The discriminability and commonality between awe and “kando” (being emotionally moved) in Japan

Abstract

This study focused on two similar but potentially distinctive emotions, awe and being moved. Although these emotions have been studied independently, they have commonalities both in cognition and emotion. For example, both have been shown to influence cognitive frameworks (Tokaji, 2004), such as need for accommodation (Keltner & Haidt, 2003). In addition, when instructed to write about being moved, Japanese descriptions resembled descriptions about awe in Western descriptions (Hashimoto & Ogura, 2002; Shiota, Keltner, & Mossman, 2007). In this study, we hypothesized that these two emotions overlap in linguistic labeling and in perceived emotional states. To test this hypothesis, we conducted two survey studies in Japan. Study1 examined how people labeled emotional states caused in various awe-inducing and being-movedinducing situations. Study1 indicated that some of typical awe experiences were likely to be labeled as being-moved experiences. Study2 showed that the experience of awe was more similar to an emotional state of being deeply moved by a life event, than being normally moved by a daily event. Therefore the present studies suggest that being moved and awe are more likely to overlap when the situation is a deeply moving life event.