The second take away comes from close study of Darwin’s Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals, published one year after Descent of Man. There, Darwin details descriptions of emotions such as reverence, love, tenderness, laughter, embarrassment and the conceptual tools to document the evolutionary origins of these emotions. That led me to my own work on the physiology and display of these remarkable emotions, and to the science-based conclusion that these emotions lie at the core of our capacities for virtue and cooperation.
DISALVO: You recently wrote an article with the provocative title “In Defense of Teasing.” Because we’re ostensibly a society set against teasing in any form (school, workplace, and so on), what do you think teasing has to offer that we might be missing?
KELTNER: Teasing is the art of playful provocation, of using our playful voices and bodies to provoke others to avoid inappropriate behaviors. Marc Bekoff, a biologist at the University of Colorado, Boulder, has found in remarkable work with coyotes that they sort out leaders from aggressive types in their rough-and-tumble biting. The coyotes that bite too hard in such provocative play are relegated to low status positions. We likewise accomplish so much with the right kind of teasing.
Teasing (in the right way, which is what most people do) offers so much. It is a way to play and express affection. It is a way of negotiating conflicts at work and in the family. Teasing exchanges teach children how to use their voices in innumerable ways—such an important medium of communication. In teasing, children learn boundaries between harm and play. And children learn empathy in teasing, and how to appreciate others’ feelings (for example, in going too far). And in teasing we have fun. All of this benefit is accomplished in this remarkable modality of play.
DISALVO: Your team at U.C. Berkley has done a lot of interesting research on the vagus nerve and its association with altruistic feelings. Tell us a bit about this research and its implications for better understanding the nature of altruism.
KELTNER: The vagus nerve is part of the parasympathetic autonomic nervous system. It is a bundle of nerves that originates in the top of the spinal cord, it activates different organs throughout the body (heart, lungs, liver, digestive organs). When active, it is likely to produce that feeling of warm expansion in the chest, for example when we are moved by someone’s goodness or when we appreciate a beautiful piece of music. University of Illinois, Chicago, psychiatrist Steve Porges long ago argued that the vagus nerve is a care-taking organ in the body (of course, it serves many other functions as well). Several reasons justify this claim. The vagus nerve is thought to stimulate certain muscles in the vocal chamber, enabling communication. It reduces heart rate. Very new science suggests that it may be closely connected to oxytocin receptor networks. And it is unique to mammals.
Our research and that of other scientists suggests that the vagus nerve may be a physiological system that supports caretaking and altruism. We have found that activation of the vagus nerve is associated with feelings of compassion and the ethical intuition that humans from different social groups (even adversarial ones) share a common humanity. People who have high vagus nerve activation in a resting state, we have found, are prone to feeling emotions that promote altruism—compassion, gratitude, love, happiness. Arizona State University psychologist Nancy Eisenberg has found that children with elevated vagal tone (high baseline vagus nerve activity) are more cooperative and likely to give. This area of study is the beginning of a fascinating new argument about altruism—that a branch of our nervous system evolved to support such behavior.
DISALVO: Oftentimes we learn about intriguing academic work being done on emotions, morality and related areas, but are left asking, “OK, but how do we do any of this? Is there anything we can make actual use of here?” Looking down the road, what do you want the impact of your work to be out in the world?
KELTNER: I have always felt that our science is only as good as the truthful rendition of reality that it provides and the good that it brings to our species. In summarizing the new science of emotion in Born To Be Good, I was struck by how useful this science is. The ancient approaches to ethics and virtue—for example, found in Aristotle or Confucius—privileged things such as compassion, gratitude and reverence. A new science of virtue and morality is suggesting that our capacities for virtue and cooperation and our moral sense are old in evolutionary terms, and found in emotions that I write about in Born To Be Good.
And a new science of happiness is finding that these emotions can be readily cultivated in familiar ways, bringing out the good in others and in oneself. Here are some recent empirical examples:
Meditating on a compassionate approach to others shifts resting brain activation to the left hemisphere, a region associated with happiness, and boosts immune functions.
Talking about areas of gratitude, in classrooms, at the dinner table or in the diary, boosts happiness and social well-being and health.
Experiences of reverence in nature or around morally inspiring others improves people’s sense of connection to others and sense of purpose.
Laughing and playing in the face of trauma gives the person perspective upon life’s inevitable difficulties, and improves resilience and adjustment.
Devoting resources to others, rather than indulging a materialist desire, brings about lasting well being.
This kind of science gives me many hopes for the future. At the broadest level, I hope that our culture shifts from a consumption-based, materialist culture to one that privileges the social joys (play, caring, touch, mirth) that are our older (in the evolutionary sense) sources of the good life. In more specific terms, I see this new science informing practices in almost every realm of life. Here again are some well-founded examples. Medical doctors are now receiving training in the tools of compassion—empathetic listening, warm touch—that almost certainly improve basic health outcomes. Teachers now regularly teach the tools of empathy and respect. Executives are learning the wisdom around the country of emotional intelligence—respect, building trust—that there is more to a company’s thriving than profit or the bottom line. In prisons and juvenile detention centers, meditation is being taught.
Are you a scientist? Have you recently read a peer-reviewed paper that you want to write about? Then contact Mind Matters editor Jonah Lehrer, the science writer behind the blog The Frontal Cortex and the book Proust Was a Neuroscientist. His latest book is How We Decide.
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35 Comments
Add CommentInstinct or behavior
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn the final paragraphs of Disalvo’s interview Keltner details many behavioral characteristics which are strikingly similar to those prescribed by Norman Vincent Peal in his books which discussed methods to develop a positive mental attitude and improved disposition. Peal described these characteristics as behaviors, rather then latent instincts as Keltner does. Peal insisted when these characteristics are practiced they improve not only the self but the world at large. Dr. Smiley Blanton, eminent psychologist and practicnor of the 20th century, taught precisely the same thing, and like Peal documented innumerable cases supporting the thesis. Whether these characteristics are instinctive or learned deserves study, if it will increase their awareness and practice through out the world; because clearly it is a far better place when they, and not their opposites, are employed.
Great article, and findings concerning the physiology of compassion, are desire to give, happiness and its relation to personal and societal well being. I look forward to additonal research in this area. It is interesting to me how these basic princibles are becoming more prevalent and recognized specifically in the workplace. My personal belief and experience is that as hard as we try to display these life giving characteristics on our own strength, we will always fall short. It is not until we surrender our whole being to the living God...that He is able to work through us.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"My personal belief and experience is that as hard as we try to display these life giving characteristics on our own strength, we will always fall short. It is not until we surrender our whole being to the living God...that He is able to work through us."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishmm
I thought I saw that the article says that animals other than humans have these qualities; so do animals need a religion to be the best animal they can , to not "fall short"?
Welcome to Buddhism 101 Mr. Darwin.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI wish I could say that Darwin knew about Buddhist teaching, but so little was available in his day and it was only with the British and American savants of the remainder of the century that the texts made available in English, so that is it most unlikely. However, Darwin came from a family of freethinkers and his beloved wife, even moreso. And one has only to read their love letters to know that he was a man who made use of all the facilities of being human, and not just statistical intellect. They deeply and truly love and respected each other and were model parents to their large brood. And I think it is telling that although they had purchased showy new furniture when first married, they didn't close off the social rooms of their house, but let the children live in it--often to disastrous effects on the upholstery.
I wonder what Darwin's background was in Aristotle and if he was exposed to what was known of the pre-Socratics at that time in his theology training. In a fascinating new book, The Shape of Ancient Thought, by Thomas McEvilley, the compelling argument is put forth that the germ of what we call Western thought and Western science--no difference as you know until the mid-19th--was actually Indian via Persia and then with a second dose from Alexander the Great. (Certainly the notion of evolution is found in Epicurean philosophy and in the Roman Lucretius, and of course, the atomic theory in earlier ancients.) And that, of course, would help to explain the ideas of sympathy, co-operation and most of all, the quintessential Buddhist notion of compassion. But taking these observations of the natural world into what was coming to be called science, would, of course, be the contribution of Darwin and his generation.
Born to be good? Absolute hogwash, but an interesting discussion nonetheless. We are born with the capacity to do things that are "good" and also things that are destructive to ourselves and others. The capacity and the decision to act on these tendencies are two different things. Going with the tagline, "we can succeed by not being cutthroat" implies that we must purposely adopt a social construct that promotes these virtues identified by the author in order to access our inner goodness and then win the evolutionary game. When it comes to decision-making, it's "nurture" all the way, baby. The more that we let ourselves be governed by our own naturally evolved feelings and desires, the more we will live in chaos and squalor. Kindness is purposeful, not random.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishmmm...oops thought they were transferring the findings to humans. I am not talking about religion here, I am talking about a mutual relationship with God where we allow Him to work through us.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe title of this article is certainly misinformed. As the article well demonstrates, kindness and cooperation do indeed select for fitness to survive in a given environment. Survival of the fittest is often misinterpreted to mean survival of the most aggressive. Fitness is a much broader term than that.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI appreciate these comments, esp as a committed Buddhist, but let us not restrict compassion to one faith. Most of the others place a high value on compassion even if human religious behavior does not always reflect it. Thank for the nod to what looks like an interesting book!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe Stoic philosophers would agree with most of the article. There is a "natural"state that humans can live - which is one which exemplifies a deep sense of character. When we are not living in that state we are discontent. I think many other wisdom traditions would agree with this.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCool, so now those who believe in evolution have even more scientific evidence to throw in the face of IDers who claim that without ID there would be no morality.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI see morality and immorality as forming chains. When you seek wrath, you become a link in the chain of wrath as wrath begets wrath. Become a link in the chain of kindness and you'll find that kindness begets kindness. In other words, "do unto others as you would have do unto you" makes perfect sense because what you do to others, will be done to you in kind. Its up to you whether or not you want them to be acting out of retaliation or gratitude.
That's so true Nathaniel. Of course there's no reason to throw anything in anyone's face. As you say - act out of gratitude rather than retaliation. Although IDer's are misguided about the nature of how the world came to be, I think I can grant them the idea that there is an intention of how humans should treat each other. Treating each other poorly is not how we were intended to be. But you can hold to any philosophical or religious perspective and and go against this basic principle - as most of us have done and will do again.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this-Dave B.
- He who cannot draw on three thousand years is living hand to mouth. (Goethe)
Hey Nathaniel where did you get "do unto others as you would have do unto you"? Did you make that up?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is the one thing common to every religion and system of ethics
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDo unto others as you wish them to do to you is common to all religions and systems of ethics
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf an individual worked like an Anthropologist or Physicists studying to the depths of existence in search of evils root, would he be able to find it? If we remove the products of defective genes, the consequences of rage, and every characteristic attributable to cultural mores from the study-set what remains of human behavior is either learned or instinctive. If an individual is companionate instinctively then mustnt the inverse apply also? If that is the case, without deliberate intervention civilization is headed for greater tribulation.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI agree with Josaphia but I do not believe in the bibles version of God I believe in good, it is born within us we must let it develop and swamp the evil that also is within us,I find prayer helps.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Do unto others as you would have others do unto you" (also call reciprocal altruism) is a hardwired behavior that has been seen in many social animals, and humans are no different. It has a clear adaptive advantage (united we stand, divided we fall). The different spin in the human interaction is that, depending on the availability of resources, we use discriminators (such as race, religion, sex) to determine who deserves to be reciprocated.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthere is a lot in the interview reflecting india phiolosophy and culture.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisin the traditional school education lots of importance is given for ethics and values,all the epics namely RAMYANA and BHARATHA are debates on thses issues. the philosophy of advaita has roots in evolution
p r venkateswaran ,bangalore india
the vinterview reflects ideas practised in India since millions of years.The epics namely Ramayana Mahabharatha are debates on the issues of ethics and values.The theory of evolution in the advanced stages can be seen as a reflection of advaita
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have long believed that there is a "spiritual evolution" taking place. There are those who "see" with eyes connected to a heart that speaks to them. And there are those who continue making choices without spiritual connection, promoting atrocities just as brutal as those in past history. It seems almost inconceivable that these two divergent pathways do not understand each other. One is vertical and requires a hierarchy, a fight for the top, but weak in its resistance and climb. The other is cyclical, joining forces in vortex and creating one of the strongest forces in nature. We should be learning more about the interconnection of spirit with the physiology of self. Our choices irrevocably result in spiritual and psychological consequences that have been proven time and time again..(PTSD, et al...) It is time that we admit that the spiritual is indeed much more real than we are led to believe.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have long believed that there is a "spiritual evolution" taking place. There are those who "see" with eyes connected to a heart that speaks to them. And there are those who continue making choices without spiritual connection, promoting atrocities just as brutal as those in past history. It seems almost inconceivable that these two divergent pathways do not understand each other. One is vertical and requires a hierarchy, a fight for the top, but weak in its resistance and climb. The other is cyclical, joining forces in vortex and creating one of the strongest forces in nature. We should be learning more about the interconnection of spirit with the physiology of self. Our choices irrevocably result in spiritual and psychological consequences that have been proven time and time again..(PTSD, et al...) It is time that we admit that the spiritual is indeed much more real than we are led to believe.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have long believed that there is a "spiritual evolution" taking place. There are those who "see" with eyes connected to a heart that speaks to them. And there are those who continue making choices without spiritual connection, promoting atrocities just as brutal as those in past history. It seems almost inconceivable that these two divergent pathways do not understand each other. One is vertical and requires a hierarchy, a fight for the top, but weak in its resistance and climb. The other is cyclical, joining forces in vortex and creating one of the strongest forces in nature. We should be learning more about the interconnection of spirit with the physiology of self. Our choices irrevocably result in spiritual and psychological (and indeed physiological) consequences that have been proven time and time again..(PTSD, et al...) It is time that we admit that the spiritual is truly much more real than we are led to believe.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm not sure that I'd say hogwash but it seems to me that "Born To Be Good" is naive.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this1. I saw a television interview with a an old guy who had spent most of his life in jail as a bank robber and killer. He said that he was "born bad". We have all run into the types who were born self-centered, greedy or even psychopathic. In other words there is a spectrum of innate goodness or badness.
2. Culture plays a huge role. Whether formal laws or unwritten rules of conduct we select those traits that are necessary. An outcast gang member in modern Germany is a hero in Nazi Germany. In medieval Europe, a petty thief's hand could be cut off, witches were drowned and heretics burned.
3. Strength, the willingness to be tough and aggressiveness are still necessary in today's world. Part of this relates to innate needs that we see when children play. Rough housing, contact sports, violence in literature, movies, video games attest to innate needs. They are not bad things of themselves, only when that is all that is allowed. We also need to balance
aggressiveness with our also innate needs to cooperate, help, share and care.
4. Part of this need for toughness is practical. Whether a cop dealing with a bad guy, a soldier dealing with a national enemy or a businessperson competing in the market we need a balance. The trick in our societies is optimising that balance not just going all the way to one side or the other such as what we are seeing today with the greed of the business elite.
5. Self interest is a powerful and necessary social force. It is good because we are useless if we won't look after ourselves. It means that we get our fair share but not at the expense of others. It is not greed.
6. Game theory suggests that to "cooperate" or to "defect" work in different situations. In a stable society, cooperation is the most effective strategy. People who don't cooperate are eventually shunned or jailed. However, If society is crumbling and all that you have left is your family then you better fight though you should also look very carefully for allegiances.
If you'd like more on Dacher Keltner, there's a two part audio interview with him that focuses on the business-side of pro-social emotions and how to get ahead at work by understanding how to "bring others to completion."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://personallifemedia.com/podcasts/232-dishymix/episodes/26578-dacher-keltner-born-good-jen-ratio-cro
Pretty interesting stuff. This sort of research brings a degree of scientific validation of centuries-old folk wisdom, doesn't it?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEveryone has morals. Just because you don't see someone having the same morals you do, doesn't mean the person doesn't have any. To say so is simply another selfish act of agression.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUntil someone can show, or even define good and evil, I'll there is no such thing, but only constructive and destructive, and most things that are constructive in one sense are destructive in another, and vice versa. Most seem to choose to see only one side.
The less purpose there is in a persons life, the more they seem to fill the void with fits of supernatural human-centric delusions of grandeur.
If learning from three thousand years of living is considered good, what then, is realizing the ignorance of those three thousand years, and learning from 14 billion years instead?
Silly people.
It sometimes takes a real concious effort to be kind to one another. One only has to look how small children behave amongst themselves to see the basic animal nature of human beings. Left to themselves, humans fight to aquire the position of alpha primates...potential bloodthirsty dictators. Some religions and philosophies resist this temptation, but being kind means never being caught off one's guard... Ethics too have evolved!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere is also past and recent work on tribal behaviour including acceptance processes of individuals to be in the "in" crowd or be ousted as outsiders. e.g. intervillage marriages
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUsually mutual giving leads to strengthened relations.
Check out Dacher Keltner's podcasts of his class lectures at Berkeley on iTunesU or at http://www.learnoutloud.com/Catalog/Social-Sciences/Psychology. They are amazing!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThanks for pointing out Dr. Peale's contributions to this area. Another contributor, I just realized, is none other than Benjamin Franklin, the champion of mutually beneficial cooperative enterprises.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is notable that there's a contrast between today's Democratic and Republican parties. The latter has distinguished itself as the bastion of harsh judgementalists and the perpetrator of the "attack strategy," where they refuse to budge even in the face of open offers of conciliation. Notable too is their "confusion" regarding what their purpose and motives should be - it's apparently slanted toward getting more power for the party rather than for creating a government which serves its citizens. I think David DiSalvo might consider their strategy a recipe for disaster (for themselves and for the country as well).
I just hope that DiSalvo can give more solid substantiation than I see in this interview. I guess maybe I should read his book? ;-)
The report s heartwarming. But, as far as cold logic is concerned, it contains one major error. There are no genetically predetermined traits, behavioral, or otherwise.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAll individual traits including behavioral traits), of all living organisms (including humans), develop ontogenetically (in the individual organism), under inseparable (!) effects of both (!) genes & environment (nature & nurture), of course, also plus inseparable effects of that which already exists at each point along this developmental (ontogenetic) process.
Ruth: I don't think he was arguing that empathy itself is genetically determined, only the aptitude for it. Makes sense to me.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRegarding the importance of the vagus nerve in mediating these traits, the following seems fairly alarming:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAbstract:
Clinical Studies have demonstrated that the cries of chronically
stressed infants, medical compromised infants are characteristically
higher and more variable in pitch than those of healthy infants.
Other studies have indicated that the vagal tone of chronically
stressed infants is significantly reduced in comparison to that of
normal infants. A neural model of cry production has been proposed
which suggests that decreased vagal tone among infants at risk may,
in fact, be related to these increases in cry pitch. Using routine,
unanesthetized circumcision as a model of stress we were able to
examine the relationship between cry acoustics and vagal tone in
normal, healthy newborns undergoing an acutely stressful event.
Newborn Pain Cries and Vagal Tone: Parallel Changes in Response to
Circumcision
http://www.cirp.org/library/pain/porter2/
It seems obstetrical medicine is riddled with sociopaths.
Kindness and cooperation is only one side of the coin...yin and yang. Rather than people being born with kindness, we should be looking into the inate trait of humans to compete. I liked the comment on game theory, one that would say there are appropriate times to be kind and competitive, based on all the games variables. This is lost when considering Buddhism, that believes kindness is always the correct choice.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisConsider this...early man started out in competition for a small amount of land, food, and resources. Consider it a tribal stage that is very early on in mankind's history of communities. As mankind spread out and started to discover a vastness of land, these groups which were once competing have now allied, developed compassion towards eachother so that they can survive as a larger group in competition from other larger groups. We evolve that idea all the way to what we have today...nations. Nationalism is no doubt a phenomena, seen greatly so in the US, and other prominent countries. We have gone from once fighting for the same land/food/resources, to work together to grow this group we have formed. When we fast forward from the early stages of human civilizations, to today, we notice much more compassion and kindness to our close neighbors. The closer you are, the more kind you most likely are. As is stands today, we still compete, from country to country, but what if we continued this pattern. With all that we know of astrology, there is a good chance life is elsewhere in the 'infinite' universe. What will happen when/if humans discover other intelligent life elsewhere. Will our inate triats of competition cause us to bring kindness and compassion throughout the world, breaking down barriers that we artificialy create (borders) to unite as a stroger team to compete on a larger scale?
Please don't misunderstand my viewpoints on kindness, I do not believe it is a side effect of competition, but both seem to be present in almost every human being, and why and how can they co-exist? Competition, in the busshist sense, seems to be weighing human kind down...but when you scale it, you get....pride?
could someone summarize the article? what is about?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this