Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life

"Dacher Keltner is professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, director for the Greater Good Science Center, and coeditor of "Greater Good" magazine. His research deals mainly on pro-social emotions, power, and moral reasoning.

"Keltner extends the insights of Charles Darwin about short emotional language as a very important clue to understand our origins. He was also a follower of Paul Ekman and Wallace Friesen. He follows their methodology to quantify milliseconds movements of muscles in the face.

"Following further the research of Paul Ekman in New Guinea related to the universality of human facial expressions, Keltner regards emotions as symbols of our pledge to others and the basis of our most vital moral/ethical insight." - A.Ch.F. Weizmann, Ph.D., Haifa University

“A landmark book in the science of emotions and its implications for ethics and human universals.” —Library Journal, starred review In this startling study of human emotion, Dacher Keltner investigates an unanswered question of human evolution: If humans are hardwired to lead lives that are “nasty, brutish, and short,” why have we evolved with positive emotions like gratitude, amusement, awe, and compassion that promote ethical action and cooperative societies? Illustrated with more than fifty photographs of human emotions, Born to Be Good takes us on a journey through scientific discovery, personal narrative, and Eastern philosophy. Positive emotions, Keltner finds, lie at the core of human nature and shape our everyday behavior—and they just may be the key to understanding how we can live our lives better. 60 photos.◦

Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life