The Compassionate Instinct

STEVEN PINKER, PH.D., is Harvard College Professor and Johnstone Family Professor in Harvard University’s psychology department. He is the author of seven books, two of which were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. His most recent book is The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature (Penguin). His essay is adapted from a lecture he delivered at the 2007 TED Conference in Monterey, California.

 

CATHERINE PRICE is a freelance writer for publications including the New York Times, Salon, and Men’s Journal, and is founder and editor-in-chief of Salt magazine (www.saltmag.net).

 

ROBERT M. SAPOLSKY, PH.D., is the John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Professor of Biological Sciences and a professor of neurology and neurological sciences at Stanford University. He is the author of numerous books, including Monkeyluv: And Other Essays on Our Lives as Animals (Scribner). A longer version of this essay appeared in Foreign Affairs.

 

JEREMY ADAM SMITH is the editor of Shareable.net, a contributing editor of Greater Good magazine, and author of The Daddy Shift: How Stay-at-Home Dads, Breadwinning Moms, and Shared Parenting Are Transforming the American Family (Beacon). His work has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Mothering, The Nation, Utne Reader, Wired, and many other periodicals and books.

 

JILL SUTTIE, PSY.D., is a freelance writer and the book review editor for Greater Good magazine.

 

ROBERT I. SUTTON, PH.D., is a professor of management science and engineering at Stanford University’s School of Engineering. He is the author of The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t (Warner Business Books), from which this essay was adapted for the Winter 2007–08 issue of Greater Good. His blog is www.bobsutton.net.

 

ANGELA TRETHEWEY, PH.D., is an associate professor in the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication. She explores the intersections of gender, work, and identity.

 

DESMOND TUTU, the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, retired as Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, in 1996. He then served as chairman of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This essay was adapted from his 2004 book, God Has a Dream (Doubleday), for the Fall 2004 issue of Greater Good.

 

FRANS B. M. DE WAAL, PH.D., a Dutch-born primatologist, is the C. H. Candler Professor at Emory University and director of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta. This essay was adapted from his book Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are (Riverhead), for the Fall/Winter 2005–06 issue of Greater Good.

 

EVERETT L. WORTHINGTON JR., PH.D., is a professor and chair in the department of psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University. A Campaign for Forgiveness Research, of which he serves as executive director, funded preparation of this essay.

 

PHILIP ZIMBARDO, PH.D., is a professor emeritus of psychology at Stanford University, a two-time past president of the Western Psychological Association, and a past president of the American Psychological Association. He elaborates on many of the ideas found in this essay in The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil (Random House).

THE COMPASSIONATE INSTINCT

PART ONE:THE SCIENTIFIC ROOTS OF HUMAN GOODNESS

INTRODUCTION

Dacher Keltner, Jason Marsh, and Jeremy Adam Smith

WE ARE WITNESSING a revolution in the scientific understanding of human nature. Where once science painted humans as self-seeking and warlike—simplified notions of killer apes and selfish genes that still permeate popular culture—today scientists of many disciplines are uncovering the deep roots of human goodness.

Greater Good magazine, which was launched in 2004, highlights this exciting new scientific research and fuses it with inspiring stories of compassion in action. In the process, it provides a bridge between social scientists and parents, educators, community leaders, and policy makers.