Awe and relationship quality

• Main Author: LAI, Gloria Junyan
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2023
• Subjects: Personality and Social Contexts; Social Psychology and Interaction
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/etd_coll/495; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/etd_coll/article/1493/viewcontent/GPPS_AY2022_MbR_Gloria_Lai_Junyan.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

The experience of awe has been studied as having self-transcending outcomes that produce a decrease in importance of the individual’s interests and an increase in the interests of others. This shift in self-concept is said to be a sense of self-diminishment vis-à-vis perceived vast stimuli. When applied to a romantic relationship context, it is possible that a shift of attention away from self-serving motives, towards relationship-enhancing motives, may promote positive relationship outcomes. As such, the current study examined how experimentally induced awe may influence relationship commitment and forgiveness via an expected increase in self-diminishment. 607 participants were randomly assigned to either awe-inducing, happiness-inducing, or a neutral mood condition. These moods were successfully induced through a narrative recall exercise. Results show that experiencing awe compared to a neutral mood marginally increased one’s commitment to the relationship. However, commitment did not differ between those in the awe and the happiness condition. Awe did not differentially predict increases in forgiveness or self-diminishment. Furthermore, self-diminishment did not mediate the association of awe on commitment or forgiveness. The implications and future directions of these findings are discussed.