wakha

The science

Awe: what vast places do to people

Awe, the feeling of standing before something too big to take in, is one of the best-studied emotions of the last twenty years. In studies it goes with feeling smaller, kinder and less stressed, and nature is its most common trigger.

Evidence: Moderate

That awe can be triggered is strong (84 studies); its effects on wellbeing come from smaller studies and a few small trials.

What the studies show

Psychologists define awe by two things: something vast, and the need to make sense of it because it doesn't fit what you know. A 2023 meta-analysis of 84 studies (17,801 people) found awe can be reliably triggered by real nature, images, videos and memories, and that it behaves as an emotion of its own.

In five studies with 2,078 people, awe went with more generosity and helping, partly through feeling a "small self". In one, just looking up at tall trees for a minute was enough.

Among 72 veterans and 52 young people on rafting trips, the more awe they felt, the better their wellbeing and the lower their stress a week later. In a small randomised trial, older adults told to look for awe on weekly walks reported more joy and less daily distress over 8 weeks.

In Morocco

Erg Chebbi at Merzouga is a sea of dunes up to about 150 m high. Climbing one at sunset, or waking before dawn in a camp, is the kind of vast and unfamiliar scene awe research describes. Most visitors reach it on a 3-day trip from Marrakech or by night bus.

Where it stops

  • No peer-reviewed study has looked at awe in deserts. That the Sahara triggers awe fits the theory; it is our inference, not a finding.
  • In the awe-walk trial, depression, anxiety and life satisfaction did not change. The rafting study had no control group. Awe is not a treatment for PTSD or depression.
  • "Awe slows down time" came from one 2012 paper; a later study found no consistent effect. We don't claim it.
Sources, checked 2026-11-14
  1. Keltner & Haidt (2003). Approaching awe, a moral, spiritual, and aesthetic emotion. Cognition and Emotion 17(2)
  2. Pérez, Lench, Thompson & North (2023). Experimental elicitations of awe: a meta-analysis. Cognition and Emotion 37(1)
  3. Piff, Dietze, Feinberg, Stancato & Keltner (2015). Awe, the small self, and prosocial behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 108(6)
  4. Anderson, Monroy & Keltner (2018). Awe in nature heals: evidence from military veterans, at-risk youth, and college students. Emotion 18(8)
  5. Sturm et al. (2022). Big smile, small self: awe walks promote prosocial positive emotions in older adults. Emotion 22(5)
  6. Rudd, Vohs & Aaker (2012). Awe expands people's perception of time. Psychological Science 23(10)
  7. van Elk & Rotteveel (2020). Experimentally induced awe does not affect implicit and explicit time perception. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics 82(3)
  8. Wikipedia: Erg Chebbi

More of the science

Holidays and happinessThe lift is real, small and short. Looking forward to it counts too.New places and memoryVaried days go with better mood; routine shrinks remembered time.Winter sunMarrakech gets about four times London's December sun. What that does and doesn't mean.The Milky WayMost Europeans can't see it from home. In the Sahara you can.The sea, and surfingCoast visits go with feeling better. Surf therapy: too early to say.Walking in the AtlasA walk in nature lifts mood for hours. Toubkal also means altitude.The hammamNo study has tested it. What sauna research does and doesn't say.Tea with strangersTalking to strangers feels better than people expect. Sharing food builds trust.Other cultures and creativityLiving abroad is linked to creativity. A short trip wasn't.A few words of DarijaNo proven brain boost. Still the best way to start a conversation.Couples and familiesNew things together help in the short term. A trip won't fix a relationship.

Plan it

MerzougaGetting there, camps and fair pricesThe desert routeOver the Atlas to the dunes

Say yes to the trip

Tell us your email and we'll write when the Wakha app is ready: offline, every city, every answer.