The Architecture of Awe: Experience, Disposition, and Meaning-Making in Autism

The Architecture of Awe: Experience, Disposition, and Meaning-Making in Autism | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article The Architecture of Awe: Experience, Disposition, and Meaning-Making in Autism Hari Srinivasan, David Yaden, Dacher Keltner This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9142343/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Emotional differences in autism are often interpreted as evidence of diminished emotional capacity. Yet contemporary emotion science views emotions as multicomponent processes organized across perceptual, cognitive, embodied, and meaning-making systems. Here we examine awe—a complex positive emotion involving shifts in attention, self-concept, and meaning making. Little is known about how awe is experienced in autism. We examined awe in autistic and neurotypical adults across three levels of analysis: experiential components, dispositional positive emotion, and narrative expression. Groups did not differ in dispositional awe. Instead, differences were selective and structural. Autistic adults differed in altered time perception and physiological aspects of awe, and in narratives describing interpersonal and abstract sources of awe. Differences persisted after controlling for socioeconomic status, personality traits, positive affect, and narrative verbosity. The findings suggest that awe in autism is preserved but differently organized, positioning autism as a revealing case for understanding the organization of emotional experience. Social science/Psychology/Human behaviour Biological sciences/Psychology Awe Autism Emotion Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files AweSupplement.docx Supplementary Information for: The Architecture of Awe: Experience, Disposition, and Meaning-Making in Autism Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9142343","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":607216189,"identity":"e4f831af-ddd8-4f8b-b65f-2cbd775e4929","order_by":0,"name":"Hari Srinivasan","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0003-1583-0795","institution":"Vanderbilt University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hari","middleName":"","lastName":"Srinivasan","suffix":""},{"id":607216190,"identity":"77a91dea-24cb-4fa6-a36d-4024b548a0a4","order_by":1,"name":"David Yaden","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9604-6227","institution":"Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"David","middleName":"","lastName":"Yaden","suffix":""},{"id":607216191,"identity":"21232581-51eb-4be4-a08f-0319eebc6c61","order_by":2,"name":"Dacher Keltner","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9061-5292","institution":"UC Berkeley","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Dacher","middleName":"","lastName":"Keltner","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-16 23:55:15","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9142343/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9142343/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":104835550,"identity":"a44f853c-f33f-4fe8-972a-a45032a15121","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-17 17:45:50","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":485542,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"AweManuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9142343/v1_covered_c454c7cc-4666-4521-a3ba-7e83c3570d8c.pdf"},{"id":104801017,"identity":"89c68542-84bd-49b5-932f-c93411398b98","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-17 10:31:35","extension":"docx","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":238646,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Supplementary Information for: The Architecture of Awe: Experience, Disposition, and Meaning-Making in Autism","description":"","filename":"AweSupplement.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9142343/v1/bf557a9aa7626d09612f03ed.docx"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"The Architecture of Awe: Experience, Disposition, and Meaning-Making in Autism","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":true,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Awe, Autism, Emotion","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9142343/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9142343/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Emotional differences in autism are often interpreted as evidence of diminished emotional capacity. 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