perceived threat also flavors experiences: Our thinking was grounded in part in neuroscience: upon detecting threat, a small, almond-shaped region of the brain known as the amygdala revs up your body’s fight-or-flight response and, if activated during awe, should blend fear into the experience. For an excellent review of this fight-or-flight physiology, see: Rodrigues, Sarina M., Joseph E. LeDoux, and Robert M. Sapolsky. “The Influence of Stress Hormones on Fear Circuitry.”
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Perceptions of threat: Nakayama, Masataka, Yuki Nozaki, Pamela Taylor, Dacher Keltner, and Yukiko Uchida. “Individual and Cultural Differences in Predispositions to Feel Positive and Negative Aspects of Awe.”
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Emotions are like stories: I really owe this thinking to Keith Oatley. Keith is not only a world-class cognitive scientist and leading theorist in the science of emotion but a prizewinning novelist as well. Out of his love of literature and study of emotion, he has made the case that emotions have storylike structures. Oatley, Keith.
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Having defined awe: For excellent stories of awe fitting for our digital age, see Jason Silva’s “Shots of Awe.” https://www.thisisjasonsilva.com/.
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understanding mystical awe: James, William.
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stories of awe: Bai, Yang, and Dacher Keltner. “Universals and Variations in Awe” (manuscript under review).
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concern about “WEIRD” samples: Studies involving only WEIRD samples do not generalize to non-WEIRD individuals, namely most people of the world. Henrich, Joseph, Steve Heine, and Ara Norenzayan. “The Weirdest People in the World?”
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a stirring theme: Edmundson, Mark.
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Many mentioned night skies: Marchant, Jo.
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our capacity to wonder: Drake, Nadia. “Our Nights Are Getting Brighter, and Earth Is Paying the Price.”
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