Abstract
Awe appears often in the communication of science. This emotion is commonly described as
a universal and innate emotion resulting from evaluating an object as vast and forcing a change in people’s worldviews. In its association with curiosity and learning, this emotion has been portrayed as a potential tool for science communicators to engage with their audiences. This narrow description mostly ignores, however, the many layers of sociocultural reality within which an emotion is bound. I approach awe in science communication using a constructionist view of emotions, a theoretical framework that accounts for the historical and cultural specificity of emotions within biological constraints, their enculturation and acculturation processes, and their multiple representational varieties. Throughout this thesis, I present evidence indicating that awe is valued in the culture of science communication, that people who engage with this culture are more skilled at conceptualizing awe, and that there are multiple types of awe in this space, each being privy to the historical and sociocultural realities where this emotion is represented.