The shock of Awe experience to our soul is more directly on cognitive well-being than affective well-being

Previous research has demonstrated that the experience of awe can alleviate negative emotions, such as stress related to life and career, consequently enhancing overall happiness. Drawing from the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, the mechanism through which awe mitigates stress and enhances happiness lies in its capacity to restructure an individual's original cognitive framework and foster a more open-minded approach to problem-solving. This, in turn, facilitates the cultivation of both physical and mental resources, including the enhancement of psychological resilience, thereby empowering individuals to better rebound from adversity and pressure. The study seeks to validate this perspective. In this study, 342 Chinese college students (awe group, pleasant group and neutral group) were investigated to test the effects of awe on cognitive well-being and affective well-being using a recall priming task paradigm. Results indicated that: (1) compared with pleasant and neutral groups, awe experience not only had a direct effect on cognitive well-being (life satisfaction), but it also had a significant indirect effect on cognitive well-being through a mediating variable - resilience. However, (2) awe experience had no direct effect on affective well-being (emotional balance), although the mediating effect of resilience was significant. This suggested that awe, as a transcendent positive experience, might have different effects or mechanism on individuals' cognition and emotion evaluation.