Why Laughter is Contagious
By Raymond Firmalino | April 12, 2011A new study offers the first evidence that chimps imitate each other's laughter. Learn why this is research you should keep in mind at your next business meeting.
In Brief
Most Recent Story
Meditation Makes Us Act with Compassion
By Emiliana R. Simon-Thomas | April 11, 2013A new study suggests mindfulness meditation can help us overcome the "bystander effect."
Past Stories
Are Video Games Truly Bad for Kids’ Health?
By Neha John-Henderson | April 5, 2011A recent study suggests the answer is more complicated than we think.
For Altruism, All You Need Is the Idea of Love
By Bernie Wong | March 17, 2011A study suggests that a single word can compel us to help others.
More Friends, Bigger Brain
By Sian Beilock | March 3, 2011Evidence that our brain size is linked to the size of our social networks.
Do We Do Good to Look Good?
By Bernie Wong | March 1, 2011A recent study suggests that a hunger for status can make us go green.
Does Sharing Come Naturally to Kids?
By Jason Marsh | February 24, 2011Believe it or not, a new study suggests young kids have a strong tendency to cooperate.
Love in the Autumn Years
By Kimberly van der Elst | February 13, 2011A look at lovers' brains suggests passion and romance can last for decades.
How to Be a Supportive Spouse
By Whitney Patterson | February 11, 2011If you want to help your partner deal with a problem, try to act invisible.
A Little Meditation Goes a Long Way
By Jason Marsh | February 9, 2011A new study offers the strongest evidence to date that meditation can change the structure of your brain.
Is There an Altruism Gene?
By Kristi Eaton | January 26, 2011A recent study suggests how our generosity is influenced by our genes.
Want Happy Workers? Sometimes a Plant is Enough
By Andrew Lewis | January 11, 2011Refuting the management experts, a recent study suggests employees should be free to decorate their own workspaces.
Got a Headache? Try a Dose of Romance
By Kimberly van der Elst | December 29, 2010A new study suggests feeling in love can bring us pain relief.
How to Make an Apology Work
By Whitney Patterson | December 20, 2010A new study offers an important tip to anyone looking for forgiveness.
You Can’t Buy Empathy
By Jason Marsh | December 14, 2010New research suggests the rich have a hard time reading others' emotions.
Social Connections Keep Pregnant Moms Healthy
By Eliana Osborn | December 6, 2010A study suggests how a sense of community can help at-risk pregnant women.
Most...
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Why Compassion in Business Makes Sense
April 15, 2013Emma Seppala explains how compassionate workplaces are good for employee health and the corporate bottom line.
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How to be a Happy Working Dad, Part One
March 27, 2013A new report finds that fitting work with family isn't just a women's issue. Jeremy Adam Smith offers 10 tips for helping fathers to navigate a changing landscape at home and on the job.
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When Getting Angry Makes You Happy
April 2, 2013A new study shows how seeking happiness at the right time may be more important than seeking happiness all the time.
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World Peace and Other 4th Grade Achievements
May 21, 2013A Q&A with visionary educator John Hunter, creator of the World Peace Game.
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Can You Run Out of Empathy?
May 20, 2013An essay in this week’s New Yorker argues that we don't have enough empathy to go around. But new research says we can keep renewing and expanding our feeling for others.
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‘Free the Mind’ film
May 17, 2013
Greater Good Events
Greater Good Summer Institute for Educators
University of California, Berkeley
Clark Kerr Campus
Friday, June 28 - Wednesday, July 3, 2013
» ALL EVENTS
University of California, Berkeley
Clark Kerr Campus
Friday, June 28 - Wednesday, July 3, 2013
The GGSC’s six-day Summer Institute will equip educators with social-emotional learning tools that will benefit both students and teachers. Registration is now closed.
» ALL EVENTS
Take a Greater Good Quiz!
How compassionate are you? How generous, grateful, or forgiving? Find out!
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Watch Greater Good Videos
Talks by inspiring speakers like Jon Kabat-Zinn, Dacher Keltner, and Barbara Fredrickson.
WatchGreater Good Resources
"Gratitude and Prosocial Behavior"
Finds that feeling gratitude produces kind and helpful behavior, even when that behavior is costly to the individual actor.
- "Compassion: An Evolutionary Analysis and Empirical Review"
Compassion evolved as a distinct affective experience whose function is to enable cooperation and protection of those who...
- "From Jerusalem to Jericho"
This article on bystander intervention in emergency situations suggests that we are likely to help a “shabbily dressed”...
- Center for Investigating Healthy Minds
The Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, runs a state-of-the-art neuroscience...
- Northeast Foundation for Children
Northeast Foundation for Children is a non-profit educational organization that offers educators the Responsive Classroom...
- Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship
Based at the University of Michigan Business School, this is a networking community for researchers and practitioners...
Book of the Week
Why We Cooperate
Nature and nurture interact to inform, and reform, cooperative behavior. Infants and apes are both able to share, but only the two-year-old will pick up that thing you dropped in front of her.
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Special thanks to
The Quality of Life Foundation for its support of the Greater Good Science Center
"Greater Good offers a first-rate service to those who want to track new and important research findings in social and emotional intelligence."
Daniel Goleman
Best-selling author,
Emotional Intelligence and Social Intelligence
(www.danielgoleman.info)
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