Everyday Wonder in Medicine and Beyond | Dacher Keltner, PhD

Jun 6, 2023

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Awe is a feeling we've all experienced but often struggle to articulate. Whether it's the sheer scale of a skyscraper, the infinite expanse of a starry night sky, or the miracle of childbirth, moments of awe can strike us at unexpected times, leaving us speechless, inspired, and even profoundly transformed. In this episode, we speak with Dacher Keltner, PhD, a psychologist at UC Berkeley, where he is the founding director of the Greater Good Science Center and the host of The Science of Happiness podcast. Keltner is a leading researcher on human emotion whose work focuses on the socio-biological origins and effects of compassion, beauty, power, morality, love, and social class. His most recent book is AWE: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life. In this episode, we discuss the eight sources of wonder in life, how we can nurture an openness to experiencing awe, and how this openness can help us navigate grief, uncertainty, loneliness, and mortality, ultimately allowing us to lead more meaningful lives.

In this episode, you will hear about:

How growing up in a family of artists and humanists led Dr. Keltner to psychology - 2:26
What the scientific study of emotions looks like - 4:54
How scientists grapple with the difficulty of defining and studying emotions and feelings - 8:20
A discussion of Jonathan Haidt’s revolutionary study of morality, The Righteous Mind - 11:57
How Dr. Keltner defines and studies awe and wonder - 14:39
The Eight Wonders of Life - 27:31
Awe, beauty, and the sublime - 36:16
Reflections on how digital technologies have negatively impacted our ability to experience awe - 38:35
Advice for how we can practice the experience of awe - 44:26
How awe can help with human suffering and physician burnout - 46:39

Dr. Dacher Keltner is the author of many books, including AWE: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life, The Power Paradox: How We Gain and Lose Influence, and Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life.

In this episode, we discuss Bertrand Russel’s Power: A New Social Analysis, Paul Ekman’s work on emotions and facial expressions, William James’ What is an Emotion?, Jonathan Haidt’s The Righteous Mind, Richard Lazarus’ “core relational themes,” Edmund Burke’s A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow, Anna Lembke’s Dopamine Nation, and Jean Twenge’s work on social media and self-focus.

If you know of a doctor, patient, or anyone working in health care who would love to explore meaning in medicine with us on the show, feel free to send an email to info@thedoctorsart.com.