The relationship between awe and prosocial behavior: Three-level meta-analysis and meta-analytic structural equation modeling

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1041.2025.0631

Abstract

Abstract:

As two key indicators of human social development, awe and prosocial behavior are important emotional elements and behavioral paths to promote the construction of a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind. Three-level meta-analysis and meta-analytic structural equation modeling were used to investigate the relationship and mechanism between awe and prosocial behavior. Through literature search and screening, a total of 110 articles were included in Study 1, comprising 221 studies and 620 effect sizes, with a total sample size of 2, 961, 227 participants. Study 2 identified 33 articles, which included 42 studies and 42 correlation matrices, involving 30, 045 participants. The results of three-level meta-analysis indicated the correlation between awe and prosocial behavior was significantly positive (r = 0.37), and awe could positively predict prosocial behavior (g = 0.59). Moderator analyses revealed that awe has greater prosocial effect when the cultural context was collectivist, the valence was positive, the elicitor was social, prosocial behavior directed towards the collective level. The results of meta-analytic structural equation modeling showed that awe leads to prosocial behavior via self-diminishment and self-transcendence. The study systematically examines prosocial effects of awe and the conditions that facilitate it. It provides a theoretical foundation for enhancing prosocial behavior through an emotional lens and contributing to the vision of a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind.

Key words: awe, prosocial behavior, three-level meta-analysis, meta-analytic structural equation modeling

LIN Rongmao, YU Qiaohua, HU Tianxiang, ZHANG Jiumei, YE Yushan, LIAN Rong. (2025). The relationship between awe and prosocial behavior: Three-level meta-analysis and meta-analytic structural equation modeling. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 57(4), 631-651.

Figures/Tables 13

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Language	Data base	Search condition	Awe	Prosocial behavior
Chinese	CNKI, WFD, CSTJD	title, key words, abstract, theme	awe, dispositional awe, awe trait, elicited awe, state awe, awesome trait	prosociality, prosocial behavior/behaviour, altruism, altruistic behavior, altruistic punishment, empathy, inequity aversion, fairness, comfort, care, help, donate, donation, charity, charitable, volunteer, share, trust, trustworthiness, cooperate, cooperative, cooperation, reciprocity, reciprocal, compliance, self-sacrifice
English	Web of Science, APA Proquest, Science Direct, Google Scholar	title, key words, abstract, theme

Language	Data base	Search condition	Awe	Prosocial behavior
Chinese	CNKI, WFD, CSTJD	title, key words, abstract, theme	awe, dispositional awe, awe trait, elicited awe, state awe, awesome trait	prosociality, prosocial behavior/behaviour, altruism, altruistic behavior, altruistic punishment, empathy, inequity aversion, fairness, comfort, care, help, donate, donation, charity, charitable, volunteer, share, trust, trustworthiness, cooperate, cooperative, cooperation, reciprocity, reciprocal, compliance, self-sacrifice
English	Web of Science, APA Proquest, Science Direct, Google Scholar	title, key words, abstract, theme

Moderators		Number of effect sizes	Fisher’s z [95% CI]	r [95% CI]	Omnibus test (Including comparison between groups)	Within-study variation (Level 2)	Between-study variation (Level 3)
Published status					F (1, 159) = 0.08	0.015^***	0.025^***
	Published (P)	88	0.39[0.32, 0.45]	0.37[0.31, 0.43]
	Unpublished (UP)	73	0.40[0.34, 0.46]	0.38[0.33, 0.43]
Identity					F (1, 159) = 1.91	0.015^***	0.024^***
	Student (S)	92	0.36[0.30, 0.42]	0.35[0.29, 0.40]
	Non-student (O)	69	0.43[0.36, 0.49]	0.40[0.35, 0.46]
Cultural contexts					F (1, 159) = 4.79^*	0.015^***	0.022^***
	Collectivist culture (C)	139	0.41[0.37, 0.46]	0.39[0.35, 0.43]	C > I
	Individualist culture ( I)	22	0.28[0.16, 0.39]	0.27[0.16, 0.39]
Prosocial behavior’s measurement methods					F (1, 159) = 7.54^**	0.014^***	0.022^***
	Self-reported scales (S, e.g., Prosocial Behavior Scale)	150	0.41[0.36, 0.45]	0.39[0.35, 0.42]	S > EB
	Laboratory behavioral indicators (EB, e.g., amount allocation for the dictator games)	11	0.24[0.12, 0.36]	0.23[0.12, 0.34]
Prosocial behavior’s types					F (3, 121) = 2.63^&	0.014^***	0.028^***
	Altruism (A)	15	0.36[0.26, 0.47]	0.35[0.25, 0.44]	B > C
	Commonweal-social rule (B)	50	0.48[0.40, 0.57]	0.45[0.38, 0.51]
	Relationship (C)	35	0.34[0.26, 0.41]	0.32[0.25, 0.39]
	Personal trait (D)	25	0.41[0.32, 0.49]	0.38[0.31, 0.45]
Prosocial behavior’s objects					F (3, 88) = 1.87	0.013^***	0.037^***
	Individual (A, e.g., helping a researcher)	16	0.39[0.27, 0.51]	0.37[0.27, 0.47]
	Group (B, e.g., willingness to donate to the disaster-affected group)	44	0.37[0.28, 0.46]	0.35[0.27, 0.43]
	Environment (C, e.g., willingness to donate to an environmental organization)	23	0.49[0.37, 0.60]	0.45[0.35, 0.54]
	All humanity (D, e.g., donate to all humanity or globally)	9	0.30[0.18, 0.43]	0.29[0.18, 0.40]
Prosocial behavior’s costs (a)					F (1, 159) = 1.14	0.015^***	0.024^***
	Without cost (N)	86	0.41[0.36, 0.46]	0.39[0.34, 0.43]
	With cost (Y)	75	0.38[0.32, 0.43]]	0.36[0.31, 0.41]
Prosocial behavior’s costs (b)					F (1, 32) = 0.12	0.045^***	0.011
	Time (A)	0	-	-
	Money (B)	9	0.32[0.15, 0.49]	0.31[0.15, 0.46]
	Efforts (C)	25	0.36[0.25, 0.46]	0.34[0.25, 0.43]

Moderators		Number of effect sizes	Fisher’s z [95% CI]	r [95% CI]	Omnibus test (Including comparison between groups)	Within-study variation (Level 2)	Between-study variation (Level 3)
Published status					F (1, 159) = 0.08	0.015^***	0.025^***
	Published (P)	88	0.39[0.32, 0.45]	0.37[0.31, 0.43]
	Unpublished (UP)	73	0.40[0.34, 0.46]	0.38[0.33, 0.43]
Identity					F (1, 159) = 1.91	0.015^***	0.024^***
	Student (S)	92	0.36[0.30, 0.42]	0.35[0.29, 0.40]
	Non-student (O)	69	0.43[0.36, 0.49]	0.40[0.35, 0.46]
Cultural contexts					F (1, 159) = 4.79^*	0.015^***	0.022^***
	Collectivist culture (C)	139	0.41[0.37, 0.46]	0.39[0.35, 0.43]	C > I
	Individualist culture ( I)	22	0.28[0.16, 0.39]	0.27[0.16, 0.39]
Prosocial behavior’s measurement methods					F (1, 159) = 7.54^**	0.014^***	0.022^***
	Self-reported scales (S, e.g., Prosocial Behavior Scale)	150	0.41[0.36, 0.45]	0.39[0.35, 0.42]	S > EB
	Laboratory behavioral indicators (EB, e.g., amount allocation for the dictator games)	11	0.24[0.12, 0.36]	0.23[0.12, 0.34]
Prosocial behavior’s types					F (3, 121) = 2.63^&	0.014^***	0.028^***
	Altruism (A)	15	0.36[0.26, 0.47]	0.35[0.25, 0.44]	B > C
	Commonweal-social rule (B)	50	0.48[0.40, 0.57]	0.45[0.38, 0.51]
	Relationship (C)	35	0.34[0.26, 0.41]	0.32[0.25, 0.39]
	Personal trait (D)	25	0.41[0.32, 0.49]	0.38[0.31, 0.45]
Prosocial behavior’s objects					F (3, 88) = 1.87	0.013^***	0.037^***
	Individual (A, e.g., helping a researcher)	16	0.39[0.27, 0.51]	0.37[0.27, 0.47]
	Group (B, e.g., willingness to donate to the disaster-affected group)	44	0.37[0.28, 0.46]	0.35[0.27, 0.43]
	Environment (C, e.g., willingness to donate to an environmental organization)	23	0.49[0.37, 0.60]	0.45[0.35, 0.54]
	All humanity (D, e.g., donate to all humanity or globally)	9	0.30[0.18, 0.43]	0.29[0.18, 0.40]
Prosocial behavior’s costs (a)					F (1, 159) = 1.14	0.015^***	0.024^***
	Without cost (N)	86	0.41[0.36, 0.46]	0.39[0.34, 0.43]
	With cost (Y)	75	0.38[0.32, 0.43]]	0.36[0.31, 0.41]
Prosocial behavior’s costs (b)					F (1, 32) = 0.12	0.045^***	0.011
	Time (A)	0	-	-
	Money (B)	9	0.32[0.15, 0.49]	0.31[0.15, 0.46]
	Efforts (C)	25	0.36[0.25, 0.46]	0.34[0.25, 0.43]

Moderators			Number of effect sizes	Hedges’ g [95% CI]			Omnibus test (Including comparison between groups)		Within-study variation (Level 2)		Between-study variation (Level 3)
Published status							F (1, 457) = 1.12		0.071^***		0.377^***
		Published (P)	222	0.52[0.37, 0.68]
		Unpublished (UP)	237	0.64[0.50, 0.79]
Identity							F (1, 455) = 0.60		0.071^***		0.381^***
		Student (S)	320	0.62[0.49, 0.75]
		Non-student (O)	137	0.53[035, 0.71]
Cultural contexts							F (1, 453) = 20.65^***		0.073^***		0.326^***
		Collectivist culture (C)	274	0.75[0.63, 0.87]			C > I
		Individualist culture ( I)	181	0.28[0.12, 0.45]
Awe’s valence							F (1, 445) = 3.75^&		0.067^***		0.395^***
		Positive (P)	386	0.61[0.50, 0.72]			P > N
		Negative (N)	41	0.47[0.31, 0.63]
Awe’s elicitors							F (2, 383) = 1.98		0.090^***		0.426^***
		Physical (P)	259	0.62[0.49, 0.75]			S>P^†
		Social (S)	64	0.84[0.58, 1.12]			S>C^$
		Cognitive (C)	63	0.48[0.20, 0.76]
Methods of inducing awe							F (5, 453) = 0.82		0.072^***		0.378^***
		Video (V)	239	0.59[0.44, 0.74]
		Recall (R)	130	0.50[0.31, 0.69]
		Images (I)	52	0.83[0.54, 1.13]
		Music (M)	18	0.43[− 0.30, 1.17]
		Text (T)	5	0.49[− 0.03, 1.00]
		Real situations (RS)	15	0.47[− 0.03, 0.97]
Prosocial behavior’s measurement methods							F (2, 456) = 2.87^%		0.070^***		0.375^***
		Self-reported scales ( S, e.g., Prosocial Behavior Scale)	219	0.60[0.48, 0.72]			EB > OB
Moderators			Number of effect sizes	Hedges’ g [95% CI]		Omnibus test (Including comparison between groups)		Within-study variation (Level 2)		Between-study variation (Level 3)
	Laboratory behavioral indicators (EB, e.g., amount allocation in the dictator game)		196	0.61[0.49, 0.73]	S > OB
	Objective behavior indicators (OB, e.g., helping the experimenter to pick up the pen in the real situation)		44	0.34[0.11, 0.57]
Prosocial behavior’s types					F (3, 430) = 3.91^**			0.071^***		0.365^***
	Altruism (A)		87	0.58[0.43, 0.74]	B > A, C > D
	Commonweal-social rule (B)		113	0.73[0.58, 0.88]
	Relationship (C)		156	0.59[0.44, 0.73]
	Personal trait (D)		78	0.41[0.25, 0.57]
Prosocial behavior’s objects					F (3, 381) = 8.56^***			0.086^***		0.370^***
	Individual (A, e.g., helping a researcher)		147	0.44[0.29, 0.60]	C > D, B, A
	Group (B, e.g., willingness to donate to the disaster-affected group)		143	0.47[0.31, 0.63]
	Environment (C, e.g., willingness to donate to an environmental organization)		75	1.12[0.89, 1.35]
	All humanity (D, e.g. donate to all humanity or globally)		20	0.57[0.31, 0.83]
Prosocial behavior’s costs (a)					F (1, 449) = 2.17			0.032^***		0.244^***
	Without cost (N)		220	0.51[0.42, 0.61]
	With cost (Y)		231	0.57[0.48, 0.67]
Prosocial behavior’s costs (b)					F (2, 203) = 0.34			0.047^***		0.380^***
	Time (A)		28	0.62[0.40, 0.85]
	Money (B)		130	0.63[0.48, 0.78]
	Efforts (C)		48	0.55[0.36, 0.74]