Guest appearances

Dacher KeltnerEvery podcast appearance, updated as new ones drop

host of The Science of Happiness

Episodes
26
Shows
23
Hours
~22

Tracked from 30 Mar 2017 to 3 Feb 2026

Stay in the loop

Get Dacher Keltner's next appearance by email

No app to install. We email you as soon as a new guest spot drops.

Free — we email you the moment Dacher Keltner guests on a new show. No password, no app to install.

Prefer it in your podcast app? Add a private feed →

GuestVine has tracked 26 episodes across 23 shows, with links to the original publisher audio.

Podcasts Dacher Keltner has appeared on

The shows with the most detected Dacher Keltner guest appearances.

Appearance timeline

How often Dacher Keltner has guested over time — by quarter, from tracked appearances.

Q1 '17Q1 '26

Recent guest appearances

Show 26 episodes
  • Discover AWE Daily with Oprah and Dacher Keltner
    The Oprah Podcast

    Did you know that experiencing awe can improve your health and your overall well-being? Oprah talks with University of California, Berkeley psychology professor Dacher Keltner to delve into his latest book "Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life." During this inspirational conversation Dacher explains how each of us has the potential to experience awe every single day and shares how encountering awe can lead us to greater fulfillment and happiness. Based on his extensive research Dacher outlines and describes what he calls the “Eight Wonders of Life” or the eight experiences that most commonly trigger awe. Throughout the discussion Oprah and Dacher each share their own deeply personal encounters with awe. BUY THE BOOK! https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/622175/awe-by-dacher-keltner/ 00:00:00 - Welcome Dacher Keltner, author of “Awe” 00:04:30 - Awe decreases depression 00:07:40 - Awe and death 00:10:20 - Finding awe everyday 00:11:05 - 8 awe experiences 00:20:20 - how Awe affects our health 00:21:36 - Awe vs gratitude 00:24:45 - How awe can heal divisions 00:26:50 - Making space for awe and kids 00:28:20 - Develop an awe practice 00:29:50 - Psychedelics and awe 00:36:00 - Everyone can experience awe The Science of Happiness Podcast What does it take to live a happier life? Learn research-tested strategies that you can put into practice today. Hosted by award-winning psychologist Dacher Keltner. Co-produced by PRX and UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/podcasts/series/the_science_of_happiness Follow Oprah Winfrey on Social: https://www.instagram.com/oprahpodcast/ https://www.facebook.com/oprahwinfrey/ Listen to the full podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0tEVrfNp92a7lbjDe6GMLI https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-oprah-podcast/id1782960381 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • The Science of Awe: Rediscover Wonder with Dacher Keltner

    What if awe was the secret ingredient to happiness? 🌿 In this episode, I sit down with UC Berkeley psychologist Dacher Keltner to explore how awe, compassion, and moral beauty can transform the way we live and age. We dive into the science of wonder — from the power of collective joy to how simple “awe walks” can boost your health, purpose, and connection. ✨ Join us as we uncover why we’re truly born to be good and how awe might just be the key to midlife renewal. 🎧 Tune in for the full conversation and get inspired to see life with fresh eyes. Timestamps: 00:00 Chip welcomes Dacher and reflects on their friendship 00:18 Why people smile when they talk about Dacher 01:06 How early experiences shaped his empathy 03:32 Journey into psychology and emotion science 06:42 Discovering emotion in the human face 07:31 Writing Born to Be Good and redefining human nature 09:42 Science of compassion, gratitude, and kindness 13:15 How the study of awe began 14:17 What awe is and how it feels 18:24 Collecting awe stories from around the world 20:33 The eight wonders of awe 21:00 Collective effervescence and shared joy 23:44 Synchronizing with others through movement and emotion 25:01 How screens disrupt human connection 27:00 Moral beauty and the power of witnessing goodness 31:32 Moral beauty within community and everyday life 32:39 Awe and moral beauty in midlife 36:33 The Awe Walk study and its health benefits 39:47 Finding awe in daily moments 41:25 Inside Dacher’s “Cultivating Awe” workshop 43:51 Practicing awe through grief and gratitude 45:09 Wisdom bumper sticker: seeing hidden beauty in people 47:35 Love (agape) as the essence of awe 49:10 Closing reflections and gratitude Learn more about MEA at ⁠ https://www.meawisdom.com/ #awe #DacherKeltner #ChipConley #MidlifeChrysalis #CultivatingAwe #BornToBeGood #MoralBeauty #CollectiveEffervescence #ScienceOfAwe #HumanConnection #Mindfulness #EmotionalIntelligence #MidlifeWisdom #GratitudePractice #FindingPurpose

  • Everyday Awe with Dacher Keltner (Replay)
    Peaceful Exit

    Dacher Keltner is the founding director of the Greater Good Science Center and a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. He’s one of the world’s leading scientists studying emotions, and his latest book is " Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life ." In this episode, Dacher tells Sarah why we need awe, and where (and how) to find it each and every day. He also shares the deeply personal story of losing his brother to colon cancer, and why this relationship was a key source of awe in his life. You can learn more about Dacher Keltner’s work and find his book here: https://www.dacherkeltner.com/

  • The New Science of Awe & How It Improves Your Physical & Mental Wellbeing with Dr Dacher Keltner (re-release) #527

    When was the last time you felt awe? Perhaps it’s an emotion you notice often, evoked by the trees, clouds, or people around you. Or maybe it’s something you associate with more dramatic, less frequent experiences. Today’s guest, Dr Dacher Keltner, has written a sublime book on the subject of awe. It’s called A we: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life and in it he proposes that awe is an emotion that’s all around us, waiting to be discovered – and in doing so, we can transform our health and lives for the better. Dacher is one of the world’s foremost emotion scientists and Professor of Psychology at the University of California. He’s also Director of the Greater Good Science Center, which studies the psychology, sociology, and neuroscience of happiness and wellbeing. He has spent decades studying the science of happiness and believes that across the world, we are collectively having a moment of reflection and looking for more meaning. In this conversation, Dacher defines awe as our response to powerful things that are obscure, vast, and mysterious. They’re beyond our frame of reference, making us feel small and filling us with wonder. But you don’t have to go to the Grand Canyon or see the Northern Lights to find them. Having studied people’s understanding and experience of awe in 26 different countries, he’s found eight types which are common – and easily available – to us all. They include nature, music, moral beauty (noticing others’ kindness), birth and death, and one of my favourites, ‘collective effervescence’. This is that feeling of coming together with others, moving as one, and sharing the same consciousness – and you may have experienced it in a sports stadium, at a music concert, on a dancefloor, in worship, in a choir, or even at parkrun. As to the benefits of awe, from calming inflammation to activating the vagus nerve; deactivating our brain’s stress centre, to reducing pain perception, these awe experiences are buffers for many modern health conditions that we can’t afford to miss. We spoke in depth about how birth and death are strong triggers for awe, sharing our own painful yet precious experiences of watching close relatives die. We also considered how awe reduces the ego and makes you humble. And how having a regular practice of contemplation, like meditation or breathwork, can open us up to easily noticing and benefitting from everyday awe. I truly believe that Dacher’s work can help all of us find greater meaning and greater health. He’s done a fantastic job of finding the science to support his words, but I think we also know intuitively that what he’s saying makes perfect sense. This was a wonderful and deeply profound conversation that contains science, storytelling, raw emotion and so much more. I hope you enjoy listening. Support the podcast and enjoy Ad-Free episodes. Try FREE for 7 days on Apple Podcasts https://apple.co/feelbetterlivemore For other podcast platforms go to https://fblm.supercast.com . Thanks to our sponsors: https://exhalecoffee.com/livemore https://vivobarefoot.com/livemore https://drinkag1.com/livemore Show notes https://drchatterjee.com/527 DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your doctor or qualified healthcare provider. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have heard on the podcast or on

  • Episode 106 - The Transformative Power of Awe with Dacher Keltner

    Shownotes: Join us on this enlightening episode as Dr. Dacher Keltner, renowned emotion scientist and advisor to Pixar’s Inside Out and Inside Out 2 , dives into the profound impact of awe on our lives. Drawing from his extensive research and insights from his latest book, Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life , he explains how this emotion elevates our daily experiences and deepens our connections to the world. Tune in to discover practical strategies for cultivating a richer, awe-inspired life and embracing the vastness of our world with renewed perspective and gratitude. 📣 Special gift for Evolving with Gratitude listeners! Use the promotion code below for 20% off the Awe in Education course: Promo Code: 20GIFT About Our Guest: Dr. Keltner is one of the world’s foremost emotion scientists. He is a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and the director of the Greater Good Science Center. He has over 200 scientific publications and six books, including Born to Be Good , The Compassionate Instinct , and The Power Paradox . He has written for many popular outlets, from The New York Times to Slate. He was also the scientific advisor behind Pixar’s Inside Out, is involved with the education of health care providers and judges, and has consulted extensively for Google, Apple, and Pinterest, on issues related to emotion and well-being. Thrive Global Article: The Power of Awe with Dacher Keltner: Exploring Profound Emotions “Inside Out” About Lainie: Lainie Rowell is a bestselling ⁠author⁠ , award-winning educator, and TEDx speaker. She is dedicated to human flourishing focusing on community building, social emotional learning, and honoring what makes each of us unique and dynamic through learner-driven design. She earned her degree in psychology and went on to earn postgraduate degrees in education. As an international keynoter and a consultant, Lainie’s client list ranges from Fortune 100 companies like Apple and Google to school districts and independent schools. Learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠linktr.ee/lainierowell⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ . Website - ⁠LainieRowell.com⁠ Twitter - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@LainieRowell ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ In

  • Exploring the Science of Everyday Wonder with Dacher Keltner
    Brain & Life

    In this week's episode, Brain & Life podcast co-host Dr. Katy Peters is joined by Dacher Keltner, founding director of the Greater Good Science Center, professor of psychology at the University of California, and author of Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life. They discuss how the feeling of awe can affect your life and share what experiences they have had that left them feeling awestruck. Dacher Keltner also shares about the work they do at the Greater Good Science Center to study the science of a meaningful life. Additional Resources Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life Greater Good Science Center How Does Nature Affect Brain Health? How are Mental Health and Brain Health Connected? Manage Pain with Mindfulness Other Brain & Life Podcast Episodes on These Topics The Secrets of Synesthesia with Dr. Joel Salinas We want to hear from you! Have a question or want to hear a topic featured on the Brain & Life Podcast? · Record a voicemail at 612-928-6206 Email us at <span style= "font-size: 11.0pt;

  • Unabridged Interview: Dacher Keltner

    This is our unabridged interview with Dacher Keltner. “Brief doses…help your heart, your immune system, your stress, your reasoning, your relationships,” says psychologist and bestselling author Dacher Keltner. And believe it or not, he’s not describing some new miracle drug or medical treatment. He’s talking about the experience of awe. He defines awe as “the feeling we have when we encounter vast, mysterious things.” It’s something we all have experienced, but often talk about rather sheepishly. Dacher has spent considerable time seeking it out and studying it, and the results are in. In this episode, he shares his findings, and offers all the ways in which awe is a necessary component to a happy, healthy, flourishing life. Show Notes: Similar episodes Jennifer Wiseman: How Science Produces Wonder David Desteno: Can Religion Make You Happier? Judith Moskowitz: How to Flourish Amidst Stress Resources mentioned this episode Awe by Dacher Keltner AlanCowan.com Ming Kuo’s 21 pathways by which nature is good for one’s health Brian Sutton and Tammy Rogers performing “Nachstucke” PDF of Lee’s Interview Notes Transcript for Abridged Episode JOIN NSE+ Today! Our subscriber only community with bonus episodes, ad-free listening, and discounts on live shows Subscribe to episodes: Apple | Spotify | Amazon | Google | YouTube Follow Us: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube Follow Lee: Instagram | Twitter Join our Email List: nosmallendeavor.com See Privacy Policy: Privacy Policy Amazon Affiliate Disclosure: Tokens Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • Awakening Awe: Finding Beauty in the Everyday with Dacher Keltner

    Dacher Keltner, founding director of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, and author of "Awe: The Nature of Awe and the Power to Transform Your Life”, joins Leah Smart to discuss the transformative power of awe and its impact on our minds and bodies. They explore the profound effects of awe on personal growth, well-being, and social connection, and offer practical strategies for cultivating awe in everyday life to lead a more fulfilling and meaningful existence. Follow Leah Smart on LinkedIn Follow Dacher Keltner on LinkedIn

  • The Science & Practice of Everyday Awe with Dr. Dacher Keltner
    Teacher Fan Club

    In this enlightening episode of the Teacher Fan Club we welcome Dr. Dacher Keltner, one of the world’s foremost emotion scientists and the founding Director of the Greater Good Science Center . Dr. Keltner is a distinguished psychology professor at the University of California, Berkeley and has consulted for Google, Apple, and Pinterest on emotion and wellbeing. He was also the scientific advisor behind Pixar’s Inside Out . With an inspiring career that spans over 200 scientific publications and six books, including his lastest, Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How it Can Transform Your Life, Dr. Keltner has revolutionized our understanding of emotions and their impact on wellbeing and social connection. In this episode, we dive into Dr. Keltner's latest work on awe and explore the eight wonders of life and their transformative effects on our everyday lives, relationships, and even our educational approaches. Learn opportunities to trigger awe in your daily life and classroom, and reflect on your own transformative awe experiences. Whether you're an educator looking to inspire your students, a parent seeking to cultivate awe in your child's life, or someone eager to embrace the beauty in every day, this conversation with renowned expert (and super teacher fan!) Dr. Dacher Keltner is bound to leave you awe-inspired and ready to explore the world with renewed wonder and appreciation. **FYI - this episode has a sound distortion, off and on, until about 13:00. We did our best to fix it and minimize the distraction! Thanks in advance for your patience - and please know it doesn't last :). Full show notes are available at: https://teacherfanclub.com/?p=106

  • How to Experience More Everyday Awe with Dacher Keltner

    “The evolution of our species built into our brains and bodies an emotion, our species-defining passion, that enables us to wonder together about the great questions of living.” That’s just one of many illuminating conclusions that researcher Dr. Dacher Keltner discovered in his scientific studies of awe. In this conversation, you’ll learn about the eight wonders of life, how to experience more everyday awe (and take yourself on awe walks), and what’s behind our current crisis of meaning. As Dacher writes, “Our experiences of awe hint at faint answers to these perennial questions and move us to wander toward the mysteries and wonders of life.” More About Dacher : Dr. Dacher Keltner is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley and the faculty director of the UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center. A renowned expert in the biological and evolutionary origins of human emotion, Dr. Keltner studies the science of compassion, awe, love, and beauty, and how emotions shape our moral intuition. His research interests also span issues of power, status, inequality, and social class. He is the author of the best-selling book Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life and of The Compassionate Instinct , and today we are talking about his most recent book, AWE: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life . Dacher is also the host of the award-winning podcast, The Science of Happiness . 🌟 3 Key Takeaways 8 wonders of life: moral beauty (the strength, courage, overcoming, and kindness of others); collective effervescence; nature; music; visual design; mysticism (spiritual and religious); stories of life and death; and epiphanies. Everyday awe: In our daily lives, we most frequently feel awe in encounters with moral beauty, and secondarily in nature and in experiences with music, art, and film. The big idea of awe: We are part of systems larger than the self. “Awe is about knowing, sensing, seeing and understanding fundamental truths, and leads to epiphanies across the eight wonders of life—transforming how we see the essential nature of the world.” ✅ Try This Next— Go on an Awe Walk: Tap into your childlike sense of wonder. Try to approach what you see with fresh eyes, imagining that you're seeing it for the first time. Take a moment in each walk to take in the vastness of things, for example in looking at a panoramic view or up close at the detail of a leaf or flower. Go somewhere new. Each week, try to choose a new location. You're more likely to feel awe in a novel environment where the sights and sounds are unexpected and unfamiliar to you. That said, some places never seem to get old, so there's nothing wrong with revisiting your favorite spots if you find that they consistently fill you with awe. The key is to recognize new features of the same old place. What’s mysterious around me? What’s the deeper story of what I’m perceiving? 🔗 Resources Mentioned Dacher on the web and LinkedIn (No Twitter and IG accounts) Video : The Diary of

  • 184. Your Brain on Awe — A Conversation with Dacher Keltner
    Faith Matters

    Dacher Keltner is a scientist who has been studying happiness and well-being for decades. He writes that he’s taught happiness to hundreds of thousands of people around the world and that twenty years into teaching happiness, he’s actually found an answer to how to live the good life: find awe. To that end, he’s written a new book called Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How it Can Transform Your Life. The book was not only moving, fascinating and thoroughly researched, it also raised lots of really important questions for us. Among the most important was what implications his research on awe has for religious people. It seems like what Latter-day Saints call “feeling the Spirit” has a strong connection to what Dacher refers to as awe, and we were able to ask Dacher about that. While he’s not a traditionally religious person himself, his exploration of awe has led him to believe that there is a realm of understanding and human experience that is beyond scientific explanation. On a really practical level, Dacher’s book, and the conversation with him, helped us understand how we can integrate awe into our everyday lives, and illustrated the astounding benefits that an “awe” practice can have for each of us. Dacher received his PhD from Stanford University in 1989 before joining Berkeley’s psychology department in 1996, where he’s been ever since. Over 500,000 people have enrolled in Dacher’s EdX course, The Science of Happiness , and he’s the host of the podcast also called The Science of Happiness . Join us on July 11 for the Wayfare festival! RSVP here.

  • Everyday Awe with Dacher Keltner
    Peaceful Exit

    Dacher Keltner is the founding director of the Greater Good Science Center and a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. He’s one of the world’s leading scientists who studies emotions and his latest book is all about Awe. In this episode, Dacher explains what his research reveals about awe, why we need it, and where to find it everyday. He also shares the deeply personal story of losing his brother to colon cancer, who he describes as his moral compass and a key source of awe in his life. You can learn more about Dacher Keltner’s work and find his book here: https://www.dacherkeltner.com/

  • Awe Reloaded (with Dacher Keltner)
    On Wisdom

    Have we overlooked a major source of awe, right under our collective noses? Dacher Keltner returns to the On Wisdom studio to discuss his new book "Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life", the power of moral beauty, the desire for connection, and the importance of wandering. Igor suggest that awe can also entail feelings of terror, Dacher reflects on the perils of awe being used against us, and Charles shares his experience of an awe walk-around-the-bloc. Welcome to Episode 56. Special Guest: Dacher Keltner. Links: Dacher Keltner | UC Psych Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life Greater Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life Berkeley Social Interaction Laboratory Dacher Keltner: Why Awe Is Such an Important Emotion - YouTube The Science of Happiness Podcast | Greater Good Awe as a scientific emotion - Gottlieb, Keltner, Lombrozo (2018) Self-Transcendent Awe as a Moral Grounding of Wisdom - Dacher Keltner, Paul K. Piff (2020) Awe and humility. - PubMed - NCBI - Stellar, gordon, Anderson, Piff, McNeil, Keltner (2018) Why Do We Feel Awe? | Greater Good Why Does Awe Have Prosocial Effects? New Perspectives on Awe and the Small Self - Joshua D. Perlin, Leon Li (2020) Awe Motivates Authentic-Self Pursuit via Self-Transcendence: Implications for Prosociality - Tonglin Jiang, Constantine Sedikides (2021)

  • Awe: A Powerful Tool for Collective Healing with Dr. Dacher Keltner (Series SRIW, Ep 6, 207)

    The neuroscience of awe as an antidote to our stress response system In this series, Secure Relating in an Insecure World, we’ve covered tough topics head-on. It is, therefore, fitting that we close the series with something scientifically hopeful to help us stay in our secure selves so we can stay engaged and active as social advocates and not collapse in overwhelm. The science of this specific feeling of awe has garnered much attention for good reason. Our guest today has spent decades exploring the sensation and documenting how to develop it in everyday life. We have all experienced these small moments that allow us to shift our mindset away from ourselves and into something so bigger. Co-hosts Sue Marriott and Dr. Ann Kelley discuss the power of awe with guest expert Dr. Dacher Keltner where they explore the science, the mystical and the hope of awe as an inspirational tool for collective healing. “You can be outdoors by yourself, you can be listening to an amazing passage of music, you can think about somebodywhose life really inspires you. You have this urge to connect, to be part of community, to be good to other people, to share with other people, to make the world and your community a little bit better – that tells us something fundamental about the DNA of Awe.” – Dr. Dacher Keltner Time Stamps for Awe 2:15 – What is awe? 3:31 – Physiology during moments of awe 8:21 – One of Dr. Keltner’s most striking discoveries about awe 8:57 – Understanding everyday awe 10:11 – The role of curiosity in awe 13:31 – The power of music 14:27 – The 8 wonders that bring us awe 21:20 – Collective effervescence 25:38 – Alan Cowen & Dacher Keltner’s experiential maps 27:36 – Awe in animals 32:16 – How awe can sometimes lead you astray 40:17 – Using awe as a tool for younger generations Resources for today’s episode on the feeling of “awe” DacherKeltner.com – Personal website full of research, books, videos, and other resources Greater Good Science Center – Resource center with podcasts, quizzes, articles & videos Science of Happiness – Podcast by the Great Good Network AlanCowen.com – Visuals of m apping emotion You can purchase his most recent book, here!! About our Guest – Dr. Dacher Keltner Dr. Keltner is one of the world’s foremost emotion scientists. He is a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and the di

  • 57. The Compassionate Instinct & Bringing Wonder Back to Work with Dacher Keltner
    Volunteer Nation

    In today's episode, Tobi features Dacher Keltner and discusses the compassionate instinct, bringing wonder and awe back into our lives, and becoming more resilient. Dacher Keltner is a professor of psychology at the University of California Berkeley and the faculty director of UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center. He is a renowned expert in the science of human emotion, studying compassion and awe, how we express emotion, and how emotions guide our moral identities and search for meaning. His research interests also span the issues of power. He has written a new book on awe and has a podcast called "Science of Happiness" that offers practices for how to feel stronger, even when doing hard work like volunteering. Full show notes: 057– The Compassionate Instinct & Bringing Wonder Back to Work with Dacher Keltner Volunteer Management Fundamentals Live! Summer Cohort: June 18 – July 24, 2026 Learn the Essential Frameworks for Attracting and Engaging, Enthusiastic, Committed Volunteers with Less Stress and Greater Confidence. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Volunteer Nation podcast. If you enjoyed it, please be sure to subscribe, rate, and review so we can reach more people like you who want to improve the impact of their good cause. For more tips and notes from the show, check us out at TobiJohnson.com. For any comments or questions, email us at WeCare@VolPro.net.

  • The New Science of Awe & How It Improves Your Physical & Mental Wellbeing with Dr Dacher Keltner #340

    When was the last time you felt awe? Perhaps it’s an emotion you notice often, evoked by the trees, clouds, or people around you. Or maybe it’s something you associate with more dramatic, less frequent experiences. Dr Dacher Keltner, has written a sublime book on the subject of awe. It’s called A we: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life and in it he proposes that awe is an emotion that’s all around us, waiting to be discovered – and in doing so, we can transform our health and lives for the better. Dacher is one of the world’s foremost emotion scientists and Professor of Psychology at the University of California. He’s also Director of the Greater Good Science Center, which studies the psychology, sociology, and neuroscience of happiness and wellbeing. He has spent decades studying the science of happiness and believes that across the world, we are collectively having a moment of reflection and looking for more meaning. In this conversation, Dacher defines awe as our response to powerful things that are obscure, vast, and mysterious. They’re beyond our frame of reference, making us feel small and filling us with wonder. But you don’t have to go to the Grand Canyon or see the Northern Lights to find them. Having studied people’s understanding and experience of awe in 26 different countries, he’s found eight types that are common and easily available to us all. They include nature, music, moral beauty (noticing others’ kindness), birth and death, and my favourite ‘collective effervescence’. This is that feeling of coming together with others, moving as one, and sharing the same consciousness – you may have experienced it in a sports stadium, at a music concert, on a dancefloor, in worship, in a choir, or even at parkrun. We spoke in depth about how birth and death are strong triggers for awe, sharing our own painful yet precious experiences of watching close relatives die. We also considered how awe reduces the ego and makes you humble. And how having a regular practice of contemplation, like meditation or breathwork, can open us up to easily noticing and benefitting from everyday awe. I truly believe that Dacher’s work can help all of us find greater meaning and greater health. He’s done a fantastic job of finding the science to support his words, but I think we also know intuitively that what he says makes perfect sense. This was a wonderful and deeply profound conversation that contains science, storytelling, raw emotion and so much more. Support the podcast and enjoy Ad-Free episodes. Try FREE for 7 days on Apple Podcasts https://apple.co/feelbetterlivemore . For other podcast platforms go to https://fblm.supercast.com . Thanks to our sponsors: https://www.athleticgreens.com/livemore https://www.vivobarefoot.com/livemore Show notes https://drchatterjee.com/340 DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your doctor or qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have heard on the podcast or on my website.

  • Classic interviews with Dr. Dacher Keltner and San Bernardino Mayor, Helen Tran
    The Hope Table

    Dacher Keltner is a Mexican-born American professor of psychology at University of California, Berkeley, who directs the Berkeley Social Interaction Lab. In his book, The Power Paradox: How We Gain and Lose Influence, Dr. Dacher Keltner demonstrates not only how power dynamics affect every aspect of our lives, but how it can be a force for good in the world and attainable for every one of us. The second interview first aired before the California Primary Election in 2022 when then-candidate, Helen Tran, was first introducing herself to the voters in San Bernardino. Send us comments and thoughts.

  • #102: Awe is the emotional component of meaning (feat. Dacher Keltner)

    I collect concise definitions of the good life. There’s something I really like about the idea of having a one sentence mission statement. It’s a kind of mantra to check in with from time to time to make sure you’re making decisions based on what really matters and not the more immediate, but also more fleeting, worries of the day. My personal favorite, which I recently referenced in a post on meaning and context, comes from the philosopher Bertrand Russell: “The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.” One of the things that I think makes for a useful good-life definition is that it puts the focus beyond oneself. One of my first Meaning Lab posts was about an idea which I called the Off-Policy Theory of Happiness , with the claim being that the most efficient way to become unhappy is to spend a lot of time really concerned with your own happiness. You need to aim at something else, something bigger. Your personal well-being—in terms of general satisfaction, at least; maybe joy, rather than happiness—will come as a by-product. And I think that element is present, perhaps in a subtle way, in the two-word definition of the good life given by my guest today. It is: “Find awe.” Dacher Keltner is a Professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. His research has spanned questions about which emotions we have, why we have them, and what we do with them. His latest book is Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life . And in the introduction to it, he proposes that awe might be at the center of a life well lived. At first, I thought this might be taking things a bit too far. I mean, awe: I could certainly see it as being an interesting target of psychological study, but as epicentral to the good life? Really? As I got further into Dacher’s argument, I realized there’s a lot more subtlety and a lot more complexity here than I initially gave it credit for. As Dacher argues in his book, and in this conversation, awe is so important because it is the emotional component of meaning. It is what we feel when we engage in meaningful behavior. That’s not to say that it’s the only thing we feel, or that there’s a one-to-one mapping. But they’re intrinsically related. Specifically awe is a recognition of one’s own smallness is the context of something much larger and more profound. As I argue in the meaning and context post referenced above, meaning can only be found by considering something—an activity, an experience, a pursuit, an object, a book, a word—in the appropriate context. It is a figure against a ground, and without proper recognition of that ground the meaning evaporates. The feeling of awe is an emotional signal that we’ve made that connection. I found a lot to consider in this conversation, because I tend to think about meaning not in terms of emotion but in terms of, well, thoughts. I think for anyone who is interested in meaning, there should also be an interest in Dacher’s argument about awe. Dacher’s new book is Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life . It’s out now. At the end of each episode, I ask my guest about three books that have most influenced their thinking. Here are Dacher’s picks: * The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin (1872) Before Dacher Keltner, before Paul Ekman—there was Charlie Darwin. * The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami (1994) Given without explanation… but maybe Murakami needs no introduction? <p

  • The Forum with Dacher Keltner: Awe - January 22, 2023

    Awe is mysterious. How do we begin to quantify the goose bumps we feel when we see the Grand Canyon, or the utter amazement when we watch a child walk for the first time? How do you put into words the collective effervescence of standing in a crowd and singing in unison, or the wonder you feel while gazing at centuries-old works of art? Up until fifteen years ago, there was no science of awe, the feeling we experience when we encounter vast mysteries that transcend our understanding of the world. Scientists were studying emotions like fear and disgust, emotions that seemed essential to human survival. Revolutionary thinking, though, has brought into focus how, through the span of evolution, we've met our most basic needs socially. We've survived thanks to our capacities to cooperate, form communities, and create culture that strengthens our sense of shared identity—actions that are sparked and spurred by awe. Dacher Keltner is a foremost expert on the science of emotions and consultant to Pixar's Inside Out. A professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley and the faculty director of the UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center, he is the author of the best-selling books Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life and The Compassionate Instinct. Join Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with Dacher Keltner about his new book, Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life and how greatly we need this elusive emotion. You can help us bring the arts to life at Grace with a gift today to The Forum. Learn all the many ways to give at gracecathedral.org/give . Thank you! About the Guest Dacher Keltner is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley and the faculty director of the UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center. A renowned expert in the biological and evolutionary origins of human emotion, Dr. Keltner studies the science of compassion, awe, love, and beauty, and how emotions shape our moral intuition. His research interests also span issues of power, status, inequality, and social class. He is the author of the best-selling book Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life and of The Compassionate Instinct. About the Moderator The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner. About The Forum The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum's host and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world. gracecathedral.org/the-forum.

  • The science of awe and the awe of science with Dr. Dacher Keltner
    Beauty At Work

    Dacher Keltner is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and the faculty director of UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center. A renowned expert in the science of human emotion, Dr. Keltner studies compassion and awe, how we express emotion, and how emotions guide our moral identities and search for meaning. His research interests also span issues of power, status, inequality, and social class. He is the author of The Power Paradox and the bestselling book Born to be Good , and the co-editor of The Compassionate Instinct . His latest book is titled Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life. In this episode we talk about: What drew Dacher to the scientific study of awe How awe differs from wonder and beauty What has surprised him the most about what he learned through his research What are the causes and triggers of awe, and why it matters for us to experience it How might experiences of awe facilitate scientific inquiry? And conversely, can scientific work deepen our sense of awe and mystery? Can awe lead us to both action as well as contemplation? Are there problems with the structure or culture of science that inhibit experiences of awe? How can we nurture awe in research culture? What is the relationship between awe and spirituality? How can we practically cultivate awe in our daily lives? To learn more about Dr. Keltner’s work, visit: www.dacherkeltner.com Resources Mentioned: Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life Edmund Burke on the Sublime and the Beautiful Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BeautyatWorkPodcast Support the show

  • Compassion, touch, laughter and the vagus nerve. Revisting a timely conversation from 2009 with Dacher Keltner.

    Dacher Keltner, author of Born to Be Good, The Science of a Meaningful Life, was a memorable guest on my podcast back in 2009. Today I revisit our conversation from 2009 and play back some of the more poignant, timely and relevant parts that relate to the times we are in. Dacher Keltner, Ph.D., is the founding director of the Greater Good Science Center and a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. Dacher is the host of the Greater Good Science Center’s award-winning podcast, The Science of Happiness and is a co-instructor of the GGSC’s popular online course of the same name. He is also the best-selling author of The Power Paradox: How We Gain and Lose Influence and Born to Be Good, and a co-editor of The Compassionate Instinct. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/profile/dacher_keltner @greatergoodmag www.JulieinConversation.com

  • Compassion, Power, and Human Nature with Dr. Dacher Keltner

    Does power corrupt? Where does compassion come from? And do positive or negative emotions serve as the basis for our true nature? Today we're exploring these questions with Dr. Dacher Keltner, a world-class expert on emotion, power, and morality. About Our Guest: Dr. Keltner is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, where he directs the Berkeley Social Interaction Lab. He’s also the founder and co-director of the Greater Good Science Center . Dr. Keltner is also the author of three books: Born to Be Good , The Compassionate Instinct , and most recently, The Power Paradox: How We Gain and Lose Influence . Here's the referenced research from Dacher on emotion and facial expression. Key Topics: 2:15: What is an emotion, and how many emotions are there? 7:45: The complex weave of positive emotions. 11:30: Why did we evolve positive emotions? 15:00: The influence of compassion. 20:45: Power dynamics, and in-groups vs. out-groups. 25:30: How and why power corrupts. 33:30: Are we only nice to other people because we have to be? 38:45: Finding awe in mystery. 44:00: Committing to daily practice. From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Sponsors: Explore your creativity at Skillshare.com/BEINGWELL and get a free trial of their Premium Membership. Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Join over a million people using BetterHelp , the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Connect with the show: Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • Interview with Dacher Keltner
    Matrix Podcast

    Recorded in February 2020, this episode of the Matrix Podcast features an interview between Professor Michael Watts , Emeritus "Class of 1963" Professor of Geography and Development Studies at UC Berkeley, and Dacher Keltner , Professor of Psychology and Director of the Berkeley Social Interaction Laboratory . Keltner is also the Faculty Director of the Greater Good Science Center . Professor Keltner's research focuses the biological and evolutionary origins of emotion, in particular prosocial states such as compassion, awe, love, and beauty, and power, social class, and inequality. He is the co-author of Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life , The Compassionate Instinct: The Science of Human Goodness , and The Power Paradox: How We Gain and Lose Influence . Keltner has published over 200 scientific articles, written for many media outlets, and consulted for the Center for Constitutional Rights (to help end solitary confinement), Google, Facebook, the Sierra Club, and for Pixar's Inside Out . A transcript of this interview is available at: https://matrix.berkeley.edu/research-article/matrix-podcast-interview-with-dacher-keltner/

  • The Science of Awe (with Dacher Keltner)
    On Wisdom

    What exactly is ‘awe’ and does it bring us, as individuals or as a society, any benefit? Dacher Keltner joins Igor and Charles to discuss why Canadians feel differently about awe than the Chinese, how to take an ‘awe walk’, why emotions vary across historical time, and the importance of experiencing diverse emotions and how to balance them, while the 'Dacher-Guesses-Emotions' game reveals the alarmingly fine line between disgust and desire. Igor digs into controversies over different theories of emotion, Dacher talks of inequality and elation as the new frontiers of social psychology, and Charles learns that awe may play a key role in the very process of scientific discovery itself. Welcome to Episode 20. Special Guest: Dacher Keltner. Links: Dacher Keltner | UC Psych Greater Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life Berkeley Social Interaction Laboratory Mapping Emotion - Alan Cowen Dacher Keltner: Why Awe Is Such an Important Emotion - YouTube The Science of Happiness Podcast | Greater Good Approaching awe, a moral, spiritual, and aesthetic emotion - Keltner & Haidt (2003) Awe and Scientific Explanation - Valdesolo, Park & Gottlieb (2016) Awe as a scientific emotion - Gottlieb, Keltner, Lombrozo (2018) Awe, the Small Self, and Prosocial Behavior - PIff, Dietze, Feinberg, Stancato, Keltner (2015) Awe and humility. - PubMed - NCBI - Stellar, gordon, Anderson, Piff, McNeil, Keltner (2018) Awe in nature heals: Evidence from military veterans, at-risk youth, and college students. - PsycNET - Anderson, Monroy, Keltner (2018) Emotional complexity: Clarifying definitions and cultural correlates. - PsycNET - Grossmann, Huynh, Ellsworth (2016) <a title="Wise reasoning benefits from emodiversity, irrespective of emotional intensity. - PsycNET - Grossmann, Oakes, Santos (20

  • EDMN 002: Happiness, with Dacher Keltner
    Eudaemonia

    Dr. Dacher Keltner is a full professor at the University of California Berkeley and faculty director of the Greater Good Science Center. His research focuses on the biological and evolutionary origins of compassion, awe, love, beauty, emotional expression, power, social class, and inequality. www.ggia.berkeley.edu On this episode, Kim Forrester chats with Dacher about the science of happiness, explores what it means to be authentically happy, and discusses why social connection and service to others are keys to ongoing contentment. The post EDMN 002: Happiness, with Dacher Keltner appeared first on The Wellness Couch .

  • Is Power Corrupting You? with Dacher Keltner

    Dacher Keltner is a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley. He is also the faculty director of The Greater Good Science Center . Dacher's research focuses on the biological and evolutionary origins of compassion, love, beauty, power, social class, and inequality. Do you run towards or away from having more power? Often perceived as the need to manipulate, coerce or dominate others, it turns out that power is actually the ability to make a difference in the world by influencing others. As a result power is not something to be taken, but given to us through the practices of empathy, kindness, generosity and gratitude. The paradox however is that as our power grows from these practices, it often ends up disconnecting us from the very people we serve. So how can we navigate the power paradox? Connect with Dacher Keltner: Website – http://psychology.berkeley.edu/people/dacher-keltner You'll Learn: [01:35] – Dacher defines "power" as your capacity to influence other people. [06:53] – Dacher explains that there are small things you can do to feel more powerful. [09:05] – Dacher speaks about Adam Grant's work on keeping your generosity right for the context. [13:06] – Dacher explains how feeling powerful helps ignite your approach system by focusing on rewards, and when you're not feeling powerful it trigger your inhibition system making you more aware of risks. [15:05] – Dacher gives strategies to use to overcome the power paradox. [23:32] – Dacher shares some thoughts on servant leadership. [24:59] – Dacher explains what a future workplace looks like with shared power. [26:40] – The Lightning Round with Dacher Keltner Your Resources: Born to be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life – Dacher Keltner The Compassionate Instinct: The Science of Human Goodness – Dacher Keltner The Power Paradox: How We Gain and Lose Influence – Dacher Keltner Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals – Frans B. M. de Waal The Ethics for a New Millennium – Dalai Lama The Greater Good Science Center The Varieties of Religious Experience – William James Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post. Also, please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. You can also listen to all the episodes of <a href= "http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/making-positive-psychology-work" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer

Dacher Keltner has appeared on 26 recent podcast episodes across 23 different shows. GuestVine keeps this list complete and up to date — new appearances are added automatically and delivered to the podcast player you already use.

Frequently asked

What podcasts has Dacher Keltner been on?
Dacher Keltner has appeared on 26 recent podcast episodes across 23 shows, including Peaceful Exit, Feel Better, Live More with Dr Rangan Chatterjee, On Wisdom.
What is Dacher Keltner's latest podcast appearance?
The latest detected appearance is “Discover AWE Daily with Oprah and Dacher Keltner on The Oprah Podcast, published 3 Feb 2026.
How many hours of Dacher Keltner podcast interviews are there?
GuestVine has tracked about 22 hours of Dacher Keltner guest appearances across 26 episodes, going back to 30 Mar 2017.
How does GuestVine keep this list updated?
GuestVine tracks delivered guest appearances, excludes own-show episodes where possible, and links back to the original publisher audio. New appearances are added automatically as they are detected.
Are you Dacher? Add your live appearances to your site →

This page updates automatically every time Dacher guests on a podcast. Link it from your site or bio so your audience always finds your latest appearances — and share it anywhere:

Paste this link into your site

<a href="https://guestvine.fm/p/dacher-keltner">Dacher Keltner — podcast appearances</a>