Awesome impact : research on awe, prosocial and pro-environmental behaviour

Inspired by research that demonstrates the positive influence of awe on prosocial behaviour and research on the effectiveness of VR to elicit awe, the current research aims to study elicitors of awe in VR and find out if awe also has a positive influence on pro-environmental behaviour. To this end a pre-test was designed to find a suitable awe-eliciting environment in VR which was then incorporated in a 2 (type of awe: awe-eliciting environment and urban environment) x 2 (type of medium: VR or 2D ) research design. The survey, which was to be completed after the awe manipulation, included measures for awe and the small-self feeling, presence, prosocial behaviour, pro-environmental behaviour. The results showed that, in line with previous research, awe positively influenced prosocial behaviour and VR provided a more intense feeling of presence and awe than 2D. Moreover, VR was found to have a positive effect on prosocial and pro-environmental behaviour. These findings confirm VR’s potential to elicit emotional responses in experiments and awe’s ability to lessen polarising tendencies in the world and warrant future research using awe and VR.