Exploring the Influence of Positive Emotions on Stress Resilience Amidst Current Challenges

Over a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, people have faced unprecedented emotional challenges.  Our guests this week are both experts in the relationship between physical and emotional well-being.  Dr. Elissa Epel’s research includes the ways that chronic stress affects the process of aging. She’s a professor of psychology at UC San Francisco.  Dr. Dacher Keltner studies the biological and evolutionary origins of feelings like compassion, awe, and love.  He’s the director of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley. On May 10, 2021, the two discussed stress and how we can improve our resilience and response to it, and how the solution for pandemic stress should be a communal and not an individual one.