Dr. Laurie Santos
Dr. Laurie Santos is Professor of Psychology and Head of Silliman College at Yale University. Professor and podcast host Dr. Laurie Santos is an expert on human cognition and the…
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We talk a lot about psychopaths – but rarely discuss their polar opposites, super-altruists. These are people who go to extreme lengths to help others — even though their acts of kindness might cost them time, money or expose them to physical danger. These folk are also happier than the rest of us.
A super altruist once saved the life of psychology professor Abigail Marsh — so she devoted her career to understanding what drives these amazing and happy people and how we call all learn to be more like them.
To learn more. . .
Links to references from this episode:
“Abby’s done some elegant work exploring why psychopaths have a problem recognizing others’ distress.”
“Patients in end stage renal failure often wait three to five years to get a kidney from a deceased donor”
“Of course, Abby’s results showed that kidney donors were wrong. They were different, at least when it came to their brains.”
“On the show Tom and Donna observed “treat yo self” day every October 16. It’s now become a cultural phenomena”
“Even when we look in pretty diverse regions of the world, in fact in all seven major regions of the world we find this relationship whereby people who donate money to charity are happier than those who don’t.”
“Liz and her colleagues decided to test this in a rather simple experiment”
“Liz and her colleagues have now replicated this same effect in people all over the world, in Canada, India, Uganda and even remote villages on the islands of Vanuatu.”
“Lara Aknin and I teamed up with Kiley Hamlin, who’s a developmental psychologist, and brought toddlers just under the age of two into the lab.”
The Host
