Regis University has been very fortunate in having great speeches delivered here on our campus. These speeches include Pope John Paul II & former President Bill Clinton speaking in 1993, Father Greg Boyle speaking this month as the founder of Homeboy Industries, which helps former gang members get new jobs, and we had a 50th anniversary tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. If you have ever witnessed a very powerful or moving speech, there may be one physiological activity you may be experiencing besides shedding a few tears: forming goose bumps.
Goose bumps, known as piloerection, is when the muscles beneath the skin of a mammal contract, causing the skin to cause bumps and hair on the skin to rise stimulated by the sympathetic nervous system. When goose bumps form on the skin, we usually think they are formed because they are freezing on a cold winter day or when you are watching a frightening horror film during Halloween. However, there are some experiences we are a part of that give us the "chills and shivers down our spine" that are usually felt when we are in awe of something. These goose bumps that are caused by awe inspiring events have been found to have been formed by evolutionary precursors. These goose bumps have evolved to be from awe inspiring experiences today due to the evolutionary past from the idea of adapting to hierarchy status. The mechanism was formed by maintaining hierarchy status by past individuals of a higher status installing fear into individuals of a lower social status. This could show a correlation between goose bumps from awe-inspiring events and having fear in certain situations.
Goose bumps have also been found to be associated with envy. When we witness an event that has put us in awe, there has been a reaction to cause the person to go from full of awe to becoming envious. This envious response comes from our reaction to the physiological response from our goosebumps. The evolutionary response from goosebumps can result in two different outcomes: praise and awe in an amazing experience or turning that to a somewhat negative response of envy and jealousy of someone from a higher social status. Although both of these responses of awe and envy were found, it is more likely that an individual will find awe in a powerful and moving experience from someone than turning the powerful experience into envy. This unique physiological response of goose bumps show an interesting evolutionary transformation from warming up the body physically, to also being an emotional and mental stimulus from a powerful and moving experience.
Refernces:
Schurtz, D. R., Blincoe, S., Smith, R. H., Powell, C. A., Combs, D. J., & Kim, S. H. (2012). Exploring the social aspects of goose bumps and their role in awe and envy. Motivation and Emotion, 36(2), 205-217.
Keltner, D., & Haidt, J. (2003). Approaching awe, a moral, spiritual, and aesthetic emotion. Cognition and Emotion, 17, 297-314
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