For the last 20 years Dacher Keltner has been writing text books as a research psychologist. “Born To Be Good” was his first general interest book. The following presentation on flora.tv gives some inspirational insights into the lesser studied “good” emotions covered by his book. Our summary is provided after.
Who are we as a species ?
Traditionally evolutionary science, economics and psychology have all maintained that humans are selfish, competitive and cynical of other human beings i.e. we are wired to detect the “bad stuff” in the world. It’s a compelling set of assumptions that is centuries old.
This is reflected in the emotions that are studied the most. We know a lot about the fight or flight response emotions of anger and fear e.g. stress hormones and their effect on the body. But we know very little about the co-operative parts of the nervous system. The positive emotions of love and kindness.
Dacher argues that there is a lot of cultural bias against the science of the good.
Nature Of Human Happiness.
It’s widely accepted that happy people live longer. So it’s kind of strange that little research exists on the positive emotions.
Dacher found that (contrary to the prevailing cultural biases) the key to happiness is not in self interest, but in selflessness – in bringing out the good in others.
The emotions of gratitude, reverence, love, benevolence, appreciation, kindness, altruism and compassion to name a few.
In fact there is a lot of self benefit in selflessness. It lights up the reward centers of our brains. The parts that make us happy and “high” i.e. as such selflessness clearly emerged as a survival strategy in human evolution. It actually has payoff in economic exchange e.g. the trustworthy, caring individual is more likely to be promoted to leader.
Most anthropologists studying primitive cultures (who daily struggle for survival) also suggest that selflessness is the primary route to human happiness.
A lot of causality of emotions comes from the body. Emotions are intimately wired to our bodies. Emotions occur at a deep unconscious level, long before we have time to interpret the emotions consciously.
TIP One finding is that even a forced smile (stick a pencil between your teach) will create the emotion associated with that facial smile expression – happiness. NB The real happiness muscle is the one around the eyes – so make sure you smile with your eyes also for greater happiness.
Cultural Biases
There is evidence that people don’t naturally kill each other. In war situations it has been shown that 80-85% of people can not pull the trigger of a gun, even when adversaries are firing at them. Killing in war is only possible by brainwashing, deception or indoctrination to believe that the other party is not human.
Power gained through force, manipulation and coercion is just a cultural legacy. Real power goes to people who promote the greater good, those who help others.
Similar Posts:
- We Are Wired To Pursue Happiness
- Live A Happy life By Being Sad
- A Biologist Turned Buddhist View On Happiness
- A Psychiatrists View On “How to be Happy”
- 3 More Easy Ways To Be Happy Right Now
