Keyword: vagus nerve

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Born to Be Good with Dacher Keltner April 8, 2009

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Dacher Keltner
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Meaning, Spirituality & Philosophy

Is kindness wired into us? UC Berkeley psychologist Dacher Keltner draws on evolutionary science and Confucian philosophy to argue that compassion, laughter, and embarrassment are not soft virtues but core adaptive tools. His concept of the jen ratio offers a concrete way to measure how well we bring out the good in others.

Smiling Your Way to Calm July 3, 2007

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Anxiety & Fear, The Mind & Neuroscience

The vagus nerve, not exercise or meditation, may be the most direct route to calming stress. Armand DiMele draws on neuroscientist Stephen Porges’s polyvagal theory to argue that a genuine smile, social engagement, and facial muscle activation can switch the brain from threat mode to rest faster than a workout.