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Maybe it was when you saw the Grand Canyon for the first time,
敬畏也許產生在你第一次看到大峽谷的時候，
or when you found yourself standing 20 centimeters from the whorls of Starry Night,
或者是在你發現自己站在離《星空》螺旋只有20厘米的地方時，
or listening to the New York Philharmonic play the Star Wars theme.
或者是在你聽紐約愛樂樂團演奏《星球大戰》主題曲的時候。
Maybe watching a Wakandan sunset.
也許是你在看瓦坎達日落的時候。
No matter what causes it, being awestruck feels much the same.
不管起因是什么，敬畏的感覺大多相同。
Your mouth drops open. Time stops. You forget to breathe.
你張大嘴巴。時間靜止。你忘了呼吸。
Awe is one of the most powerful, transformative emotions we have,
敬畏是我們擁有的最強大、最具變革性的情感之一，
and it's a key part of how we develop our understanding of the world.
在我們如何發展對世界的理解中發揮著重要作用。
But it turns out that connection goes both ways.
但事實證明這種聯系是雙向的。
Because feeling awe might tell you a lot about the world,
因為感知敬畏可以告訴你很多關于世界的事情，
but the psychology of awe can tell you a lot about humans.
但是敬畏心理學可以告訴你很多關于人類的事情。
Most psychologists agree that awe is a feeling
大多數心理學家都認為敬畏是一種感覺，
that happens when something is so vast that it's hard to fit into your current way of thinking.
當某些東西非常浩瀚，以至于你目前的思維方式很難適應它時，就會產生這種感覺。
"Vastness" in this context can be something that's just plain old big, like a redwood tree,
這種情境下的“Vastness”可以是普通的大物件，比如紅杉樹，
but it can also mean something that's larger than yourself in all kinds of ways,
也可以是在各方面都比你龐大的事物，
a higher social standing, for example, or even just a concept.
甚至是一個概念，例如更高的社會地位。
When you're confronted with this thing, it just … doesn't fit.
當你面對它時，它…不符合你的思維方式。
It's too much, too vast, in a way that makes it hard to even comprehend.
它太多了，太大了，超出了你的理解范圍。
And that's when you feel it: You are awestruck.
這就是你對它的感覺：你感到敬畏。
This definition is pretty new, at least among psychologists.
這種定義相當新穎，至少在心理學家之間是這樣。
Philosophers and poets have talked about awe for millennia,
哲學家和詩人談論了幾千年的敬畏，
but psychologists didn't really start studying it until recently,
但心理學家們最近才開始研究它，
partly because it's hard to find ways to inspire awe in a lab, no matter how amazing those automatic pipettes are.
部分原因是，不管自動吸量管有多神奇，我們都很難在實驗室里找到激發敬畏的方法。
The field really kicked off in 2003, when a group of researchers published a study in Cognition Emotion
這個領域真正開始于2003年，一組研究人員發表了一項關于認知情緒研究的時候，
where they first proposed the idea of awe as a way of processing something that seems too vast to comprehend.
他們在研究中第一次提出，“敬畏”這個概念是一種處理似乎過于龐大以至于無法理解的事物的方式。
They also came up with five so-called "flavors" that might affect our sense of awe:
他們還提出了五種可能影響敬畏感的所謂“口味”：
threat, beauty, ability, virtue, and a sense of the supernatural.
威脅，美麗，能力，美德，以及超自然的感覺。
Including "threat" in that list might be surprising at first,
列表包括“威脅”，這一開始可能會讓人吃驚，
because people don't talk about awe as a negative thing or a sign of a threat, but it can be.
因為人們不會把敬畏說成是一種消極事物或威脅標志，但它可能是。
The word "awe" actually comes from Middle English words for fear, dread and terror. Uh, yikes?
“Awe”一詞來源于中世紀英語中表示恐懼、畏懼和恐怖的單詞，很驚訝是吧？
And good and bad awe are both part of the English language today.
好的“awe”與糟糕的“awe”都是現代英語的一部分。
It's what the words "awesome" and "awful" have in common.
這就是“awesome”和“awful”兩個詞的共同之處。
Negative awe is the type of feeling you might get from looking at pictures of horrible destruction after a hurricane or an earthquake.
消極敬畏是你看到颶風或地震過后可怕的毀滅場景時可能產生的感覺。
It's definitely not in the same category as sequoias and rainbows,
它肯定不與紅杉和彩虹在同一類別，
but it's hard to wrap your head around in a similar way.
你很難用類似的方式認真思考它。
But whether the feeling is positive or negative,
無論感覺積極還是消極，
the evolutionary roots of awe can tell you a lot about why we experience it in the first place.
敬畏的進化根源可以告訴你很多我們起初為什么會經歷它的原因。
Like a lot of emotions, it all comes down to how social we are as a species.
與很多情感類似，這一切都歸結于我們作為一個物種的社會性。
In that 2003 paper about the "flavors" of awe,
在2003年那篇關于敬畏的“味道”一文中，
the researchers also proposed that the feeling evolved as a way for underlings to react to a powerful leader.
研究人員還提出，這種感覺以下屬對一位強大領導者做出反應的方式進化。
That … might seem kind of unsettling these days,
這似乎有點兒讓人不安，
because we've seen fascism and we all know how that goes.
因為我們見到過法西斯主義，都知道這是怎么回事。
But fear and submission in the face of powerful group members are actually common in lots of primates,
但是在面對強大的群體成員時，多靈長類動物都會恐懼和屈服，這很常見，
and back in the day, it was the simplest way to avoid conflict.
回到以前，這是避免沖突的最簡單方法。
And there are some heartwarming social benefits to awe, as well, it makes us treat each other better.
敬畏還有一些暖心的社會福利，它讓我們更好地對待彼此。
One 2015 study on this involved a series of experiments with a total of nearly 2,000 participants.
2015年，研究人員用近2000名受試者對此進行了研究，做了一系列實驗。
It found that when people thought about a time that they experienced awe,
它發現當人們想到自己經歷敬畏的那段時間時，
they tended to become more generous and selfless and make more ethical decisions.
往往變得更加慷慨無私，做出更道德的決定。
So awe would've had plenty of evolutionary advantages when it comes to cooperating as a group.
所以當涉及到小組合作時，敬畏會有很多進化上的優勢。
But other researchers have proposed that the evolution of awe is more closely tied to intelligence.
但其他研究人員提出，敬畏的進化與智力聯系得更緊密。
The idea is that you experience awe in situations where it's important to be acquiring information that you can use later.
該觀點是指，獲取你以后可以使用的信息非常重要，在此情形下你會感到敬畏。
It makes sense: if something is awe-inspiring because it doesn't fit with your understanding of the world,
這是有道理的：如果某件事因為不符合你對世界的理解而令人敬畏，
that's probably something that you should know more about if you wanna survive.
那么它可能是你應該更多了解的事情，如果你想活下去的話。
The feeling of awe directs your attention away from yourself and toward your environment,
敬畏的感覺將你的注意力從你自己轉移到你的環境中，
so you can acquire more information about this new, possibly life-changing thing, whether it's positive or negative.
所以你可以從這個可能改變生活的新事物中獲取更多信息，無論它積極還是消極。
So awe might have given us a social advantage or an intellectual advantage, or maybe some combination of both.
敬畏可能會給我們帶來社會優勢或者智力優勢，或者兩者兼而有之。
But no matter why the emotion evolved, we know that it's incredibly powerful,
但無論情感為什么進化，我們都知道它非常強大，
to the point that it can, like, totally hack your brain and body.
關鍵是它能完全影響你的大腦和身體。
For one thing, it can improve your physical health.
一方面，它可以改善你的身體健康。
It's been linked to lower levels of inflammation, which plays a role in all sorts of illnesses.
它與較低的炎癥水平有關，后者在各種疾病中起著重要作用。
Awe can also change your perception of what's causing events to unfold.
敬畏還可以改變你對事件起因的看法。
Studies have found that it makes people more likely to interpret
研究發現，它讓人們更容易理解
a series of events as the consequence of something intentional, as opposed to random chance.
一系列事件是有意的結果，而不是偶然發生的。
It's all part of the search for an explanation for something your brain is struggling to comprehend,
這些都是解釋大腦很難理解某物的部分探究過程，
which could help us explain why religion is a thing.
這能幫助我們解釋為什么宗教是一件大事。
Oh, and also awe can basically stop time.
哦，敬畏也可以停止時間。
A 2011 study found that subjects who experienced awe were more likely to report
2011年的一項研究發現，經歷過敬畏的受試者更有可能報告說
feeling that time was "boundless" and like they had enough time to get things done.
他們感覺時間是“無限的”，似乎有足夠的時間把事情做完。
They were also more willing to volunteer their time to help others.
他們更愿意奉獻自己的時間去幫助他人。
So altering our perception of time might be part of how awe leads to those social benefits.
所以改變我們對時間的感知可能是敬畏的一部分社會福利。
It's hard to know how or whether most of these effects apply to the negative type of awe,
我們很難知道這些影響如何或者是否適用于消極敬畏，
because there's much less research on it.
因為對它的研究少得多。
But one study did find that negative feelings of awe didn't produce the same health benefits as positive awe did,
但是一項研究發現，消極敬畏并沒有產生和積極敬畏一樣的健康益處，
so the effects don't seem to be exactly the same.
所以它們的效果看起來并不完全一樣。
One thing is clear, though: these experiences, where something is so huge and incomprehensible
不過有一件事很清楚：經歷那些如此龐大和難以理解的事物，
that it makes you rethink your understanding of the world are part of how we function as a species.
會讓你重新思考自己對世界的理解是我們作為一個物種的一部分角色。
Whether it's inspired by the Grand Canyon or a natural disaster,
不管它是不是受到大峽谷還是自然災害的啟發，
awe changes you, maybe more than you know.
敬畏都改變了你，這種改變超出你的了解。
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Psych,
感謝您收看本期的心理科學秀，
and thank you to all of our patrons on Patreon for helping support this channel.
也感謝Patreon上的所有贊助人對本欄目的支持。
We are a community of humans who want to understand more about humans,
我們是一個人類社群，想要更多地了解人類，
specifically, the brain parts, and if that, to you, sounds like something that's cool,
特別是人類大腦，如果它對你來說聽起來很酷的話，
you can go to youtube.com/scishowpsych and subscribe.
你可以登陸youtube.com/scishowpsych點擊訂閱。
