Experiencing awe can deepen our psychological connection to social groups

Feeling awe—whether from witnessing natural wonders or recalling profound moments—may help people feel more connected to their communities, universities, or even their countries. A new study published in the journal Emotion provides evidence that awe can promote a deep sense of psychological merging with social groups, a phenomenon known as identity fusion. The findings suggest that awe doesn’t just shrink the self but may align personal identity with collective goals, potentially motivating cooperation and shared action.

Awe is the emotion we tend to feel in response to things that are vast and difficult to fully comprehend. It often arises when encountering something powerful or beautiful—like a star-filled sky, a powerful speech, or a towering mountain. While past research has shown that awe can reduce self-focus and foster humility, there is growing interest in how it might also influence social relationships.

The researchers behind the new study were curious about awe’s role in fostering strong group ties. Specifically, they focused on identity fusion, a psychological state where people feel a profound overlap between their personal identity and the identity of a group. This type of connection has been linked to behaviors such as self-sacrifice for the group and enduring loyalty.

“I’ve always been fascinated by how groups use awe-inspiring spectacles to create a powerful sense of unity. While this social function of awe has been theorized for a long time, the precise psychological mechanism wasn’t entirely clear,” said study author Ji Young Song, a PhD student in the Behavioural Ethics, Affect and Meaning Lab at the University of Melbourne and a research fellow at Monash University.

“Honestly, I was initially quite sceptical that a fleeting emotion could influence something like identity fusion. However, my early exploratory studies kept revealing a surprisingly strong and robust connection. This pushed us to investigate more rigorously: could awe prime a ‘readiness to fuse’ with our groups, creating a deep, visceral sense of oneness?”

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The research team conducted five studies involving over 1,100 participants in the United States and Australia. The first two studies were cross-sectional, meaning they looked at people’s natural tendencies to experience awe and how these related to feelings of identity fusion. The remaining three studies used experimental designs to test whether inducing awe would actively lead to stronger feelings of identity fusion.

In the first study, American participants completed questionnaires measuring their tendency to experience awe in everyday life, called dispositional awe. They also completed a scale that measured their level of identity fusion with their country. Even after accounting for political views, religious commitment, and social class, people who reported more frequent experiences of awe also reported a stronger sense of fusion with their national identity.

The second study repeated this approach with Australian university students. Again, those who more frequently felt awe also reported stronger identity fusion with their country, even after adjusting for other positive emotions such as pride or joy. These findings suggest that awe is uniquely tied to deep group connection, rather than being simply part of a broader pattern of feeling good.

Next, the researchers shifted to experimental methods. In the third study, Australian students were asked to recall either an awe-inspiring experience or a funny event. After this emotional recall, they completed the same identity fusion scale focused on their country. Those who remembered awe experiences reported higher identity fusion than those who recalled amusement. Importantly, the link between awe and identity fusion was explained in part by a feeling of “vastness vis-à-vis the self”—a recognition of being part of something larger, which appears to be a central feature of awe.

The fourth study tested whether these effects would replicate in an American sample and whether they extended to different group affiliations. Here, university students recalled either an awe-inspiring or a neutral everyday event, and then reported their identity fusion with their university. Once again, those in the awe condition felt more fused with their group. This effect also led to a higher willingness to engage in costly actions to defend their university, including even violent actions, though these findings were influenced by cultural context.

“Our goal was to isolate the basic psychological process,” Song told PsyPost. “To do that, we often used awe experiences unrelated to the groups we measured; for example, awe for nature influencing feelings toward one’s nation. Even with these deliberately indirect setups, we found surprisingly strong effects (ds = .32-.47), suggesting the underlying mechanism is powerful.”

“In real life, awe is often much more direct and targeted (think of a religious service inspiring devotion or a political rally building solidarity). So, the key practical significance isn’t that our lab effect sizes predict every real-world situation, but that awe creates a potent state of openness, a readiness to bond deeply with whatever community or idea is most salient in that moment.”

The final study used virtual reality to induce awe. Participants viewed either an immersive underwater VR experience (a giant jellyfish migration accompanied by music) or amusing marine animal clips. Those who experienced awe reported greater identity fusion with their country. They also expressed more willingness to take nonviolent action in support of their group. As in earlier studies, the sense of being part of a greater whole helped explain why awe led to stronger group fusion.

“The jellyfish experiment was designed to be a very hard test of our hypothesis, and I was surprised by how clearly it worked,” Song said. “The fact that a completely non-political, nature- based awe stimulus could increase fusion with a political entity like one’s country was striking. It really underscored that we were tapping into a very fundamental psychological process where the feeling of awe makes us seek connection, regardless of the awe’s source.”

Across all studies, the researchers found that awe increased both components of identity fusion: oneness with the group and a sense of mutual strengthening. This means people didn’t just feel psychologically closer to their group—they also felt they could contribute to its strength and benefit from it in return.

“The main takeaway is that awe is more than just a fleeting moment of wonder; it’s an experience that fosters a deep sense of oneness and unity with our communities,” Song explained. “Many of us grapple with the tension between our personal ambitions and the needs of the greater good. Our research suggests this feeling of oneness helps resolve that conflict. It doesn’t erase our personal drive but instead gives us a moment of clarity, a higher perspective from which we see that our own wellbeing is deeply tied to the wellbeing of our communities. Through this process, we gain a sense of shared fate with our communities, inspiring us to act for the collective good.”

While the findings suggest a reliable link between awe and identity fusion, the researchers note some limitations. Most participants were from Western, educated, and industrialized societies, which may not reflect how awe functions in other cultural contexts. The emotional experience of awe—and the types of groups that people fuse with—may vary in cultures that place greater emphasis on collective identity from the outset.

Another limitation is that the studies often relied on predetermined or externally assigned group targets, such as “your country” or “your university.” Future research could examine how awe influences connection with personally meaningful groups or explore how people naturally choose what to fuse with after experiencing awe. Preliminary evidence suggests that awe may increase openness to whichever group is most salient at the time, which could be shaped by context or cultural symbols.

“Awe doesn’t automatically reinforce old in-groups,” Song said. “Much of the identity-fusion literature has focused on traditional groups like nations, but our findings show awe acts more like an amplifier of connection, and it’s largely agnostic about the target. In our experiments, awe deepened bonds with a nation but also fostered a sense of oneness with a universal entity like Nature. So rather than seeing awe as a force that only strengthens existing boundaries, it may also be a tool for expanding our sense of ‘we.'”

The findings also highlight some cultural differences in how identity fusion translates into behavior. American participants were more willing to endorse extreme or violent actions in support of fused groups, while Australian participants leaned toward nonviolent forms of support. These variations may reflect broader societal narratives or perceived threats that shape how group loyalty is expressed.

“In the long run, I hope to test whether awe can foster a ‘universal fusion’—a deep, agentic sense of connection with all humanity or with the natural world—unlocking the collective will needed for global challenges like climate change,” Song said. “In the short term, my next steps depend on funding and collaboration opportunities, but the vision is to translate these findings into evidence-based ways of cultivating awe to align personal and collective goals.”

The study, “From Vastness to Unity: Awe Strengthens Identity Fusion,” was authored by Ji Young Song, Jack W. Klein, Young-Jae Cha, Sean Goldy, Haisu Sun, James Tisch, and Brock Bastian.