Born To Be Good: The Science
of A Meaningful Life
October 20, 2012
Dacher Keltner
University of California, Berkeley
keltner@berkeley.edu
www.greatergoodscience.org
Sympathy Breakthroughs
(Jonathan Glover, Humanity)
• George Orwell
• Miklos Nyiszli
• 75% of soldiers refuse to shoot at
enemy
An Evolutionary Conundrum
and Parting of Ways
• Russel-Wallace: Sympathy created by God
• Thomas Huxley: A cultural construction
Darwin: Survival of
the Kindest
Darwin argued that sympathy
“will have been increased
through natural selection; for
those communities, which
included the greatest number of
the most sympathetic members,
would flourish best, and rear the
greatest number of offspring”
(Darwin, 1871/2004, p.130).
Take care or die
A Reliable Signal of
Compassion: It’s not in the
face
The Vocal Register of
Compassion
Aw
e
t
G
ra
Lo
ve
de
re
st
tit
u
In
e
re
th
us
ia
sm
es
i
io
n
ss
D
pa
om
En
C
en
em
us
Am
Accuracy (chance = 9%)
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Viral Goodness: The Spread
of Compassion
• Neonate distress cries
• Emotional, Physiological Convergence in
Friends
• Compassion inspires elevation
• Gratitude spreads through networks
• Positive Emotion spreads through
communities
• Collective Joys
Tactile Contact: The First
Language of Compassion
Touch
•
•
•
•
Rewards
Builds Trust
Signals Safety
Soothes
Touch and the spread of goodness
Frequency Choosing Correct
Emotion
Emotion and Touch
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
r
t
r
e
on ude o v ge ea us
i
L An
F sg
ss a tit
i
a
r
D
p G
om
C
Correct Label
Next choice
Coding Touch
• Health of offspring
• Sexual Selection
• Social Selection
Importance as mate (3 = indispensable)
Survival of the Kindest:
Compassion as an Adaptation
Shaped by Natural Selection
3.5
3
2.5
2
Women
Men
1.5
1
0.5
0
Financial
Prospect
Beauty
Kindness
Vagal Superstars
• Richer friendship networks
• More sympathetic prosocial children
• Trusted more in interactions with
strangers
Compassion and midbrain
periaqueductal grey activation
Oxytocin and
Pro-Sociality
Monogamy in prairie voles
Secure attachment behaviors
Oxytocin care-taking in mammals
Generosity in humans
Oxytocin and Trust
% Who Give Away Maximum
•
•
•
•
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Oxytocin
Control
Self-less genes
Oxytocin Receptor Gene
(rs53576)
(Rodrigues, Saslow et al., 2009, PNAS)
% wrong in guessing emotion
from eyes
Minds in the Eye Empathy Score by OXTR
Polymorphism
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
G/G
A/A A/G
Cynical views of the nature
of good-natured
• The very emphasis of the commandment: Thou
shalt not kill, makes it certain that we are
descended from an endlessly long chain of
generations of murderers, whose love of murder
was in their blood as it is perhaps also in ours.
Sigmund Freud
• If any civilization is to survive, it is the morality
of altruism that men have to reject. Ayn Rand
Con’t…
Buddhism
• If you want others to be
happy, practice compassion;
if you want to be happy
practice compassion.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama
rw
a
y
C
h
G ina
er
m
an
T y
ai
w
a
n
In
di
a
U
S
M A
ex
ic
o
G
S h
ou a n
th a
A
P fri
hi c
lip a
pi
ne
s
B
ra
zi
l
N
o
Trust in fellow citizens
A Compassion Crisis
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Children's well-being
Deficits in Compassion in US
Children
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
TEN TIPS FOR THE GOOD LIFE
•
Connect vs. Isolation
Fist bump, back pat, 10 minute mindfulness
•
Trust vs. Distrust
Describe others in terms of good intentions
•
Give vs. Greed
Service learning, volunteerism
•
Play vs. Aggression
Nicknames, wrestling, satirize self
•
Appreciate vs. Blame
Gratitude diary, Thank You letter
•
Optimism vs. Pessimism
Delights of small goals
•
Acceptance vs. Rejection
Speak respectfully; praise effort not ability
•
Narrative vs. Suppression
Questions, Diaries, Thorns & Roses
•
Contemplate vs. Hyperactivity
Favorite sayings, count to six breathing exercise
•
Sacred vs. Anomie
Sacred place, camping, museum, patterns
Greater Good Science Center
www.greatergoodscience.org
Cultivating compassion
• The Breath
• Contemplative traditions
– Loving Kindness meditations
– Richard Davidson, Jon Kabat-Zinn
– Barbara Fredrickson
• Shift in brain chemistry, stronger immune function,
cortical control over the amygdala
Cultivating compassion
• The social ethics tradition
– Touch
– Kind speech
– Difficult conversations (Meng: Search Inside
of Yourself)
Cultivating Compassion
• The Narrative Tradition
– Family stories (Oliners)
– Concepts in your environment (Shaver)
– Great sayings
– If you want others to be happy, practice
compassion. If you want to be happy, practice
compassion (HHDL)
Cultivating compassion
• The designed environment tradition
– Benefits of nature
– Benefits of art, music
Be part of the compassion
revolution…
• TEDx June 11, 2011:
http://tedxgoldengateed.org/
• A compassion curriculum
• Greatergood.berkeley.edu
• Emotionmaster.com