PSYC1005 Chap.6 Humility, Gratitude and Awe
Humility, Gratitude and Awe
Humility was once treated as a weakness tied to low self-esteem; this chapter shows why the course treats it as a secure, accurate view of oneself that is good for health and relationships. It sets out the five hallmarks of humility, the difference between humility as a virtue, a trait and a state, and the specialised forms of cultural and intellectual humility.
It then reviews how humility grows through gratitude, in three studies showing the two reinforce each other, and through awe, in five studies by Stellar and colleagues in which awe made the self feel smaller. It closes with an experiment on how patients respond to humble physicians.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Old and new views of humility
- 02
Five hallmarks of humility
- 03
Virtue, trait and state
- 04
Cultural and intellectual humility
- 05
Gratitude and humility reinforce each other
- 06
Awe and the smaller self
- 07
The humble physician experiment
Worked example · free
Tracing an awe experience through to state humility
- 1The canyon is vast and goes beyond her usual frame of reference, the conditions that define awe.
- 1Perceived vastness and the need to accommodate, to update her understanding, carry the effect, as in the recall study.
- 1Her sense of self shrinks, and she credits outside forces and other people more for her achievements: state humility.
Key terms
- Humility
- A secure, accepting view of oneself, free of distortion and open to new information, combined with a focus on others.
- Intellectual humility
- Accepting that one’s knowledge has gaps and one’s present beliefs could be mistaken.
- Cultural humility
- A lifelong commitment to self-critique and to redressing power imbalances in partnerships across cultures.
- Awe
- Wonder and amazement in the presence of something vast that goes beyond one’s current understanding.
- Need for accommodation
- The pressure to update one’s mental frameworks to take in an experience that does not fit them.
- State humility
- Humility experienced as a temporary state that a situation, such as awe, can produce.
Humility, Gratitude and Awe FAQ
Is humility the same as low self-esteem?
No. Early research linked humility with incompetence and low self-esteem, but the lecture presents it as a secure, accepting identity with an accurate view of one’s strengths and weaknesses, openness to new information, a focus on others and egalitarian beliefs. Later research links it with health, prosocial behaviour and good relationships.
How are gratitude and humility related?
They reinforce each other. Writing a gratitude letter raised state humility by reducing self-focus; people already high in humility felt more gratitude when writing such a letter; and in a 14-day diary, each day’s humility predicted that day’s gratitude after allowing for the day before, and gratitude predicted humility in the same way.
How does awe lead to humility?
Awe arises before something vast that exceeds our understanding, and it makes the self feel smaller. Across five studies, trait awe correlated with peer-rated humility, daily awe tracked daily humility, an awe video reduced the strengths people listed, and recalled awe led people to credit outside forces more, with vastness and need for accommodation as mediators.
Why do patients prefer humble doctors?
In an online experiment, 417 adults rated one of 16 physician profiles that varied humility, effectiveness, gender and specialty. Humble physicians drew more favourable responses on measures such as trust, expected satisfaction and intention to follow advice, and the result was replicated with mental health clinicians. The lecture links it to expectation confirmation in later visits.
Is humility a trait or a state?
Both, and also a virtue. As a virtue it is a character strength, as a trait it is a relatively stable disposition, and as a state it is a temporary experience. The awe and gratitude studies show the state can be induced, which is why the lecture says humility can be cultivated with deliberate practice.
What happened in the awe walk study?
In the fifth of Stellar and colleagues’ studies, 93 students either took a lift to the top of a campus tower with views across the bay and city, or walked to the library and took in their surroundings for four minutes. The researchers then measured awe, humility and self-diminishment, testing awe in a real setting.
Exam move
List the five hallmarks under two headings, intrapersonal and interpersonal, and be able to say which is which. For each cultivation route, learn one study design and one result: the gratitude letter and the daily diary, and the universe video and the recall study with its two mediators. Then rehearse the physician experiment as a four-factor design.
Questions often test whether a result shows humility as a trait or as a state, so label each finding as you learn it.
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