A series of replication attempts of experimental awe-induction effects
4 affiliations
- 1Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
- 2Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano, Milan, Italy
- 3University of Pennsylvania, Positive Psychology Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
- 4Virginia Tech, Department of Clinical Psychology, Blacksburg, Virginia, United States of America
Abstract
The self-transcendent emotion of awe has recently received research attention beyond many other emotions due to several intriguing outcomes reported in the experimental literature. Specifically, after inducing awe, Valdesolo and Graham (2014) found that agency detection is increased, Piff and colleagues (2015) found that prosocial behaviors are more likely, and Rudd and colleagues (2012) found that well-being is enhanced. This article tried to conceptually replicate some of these effects in online and laboratory settings using video, writing, and virtual reality awe inductions. Results from these previous studies were generally not reproduced. To further investigate these failures to reproduce previously reported effects of awe, we conducted three online direct replications with 2.5 times the original sample sizes, and past findings also were not reproduced. We discuss these findings in terms of online research on emotion induction tools and provide recommendations for future research on awe.
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BibTeX
@article{graziosi2026series,
title = {{A series of replication attempts of experimental awe-induction effects}},
author = {Marianna Graziosi and Alice Chirico and Jeremy D.W. Clifton and Julia S. Rohde and Ria Chhabra and David B. Yaden},
journal = {PLOS One},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0356728},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0356728},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - A series of replication attempts of experimental awe-induction effects
AU - Marianna Graziosi
AU - Alice Chirico
AU - Jeremy D.W. Clifton
AU - Julia S. Rohde
AU - Ria Chhabra
AU - David B. Yaden
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/02
JO - PLOS One
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0356728
UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0356728
AB - The self-transcendent emotion of awe has recently received research attention beyond many other emotions due to several intriguing outcomes reported in the experimental literature. Specifically, after inducing awe, Valdesolo and Graham (2014) found that agency detection is increased, Piff and colleagues (2015) found that prosocial behaviors are more likely, and Rudd and colleagues (2012) found that well-being is enhanced. This article tried to conceptually replicate some of these effects in online and laboratory settings using video, writing, and virtual reality awe inductions. Results from these previous studies were generally not reproduced. To further investigate these failures to reproduce previously reported effects of awe, we conducted three online direct replications with 2.5 times the original sample sizes, and past findings also were not reproduced. We discuss these findings in terms of online research on emotion induction tools and provide recommendations for future research on awe.
SN - 1932-6203
ER -