semi-automatic waffle

Thursday, 6 November 2025

Paper Overview

The Dark Side of the Sublime: Distinguishing a Threat‑Based Variant of Awe by Amie M. Gordon, Jennifer E. Stellar, Craig L. Anderson, Galen D. McNeil, Daniel Loew, & Dacher Keltner (2017) investigates what happens when the “awe” emotion is not purely positive. Spoiler: even I (Monday) managed to pull myself off the couch for this one.

What the authors set out to do

Historically, “awe” is often treated as a positive emotion (think: big skies, star-filled nights, Beethoven). But the authors note that in older or philosophical accounts, awe also carried fear/dread. They hypothesise that there’s a threat-based variant of awe (triggered by vast, complex stimuli that also include danger or threat: e.g., tornadoes, terrorist attacks, wrathful gods). PubMed+2Docslib+2

Their aim: test whether this threat-variant of awe (let’s call it “threat-awe”) is distinct from the more familiar positive awe (let’s call it “positive-awe”) in:

appraisals (what we think is going on)
subjective experience (how it feels)
physiological correlates (bodily responses)
consequences for well-being.

Key findings (and yes, I had to get up for these)

Here are the main results, cleaned up for your dopey friend status:

Domain	What they found
Appraisals	In threat-awe: people felt lower self-control, lower certainty, and higher situational control (i.e., the situation dominates you) than in positive-awe. LSA Technology Services+1
Subjective experience	Threat-awe included greater fear, compared with positive-awe which leaned more on wonder, small-self, etc. PubMed+1
Physiology	Threat-awe was associated with increased sympathetic arousal (fight/flight type response). Positive-awe was more linked to parasympathetic arousal (calming, expansive). PubMed+1
Well-being outcomes	Positive-awe tended to increase momentary well-being (vs no awe). Threat-awe, in contrast, did not show that benefit; in fact it could be harmful via feelings of powerlessness. LSA Technology Services

Why it matters

It challenges the assumption that “awe” is always good. (Yes, I dragged myself out of bed for this.)
It suggests we should treat awe as multifaceted: one flavour is uplifting, another is scary.
It has implications for how we understand emotional experiences in context (nature, religion, disasters).
For fields like positive-psychology: not all “big” emotional experiences are beneficial.
For future research: look at cultural/contextual moderators (the paper speculates threat-awe may be more common in certain cultures) and how personal traits (e.g., neuroticism) influence it. LSA Technology Services

Breakdown of the Paper’s Structure

To make sure you get the gist (because I know you skim most things):

Introduction & theory – They review prior work on awe (mostly positive), note the gap regarding “negative” awe, propose threat-based awe. Docslib+1
Studies – They run multiple empirical studies (Studies 1–5) to test occurrence, appraisals, physiology, and effects.
- Study 1 & 4: show people do experience threat-awe with some regularity.
- Studies 2a & 2b: compare appraisals and subjective feelings (fear etc).
- Study 3: physiological measures.
- Study 5: lab manipulation and well-being outcomes.
Discussion – They interpret findings, note limitations (samples mostly US, culture may matter), and suggest future directions. LSA Technology Services+1

Key Concepts & Terms (for you to sound smart)

Awe: an emotion triggered by encountering something that is vast and challenges one’s current mental frameworks (schema).
Positive-awe: Awe experienced in non-threatening contexts (e.g., amazing nature, inspiring leader) with beneficial outcomes.
Threat-based awe (Threat-awe): Awe experienced in the context of threat or danger. It’s awe + fear/dread.
Appraisal: How we interpret the event (Is it controllable? Do I have agency? Is it a threat?).
Self-smallness: One common effect of awe is feeling small in relation to something vast; this occurs in both variants but the downstream effects differ.
Autonomic arousal: Bodily reaction (sympathetic vs parasympathetic) — critical in distinguishing the two variants.
Well-being consequences: The downstream impact on how you feel (momentary happiness, powerlessness etc).

Implications & (my) Commentary

For you, yes, you, this suggests: when you’re “in awe”, ask: Is this uplifting wonder or scary overwhelm?
If you’re designing an experience (app, VR, mindfulness), you might aim for positive-awe. Avoid triggers of threat-awe unless you want disquiet.
In therapy or well-being work: Not all awe is “good vibes”. Some awe triggers may increase anxiety or powerlessness.
From a cynical Monday-perspective: It means life’s emotional landscape is messier — you thought awe was pure majestic mountain sunsets, but sometimes it’s “holy crap that mountain’s about to kill me”.

Limitations & Things to Watch

The samples are mostly US, likely WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic) populations. The authors say other cultures might show more threat-awe or different patterns. LSA Technology Services
Effect sizes: the benefits of positive-awe and harms of threat-awe are small to moderate. It’s not a guaranteed life-ruiner.
The stimuli: In lab settings they used videos etc, which may not fully capture real-world magnitude of awe events.
The classification: The boundary between fear, awe, and threat-awe is fuzzy. They make a good case but you should know it’s not set in stone.

How to Explain It to Someone (So They Don’t Yawn)

“Hey, you know when you’re looking at the Grand Canyon and you feel this jaw-drop wonder? That’s awe, good kind. Now imagine you’re caught in a tornado watching everything swirl and you feel awe and terror — that’s what these researchers call the threat-based variant of awe. It’s still awe in the sense of vastness and complexity, but it’s dangerous, you feel small and powerless, your heart races, and unlike the positive kind, it might not leave you feeling better afterwards.”