Awe Psychology (WONDER) with Dacher Keltner
6/3/202639 min
Awe?! You can study this? You can, and it turns out it’s really important for our mental health. Dr. Dacher Keltner, the legendary UC Berkeley psychology professor, author, and founding director of the Greater Good Science Center, lent us some time to chat about his research into what makes us feel awe, and how that sense of vastness can make our lives and relationships richer. From spending some time under starry skies, to walking past ancient ruins, to listening to a favorite song, these big and little moments can help us feel smaller in the best way. Also: hop into a mosh pit.
Visit Dr. Keltner’s website
Buy his book, Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life, on Bookshop.org or Amazon
Listen to his series, Cities of Awe, on the Science of Happiness podcast
A donation went to the Bay Area Freedom Collective
More episode sources and links
Other episodes you may enjoy: Eudemonology (HAPPINESS), Awesomeology (GRATITUDE FOR LITTLE THINGS), Molecular Neurobiology (BRAIN CHEMICALS), Psychedeliology (HALLUCINOGENS), Museology (MUSEUMS), Fanthropology (FANDOM), FIELD TRIP: I Chase the 2024 Eclipse with Umbraphiles, FIELD TRIP: How to Change Your Life via the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles
400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic
Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes
Transcripts and bleeped episodes
Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month
OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!
Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky
Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok
Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee
Managing Director: Susan Hale
Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth
Transcripts by Aveline Malek
Website by Kelly R. Dwyer
Theme song by Nick Thorburn
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsAlie Ward· Host0:00
Oh, look at this. This is a special episode of Ologies I'm very excited about, and it's brought to you by the lovely vacation rental service, VRBO. And today, this is all about awe, as you have probably noticed from the title, and we're gonna talk about exactly what awe is. But you have probably felt it if you've ever stopped in your tracks to go, "Whoa," and felt connected to something bigger, especially if you've ever seen something you've never seen before, or you've traveled. Travel is one of the easiest ways to really stock up on those awe-filled moments and share it with other people, so we're gonna talk about how that works in the brain, actually. And VRBO, thank you for sponsoring this. They make it easy to bring your people together in one place so you can actually share those experiences, and they work hard to get everything right before you arrive. And if something does go wrong, VRBO Care and 24/7 customer support are there to help make it right. The people on your trip are full of surprises, not your VRBO. So book your next stay on the VRBO app. I just did, literally. Oh, hey, it's the sidewalk chicken bone your dog yearns for. Alie Ward. This episode is nearly a decade in the making. I don't even wanna waste time on an intro, but I'm gonna roll through this ologist's cred as fast as I can. PhD Stanford University cool as hell dude. Distinguished professor of psychology at UC Berkeley's Social Interaction Laboratory. Chill.