Quantifying the if, the when, and the what of the Sublime: A survey and latent class analysis of incidence, emotions, and distinct varieties of personal sublime experiences
- Author(s)
- Matthew Pelowski, Young-Jin Hur, Katherine Cotter, Tomohiro Ishizu, Alexander Christensen, Helmut Leder, Chris McManus
- Abstract
Sublime encounters provide a compelling example of the peaks of our shared emotional and cognitive experiences. For centuries, these have been a target for philosophy and, more recently, for psychology, with its renewed focus on profound or aesthetic events. The sublime has been theoretically connected to multiple contexts, from interactions with overpowering nature, to beauty, music, even interpersonal engagements, and to multiple emotions—danger, awe, pleasure, fear—often with diametrically opposing arguments for what constitutes these events. However, despite this prolonged discussion, there is still a scarcity of actual systematic research. It is not known whether sublime encounters are common, nor how they are described by individuals, or if reports match theoretical arguments: Are there one or more, or no, distinct sublime types? We address these questions by matching historical discussions to 402 participants’ (Western adults) reports of whether they have ever experienced the sublime and, if so, how these are described in terms of cognitive/emotional and contextual factors. Roughly half reported having had at least one sublime experience, with accounts involving a range of contexts that essentially cover the full spectrum of past theoretical arguments. At the same time, when we considered the cognitive/affective descriptions using network science and latent class analysis of reported feelings, 90.8% fit one model, with involved communities (or interrelated clusters) of positive emotions, discrepancy, self-awareness, transformation/insight, and, notably, not including negative emotions/fear. We conclude with a discussion of how this approach and findings might be used as a basis for considering sublime theory and shaping future research.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology
- External organisation(s)
- University College London, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
- Journal
- Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts
- Volume
- 15
- Pages
- 216-240
- No. of pages
- 25
- ISSN
- 1931-3896
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000273
- Publication date
- 07-2019
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 501001 General psychology, 603101 Aesthetics
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Developmental and Educational Psychology, Visual Arts and Performing Arts, Applied Psychology
- Portal url
- https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/quantifying-the-if-the-when-and-the-what-of-the-sublime-a-survey-and-latent-class-analysis-of-incidence-emotions-and-distinct-varieties-of-personal-sublime-experiences(4bb8b2f5-d4e5-4230-8227-cd65a1175834).html