{"id":9993,"date":"2026-04-02T21:33:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T21:33:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=9993"},"modified":"2026-04-02T21:33:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T21:33:27","slug":"meet-the-awe-scientist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=9993","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Awe Scientist"},"content":{"rendered":"


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When Dr. Paul Piff, a social psychologist at the University of California, Irvine, first became curious about awe more than a decade ago, his questions seemed simple. What is awe, exactly, and what happens when we experience it? But answering those questions has been no simple task. To take his research to the next level, Piff and his team created an unprecedented study and traveled to one of the most awe-inspiring places in the world\u2014Lake Tahoe<\/a>\u2014where they studied awe\u2019s effects on more than a thousand people.<\/p>\n

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Dr. Piff was drawn toward the study of awe by its correlation with his field at the time\u2014the study of human morality and social connections\u2014as well as his own awe-inspired experiences hiking in Tahoe\u2019s Desolation Wilderness and sea kayaking in the Pacific. And since the study of awe is relatively new, really picking up in the past 15 years or so, it gave him the chance to be at the forefront of a pioneering kind of research.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s fitting that Dr. Piff studied the effects of awe at Lake Tahoe, as the California resident has spent years exploring the lake and surrounding wilderness. His research, which often studies people before and after an awe-inspiring experience, has surprised him with its wide-reaching effects on well-being.<\/p>\n

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Lake Tahoe and the surrounding areas are scientifically proven to elicit feelings of awe.<\/span> (Photo: Visit Lake Tahoe)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As a longtime social psychologist, he\u2019s particularly interested in the social improvements. Awe-inspired people are more helpful, ethical, contented, and connected. \u201cNature could be thought of as asocial, since people go to get away,\u201d he says, \u201cbut they come back and feel reconnected to everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

His most memorable experiment took place at the Heavenly Gondola, where one group spent two minutes at a viewpoint while the other visited the gift shop. Just two minutes spent taking in the view made a measurable change. \u201cAwe blows your mind,\u201d Dr. Piff says. \u201cIt\u2019s an experience so complex that you need to change your viewpoint to make sense of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A view from the water on Lake Tahoe.<\/span> (Photo: Visit Lake Tahoe)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And that\u2019s just the start. Whether people were on the hiking trail, along the lakeshore, on the water, or looking out from stunning viewpoints, their feelings of awe had lasting effects. Learn more about this groundbreaking research in the three-part video series, \u201cBeyond Awestruck: The Scientific Search for Connection.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Lake Tahoe is a jaw-dropping, mind-blowing, awe-inducing experience. (And there is research to prove it.) Visit Lake Tahoe shares the wonder of this iconic alpine lake with the world and works passionately to preserve its grandeur and good times for endless generations. Explore things to do, places to stay and all the reasons to visit the South Shore of Lake Tahoe 365 days a year at <\/i>VisitLakeTahoe.com.<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

The post Meet the Awe Scientist appeared first on Outside Online.<\/p>\n


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When Dr. Paul Piff, a social psychologist at the University of California, Irvine, first became curious about awe more than a decade ago, his questions seemed simple. What is awe, exactly, and what happens when we experience it? But answering those questions has been no simple task. To take his research to the next level,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9994,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9993","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wild-living"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}