Meng-Wu Lecture: Dacher Keltner

Dacher Keltner, Ph.D., is a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and the faculty director of the university’s Greater Good Science Center, an interdisciplinary center that disseminates the new science of happiness and compassion to educators, parents, mental health workers, and others.

After receiving his Ph.D. from Stanford University, Dr. Keltner has devoted his career to studying the roots of compassion, awe, gratitude, and love. He is also a leading expert on social intelligence, the psychology of power, and the emotional bases of morality. Dr. Keltner has authored more than 100 scientific papers and two best-selling textbooks, Social Psychology and Understanding Emotions. More recently, he wrote the best-selling book Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life. He is also the executive editor of the Greater Good Science Center’s online magazine, Greater Good.

Dr. Keltner is an outstanding speaker who has received several national research and teaching awards. Wired magazine rated the podcasts of his “Human Emotion” course as one of the five best academic podcasts in the country. He has twice presented his research to His Holiness the Dalai Lama as part of a continuing dialogue between the Dalai Lama and scientists. His work has been featured in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Time magazine, and on CNN. In 2008, the Utne Reader named him as one of 50 visionaries who are changing our world.