The Compassionate Instinct: The Science of Human Goodness

by Keltner,Dacher

• ISBN13: 9780393337280
• ISBN10: 0393337286
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-01-04
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Summary

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 Greater Good magazine. The best of these writings are collected here, with contributors from Steven Pinker, Robert Sapolsky, Paul Ekman, Michael Pollan, and the Dalai Lama, among others, The Compassionate Instinct will make you think about not only what it means to be happy and fulfilled but also what it means to lead an ethical and compassionate life. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Dacher Keltner, the cofounder of the Greater Good Science Center and a Professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, is the author of Born to Be Good. Jeremy Adam Smith is the editor of Shareable.net, a contributing editor of Greater Good magazine, and the author of The Daddy Shift.

Table of Contents

Contributors	p. xv
The Scientific Roots of Human Goodness
Introduction	p. 5
The Compassionate Instinct	p. 8
The Evolution of Empathy	p. 16
Peace among Primates	p. 26
Hope on the Battlefield	p. 36
Political Primates	p. 45
The Forgiveness Instinct	p. 51
The New Science of Forgiveness	p. 62
Brain Trust	p. 72
Pay It Forward	p. 77
Wired to Be Inspired	p. 86
How To Cultivate Goodness In Relationships With Friends, Family, Coworkers, and Neighbors
Introduction	p. 97
Feeling Like Partners	p. 100
Love, Honor, and Thank	p. 111
Stumbling toward Gratitude	p. 118
The Choice to Forgive	p. 126
Compassion across Cubicles	p. 133
Are You a Jerk at Work?	p. 140
A Feeling for Fiction	p. 150
A Different View	p. 157
Can I Trust You? A Conversation between Paul Ekman and His Daughter Eve	p. 161
Hot to Help	p. 171
How To Cultivate Goodness in Society and Politics
Introduction	p. 177
We Are All Bystanders	p. 179
The Cost of Apathy: An Interview with Robert Reich	p. 190
The Activism Cure	p. 195
America's Trust Fall	p. 203
The Power Paradox	p. 213
Edible Ethics: An Interview with Michael Pollan	p. 223
The Hot Spot	p. 230
In Search of the Moral Voice	p. 239
Making Peace through Apology	p. 246
Truth + Reconciliation	p. 255
Why Is There Peace?	p. 260
The Morality of Global Giving: An Interview with Jan Egeland	p. 267
Global Compassion: A Conversation between the Dalai Lama and Paul Ekman	p. 274
The Heroine with One Thousand Faces	p. 283
The Banality of Heroism	p. 287
Illustration Credits	p. 301
Index	p. 303
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.