportion-of-bugs-killed pathway (B = −0.003, t = −2.37, p = 0.02, 95% CI [−0.006, −0.001]). Notably, no significant mediating effect of empathy was observed in the negative awe condition, suggesting that the psychological processes linking awe to proactive aggression may differ as a function of emotional valence. Taken together, the present findings suggest that positive awe is reliably associated with lower levels of proactive aggression among college students, and that this association is partially explained by increased empathy. By contrast, the effects of negative awe appear to be fragile and context-dependent, as reflected in their failure to reach statistical significance, indicator-specific manifestation, and the absence of a consistent mediating pathway. These results highlight the importance of distinguishing between positive and negative awe when examining the behavioral consequences of self-transcendent emotions and underscore the need for further research to clarify the conditions under which negative awe may influence aggressive behavior.