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Cultivating Awe & Emotional Connection in Daily Life | Dr. Dacher Keltner

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Apr 6, 2026

Guest

Dacher Keltner

Dacher Keltner, Berkeley psychologist studying awe and human connection, explores what sparks awe in daily life. He gets into awe walks, music, sports, humor, and city design. The conversation also touches on social media’s limits, why self-focus can block wonder, how embarrassment and teasing shape bonds, and the role of psychedelics, grief, and transcendence.

02:20:34

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Episode notes

Transcendence Can Arise Without Language

Awe can emerge in nonverbal, high-intensity experiences like music, sparring, or mosh pits where language drops away and vulnerability synchronizes people.
Keltner connects this to veterans, martial arts, Raging Bull, and collisions that somehow produce transcendence rather than mere aggression.

Self Focus Blocks Awe

The main enemy of awe is excessive self-focus, which Keltner ties to narcissism, money preoccupation, and a culture that constantly centers the self.
He cites Emerson’s line that in awe “all mean egotism vanishes” and notes selfies now consume a huge share of photos.

Sports Create A Form Of Secular Religion

Sports function like religion because fans share rituals, identity, memory, suffering, and ecstatic release around something larger than themselves.
Keltner cites global awe stories, Steeler bars, Mayan ball courts, and Steve Kerr seeing thousands dance from one game.

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Why Awe Deserves Scientific Study

02:23 • 2min

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Beyond Six Universal Facial Expressions

04:31 • 7min

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Emotion Splits Across Body, Words, and Feeling

11:19 • 10min

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How Awe Is Measured in Labs and Life

20:55 • 5min

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Vastness Reshapes Perception and Self

26:13 • 4min

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Awe Walks Expand Awareness and Ease Pain

29:54 • 5min

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Awe Tethers Us to Something Larger

34:26 • 10min

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Collective Awe Synchronizes Minds and Bodies

44:05 • 6min

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Music Creates Identity, Memory, and Transcendence

50:30 • 7min

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Transcendence Can Emerge Through Combat

57:21 • 5min

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Moral Beauty Feels Bigger Than Language

01:02:19 • 4min

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Self-Focus and Narcissism Block Awe

01:06:32 • 8min

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Sports Turn Fans Into Living Communities

01:14:19 • 5min

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Wellness Rituals Can Rebuild Social Connection

01:19:30 • 4min

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Online Life Fragments Experience Instead of Enlarging It

01:23:08 • 9min

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Cities Can Be Designed for Everyday Awe

01:32:21 • 4min

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Embarrassment Signals Trustworthiness and Group Commitment

01:36:11 • 7min

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Male Teasing Works When Loyalty Is Clear

01:43:34 • 5min

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Community Is Eroding but Also Reappearing

01:48:18 • 7min

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Psychedelics Amplify Awe but Need Containers

01:55:01 • 7min

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Awe Offers a Roadmap for Cultural Repair

02:01:45 • 12min

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Mortality Opens Questions Beyond Materialism

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Doors of Perception

Aldous Huxley

In this book, Huxley recounts his first psychedelic experience with mescaline in May 1953. He describes how the drug altered his perception of the world, making ordinary objects and experiences take on profound aesthetic and philosophical significance. Huxley draws on various philosophical and spiritual traditions, including those of William Blake, Meister Eckhart, Plato, and Buddhism, to contextualize his insights. The book challenges conventional views on perception and reality, suggesting that certain substances can reveal deeper aspects of existence that are normally filtered out by the human brain's 'reducing valve'

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Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals

Charles Darwin

This book, published in 1872, is Charles Darwin's third major work on evolutionary theory. It delves into the biological aspects of emotional behavior, arguing that human emotional expressions have their origins in animal behavior. Darwin introduces principles such as 'the principle of serviceable associated Habits', 'the principle of Antithesis', and 'the principle of actions due to the constitution of the Nervous System'. He analyzes various emotions and their expressions, highlighting the universal nature of these expressions across different species and cultures. The book was illustrated with photographs, drawings, and woodblock prints, making it one of the first scientific works to use photographs extensively. Darwin's work challenged the prevailing view that human facial muscles were divinely created for unique emotional expressions, instead linking them to evolutionary heritage.

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Varieties of Religious Experience

William James

This book is a collection of lectures delivered by William James at the University of Edinburgh between 1901 and 1902. It focuses on the personal and subjective aspects of religious experiences, rather than on theology or organized religion. James examines various types of religious experiences, including healthy-mindedness, the sick soul, conversion, mysticism, and saintliness. He emphasizes the importance of feeling and personal experience in religion, arguing that these experiences are the primary source of religious beliefs and practices. The book also discusses the psychological and philosophical implications of these experiences, highlighting their complexity and life-altering nature.

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A Fighter's Heart

One Man's Journey Through the World of Fighting

Sam Sheridan

In this book, Sam Sheridan recounts his epic journey into the world of professional fighting. Starting in 1999, after a series of adventurous jobs around the world, Sheridan indulged in his long-dormant obsession with fighting. He trained with the greatest fighter in muay Thai history in Bangkok, faced Olympic boxers, Brazilian jiu-jitsu stars, and Ultimate Fighting champions. The book provides an insightful look at violence as a career and a spectator sport, offering a behind-the-scenes glimpse of athletes at the peak of their game. It is a combination of gonzo journalism and participatory sports writing, detailing what it's like to reach the peak of finely disciplined personal aggression.

Dr. Dacher Keltner, PhD, is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and a leading expert on the science of emotions and human connection. We discuss the science of awe—what evokes it and how to access it. Dr. Keltner explains how awe helps us frame our experience of life and who we are both as individuals and collectively. We also discuss the role of humor in social bonding, dispel common myths about the biology of emotions and review the lesser-known factors that strengthen or inhibit relationships and communities.

Read the episode show notes at hubermanlab.com.

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Timestamps

(00:00:00) Dr Dachner Keltner

(00:01:55) Emotions, Awe; Facial Expressions & Culture

(00:08:11) Sponsors: Joovv & Helix Sleep

(00:11:05) Emotion, Motor Movement & Language