Prade and Saraglou’s work makes it clearer how awe influences how we think and behave. Awe can be induced by design in a variety of ways, for example, via exquisite workmanship. The Prade and Saraglou team report that “Given that awe experiences promote collective identity and decrease self-importance, we reasoned that they should lead individuals to be more prone to cherish social conformity value and to adopt conformity behaviors. In two online experiments . . . compared to neutral and amusement emotional states, awe was found to drive individuals to value the respect of social norms in a greater extent (Experiment 1), and to lead individuals to conform to the majority opinion on an evaluative judgment task (Experiment 2).”
Claire Prade and Vassilis Saraglou. “Awe and Social Conformity: Awe Promotes the Endorsement of Social Norms and Conformity to the Majority Opinion.” Emotion, in press, DOI: 10.1037/emo0001225