The Compassionate Instinct: The Science of Human Goodness

ISBN 10: 0393337286 / ISBN 13: 9780393337280

Published by W. W. Norton & Company, 2010

About this Item

A well-loved companion. Corners and cover might show a little wear, and you could find some notes or highlights. The dust jacket might be MIA, it might have been a library book and extras aren't guaranteedâ but the story's all there!

Seller Inventory # PKV.0393337286.G

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Compassionate Instinct: The Science of Human Goodness
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication Date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0393337286
• ISBN 13: 9780393337280
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: good

About this title

Synopsis

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

Where once science painted humans as self-seeking and warlike, today scientists of many disciplines are uncovering the deep roots of human goodness. At the forefront of this revolution in scientific understanding is the Greater Good Science Center, based at the University of California, Berkeley. The center fuses its cutting-edge research with inspiring stories of compassion in action in Greater Good magazine. The best of these writings are collected here, and contributions from Steven Pinker, Robert Sapolsky, Paul Ekman, Michael Pollan, and the Dalai Lama, among others, will make you think not only about what it means to be happy and fulfilled but also what it means to lead an ethical and compassionate life.

25 illustrations

About the Authors

Dacher Keltner is the Thomas and Ruth Ann Hornaday 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 18 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 Ed and Carol Diener mid-career award for research excellence in social psychology. 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.