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Day 2 - Plenary Session
May 11, 9:00 - 9:50 am (EST/USA)
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Awe: From Research To Real Life

Presenters:

David Bryce Yaden, PhD

  • Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (USA)

  • LinkedIn profile

Craig Anderson, PhD

  • Postdoctoral Research Scholar in Marketing, Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis (USA)

  • LinkedIn profile

Expert Panelists:

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Tony Walker, ASM

  • Chief Executive Officer, Ambulance Victoria; Associate Professor (Australia)

  • Twitter: @AGWalker01

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Brad Norris

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The Impact of Awe   

David Bryce Yaden, PhD​

In this talk, I will describe my research on how to measure the various facets of awe, how awe is usually triggered, and how awe impacts well-being. I will illustrate this research with some surprising sources of awe, from interviews with astronauts seeing Earth from space, to first responders inside of a burning building, to watching a child walk for the first time. I will provide some compelling reasons why making some time for awe might be worthwhile.

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Awe & The Outdoors

Craig Anderson, PhD

The notion that spending time in the outdoors is good for one’s health is not new, but we still don’t know exactly why this is the case.  My work suggests that the emotion of awe is a psychological mechanism that helps explain why being in nature is good for us.  In my presentation I’ll discuss my research which shows that the awe that military Veterans and kids from underserved communities felt during white-water rafting trips predicted improvements in well-being, such as PTSD symptoms.  I’ll also show evidence of the contagiousness of emotions to build a case for collective experiences of awe as a way to improve the well-being and resilience of teams. 

More information:

 

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BIOGRAPHIES

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David Bryce Yaden, PhD

David B. Yaden, PhD is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania. Specifically, he is interested in understanding how brief inner experiences can result in long-term changes to well-being and one’s sense of identity. His scientific and scholarly work has been covered by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, New York Magazine, and NPR.

Email: dyaden1@jhmi.edu

Website: davidbryceyaden.com, The Varieties Corpus

Twitter: @ExistWell

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Craig Anderson, PhD

Craig received his PhD from UC Berkeley, where he studied how the awe that people feel in nature impacts the well-being and health of military Veterans and youth from underserved communities.  He is currently a postdoctoral scholar in Marketing at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis.  His current research interests include how people can be “nudged” to spend more time doing awe-inspiring activities like spending time outdoors.

Email: craiglanderson@wustl.edu 

Website: www.craiglanderson.com 

Faculty page

LinkedIn profile

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Tony Walker, ASM

Tony Walker ASM is Chief Executive Officer of Ambulance Victoria. He is a Registered Paramedic with over thirty-five years’ experience working in a range of senior clinical, operational and leadership roles within the ambulance sector. 

Over past six years Tony has led significant transformation at Ambulance Victoria to improve the health and wellbeing of their workforce and the response they provide to the community.  He holds an adjunct appointment as Associate Professor in the College of Health and Biomedicine at Victoria University and is a Fellow of the Australian College of Paramedicine and a Board Director of the Emergency Services Foundation, the Australasian Council of Ambulance Authorities and the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia.

Tony is a recipient of the Ambulance Service Medal (ASM) for his contribution to the development of ambulance services at a state and national level and has also been awarded the Australian Resuscitation Council Medal for his significant contributions to improving resuscitation practice and outcomes. Tony was also a finalist for the Australian Mental Health Prize in 2019 in recognition of his work in improving paramedic mental health and wellbeing.

Twitter: @AGWalker01

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Brad Norris

Brad is the Founder and Managing Director of Synergy Health, a business that over the last 20 years has developed a strong reputation for delivering effective workplace wellbeing, safety and engagement programs to some of the largest and most successful workplaces across the globe including New Zealand Police. He has a Masters in Organisational Psychology, is a coffee lover and bike fanatic. 

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