Cultivating Awe & Emotional Connection in Daily Life | Dr. Dacher Keltner
06 April 2026

Cultivating Awe & Emotional Connection in Daily Life | Dr. Dacher Keltner

Huberman Lab

About
Dr. Dacher Keltner, PhD, is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and a leading expert on the science of emotions and human connection. We discuss the science of awe—what evokes it and how to access it. Dr. Keltner explains how awe helps us frame our experience of life and who we are both as individuals and collectively. We also discuss the role of humor in social bonding, dispel common myths about the biology of emotions and review the lesser-known factors that strengthen or inhibit relationships and communities.

Read the episode show notes at hubermanlab.com.

Thank you to our sponsors

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Timestamps

(00:00:00) Dr Dachner Keltner

(00:01:55) Emotions, Awe; Facial Expressions & Culture

(00:08:11) Sponsors: Joovv & Helix Sleep

(00:11:05) Emotion, Motor Movement & Language

(00:15:36) Measuring Emotion; Studying Awe

(00:24:10) Horizons, Small to Vast, Shifting Perspective

(00:29:27) Tool: Awe Walk

(00:33:53) Time Perception, Tool: Space-Time Bridging Meditation; Chimps, Vastness

(00:42:13) Sponsor: AG1

(00:43:37) Consciousness, Collective Experiences & Brain Synchronization

(00:50:04) Music, Concerts & Awe; Sparring, Transcendence

(01:01:28) Joe Strummer

(01:06:04) Inhibitors of Awe, Self-Focus & Narcissism

(01:12:41) Sponsor: Function

(01:13:52) Sports, Collective Effervescence

(01:19:03) Social Media & Online Life, Social Community

(01:29:51) Designing Cities & Places for Awe

(01:34:29) Sponsor: Our Place

(01:35:44) Embarrassment, Teasing; Collective Values

(01:43:05) Male Friendship, Teasing

(01:47:50) Isolation, Loneliness, Reemergence of Community

(01:54:33) Psychedelics, Awe, Treating Trauma; Microdosing

(02:01:18) Looking Forward, Awe Design

(02:08:36) Campfires, Connection, Red Light

(02:13:34) Life After Death; Acknowledgments

(02:17:19) Zero-Cost Support, YouTube, Spotify & Apple Follow, Reviews & Feedback, Sponsors, Protocols Book, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter

Disclaimer & Disclosures
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