Awe elicited by natural disasters and willingness to help people in afflicted areas: A meditational model

Threat-based awe such as those elicited by natural disasters could also elicit a sense of a small self as positive awe did, further promoting prosociality. Inspired by this finding and research on sense of global community, we intended to examine the potential mediating roles of sense of a small self and sense of global community in the relation between natural disaster-elicited awe and willingness to help people in afflicted areas. Six hundred and eighty undergraduate students in their first year (Mage = 18.52) were conveniently chosen as participants. After viewing a 4-min video successively displaying four types of natural disasters (i.e., earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunami, typhoon) with their massive destruction, participants reported on items regarding their feelings of awe over the disasters, sense of a small self, sense of global community, and their willingness to help people in the disaster-stricken areas. Results indicated that all the direct paths and indirect paths in the hypothesized meditational model were significant, suggesting that temporary disaster-induced awe might produce a self-diminishing effect and enhance people’s sense of global community, which finally enhance their willingness to help people in the disaster-stricken areas.