Speakers & Events

Past Speakers & Events

The Moral Molecule

Paul J. Zak, Ph.D.

Claremont Graduate University

Monday, March 15, 2010

6:30 pm

Pearl Stable Auditorium (directions)

What makes people trust one another? What is the basis for the human urge to care, to share, and to form meaningful relationships?  Paul Zak is a scientist and pioneer in neuroeconomics, a new and emerging field that combines methods from neuroscience and economics to study how people make decisions involving risk, as well as strategic decisions involving trust and relationships with others. Research from Dr. Zak's laboratory shows that a naturally occurring hormone, oxytocin, makes people more likely to give money to strangers. Oxytocin is released in many human social experiences, including human touch, and giving birth in women. Oxytocin, according to Dr. Zak, functions in human brains as “the moral molecule.” Oxytocin is the molecule of social adhesion, the “glue” that promotes the bonding and empathy that holds families, communities, and societies together. Trust, according to Dr. Zak, is the basis of our social capital. Research by Zak and his colleagues has shown that a 15 percent boost in the proportion of people who think their fellow citizens are trustworthy results in an increase in per capita output growth by 1 percent a year for every year thereafter. In his Mind Science Foundation public lecture, Dr. Zak will discuss the implications of his research in the neuroeconomics of trust for law and public policy.  

Paul J. Zak is Professor of Economics and founding Director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies at Claremont Graduate University. He also serves as Professor of Neurology at Loma Linda University Medical Center, and is a Senior Researcher at UCLA. He has degrees in mathematics and economics from San Diego State University, a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania, and post-doctoral training in neuroimaging from Harvard. He is the author of Moral Markets: The Critical Role of Values in the Economy. Professor Zak is credited with the first published use of the term "neuroeconomics" and has been in the vanguard of this new discipline that integrates neuroscience and economics.

God and the Brain

Mark Waldman

Center for Spirituality and the Mind, University of Pennsylvania

Monday, April 26, 2010

6:30 pm

Pearl Stable Auditorium (directions)

What happens in the brain during religious experience? Mark Waldman, along with his colleague, Dr. Andrew Newberg, M.D., from the Center for Spirituality and the Mind at the University of Pennsylvania, have shown how a variety of different spiritual practices, including devotional prayer and meditation, can change the function and structure of the brain. Waldman is the author of 11 books, including most recently, a popular book co-authored with his colleague Andy Newberg, How God Changes Your Brain: Breakthrough Findings By a Leading Neuroscientist. Meditation and contemplative prayer can reduce stress, and relieve anxiety and depression. These practices can also enhance memory and cognition, as well our capacities for empathy, compassion, and love. Waldman’s work demonstrates how simple techniques that anyone can use – young or old, religious or secular – may yield improvements in health and human happiness.

Mark Robert Waldman is a therapist and an Associate Fellow at the Center for Spirituality and the Mind, University of Pennsylvania, where he conducts research with Andrew Newberg, M.D., on the neurological correlates of beliefs, morality, compassion, meditation, religious experiences, and spiritual practices. He lectures frequently on topics relating to the neuropsychology of stress, relaxation, emotional control, relationship dynamics, conflict resolution, and weight management. His research has been featured in Time Magazine, Washington Post, USA Today, The New York Times science section, and his interviews have appeared on dozens of radio and television programs, including Oprah and Friends and the Tavis Smiley Show.