Join us for our next Food for Thought this Friday, April 6th from 12-1 PM in the Club Room. This month, we’ll be hearing from Professor Aviv. Make sure to RSVP to save your seat!
Let’s Get Emotional: The Making of our Emotions according to Buddhist and Contemporary Psychology
In recent centuries many came to see emotions as the essence of what makes us human. My talk will review the history of emotions and how we understand them today. Since the 1960s, the dominant paradigm, based on the groundbreaking work of Paul Ekman, contended that facial expressions of emotions are universal and that six basic emotions can be observed across the cultural divide. More recently, however, a new theory challenged the universality of emotions and proposed instead a radical reformulation of what emotions are. Interestingly, this theory has an antecedent in a school of Buddhist philosophy originated more than 1,500 years ago. The main part of the talk will focus on this new theory and what these psychologists and Buddhist thinkers advise us to do in order to experience the richness of our emotions and live happier lives.
Skip to content
University Honors Program Blog
Intellectual Omnivores Unite
