Research Design Connections: Awe and Conformity

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

Sally Augustin, PhD, a cognitive scientist, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesignconnections.com), a monthly subscription newsletter and free daily blog, where recent and classic research in the social, design, and physical sciences that can inform designers’ work are presented in straightforward language. Readers learn about the latest research findings immediately, before they’re available elsewhere. Sally, who is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, is also the author of Place Advantage: Applied Psychology for Interior Architecture (Wiley, 2009) and, with Cindy Coleman, The Designer’s Guide to Doing Research: Applying Knowledge to Inform Design (Wiley, 2012). She is a principal at Design With Science (www.designwithscience.com) and can be reached at sallyaugustin@designwithscience.com.