Under a Vast Sky, a Different Sense of Self

A star-filled sky can make a person feel small. So can a powerful piece of music, although it occupies no enormous physical space. What connects these experiences is awe: an encounter that seems to exceed our usual frame of reference. Psychologists study this emotion partly because it raises an intriguing question. When our own concerns diminish in importance, do we lose something essential, or gain a wider understanding of where we belong?

满天繁星会让人觉得自己渺小。一段震撼人心的音乐也可能如此，尽管它并不占据巨大的物理空间。连接这些体验的是敬畏感：遇见某种似乎超出我们惯常参照框架的事物。心理学家研究这种情绪，部分原因在于它提出了一个耐人寻味的问题。当我们自己的关切变得没那么重要时，我们是失去了某种必不可少的东西，还是对自己归属于何处有了更宽广的理解？

A review published in Nature Reviews Psychology on 7 June 2024 addresses that question by examining awe's relationship with the self. Its authors describe disagreements in the research and propose thinking about awe as encouraging a broader perspective that is less centred on the individual. This is an interpretive framework for bringing findings together, rather than proof that every powerful experience changes everyone in the same way. It also shifts attention beyond the simple idea of becoming smaller.

2024年6月7日发表于《自然综述：心理学》的一篇综述，通过考察敬畏感与自我的关系来讨论这个问题。作者描述了研究中的分歧，并提出可以将敬畏感理解为促使人采取一种更宽广、较少以个人为中心的视角。这是一个用于整合研究发现的解释框架，并不能证明每一次强烈体验都会以相同方式改变每一个人。它也使关注点超越了“变得更渺小”这一简单想法。

An influential account of awe includes two features: perceived vastness and a need to adjust our understanding. Vastness can concern size, but it can also concern something whose complexity or significance stretches what we can readily grasp. Music or art may therefore offer routes to awe alongside mountains and the night sky. The second feature matters: an experience challenges the mental categories we normally use. On this account, ordinary enjoyment alone would not fully describe the emotion.

一种有影响力的敬畏感理论包含两个特征：感知到的宏大，以及调整自身理解的需要。宏大可以涉及体积，也可以涉及复杂程度或重要性超出我们轻易理解范围的事物。因此，除了山川和夜空，音乐或艺术也可能成为通往敬畏感的途径。第二个特征很关键：某种体验挑战了我们通常使用的心理分类。按照这种解释，普通的愉悦并不足以完整描述这种情绪。

Consider a clearly hypothetical example. Someone listening to an unfamiliar orchestral work might initially concentrate on whether they understand it correctly. As the different musical lines come together, their attention could move towards the performance as a whole. Their private worry might briefly seem less important. That would not establish a scientific effect, and another listener might simply feel bored. The example illustrates how a change in attention could alter the relative place of personal concerns without making the person worthless.

来看一个明确的假设例子。一个人在聆听不熟悉的管弦乐作品时，最初可能专注于自己是否正确理解了它。随着不同音乐声部交织起来，他的注意力可能转向整场演奏。他个人的忧虑可能暂时显得没那么重要。这并不能确立一种科学效应，另一位听众也可能只是觉得无聊。这个例子说明，注意力的变化可能改变个人关切的相对位置，却不会使这个人变得毫无价值。

Researchers sometimes describe awe's effects using the term 'small self'. A 2023 study in Frontiers in Psychology distinguishes feeling diminished from feeling connected to something greater. Across its studies, the researchers investigated moral expansiveness: how widely people extend concern to humans, animals and the environment. Their results linked broader concern particularly to the aspect of awe involving connection with a greater whole. This makes belonging an important part of the explanation, rather than treating reduced personal importance as the entire story.

研究人员有时用“小我”这个术语描述敬畏感的影响。2023年发表于《心理学前沿》的一项研究区分了觉得自身缩小与觉得自己同更宏大事物相连这两种感受。在一系列研究中，研究人员考察了道德关怀范围的扩展：人们将关切延伸至人类、动物和环境的范围有多广。结果表明，更广泛的关切尤其与敬畏感中涉及同更大整体相联系的部分有关。这使归属感成为解释中的一个重要部分，而不是将个人重要性的降低视为全部原因。

The methods also deserve attention. The research included surveys and experiments using videos or virtual reality. Surveys can identify relationships, while experimental comparisons help researchers investigate possible causes. Neither automatically establishes that a brief emotional response will produce lasting generosity outside the study. Reporting concern on a questionnaire differs from helping someone when doing so requires time or money. The findings offer evidence about a psychological pathway; the size, duration and practical consequences of that pathway require further investigation.

研究方法也值得关注。这项研究包括问卷调查，以及使用视频或虚拟现实的实验。调查能够识别关联，而实验比较则帮助研究人员探究可能的原因。两者都不能自动证明，短暂的情绪反应会在研究之外产生持久的慷慨行为。在问卷上报告关切，与在需要付出时间或金钱时帮助他人有所不同。这些发现为一条心理作用路径提供了证据；这条路径的作用大小、持续时间及实际后果仍需进一步研究。

Culture adds another layer of uncertainty. The 2024 review considers both common features and diversity across cultures. A careful interpretation should leave room for differences in what people find extraordinary and how they explain their feelings. Researchers also need to consider whether translated questions capture comparable experiences. These are reasons to examine who participated and what was measured before applying a conclusion widely. Awe can involve threat as well as pleasure, so an overwhelming experience should not automatically be labelled beneficial.

文化又增添了一层不确定性。2024年的综述同时考察了不同文化中的共同特征与多样性。谨慎的解读应为差异留出空间，包括人们认为什么不同寻常，以及他们如何解释自己的感受。研究人员还需要考虑，翻译后的问题能否捕捉可比较的体验。因此，在广泛应用某项结论之前，应考察谁参与了研究，以及研究测量了什么。敬畏感既可能包含愉悦，也可能包含威胁，因此不应自动将震撼性的体验归为有益体验。

A short Berkeley Greater Good video offers a more modest, personal illustration. Outdoors educator Stacy Bare recalls reaching a waterfall with his family, only for his young daughter to become absorbed in a leaf. His account suggests that noticing something remarkable need not depend on an ambitious journey. It is a person's story, rather than a controlled test. Beside the research, it leaves an appealing possibility: the self can remain valuable while sharing our attention with a much larger world.

伯克利Greater Good的一段短视频提供了一个更朴素的个人例子。户外教育工作者斯泰西·贝尔回忆，他与家人抵达一处瀑布后，年幼的女儿却被一片叶子深深吸引。他的叙述表明，注意到非凡之处未必需要一次雄心勃勃的旅行。这是个人故事，而非对照实验。与研究放在一起，它留下了一种吸引人的可能性：自我可以保持其价值，同时让一个大得多的世界分享我们的注意力。