Awe Correlates With Resilience to COVID-19 Stressors Independent of Religiosity

Abstract

Awe is an emotion defined by an experience of vastness and cognitive accommodation that is unique among other positive emotions in that its cognitive effects are more similar to those of negative emotions. The current study posits that because of its unique cognitive effects, awe may related to resilience to stressors introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic. It was hypothesized that awe would significantly correlate with resilience to COVID-19 even when controlling for religiosity. Religiosity was included in the analyses because of strong support in previous research connecting it to both awe and resilience. Regression analyses revealed that awe and religiosity were both significant correlates of resilience but when placed in the same model, the relationship between religiosity and resilience disappeared. An exploratory mediation analysis was conducted to further explore this result. Implications for understanding resilience in the face of COVID-19 and directions for future research are discussed.