Episode 10: Wise Bodies, Wise Brains (with Wendy Berry Mendes)

Is our capacity for wise behaviour determined not just by our psychology but also by our physiology? Is there such a thing as ‘good stress’, and how might our assessment of a situation reduce the chances of us 'choking'? And can our own bodies actually be physically affected by other people's emotions? Wendy Berry Mendes joins Igor and Charles to discuss the interaction between the psychological and physiological processes underpinning wise behaviour, exploring 'challenge vs threat' stress responses, vagal flexibility, affect contagion, and the physiology of social sensitivity and good judgement. Igor wants to know how to stay calm before dance competitions, Wendy shares tales of stressing out unsuspecting young mothers and their babies, and Charles learns of the hidden upsides to mind-body meltdowns. Welcome to Episode 10.

Special Guest: Wendy Berry Mendes.

Links:

• Emotion, Health, and Psychophysiology Lab
• Decisions Under Distress : Stress Profiles Influence Anchoring and Adjustment - Kassam, Koslov, Mendes (2009)
• More than a feeling: A unified view of stress measurement for population science - Epel, Crosswell , Mayer, Prather, Slavich , Puterman, Mendes (2018)
• Vagal Flexibility: A Physiological Predictor of Social Sensitivity - Muhtadie, Koslov, Akinola, Mendes (2014)
• Cardiac vagal flexibility and accurate personality impressions: Examining a physiological correlate of the good judge - Human, Mendes (2018)
• A Heart and A Mind: Self-distancing Facilitates the Association Between Heart Rate Variability, and Wise Reasoning - Grossmann, Sahdra, Ciarrochi (2016)
• Affect Contagion Between Mothers and Infants: Examining Valence and Touch - Waters, West, Karnilowicz, Mendes (2017)
• Stress Contagion: Physiological Covariation Between Mothers and Infants - Waters, West, Mendes (2014)
• Contagious Anxiety: Anxious European Americans Can Transmit Their Physiological Reactivity to African Americans - West, Koslov, Page-Gould, Major, Mendes (2017)
• Sartorial symbols of social class elicit class-consistent behavioral and physiological responses: A dyadic approach - Kraus, Mendes (2014)
• Video - How Does Gratitude Affect Health and Aging? - Presentation at UC Berkeley's Greater Good Gratitude Summit 2014
• Video - Experts in Emotion: Wendy Berry Mendes on Psychophysiology Measurement and Health - Experts in Emotion Series; June Gruber, Yale University
• My BP Lab