Huberman Lab
Dr. Immordino-Yang: How Emotions & Social Factors Impact Learning
Episode guests
Podcast summary created with Snipd AI
Quick takeaways
- Emotions are crucial for effective learning and education should consider their role.
- The brain-body connection shapes our perception, consciousness, and meaning-making.
- Constructing narratives helps us make sense of emotional experiences and shape our beliefs.
- External stimuli and cultural influences influence our emotional range and meaning-making process.
- Understanding students' emotional states is vital for effective teaching and relationship-building.
- Education should prioritize interdisciplinary learning, critical thinking, and diversity of ideas.
Deep dives
The Role of Inspiration and Awe in Learning and Life
Our temperament, combined with our environment, shapes our understanding of the world and our sense of self. Learning styles vary and are influenced by our emotional systems. Understanding our emotional guides can help us learn effectively. The podcast discusses how our emotions and social interactions impact our learning abilities. It emphasizes the importance of considering the role of emotions in education and how different learning styles favor different people at different stages of life.
The Interplay Between Brain and Body
The brain is intricately linked with the body, controlling and responding to its sensations and emotions. Our perception of the world is influenced by the brain's representation of the body state. Emotions are constructed and narrated based on our physiological responses and experiences. This interplay between the brain and body becomes the foundation for consciousness and meaning-making. It highlights the significance of embodiment in constructing our beliefs, mental states, and interpretations of the world.
The Power of Narrative and Meaning-Making
Humans construct narratives and stories to give meaning to their emotional experiences and learn from them. The brain's default mode network plays a vital role in creating narratives, inferring meanings, and elaborating emotional experiences. The activation of these brain systems is influenced by cultural, social, and individual contexts. As we develop, we learn to impose our expectations, values, and beliefs onto the world, shaping our interpretations of emotions and experience. This process allows us to transcend immediate situations and construct broader narratives that become the essence of our beliefs, values, and identities.
How External Stimuli Evoke Emotional Responses
Our emotional responses are influenced by the interplay between external stimuli and our internal emotional templates. Observing or listening to inspiring speeches, witnessing emotional scenes, or engaging with meaningful music can evoke similar emotional states within ourselves. These responses may arise from a subconscious recognition of past experiences, creating templates for our emotional range. Additionally, our ability to impose personal interpretations on external stimuli and cultural influences further enriches our emotional experiences and meaning-making process.
The Power of Emotional Disposition in Learning
The speaker reflects on their experience as a teacher and the importance of understanding the emotional state of students. They highlight the role of emotions in driving thinking, decision-making, and relationship-building. The speaker emphasizes the need for educators to create a safe space for students to engage with their own beliefs, deconstruct their assumptions, and explore different perspectives. They argue that integrating emotional and psychological development with academic learning can help students develop a deep understanding of themselves and the world.
Reshaping Education: Fostering Curiosity and Intellectual Growth
The speaker discusses the limitations of traditional education systems and the need for a shift towards fostering intellectual curiosity and interdisciplinary learning. They emphasize the importance of engaging students through hands-on, meaningful experiences that connect different subject areas and encourage them to question and explore knowledge. The speaker suggests that education should focus on developing individuals who are reflective, systematic, and willing to challenge their own beliefs. They advocate for creating educational spaces that support diversity of ideas, perspectives, and cultural backgrounds.
The Integration of Biology and Psychology in Education
The speaker shares their journey in studying the intersection of biology and psychology in educational contexts. They discuss the significance of understanding how biology and psychology shape the development of individuals. The speaker highlights the need for a holistic approach in education that acknowledges the interplay between biological processes and psychological experiences, such as emotions. They argue that integrating developmental biology with educational theories and practices can provide valuable insights into the nature of human growth and learning.
Promoting Openness to Ideas in a Divisive Landscape
The speaker reflects on the current cultural climate characterized by divisiveness and fear of discussing ideas openly. They stress the importance of creating a space where ideas can be openly explored and critically dissected. The speaker suggests that fostering an openness to ideas and promoting rigorous analysis can lead to deeper understanding and core truths. They raise questions about how to navigate this landscape, including the role of early education in discussing current events and teaching tolerance for different ideas.
Developing Safe Spaces for Civic Discourse
Creating spaces for young people and everyone to engage in deconstructing assumptions, engaging with ideas, and constructing understanding is crucial. Schools should focus on reframing schooling around civic discourse and reasoning, allowing students to lay ideas out, develop skills for reasoning, and engage in thoughtful dialogue. It is important to develop trust and establish safe spaces where people can share their perspectives without fear of judgment or dismissal. By deconstructing beliefs, appreciating different perspectives, and constructing new understandings together, we can build common ground and foster a more adaptive and inclusive society.
The Importance of Emotions and Learning
Emotions play a significant role in our thinking process and are the underlying drives that push us to think. Understanding and interrogating emotions helps us develop a more thorough and complex understanding of the world. It is crucial to create spaces where individuals can engage with their emotions and learn to deconstruct their assumptions. By acknowledging and appreciating perspectives different from our own, we can construct a more comprehensive understanding and appreciate how others' opinions may differ from ours. This process of engaging with emotions and diverse perspectives is vital for personal growth and societal progress.
The Complexity of Mirror Neurons
While the existence of mirror neurons as a specific cell type has not been found, there is evidence to support the idea that our brain's natural wiring facilitates empathy and understanding. Our capacity to simulate and infer others' goals, actions, and experiences is essential for social interaction. Through interacting and engaging with others, we wire ourselves to expect and recognize shared emotions, thoughts, and goals. The process of mirroring is a complex interplay of acting, perceiving, and imposing cultural and personal expectations onto the world. It is through this interplay that we develop empathy and a sense of shared experience.
In this episode, my guest is Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, EdD, professor of education, psychology and neuroscience at the University of Southern California and director of the Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning and Education, who has done groundbreaking research on emotions, self-awareness and social interactions and how these impact the way we learn and change across our lifespan. She explains how an understanding of emotions can be leveraged to improve learning in children and in adults, and how the education system should be altered to include new forms of exploration and to facilitate better learning and to include more diverse learning (and teaching) styles. This episode ought to be of interest to anyone interested in how we learn, human development in children and adults, as well as those generally interested in education, psychology or neuroscience.
For the full show notes, visit hubermanlab.com.
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Timestamps
(00:00:00) Dr. Mary Helen Immordino-Yang
(00:02:27) Sponsors: LMNT & Waking Up
(00:05:54) Inspiration, Awe & Story
(00:09:59) Brain-Body, Narratives
(00:15:58) Emotions, Durability & Lifespan
(00:21:47) Conjuring Stories, Historical Context & Emotion
(00:28:53) Sponsor: AG1
(00:33:30) Hierarchal Emotion Organization, Default Mode Network, Story & Emotion
(00:46:24) Emotional Development & Lifetime
(00:57:13) Narrative & Genocide; Checking Assumptions & Mental Flexibility
(01:05:22) Social Media, Cognitive Dissonance
(01:09:52) Education, Deconstructing Beliefs & Curiosity
(01:18:32) Emotion & Learning; Constructing Meaning
(01:28:59) Good Teachers & Curiosity
(01:33:25) Inter-disciplinary Education; Development & Culture
(01:50:58) Idea Exploration, Tolerance
(01:56:53) Reframing Education, Deconstructing Assumptions
(02:03:28) Safety, Creativity & Default Mode Network
(02:12:15) Civic Discourse & Education; Deconstructing Ideas
(02:27:31) “Mirror” Neurons, Shared Social Experiences
(02:35:49) Cold Exposure & Sickness; Role of Education
(02:38:51) Zero-Cost Support, YouTube Feedback, Spotify & Apple Reviews, Sponsors, Momentous, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter
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