Awe and Wonder in Scientific Practice: Implications for the Relationship Between Science and Religion

This paper examines the role of awe and wonder in scientific practice. Drawing on evidence from psychological research and the writings of scientists and science communicators, I argue that awe and wonder play a crucial role in scientific discovery. They focus our attention on the natural world, encourage open-mindedness, diminish the self (particularly feelings of self-importance), help to accord value to the objects that are being studied, and provide a mode of understanding in the absence of full knowledge. I will flesh out implications of the role of awe and wonder in scientific discovery for debates on the relationship between science and religion. Abraham Heschel argued that awe and wonder are religious emotions because they reduce our feelings of self-importance, and thereby help to cultivate the proper reverent attitude towards God. Yet metaphysical naturalists such as Richard Dawkins insist that awe and wonder need not lead to any theistic commitments for scientists. The awe some scientists experience can be regarded as a form of non-theistic spirituality, which is neither a reductive naturalism nor theism. I will attempt to resolve the tension between these views by identifying some common ground

Epistemic Emotions: The Case of Wonder

In this paper I discuss the reasons for which we may consider wonder an epistemic emotion. I defend the thesis for which a specific type of wonder is aporia-based and that since it is aporia-based, this wonder is epistemic. The epistemic wonder is thus an interrogating wonder which plays the epistemic function of motivation to questioning in processes of inquiry. I first introduce the contemporary debate on epistemic emotions, and then I analyze the characteristics that make of wonder an epistemic emotion, from a data-based, phenomenological, and conceptual perspective

Vloga čudenja pri učencih glede pojmovanja evolucije in učenja o njej

Learning about evolution can be challenging for students, as a full understanding may require them to see the world in new ways, to master a disciplinary language and to understand complex processes. Drawing on a long line of theoretically grounded arguments of philosophers and researchers for including wonder in science teaching, we report on the results of an empirical study with the primary aim of investigating the role of wonder in students’ learning about evolution. The study was carried out through a formative intervention in which two researchers in science education collaborated with a seventh-grade teacher. Over a period of six weeks, 45 students participated in lessons and workshops aimed at eliciting a sense of wonder in relation to concepts that are known to impact the learning of evolution. We incorporated four ‘triggers’ to elicit students’ wonder in the science class: aesthetic experiences, defiance of expectations, agency and awareness of a mystery within the ordinary. Logbook entries and interviews with student pairs provided empirical material for a qualitative analysis of the role of wonder in the students’ meaning-making about, learning of and engagement in evolution. The results show that it is possible to design science teaching that triggers students’ wonder in relation to an intended learning object. The results also reveal that the participating students described their sense of wonder in qualitatively different ways and that they still struggled to make sense of the concept of evolution after six weeks of teaching. (DIPF/Orig.

The need to believe: belief in science & religious belief examined as more general components of positive psychological functioning

Furthered by the spectacular innovations of technological advancement over the recent centuries, empirical science has yielded a depth of knowledge about the universe that early naturalistic philosophers could not imagine. Present-day scientists seem to have a much stronger motivation to espouse naturalistic worldviews than do early philosophers – the explanatory power of science appears to render null the need for explanations via numinous religious beliefs. Why do so many people maintain religious beliefs, then? A large body of literature suggests that religious belief is strongly associated with positive psychological functioning. However, other research suggests that religious belief is sometimes associated with negative psychological functioning. More recently though, and perhaps more accurately, findings indicate that religious belief is not unique in providing people with positive psychological functioning. In fact, a growing body of literature suggests that belief in science functions in similar ways to religious belief in providing individuals with positive psychological functioning. The following work compares and contrasts religious belief and belief in science, as related to mental health. Theoretical implications are discussed, and direction for future research is suggested

Purpose In Adolescence: A Review of the Literature and an Intervention Plan

Purpose in life is positively correlated with psychological and physical wellbeing. It is also an important part of healthy identity formation in adolescence and is linked to academic success. However, purpose in adolescence is rare, with only one in five adolescents being able to identify their purpose in life (Damon, 2008). Moreover, purpose in life becomes less prevalent across the lifespan, leaving many people drifting and disengaged. The good news is, that research shows, it is possible to foster purpose and adolescence is an optimal time to do so. This paper reviews the research on purpose in adolescence, reviews existing interventions, and proposes a model for a new type of purpose intervention for adolescents

The effect of technological behaviour and beliefs on subjective well‑being: the role of technological infrastructure

The aim of the paper is to investigate the role of technological infrastructures in the relationship between subjective well-being (SWB) and the use of technological goods on the one hand, and between SWB and technological attitudes on the other. We use the sixth wave of the World Value Survey, which allows us to have comparable data for 60 countries over the period 2010–2014. We show that the use of internet as a means of collecting information is associated with different levels of SWB depending on the efficiency of the technological infrastructure. Moreover, we find a positive, though not always statistically significant, association between scientific and technological attitudes and SWB and show that this relation is stronger in areas with less efficient technological structures. The focus on the linkage between technological infrastructure and SWB paves the way for policy interventions aimed at promoting a coherent development of technological access, use and beliefs

Computação Afetiva: entre as limitações técnicas e os desafios do colonialismo de dados

Affective Computing is the area of study that seeks to develop systems and technological artifacts capable of recognizing, interpreting, processing and simulating human affects. The area began with the work of MIT professor Rosalind Picard in the 1990s, but has gained more attention recently with the advancement of Artificial Intelligence, which made it possible to train more sophisticated models to infer people's emotional state. In this work, we present the potential uses and benefits of Affective Computing, as well as the controversies in the area regarding the technical and scientific limitations and the challenges of neocolonialism.A Computação Afetiva é a área de estudo que busca desenvolver sistemas e artefatos tecnológicos capazes de reconhecer, interpretar, processar e simular os afetos humanos. A área teve seu início com os trabalhos da professora do MIT Rosalind Picard na década de 90, mas voltou a ganhar evidência com o avanço da Inteligência Artificial, que possibilitou o treinamento de modelos mais sofisticados para inferir o estado emocional das pessoas. Neste trabalho, apresentamos os potenciais usos e benefícios da Computação Afetiva, bem como as controvérsias da área em relação às limitações técnicas, científicas e os desafios em um contexto de colonialismo de dados

Scientific Experiments Beyond Surprise and Beauty

Some experimental results in science are productively surprising or beautiful. Such results are disruptive in their epistemic nature: by violating epistemic expectations they mark the phenomenon at hand as worthy of further investigation. Could it be that there are emotions beyond these two which are also useful for the epistemic evaluation of scientific experiments? Here, I conduct a structured sociological survey to explore affective experiences in scientific experimental research. I identify that learning the results of an experiment is the high emotional point in the experimenting process. Thus, experimental results can be challenging, beautiful, or boring, and they can worry, amuse, make one sad, and so on. They can also drive meta-cognitive evaluations as well as motivate specific research-related actions. From this, I advance two claims: that emotions beyond surprise and disruptive beauty are epistemically useful in empirical research, and that emotions help to overcome specific challenges of reasoning about new experimental results

Enhancing resilience: An interpretative phenomenological analysis of The Awe Project

Awe is a complex emotion often associated with experiencing multiple other positive emotions during a captivating and immersive experience. Engaging in awe experiences contributes to enhancing an individual’s personal resilience and wellbeing. Moreover, the benefits of experiencing awe transcend the individual, as it has been described as a self-transcendent emotion provoking concern beyond the self. Using an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) methodology, this exploratory paper evaluates the impact of The Awe Project, an online resilience and well-being program that can be accessed on mobile devices, on a specific cohort of participants. Data analysis consisted of examining participant post-program surveys and comments made during the program. Results indicate the program supported participants’ resilience and well-being through evoking awe and using other mindfulness and resilience practices, such as having a sense of agency, cognitive reappraisal, connectedness, controlled breathing, gratitude and appreciation, meaning and purpose in life, and optimism and prospection

Digital wonders: examining awe-inspiring virtual reality as a tool to promote curiosity and exploration

Awe is a sense of enormity that alludes comprehension. Because of awe's properties as a knowledge emotion, awe elicitors can increase awareness of knowledge gaps, boost scientific interest, and promote inquiry. However, the relationship between awe and exploratory behavior, such as information seeking, remains unclear. Using a mixed-methods approach, this dissertation asks how and to what extent awe fosters information seeking. This question was examined through a two-pronged approach. First, in a laboratory setting, participants (n = 32) were exposed to a variety of awe elicitors through a virtual reality (VR) head-mounted display. Participants' quantitative and qualitative responses were gathered immediately after exposure in the laboratory as well as 24 hours later through questionnaires. Second, a stratified sample of participants who voluntarily conducted information seeking (n = 8) completed phenomenologicallyinformed interviews. Findings indicate that although awe is primarily experiential, information seeking may arise from surprising learners with unknown and unexplained phenomena. Additionally, feelings of perceptual envelopment and accessing the inaccessible characterized participants' VR-based awe experiences. From a practical perspective, these findings suggest that simulating moments of discovery during travel may increase learners' intrinsic motivations for formal and informal research. Emergent findings also reveal that creating awe-inspiring VR content may require reduced didactic information to generate feelings of presence. From a theoretical perspective, this study pushes empirical awe literature beyond the confines of laboratory settings, illustrates how understudied awe elicitors pique curiosity, and provides a nuanced, qualitative report on the phenomenon of virtually-induced awe.Includes bibliographical references