Cultivating Awe & Emotional Connection in Daily Life | Dr. Dacher Keltner
Dr. Dacher Keltner discusses his scientific research on awe and emotions, explaining how awe is a measurable biological response that occurs when perception shifts from small to vast scales. He explores the role of emotions like embarrassment in social bonding, the health benefits of awe experiences, and how modern technology both inhibits and could potentially foster genuine human connection.
Summary
Dr. Dacher Keltner, a psychology professor at UC Berkeley, presents comprehensive research on the science of emotions, particularly focusing on awe and its role in human wellbeing. He explains that awe is not elusive but occurs through specific perceptual shifts from small to vast scales, such as experiencing visual horizons or connecting individual experiences to larger systems. His research demonstrates that awe has measurable physiological effects including reduced inflammation, elevated vagal tone, and even reduced long COVID symptoms with just a minute of daily awe exposure.
Keltner discusses the evolution of emotion science beyond Paul Ekman's original six basic emotions to recognize approximately 20 distinct emotional states, including awe, embarrassment, and compassion. He explains how embarrassment functions as a social bonding mechanism, particularly in male groups through teasing, serving as a signal of commitment to collective norms and moral awareness.
The conversation explores various sources of awe including nature experiences, music, sports, and collective gatherings. Keltner's field research at locations like Yosemite and Berkeley's paleontology museum shows how awe experiences make people feel simultaneously small yet connected to something larger. His awe walk studies with elderly participants demonstrated improved brain health and reduced physical pain over time.
Keltner addresses how modern technology, particularly social media, can inhibit awe by promoting self-focus and fragmenting community experiences. He contrasts this with traditional collective experiences like concerts, sporting events, and communal activities that naturally foster awe and social connection. The discussion includes the role of psychedelics in awe experiences, with appropriate cautions about safety and proper context.
The conversation concludes with practical applications for cultivating awe in daily life and urban design, emphasizing the importance of community-building activities like farmers markets, group fitness, and shared experiences that counter the epidemic of loneliness in modern society.
About this episode
Dr. Dacher Keltner, PhD, is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and a leading expert on the science of emotions and human connection. We discuss the science of awe—what evokes it and how to access it. Dr. Keltner explains how awe helps us frame our experience of life and who we are both as individuals and collectively. We also discuss the role of humor in social bonding, dispel common myths about the biology of emotions and review the lesser-known factors that strengthen or inhibit relationships and communities. Read the episode show notes at hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1: https://drinkag1.com/huberman Joovv: https://joovv.com/huberman Helix Sleep: https://helixsleep.com/huberman Function: https://functionhealth.com/huberman Our Place: https://fromourplace.com/huberman Timestamps (00:00:00) Dr Dachner Keltner (00:01:55) Emotions, Awe; Facial Expressions & Culture (00:08:11) Sponsors: Joovv & Helix Sleep (00:11:05) Emotion, Motor Movement & Language (00:15:36) Measuring Emotion; Studying Awe (00:24:10) Horizons, Small to Vast, Shifting Perspective (00:29:27) Tool: Awe Walk (00:33:53) Time Perception, Tool: Space-Time Bridging Meditation; Chimps, Vastness (00:42:13) Sponsor: AG1 (00:43:37) Consciousness, Collective Experiences & Brain Synchronization (00:50:04) Music, Concerts & Awe; Sparring, Transcendence (01:01:28) Joe Strummer (01:06:04) Inhibitors of Awe, Self-Focus & Narcissism (01:12:41) Sponsor: Function (01:13:52) Sports, Collective Effervescence (01:19:03) Social Media & Online Life, Social Community (01:29:51) Designing Cities & Places for Awe (01:34:29) Sponsor: Our Place (01:35:44) Embarrassment, Teasing; Collective Values (01:43:05) Male Friendship, Teasing (01:47:50) Isolation, Loneliness, Reemergence of Community (01:54:33) Psychedelics, Awe, Treating Trauma; Microdosing (02:01:18) Looking Forward, Awe Design (02:08:36) Campfires, Connection, Red Light (02:13:34) Life After Death; Acknowledgments (02:17:19) Zero-Cost Support, YouTube, Spotify & Apple Follow, Reviews & Feedback, Sponsors, Protocols Book, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter Disclaimer & Disclosures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Key Insights
- Awe occurs when perception shifts from small to vast scales and can be consistently measured through facial expressions, vocalizations, brain activity, and physiological responses
- Just one minute of daily awe exposure can reduce long COVID symptoms and inflammation while improving vagal tone
- The field has expanded from six basic emotions to approximately 20 distinct emotional states, with about 50-60% being hardwired across cultures
- Embarrassment serves as a crucial social bonding mechanism that signals moral awareness and commitment to group norms
- Healthy male teasing involves direct confrontation paired with behind-the-scenes support, strengthening group bonds through shared vulnerability
- Modern social media creates the opposite conditions of awe by promoting self-focus, fragmenting experience, and lacking memorable content
- Community connection provides up to 10 years of life expectancy benefit, surpassing the longevity benefits of most individual exercise regimens
- Awe walks that incorporate breathing, slowing down, and shifting attention from small to vast details improve brain health and reduce physical pain in elderly participants
- Music creates awe through temporal manipulation and instant physiological synchronization between people, forming lasting social bonds
- Psychedelics fundamentally operate through awe mechanisms by dissolving self-focus and connecting users to vast systems, but require proper cultural containers and guidance
- Urban design can systematically incorporate awe through nature elements, public art, community gathering spaces, and opportunities for collective experience
- Campfires represent an ancient technology for community building that combines long-wavelength light therapy with storytelling and social bonding
- Traditional community activities like church attendance, shared meals, and collective entertainment have declined dramatically, contributing to epidemic loneliness
- Young people are actively rebuilding community through game nights, cooperative living, and shared experiences, suggesting cultural correction
- The integration of wellness practices like saunas, group fitness, and farmers markets represents modern attempts to recreate community-centered health approaches
Topics
Transcript
Awe is good for reduced inflammation, elevated vagal tone, reduced long COVID symptoms. We have people with long COVID, just a minute of awe a day, reduced long COVID symptoms. It's good news, right? And there's so much science on it that I just, now I think medical doctors are starting to think like, I'm gonna prescribe nature, I'll prescribe music through awe, right? As a mechanism. Welcome to the Huberman Lab Podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life. I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. My guest today is Dr. Dacher Keltner. Dr. Dacher Keltner is a professor of psychology and the co-director of the Greater…
Full transcript available for MurmurCast members
Sign Up to AccessMore from Huberman Lab
Essentials: Manage Stress & Build Resilience | Dr. Elissa Epel
Dr. Elissa Epel discusses the multidimensional nature of stress, distinguishing between acute and chronic forms, and explaining how psychological responses to stressors—particularly challenge versus threat responses—significantly impact physical health and aging. She presents evidence-based strategies for managing both controllable and uncontrollable stressors, emphasizing the importance of acceptance, mitochondrial health, and daily mood patterns.
Bringing Extinct Species Back to Life | Dr. Beth Shapiro
Dr. Beth Shapiro discusses de-extinction efforts at Colossal Biosciences, including woolly mammoths, dodos, and dire wolves, while explaining how ancient DNA sequencing and synthetic biology are being used to revive extinct species and conserve endangered populations. The conversation covers the science of species definition, genetic engineering in humans, ecosystem restoration, and the ethical implications of using these technologies.
Essentials: Tools to Improve Your Focus & Concentration
Andrew Huberman discusses neurochemical systems and practical tools for improving focus and concentration, including a 13-minute daily meditation protocol, behavioral practices like visual focusing, nutritional factors, and supplementation strategies. He emphasizes that focus requires a combination of epinephrine (alertness), acetylcholine (directional attention), and dopamine (sustained motivation).
What Humans, Animals and Plants Tell Us About Consciousness | Michael Pollan
Michael Pollan discusses consciousness through the lens of neuroscience, plant intelligence, psychedelics, and evolutionary biology, arguing that consciousness likely originates from feelings in the brainstem rather than the cortex, and that we have fundamentally misunderstood the nature of plants, animals, and our relationship to them. He advocates for practical, evidence-based approaches to food systems, psychedelics, and environmental stewardship while maintaining intellectual humility about what we don't yet understand.
Essentials: Optimal Protocols to Build Strength & Grow Muscles | Dr. Andy Galpin
Dr. Andy Galpin explains that strength and hypertrophy training are essential for longevity and combating neuromuscular aging, not just for building muscle. He outlines specific, science-based protocols for both strength (emphasizing heavy loads and high intent) and hypertrophy (requiring 10-20+ working sets per muscle group per week), with the key non-negotiables being consistency, progressive overload, individualization, and appropriate specificity-to-variation balance.