Goodness, Generosity, Science Of Altruism

Discuss the evolution of cooperation with anthropologist Karthik Panchanathan and learn about decision-making and heroism with renowned psychologist Dr. Philip Zimbardo. Explore generosity in children with anthropologist Dr. Joan Silk, and join a workshop on raising kind kids with the Executive Director of UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, Dr. Christine Carter. Meet KickStart and Kiva, local nonprofits helping individuals out of poverty around the world, and get creative with your own generosity -- by writing story-gifts and wish-poems, making books, building toys, and more.

The program is as follows:

Saturday, November 15, 2008, 1-4pm
Local Nonprofits with Global Impacts

Many aid groups work to improve the lives of the poor by building schools, upgrading sanitation systems, and other large development initiatives -- but these projects are often neglected once funding ends. What makes such project sustainable? When is giving most effective? Meet representatives from local nonprofits Kickstart and Kiva to find out how smaller-scale solutions can have worldwide impacts. Test out Kickstart's pedal-powered irrigation pump and learn how Kiva helps anyone become a microfinance lender to support real people working toward better lives.

KickStart's technologies, expertise, and methods are used throughout Africa to support programs in agriculture, shelter, water, sanitation, health, and relief. Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world. Over time, the entrepreneur repays the loan and lenders get their money back.

Sunday, November 23, 2008, 11am-1pm and 2-4pm
Act On It! Performing and Writing Acts of Kindness

Giving is a value celebrated around the world. What does it mean to you? How would you put kindness into words? Give voice to gratitude in this kid-friendly, creative workshop hosted by poet, performer, and educator Susan Terence. During this two-hour program, we'll perform an Andean folktale about helping others, and write our own giving poems or stories. We'll then transform these "gifts" and "wishes" into handmade books. Become a poet, storyteller, bookmaker, and actor -- all in one day.

For ages 7 and up. Limited capacity. To register, send an e-mail to pubprog@exploratorium.edu. Please specify which session you prefer and include your name, telephone number, e-mail address, and number of participants.

Susan Terence is a poet-teacher with California Poets in the Schools, a performer with Young Audiences of the Bay Area, and a poet-teacher for the De Young and Legion of Honor museums. She has received two San Francisco Unified School District Creative Writing Teacher of the Year Awards, and has won several prizes for her writings, which have appeared in publications such as the San Francisco Chronicle, the Bay Guardian, and the Southern Poetry Review.

Sunday, December 7, 2008, 2pm
A Conversation on Time Perspective and Everyday Heroism with Dr. Philip Zimbardo

One of the most powerful influences on our everyday decisions is our perception of time -- the way our minds partition the flow of experience into temporal zones, such as past, present, and future. For many reasons, people in different cultures, social classes, ages, and geographies develop an excessive focus on one zone at the expense of the others. In this special presentation, renowned psychologist Dr. Philip Zimbardo weighs the costs and benefits of privileging one sense of time over others and offers insight into adopting a more flexible and balance time perspective.

In addition, Dr. Zimbardo discusses the importance of cultivating a heroic imagination both in our youth and ourselves. If most heroes are everyday, ordinary people, what influences them to act in extraordinary ways -- to make sacrifices or take risks on behalf of others or a moral cause? How can we become heroes-in-waiting -- read and prepared to act when needed.

Philip Zimbardo, Ph.D., is an internationally recognized scholar, educator, researcher, and media personality. A Stanford University professor since 1968, his career is noted for giving psychology away to the public through his popular PBS-TV series, Discovering Psychology, along with many text and trade books, including the The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil (2007) and The Time Paradox: The New Psychology of Time That Will Change Your Life (2008). He was recently president of the American Psychological Association and has twice served as president of the Western Psychological Association. He is currently the executive director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Policy, Education, and Research on Terrorism (CIPERT).

Saturday, December 13, 2008, 2pm
Divided We Stand: Understanding the Evolution of Cooperation

All of us have intuitions about and experiences with altruism. Are humans really altruistic, or do we help others merely to further our self-interest? Is altruism a specifically human phenomenon, or do non-human animals also make sacrifices for others? What can scientists tell us about our propensity for generosity? Evolutionary anthropologist Karthik Panchanathan joins us from UCLA's Center for Behavior, Evolution and Culture to discuss the ways in which our capacity for helping others is investigated across scientific disciplines. Learn how different fields do and do not agree on altruism and where cultural notions of fairness intersect and diverge. Find out how research on everything from chickens to economics informs our collective understanding of altruistic behavior -- and how using models and even game theory might help us understand why individuals sacrifice for others. During the presentation, we'll re-create an experiment designed to reveal aspects of fairness. This experiment was run on peoples the world over, from university undergraduates to Amazonian hunter-gatherers to Highland New Guineans, showing us that people in general have a shared notion of fairness, with some notable cross-cultural differences.

Karthik Panchanathan's research investigates the evolution of human cooperation and culture. He draws inspiration from a range of disciplines, including anthropology, evolutionary biology, economics, and psychology. With a combination of theoretical modeling and experiments, he is interested in questions like, What mechanisms explain the extent of human cooperation and competition? How does our capacity for learning and cultural transmission change the rules of game when it comes to human evolution and adaptation?

Saturday, December 13, 2008, 1pm
On Good Behavior: Exploring the Biological Roots of Caring and Sharing, with Dr. Joan Silk

We routinely help strangers, stick up for friends, and care for children who are not our own. None of these behaviors appear to increase our ability as individuals to survive; in fact, they seem to contradict ideas of natural selection. Or do they? Is there an evolutionary basis to human goodness? Meet esteemed primatologist Dr. Joan Silk and discover what the social behaviors of baboons and bonnet macaques have to tell us about our own altruistic tendencies, such as why we seek to foster kindness and sharing in children, and why we love our grandmothers.

A professor of biological anthropology at UCLA, Dr. Joan Silk studies how natural selection has shaped the evolution of social behavior in primates. She is interested in researching the roots of reconciliation, cooperation, friendship, paternal investment, and the origins of prosocial sentiments -- such as helping and comforting one another -- that play a crucial role in human societies. She is co-author of How Humans Evolved (2006), a textbook designed for use in introductory classes in human evolution and biological anthropology.

Saturday, January 10, 2009, 2pm
The Science and Art of Raising Kind Kids

If raising kind kids were a science, what might the tools and methods look like? What motivates children to be caring or generous? In this interactive presentation, Dr. Christine L. Carter presents the latest in behavioral and social scientific findings along with practical tips for raising kind kids. The mother of two and the Executive Director of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, Carter will share research, offer tools, and empower parents, teachers, and caregivers with the knowledge they need to instill altruism in children.

Note: this presentation is geared toward parents and caregivers, not family groups. Please plan accordingly.

Christine Carter, Ph.D., is the executive director of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley and a sociologist who studies the childhood roots of happiness. She writes the blog Half Full: Science for Raising Happy Kids and has been quoted in American Baby and Parenting magazines, Boston Globe, The New York Times, and dozens of other publications. She has two children and lives with her family near San Francisco. -- www.exploratorium.edu