Happiness May Be a Better Lever for Openness to Diversity Than Awe

A recent experiment in the International Journal of Psychology found that a short burst of happiness made participants show slightly more positive attitudes toward ethnic diversity than a similar experience of awe. The study recruited 3,196 adults who watched a 28‑second clip designed to evoke either happiness or awe, and then completed three surveys that measured general attitudes toward diversity, feelings of diversity fatigue, and preference for social hierarchy. 28‑second clips are short, but the research team confirmed that the awe video produced a comparable emotional intensity to the happiness video in a pre‑test with 125 people.

Awe is a positive emotion that arises when people encounter something vast or extraordinary, such as a starry sky or a moon landing. Because awe diminishes focus on the self and makes people feel connected to a larger reality, researchers had hypothesized that it might encourage openness to other cultural and racial groups, building on earlier work showing that awe can promote prosocial behavior and generosity.

The participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: awe, happiness, or a neutral control. The awe group watched images of the universe, towering landscapes, and the Apollo 11 launch accompanied by sweeping music. The happiness group saw cheerful scenes of children playing and birthday parties paired with joyful music. The control group viewed ordinary images of people studying or taking a coffee break with ambient noise. After the clip, each participant answered questionnaires that assessed (1) how much they value meeting people from diverse backgrounds, (2) how tired or annoyed they feel about inclusion efforts, and (3) how strongly they believe some social groups are superior.

Results showed that the awe group’s scores on all three measures did not differ statistically from the neutral control. In contrast, the happiness group’s average diversity attitude score was about 0.08 points higher than the control, and their scores on diversity fatigue and preference for social hierarchy were about 0.10 and 0.15 points lower, respectively. When happiness and awe were compared directly, happiness produced more positive diversity attitudes and a slightly lower preference for hierarchy, although the difference fell just short of statistical significance.

The authors note that the observed changes are modest, yet they emerged after a brief video and on measures that are usually stable. They suggest that happiness may foster social bonding and concern for others, which could translate into more welcoming attitudes. The lack of an effect for awe contrasts with earlier studies that linked awe to a broader sense of global connection, and the researchers speculate that the short video may not have induced the “small self” feeling thought to drive awe’s social benefits.

The study’s limitations include the brief, laboratory‑style video, the short‑term measurement of attitudes, and the possibility that real‑world awe experiences (such as standing at a canyon edge) might produce different outcomes. The researchers plan future unobtrusive studies that observe actual behavior and cross‑culture research to determine whether happiness and awe have similar effects in diverse cultural contexts.

Future work will also explore whether a joyful workplace could reduce prejudice and whether the modest effects seen here translate into real‑world behavior changes. Replication and more varied awe‑inducing methods are needed to confirm whether happiness consistently outperforms awe in promoting diversity orientation.