Exploring the Emotional Impact of Awe-Inducing Architecture

The presentation by Han Inugami delves into the profound effects of awe-inducing architectural spaces, particularly focusing on religious structures like churches. The research investigates how these environments can evoke emotional responses, such as awe, and influence cognitive processes, including time perception and conformity. Through a series of experiments, the study identifies key architectural features that predict awe, such as immensity and adornment, and examines their broader implications on human behavior and spirituality. The findings highlight the potential of architectural design to enhance well-being and suggest future directions for research, including the use of virtual reality to study real-world applications.

Introduction to Awe-Inducing Interior Spaces

0:00 - 1:00

The presentation begins with Han Inugami introducing their master's thesis work, which explores the potential of using objective scaling methods to capture emotionally relevant aspects of architecture. The central question is whether these methods can predict behavior. The speaker references a recent study suggesting that religious monumental architecture, such as churches, elicits awe through their structures, fostering religious openness and facilitating social functions. This research aims to expand on these findings by conducting an empirical lab-based study on the effect of interior church architecture on cognition. The introduction sets the stage for a deeper exploration of how architectural elements can evoke emotional responses, particularly awe, and influence human behavior.

Defining Awe and Its Impact

1:00 - 3:00

Awe is defined as an emotion that encompasses vastness, such as physical size or power, and accommodation, which requires the adjustment of existing mental models. The speaker notes that awe is commonly experienced when viewing natural scenery and can also arise from architectural features like the size of a space or the exceptional skill involved in its creation. Recent findings indicate that feeling awe can increase belief in supernatural control, feelings of oneness with others, and spiritual behavioral intentions, especially among those already religious or spiritual. Additionally, awe has been shown to expand one's sense of time, making individuals feel they have more time available. This segment highlights the profound psychological effects of awe and its potential to influence spiritual and temporal perceptions.

Religious Priming and Conformity

3:00 - 5:00

The speaker discusses previous research on religious priming, which found that individuals with submissive personalities are more likely to conform to peer estimates when primed with religious words. This finding is illustrated with a study where participants were primed with religious and neutral words, and their conformity was measured. The speaker aims to replicate this finding using photographs of church interiors instead of religious words. This segment introduces the concept of religious priming and its potential to influence conformity, setting the stage for the speaker's own research on the impact of architectural spaces on behavior.

Experiment 1: Identifying Awe-Inducing Architectural Features

5:00 - 7:00

The first experiment aims to identify which physical properties of interior spaces elicit awe. The experiment involves developing a rating scale to measure architectural properties in a set of buildings and assessing the affective response to these photographs. The speaker describes the selection of 60 photographs, including both religious and non-religious spaces, which were rated on 24 architectural properties. A principal component analysis was conducted to reduce the number of properties, resulting in four principal components: immensity, adornment, natural lighting, and use of natural materials. This segment provides insight into the methodological approach used to quantify architectural features and their emotional impact, highlighting the complexity of measuring subjective experiences like awe.

Experiment 1 Results: Predictors of Awe

7:00 - 9:00

The results of the first experiment reveal that the components of immensity and adornment significantly predict feelings of awe. The speaker explains that these findings allow them to address their initial research questions regarding the effects of church interiors on religiousness, spirituality, time perception, and conformity. The identification of specific architectural features that evoke awe provides a foundation for further exploration of how these elements can influence human behavior and emotional responses. This segment underscores the importance of empirical research in understanding the psychological impact of architectural design.

Experiment 2: Testing the Effects of Awe-Inducing Spaces

9:00 - 11:00

In the second experiment, participants were exposed to photographs of church and non-religious spaces, categorized by their predicted ability to elicit awe. The experiment tested hypotheses related to time perception, conformity, and religiousness/spirituality. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions, viewing spaces with high or low predicted awe. The speaker hypothesized that high-awe conditions would lead to longer perceived time, increased conformity in religious spaces, and higher ratings of religiousness and spirituality. This segment illustrates the experimental design used to investigate the broader implications of awe-inducing architecture on cognitive and emotional processes.

Experiment 2 Results: Time Perception and Conformity

11:00 - 13:00

The results of the time estimation task indicate that participants who felt awe were less likely to underestimate time, confirming the hypothesis that awe extends perceived time. However, the expected increase in conformity due to religious priming was not observed, possibly due to the presence of religious imagery in non-religious spaces. The speaker suggests that stronger experimental conditions are needed to replicate these findings. This segment highlights the nuanced effects of awe on time perception and the challenges of isolating variables in experimental research, emphasizing the complexity of studying emotional responses to architectural spaces.

Conclusions and Future Directions

13:00 - 15:24

The speaker concludes by summarizing the key findings: awe influences time perception but not conformity or spirituality as initially predicted. The research demonstrates the impact of aesthetic environments on emotional and cognitive processes, with implications for architectural design. The speaker emphasizes the potential for creating spaces that stimulate positive affect, extending beyond religious settings to include hospitals and schools. Future research will involve replicating the study with virtual reality and real spaces to enhance ecological validity. This segment underscores the significance of understanding the emotional impact of architecture and the potential for neuroarchitecture to inform design practices that enhance well-being.