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Experiencing awe in daily life is linked to lower loneliness
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  • Open access
  • Published: 21 February 2026

Experiencing awe in daily life is linked to lower loneliness

  • Özge Ugurlu1,
  • Felicia Zerwas2,
  • Maria Monroy3,
  • Rebecca Corona1,
  • Michael Amster4,
  • Jake Eagle5 &
  • …
  • Dacher Keltner1 

Scientific Reports , Article number:  (2026) Cite this article

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We are providing an unedited version of this manuscript to give early access to its findings. Before final publication, the manuscript will undergo further editing. Please note there may be errors present which affect the content, and all legal disclaimers apply.

Subjects

  • Health care
  • Psychology
  • Risk factors

Abstract

Loneliness affects 55% of healthcare workers, putting them at risk for health problems. These include mental health issues (e.g., depression and anxiety) and physical ailments (e.g., inflammation, heart disease, and increased substance abuse). Despite the well-established link between loneliness and health, research on healthcare workers’ experiences of loneliness remains limited. To address this gap, we conducted a 22-day daily diary study to test whether daily awe predicts reduced loneliness in healthcare workers. Our within-person analyses showed that participants who experienced more awe than usual reported less loneliness on the same day. Notably, this association remained significant after controlling for other positive emotions known to benefit well-being and was replicated in a community sample. Further analysis showed that the sense of connectedness, central to awe, explained the link between awe and loneliness in both samples. These findings suggest that moments of awe can be an antidote to loneliness and its health costs.

Data availability

All original data are publicly available online on the Open Science Framework (https:/osf.io/k9aby/?view_only=df1da4799a6a45b4b5aca8d6258b6df4) site. All statistical analyses were performed using RStudio96 in the R programming environment. The code necessary to reproduce all analyses is publicly available online on the Open Science Framework (https:/osf.io/k9aby/?view_only=df1da4799a6a45b4b5aca8d6258b6df4) site.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all participants who committed to the 22-day daily diary study during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the healthcare workers who participated during an exceptionally challenging time. We are also grateful to the NorthBay Health Medical Center for their support with recruitment and study facilitation. This study did not receive any external funding.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, 2121 Berkeley Way, MC #5050, Berkeley, CA, 94720-5050, USA

    Özge Ugurlu, Rebecca Corona & Dacher Keltner

  2. Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, USA

    Felicia Zerwas

  3. Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, USA

    Maria Monroy

  4. College of Osteopathic Medicine, Touro University California, Vallejo, USA

    Michael Amster

  5. Live Conscious, Hawi, HI, USA

    Jake Eagle

Authors
  1. Özge Ugurlu
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  2. Felicia Zerwas
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  3. Maria Monroy
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  4. Rebecca Corona
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  5. Michael Amster
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  6. Jake Eagle
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  7. Dacher Keltner
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Contributions

Ö.U. led the data analysis and drafted the manuscript. Together, Ö.U., F.Z., M.M., and R.C. conceptualized and designed the study and contributed to data collection. M.A. and J.E. assisted with recruitment and provided feedback on manuscript revisions. D.K. supervised the project, offered critical theoretical guidance, and contributed to manuscript revisions.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Özge Ugurlu.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Cite this article

Ugurlu, Ö., Zerwas, F., Monroy, M. et al. Experiencing awe in daily life is linked to lower loneliness. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-34864-w

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  • Received: 14 July 2025

  • Accepted: 31 December 2025

  • Published: 21 February 2026

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-34864-w

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Keywords

  • Awe
  • Loneliness
  • Connection
  • Mental health
  • Healthcare workers
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