Downloaded By: [University of California Berkeley] At: 22:37 20 December 2007 The nature of awe: Elicitors, appraisals, and effects on self-concept Michelle N. Shiota and Dacher Keltner University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA Amanda Mossman University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA Awe has been defined as an emotional response to perceptually vast stimuli that overwhelm current mental structures, yet facilitate attempts at accommodation. Four studies are presented showing the information-focused nature of awe elicitors, documenting the self-diminishing effects of awe experience, and exploring the effects of awe on the content of the self-concept. Study 1 documented the information-focused, asocial natureof awe elicitors in participant narratives. Study 2 contrasted the stimulus-focused, self-diminishing nature of appraisals and feelings associated with a prototypical awe experience with the self-focused appraisals and feelings associatedwith pride. Study 3 found that dispositional awe-proneness, but not dispositional joy or pride, was associated with low Need for Cognitive Closure, and also documented a relationship between dispositional awe and increased emphasis on membership in ‘‘universal’’ categories in participants’ self-concepts. Study 4 replicated the self-concept finding from Study 3 using experimentally elicited awe. Implications for future workon awe are discussed. The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mysterious. It is the power of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. Albert Einstein. Glorious sunsets, great works of art, intellectual epiphany, and the beauties of nature all evoke an intense emotional response (Frijda, 1986; Lazarus, 1991; LeDoux, 1996). It has proved difficult for psychologists to Correspondence should be addressed to: Michelle N. Shiota, Department of Psychology, Arizona State University  Main Campus, PO Box 871104, Tempe, AZ 85287  1104, USA. E-mail: Lani.Shiota@asu.edu. The authors express their gratitude to Gerhard Stemmler and one anonymous reviewer for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript. COGNITION AND EMOTION 2007, 21 (5), 944  963 # 2007 Psychology Press, an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an Informabusiness www.psypress.com/cogemotion DOI: 10.1080/02699930600923668