Negative emotions arising from self-threat are ubiquitous and harmful. We propose that the experience of awe awakens the small-self, which in turn alleviates these negative emotions. We examine our theoretical hypotheses in four studies employing various self-threatening situations, using distinct awe manipulations and involving participants from different countries. The participants experiencing awe reported lower levels of negative emotions arising from self-threat compared with those in the neutral (Study 1) and happiness conditions (Study 2). Moreover, we verified that the small-self mediates the alleviating effect of awe on negative emotions through measuring (Study 3) and manipulating the small-self (Study 4). Beyond a set of practical implications for promoting mental health and well-being, our research also provides novel insights into awe, self-appraisal, and self-threat.

This research examined the impact of COVID-19 risk perception on sense of control, testing the hypotheses that COVID-19 risk perception would reduce sense of control and that this effect would be mediated by death anxiety and moderated by Confucian coping. A series of six studies were conducted with Chinese participants (N = 2202) and employed different research designs in lab and real-life settings. Across the studies, we found that the perceived risk of COVID-19 impaired sense of control. Studies 3a to 5 further revealed that death anxiety mediated the adverse effect of COVID-19 risk perception on sense of control, and Studies 4 to 5 revealed that Confucian coping strategies alleviated the adverse effect of COVID-19 risk perception on sense of control. These findings shed new light on the psychological impact of risk perception in times of crisis and identify mitigating factors and boundary conditions.

Short-term rentals (STRs) are of great significance to the hospitality industry, but suffered heavy losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, how to increase individuals’ intention to book STRs has appeared as a major issue. This research responded to the issue from an emotional perspective by examining the fueling role of awe. Our hypotheses were tested through four experimental studies using various awe manipulations, divergent assessments of booking intention, involving samples from different sources, and testing participants both in laboratory and field settings. The results showed that participants exhibited a heightened booking intention in STRs after being primed with awe (vs. neutral emotion or happiness). Moreover, such occurrences of the phenomenon were revealed to be driven by social connectedness, and two alternative accounts were ruled out. Beyond theoretical contributions to the existing literature, our findings offered managers some insights into how to leverage individuals’ emotions in short-term rental marketing.