listen
quiz
write
speak
Cut a part
Shortcut list
- Previous subtitle
or
- Next subtitle
or
- Show/Hide subtitle
or
- Play/Pause
- Slow speed
- Record in speak game
- Repeat a subtitle
+
- Restart
- Loop 1 sub
- Select loop start
+
- Select loop end+
- Start looping ABor
- On/Off Auto pause mode+
- Full screen
- Volume up
- Volume down
- Mute
Play (Space)
Mute (M)
Auto pause - Delay showing subtitle (Q)
Slow (S)
Loop 1 sub ( L )1
- Start Start loop (Shift + 1)0:0:0 End End loop (Shift + 2)0:0:0
Start looping AB (Shift + 3)AB
AI Complete sub
Settings
Theater Mode (T)
Full Screen (F)Your browser doesn't support full screen mode.
0%
Next
Try Again
Compare
cancel
Translation
Definition
Slang
Video
Transcript
Auto Scroll
AI Transcript
CloseSplitOverflowSaved phrases
Richard Davidson: There are
very simple ways
of cultivating positive outlook.
When you do those simple
kinds of practices
we've shown that both behavior
and the brain changes
and it doesn't take much.
( Applause )
There are four constituents
of well-being that have been
seriously neuroscientifically
investigated.
And one of the
interesting things
about each of these four is
we understand something
about the brain circuits
that are
associated with them
and each of these
circuits exhibits plasticity.
The first is resilience.
We define resilience as
the rapidity with which you
recover from adversity.
And it turns out that
people who recover quickly
from adversity do much better.
They clearly have higher
levels of well-being
and we understand
something about
the brain mechanisms
that underlie this
and we can measure this in
particular neural systems.
The amygdala is a
region of the brain
which is critical for emotion,
in particular for threat.
And we can measure the
time course of activation
in the amygdala and it turns out
that after a certain period
of doing simple forms of
mindfulness meditation
you begin to show a
more resilient profile.
The second is positive outlook.
Positive outlook is
being able to see
the innate basic
goodness in each other.
And being able to savor
positive experiences.
So that when we have a
warm hearted interaction
with a loved one,
say in the morning
how long does that glow last?
Does it permeate
most of your day?
Or does it dissipate
very quickly?
There are very simple ways of
cultivating positive outlook.
There are whole group of simple,
contemplative practices
that focus on generating
loving kindness and compassion
for individuals who are loved
ones, who may be suffering
as well as for individuals
who may be strangers
people you don't really
know very well
and then even individuals
who push your buttons
who are difficult people.
And envisioning them
in a genuine way
and cultivating the
strong aspiration that
they too be relieved of
suffering and are happy
and enjoy well-being.
When you do those simple
kinds of practices
we've shown that both behavior
and the brain changes
and it doesn't take much.
We published a study just
a couple of years ago
where we did this
training online.
This is just a very simple
form of compassion training.
And we see that after
two weeks of training
where people are practicing
for 30 minutes a day
people behave in a more
pro-social way on tasks
that are designed to measure
altruistic behavior.
And these changes in behavior
were highly correlated
with changes in the brain.
And these are regions that are
important for positive outlook
and they show systematic changes
after just two weeks
of modest training.
The third constituent of
well-being is something that
you might not typically regard
as important for well-being.
But to paraphrase a subtitle
of a recent, important
scientific paper
"A wandering mind is
an unhappy mind."
Recent evidence suggests
and this...
this was collected
using smartphones and
probing people with text,
simple text messages
as they go about their day.
And they ask people
three questions.
One is, "What are you
doing right now?"
And they had to just
click off on a list
and indicate what
they are doing.
Second question is, "Where
is your mind right now?"
Is it focused on
what you're doing
or is it focused elsewhere?"
And the third question is,
"Right now--
how happy or unhappy are
you, right at this moment?"
Those are the three questions.
The findings from
that study revealed
that the average American adult
spends 47 percent of
her-his waking life
not paying attention to
what they are doing.
( audience laughter )
Forty seven percent of the time!
I would like to invite us
to consider the possibility
that we can do better!
( Audience laughter )
And just imagine, the
cost in human suffering
in economic terms of that
kind of distractibility.
It is staggering!
If there's one
body of evidence that
we really have confidence in
it's that
attention indeed can be learned.
And one of the ways
to think about this
one of the most commonly taught
forms of mindfulness meditation
involves becoming aware
of your breathing
where you focus your
awareness on the abdomen
as it's rising and falling
when you're breathing or
the sensations at the tip of
your nostril. I mean this is not
the most interesting compelling
stimulus in the world.
But, if you can pay
attention to your breath
you can pay attention to
almost anything else.
And so, this is really a very
effective form of training.
And, when you notice your mind
has wandered, which it will
you simply gently bring it
back to the object of focus.
It really is about the simplest
kind of practice imaginable yet
it has these profound effects
on the brain and on behavior.
The fourth is Generosity.
There is overwhelming
scientific evidence now showing
that acts of generosity
promote well-being
they activate specific
brain networks and
it's the single easiest way to
get these networks activated.
One of the things
that we've been doing
is exploring the nurturing
of generosity early in life.
And we've developed a curriculum
for pre-school children
that we call the
"kindness curriculum".
This is a curriculum
that includes
both mindfulness and kindness.
Now, why did we choose
pre-school kids?
There are three major periods
of increased plasticity
in the brain in the
early years of life.
One is right around birth.
The second is around
the onset of schooling
between the ages of
five and seven years.
And the third is
around adolescence.
These are periods when the
brain is radically reorganized
and are opportunities
for intervention.
So, that's one reason why we
chose the pre-school period.
The second reason is that
there are robust data showing
that a child's ability at
four and five years of age
to regulate his or her own
behavior is a strong predictor
of major life outcomes when
they are in their early 30s.
In fact, it's a better
predictor than IQ
than grade point average
and standardized test
scores all put together.
And what it predicts
in the early 30s
are major life outcomes.
It predicts physical health
it predicts the likelihood
of substance abuse.
It predicts the likelihood
of court-verified
criminal convictions in
large longitudinal research
and it also predicts
financial success
with very careful controls for
the socio-economic status
of the families of origin.
So, we have a moral
obligation, I think
in this culture to
do everything we can
to facilitate kids starting
out on a positive trajectory.
And one of the
things that we did
to assess the impact
of this curriculum is
we needed to develop novel
measure of kindness
and pro-social behavior
in these young kids.
And so, we developed
what we call
the "Self-Other Sharing" task.
So, what is this?
We chose a currency that
is valued very highly
among pre-school children.
( Audience laughter )
Stickers.
And what we did is something
incredibly simple.
We gave the kids two envelopes.
One envelope we had a picture of
themselves which is not on here.
And another envelope
we had pictures
of different kinds of kids.
And we did socio-metric
ratings in each classroom
and we found out who each
child's best friend was, and
we found out who each child's
least favorite person was.
And then we also
had a picture of
an obviously sick looking
child, which is shown here
and we also had a
picture of a child
that we call the stranger child
who the child had
never seen before.
And then we gave them a bunch of
stickers each time and we said
"Please place the
stickers in the envelopes
according to who you'd
like to give them to.
You can keep as many
for yourself
or you can give them to others."
What we found is
the kids who were
randomly assigned to the
kindness curriculum
showed more pro-social behavior,
more kindness on this task
than the kids who were receiving
the standard curriculum.
And actually the sad fact is
that at least in the classrooms
that we studied over the
course of the pre-school year
kids who get the
standard curriculum
become increasingly selfish
as the year goes along.
We also gave them other metrics
that measure self-regulation.
And one of those metrics
is something that
many of you have probably
heard about before
which is a measure of the
delay of gratification.
And it turns out that a child's
ability to delay gratification
at four and five years of age
is one of the
strongest predictors of
these adult life outcomes.
And I'd like to just show
you a little video clip
that illustrates these
original experiments
for how it was originally done.
Okay, so here's the deal.
Here's a marshmallow.
You can either wait
and I'll bring you back another
one, so you can have two.
Or you can eat it now.
So, you can eat it now
or you can wait and I'll
bring you back two, okay?
Okay, I'll be back.
( instrumental jazz music )
( instrumental jazz music )
-Careful.
-Miss?
Oh, what happened?
Oh, okay.
( instrumental jazz music )
Oh, how good! You waited.
You get two!
Woman: Good job! ( clapping )
You can eat it.
You can eat it now.
( Audience laughter )
Okay, very important skill
and it turns out that although
kids differ dramatically
as you can see in
their behavior
this can be changed and
this can be learned.
Thank you very much.
( Applause )
Click here to download video transcript
Click here to copy video transcript
Video info
VocabularyThe Science of a Happy Mind, Part 2 | Nat Geo Live
In part two, Davidson talks about his research findings and the four fundamental components that, he has found, contribute to well-being: resilience, positive outlook, attention, and generosity.
More like this
Show more
Added to