Self-Transcendence Accompanies Aesthetic Chills
Leonardo Christov‐moore, Félix Schoeller, Caite Lynch, Matthew D. Sacchet, Nicco Reggente
October 19, 2023 preprint DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/tsrve via OpenAlex
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractAesthetic chills—the pleasurable, cold sensation often experienced during music or film—are robustly linked to self-transcendence, a positive altered state involving ego-dissolution, connectedness, and moral elevation. In 2,937 participants exposed to chills-eliciting stimuli, chills occurrence and intensity formed a tightly interrelated construct with measures of self-transcendence, even after controlling for prior state and trait differences. The findings suggest that self-transcendence experiences can be reliably evoked through exposure to audiovisual media that elicit chills, offering a more accessible path to study and apply self-transcendence for well-being and prosociality compared to conventional methods like meditation or psychedelics.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Observational cohort |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 2,937 |
| Population | Participants exposed to chills-eliciting stimuli |
| Keywords | Chills Social psychology Context archaeology Medicine |
| Citations | 6 |
| Key finding | Aesthetic chills are robustly associated with self-transcendence, forming a tightly interrelated construct. |
Abstract
Self-transcendence (ST) is a positive altered state of consciousness associated with ego-dissolution, connectedness, and moral elevation, which mediates well-being, meaning-making, and prosociality. Conventional paths to ST such as religious practice, meditative practice, and psychedelics pose nontrivial barriers to entry, limiting ST’s study and wide application. Aesthetic chills (henceforth “chills”) are a peak psychophysiological response characterized by a pleasurable, cold sensation, and subjective qualities and outcomes intuitively similar to ST. However, evidence is lacking directly relating chills and ST. We exposed 2937 participants to chills-eliciting stimuli, then assayed chills intensity, mood and ST measures. Controlling for prior state and trait differences, chills were robustly associated with ST. Analyses of main effects and covariance structure found that chills occurrence and intensity, and ST measures, form a tightly interrelated construct. These findings suggest that ST experiences are reliably evokable via exposure to aesthetic chills-evoking audiovisual media. We discuss implications of chills-evoking media for tractable studies of ST and democratized applications of ST towards human flourishing.