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Awe

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Abstract

If experiences of profound transformation have a core moment, that can be awe, an emotion able to maximize the possibility to change especially through its self-transcendent nature. Awe arises from stimuli so vast to prompt people to go beyond their current schema. Awe would drag people into a deep moment of uncertainty in which assimilation process fails, but accommodation has not successfully taken place yet. In this middle-suspended moment of extreme potential, everything might occur. This entry started with the current psychological definition of awe; then, it summarizes main researches in this field. Finally, I outlined the transformative nature of this phenomenon – as a self-transcendent emotion – and a new perspective to frame it in relation to a sense of possibility to change.

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  1. Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy

    Alice Chirico

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  1. Alice Chirico
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Correspondence to Alice Chirico .

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    Serena Mastria

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Chirico, A. (2020). Awe. In: The Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Possible. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98390-5_30-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98390-5_30-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-98390-5

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