The Compassionate Instinct: The Science of Human Goodness

Dacher Keltner, Jason Marsh, Jeremy Adam Smith

W. W. Norton & Company, Jan 4, 2010 - Psychology - 336 pages

Leading scientists and science writers reflect on the life-changing, perspective-changing, new science of human goodness.

In these pages you will hear from Steven Pinker, who asks, “Why is there peace?”; Robert Sapolsky, who examines violence among primates; Paul Ekman, who talks with the Dalai Lama about global compassion; Daniel Goleman, who proposes “constructive anger”; and many others. Led by renowned psychologist Dacher Keltner, the Greater Good Science Center, based at the University of California in Berkeley, has been at the forefront of the positive psychology movement, making discoveries about how and why people do good. Four times a year the center publishes its findings with essays on forgiveness, moral inspiration, and everyday ethics in Greater Good magazine. The best of these writings are collected here for the first time.

A collection of personal stories and empirical research, The Compassionate Instinct will make you think not only about what it means to be happy and fulfilled but also about what it means to lead an ethical and compassionate life.

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - lindap69 - LibraryThing

some personal stories some research about what it means to be empathic, compassionate and ethical

Contents

• Introduction: 5
• The Evolution of Empathy: 16
• Peace among Primates: 26
• Dave Grossman: 36
• Political Primates: 45
• The Forgiveness Instinct: 51
• The New Science of Forgiveness: 62
• Brain Trust: 72
• Wired to Be Inspired: 86
• how to cultivate goodness: 95
• Philip A Cowan Carolyn Pape Cowan and Neera Mehta: 100
• Love Honor and Thank: 111
• Stumbling toward Gratitude: 118
• The Choice to Forgive: 126
• Compassion across Cubicles: 133
• Are You a Jerk at Work?: 140
• A Feeling for Fiction: 150
• A Different View: 157
• Daniel Goleman: 171
• Introduction: 177
• The Activism Cure: 195
• Americas Trust Fall: 203
• The Power Paradox: 213
• An Interview with Michael Pollan: 223
• Lisa Bennett: 230
• Jason Marsh: 239
• Making Peace through Apology: 246
• Truth + Reconciliation: 255
• The Heroine with One Thousand Faces: 283
• Zeno Franco and Philip Zimbardo: 287
• Illustration Credits: 301

About the author

Dacher Keltner is Professor of Psychology and the Director of the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley. He has taught social psychology for the past 21 years and is the recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award for Letters and Sciences. His research focuses on the prosocial emotions (such as love, sympathy, and gratitude), morality, and power. Other awards include the Western Psychological Association’s award for outstanding contribution to research, the Positive Psychology Prize for excellence in research, and the Distinguished Mentoring Award at UC Berkeley. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. In 2008, the Utne Reader listed Dacher as one of the 50 visionaries changing the world.

Jason Marsh is an editor of Greater Good magazine. He lives in Berkeley, CA.

Jeremy Adam Smith is the senior editor of Greater Good magazine and the author of The Daddy Shift. He lives in San Francisco.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Compassionate Instinct: The Science of Human Goodness
• Editors: Dacher Keltner, Jason Marsh, Jeremy Adam Smith
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2010
• ISBN: 0393076857, 9780393076851
• Length: 336 pages
• Subjects: Psychology / Emotions