Winter 2009 (Volume V, Issue 3)
Why Make Art?
New research suggests the arts may boost students’ academic performance, but many scientists aren’t convinced. So what are the arts good for these days? This issue considers therapeutic, emotional, cognitive, and other benefits of the arts.
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In Brief
Guest Column
Q&A
Why We Make Art (13)
By Jeremy Adam Smith, Jason Marsh | Winter 2009Seven artists explain why they write, rap, take photos, draw, dance, and make movies.
Features
Arts and Smarts (14)
By Karin Evans | Winter 2009At a time when educators are preoccupied with standards, testing, and the bottom line, some researchers suggest the arts can boost students’ test scores; others aren’t convinced. Karin Evans asks, What are the arts good for?
The Birth of the Arts (15)
By Ellen Dissanayake | Winter 2009Throughout our history, humans have felt compelled to make art. Ellen Dissanayake explains why.
Changing our Minds (17)
By Keith Oatley | Winter 2009By imagining many possible worlds, argues novelist and psychologist Keith Oatley, fiction helps us understand ourselves and others.
Does Art Heal? (19)
By Meera Lee Sethi | Winter 2009At Shands HealthCare in Florida, artists and physicians have been partners for 18 years, reports Meera Lee Sethi. Their program is helping to prove the clinical benefits of creativity.
Global Compassion (22)
By Paul Ekman | Winter 2009A conversation between the Dalai Lama and Paul Ekman
Bhutan at a Crossroads (23)
By Mirka Knaster | Winter 2009Can one of the world’s happiest countries survive the 21st century?
Tools for the Greater Good
Everyday Art (21)
By Christine Carter | Winter 2009Christine Carter reveals six steps for boosting kids' creativity.
Book Reviews
Beyond Sex and Violence (24)
By Jeremy Adam Smith | Winter 2009Sex and War: How Biology Explains Warfare and Terrorism and Offers a Path to a Safer World
by Malcolm Pott s and Thomas Hayden
Benbella Books, 2008, 457 pages
Violence: A Micro-Sociological Theory
by Randall Co llins
Princeton University Press, 2008, 584 pages
Book Review: Happiness (25)
By Christine Carter | Winter 2009by Ed Diener and Robert Biswas-Diener
Wiley-Blackwell, 2008, 304 pages
Book Review: Loneliness (26)
By Jill Suttie | Winter 2009by John T. Cacioppo and William Patrick
W.W. Norton & Company, 2008, 317 pages
Book Review: Rock, Paper, Scissors (27)
By Alex Dixon | Winter 2009by Len Fisher
Basic Books, 2008, 288 pages
Book Review: Positive Psychology at the Movies (28)
By Jeremy Adam Smith | Winter 2009by Ryan M. Niemiec and Danny Wedding
Hogrefe, 2008, 308 pages
Pop Culture Review
Pop Treatment (29)
By Joshua Coleman | Winter 2009How do TV therapy sessions measure up to real life?
Ideas for the Greater Good
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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2nd International Conference on Positive Psychology: “Giving Hope – Giving Future”
May 22, 2013 -
Here’s How Much You Love Humanity
May 21, 2013Results from the Greater Good "Love of Humanity" quiz.
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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.
Greater Good 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!
» TAKE A QUIZ
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
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Sponsors
Special thanks to
The Quality of Life Foundation for its support of the Greater Good Science Center
Daniel Goleman
Best-selling author,
Emotional Intelligence and Social Intelligence
(www.danielgoleman.info)
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