Abstract 

Art has the ability to resonate strongly with its observers. For example, art can inspire self-transcendent emotions such as awe, gratitude, and elevation. These emotions may be especially useful for reducing prejudice due to their associations with prosociality and a sense of connectedness to the world beyond the self. Across two studies, we aimed to test this hypothesis by implementing an in-person (Study 1, N = 101) and virtual (Study 2, N = 145) art gallery intervention. We then examined the effects of viewing these art exhibits on participants’ self-transcendent emotions and intergroup attitudes. We predicted that higher self-transcendent emotions would reduce prejudice, and that these effects would be moderated by existing levels of social dominance orientation (SDO) within participants. Results revealed that, in both studies, increased feelings of awe actually resulted in higher levels of prejudice within participants who scored high in SDO. We conclude that the use of art in reducing prejudice may become complex when considering underlying ideological differences between individuals.