Study: Virtual Reality-Induced Awe Can Motivate People to Improve Themselves

A new study has found that virtual reality-induced awe, either supernatural or natural, can motivate people to improve themselves. The findings by Yu-Hao Lee, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Media Production, Management, and Technology associate professor, and Taiwan National Chengchi University scholars Jih-Hsuan Tammy Lin, Ji-Wei Yang and Christine Cook were featured in “Helping Others and Improving Myself: The Effects of Natural- and Supernatural-Based Awe in Virtual Reality” published in Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 156, July 2024.

The authors examined how supernatural awe can produce prosocial outcomes, including the intention to help others and self-improvement as a newly theorized outcome.

According to the authors, “Results showed that supernatural and natural awe produced similarly high levels of vastness. In addition, supernatural and natural awe both led to stronger prosocial and self-improvement intentions through vastness than the control group. The participants found the supernatural awe content to be more enjoyable, arousing, and suspenseful, whereas natural awe elicited greater appreciation and more positive affect.”

Posted: March 22, 2024
Category: AI at CJC News, College News
Tagged as: Computers in Human Behavior, MPMT, Virtual Reality-Induced Awe, Yu-Hao Lee