Dacher Keltner: UC Berkeley Department of Psychology

In this talk I will present recent work on the pro-social emotions. I will present studies of smiling, the relations between oxytocin and the nonverbal displays of love and desire, and recent evidence exploring the role of vagus nerve activity in compassion and pro-social dispositions. I will use these data to offer the beginnings of a theory of the emotion-related origins of pro-sociality, drawing upon Darwin’s own speculations and those of recent philosophers and behavioral scientists.