Scientific Definition
Dacher Keltner's research: the emotion of encountering vastness reliably reduces self-focus and inflammation, and increases prosociality.
Plain-English Definition
Dacher Keltner's research: the emotion of encountering vastness reliably reduces self-focus and inflammation, and increases prosociality.
Feynman Explanation
Smaller self, bigger world.
Core Principle
Dacher Keltner's research: the emotion of encountering vastness reliably reduces self-focus and inflammation, and increases prosociality.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Dacher Keltner's research: the emotion of encountering vastness reliably reduces self-focus and inflammation, and increases prosociality.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Culture rituals; reducing ego-driven friction in leadership teams.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
Smaller self, bigger world.
Examples
- Keltner's lab studies on nature, music, and 'collective effervescence.'
- Culture rituals; reducing ego-driven friction in leadership teams.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Build awe walks (15 min, looking up and out) into the executive routine.
Measurement Approaches
Pending editorial review.
Evidence
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
The Perverse Incentive Lens™
How this behavior is exploited — and how to redesign around it.
- Build awe walks (15 min, looking up and out) into the executive routine.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Interactive Mini Network
Click any neighbor to re-center the graph and follow the threads of connection.
Knowledge Graph Neighbors
Auto-linked to the rest of the Human Behavior Taxonomy by family, domain, dimension, and shared keywords.
Predicting how we will feel in the future, usually inaccurately.
The drive to explore and understand for its own sake.
Emotional states distort cognition and decision-making.
When the limbic system overrides higher cognition and behavior follows ancient circuits, not chosen values.
The capacity to recognize, understand, and manage emotions — your own and others'.
Negative emotions fade faster than positive ones.
A strategy to influence behavior by amplifying fear and uncertainty.
Effects of an intervention spread to other areas beyond the intended target.
A group decides on a course of action that nobody actually wants, because everyone assumes others prefer it.
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
We attribute our own actions to situations but others' actions to their character.
We favor people who are similar to us or who like us.