From the UC Berkeley graduate lectures page:

Tanya Marie Luhrmann's work focuses on the way that objects without material presence come to seem real to people, and the way that ideas about the mind affect mental experience.  Her previous studies have analyzed phenomena such as witchcraft, charismatic Christians, and psychiatrists.  Her widely acclaimed third book, Of Two Minds: The Growing Disorder in American Psychiatry (2001), offered an ethnographic study of the American psychiatric community and examined how economic and ideological pressures in psychiatry shape the experiences of psychiatrists and patients alike.  Of Two Minds was awarded the Victor Turner Prize for Ethnographic Writing and the Boyer Prize for Psychological Anthropology.  In her most recent book, When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God (2012), Luhrmann looks at the ways in which practitioners within American evangelical Christian communities come to experience God as a being with whom they can engage in direct communication with through acts of prayer and visualization.  When God Talks Back was named both a New York Times Notable Book and a Kirkus Reviews Book of the Year.

Enjoy - this is an interesting talk.

Witches, Psychiatrists, and Evangelicals with Tanya Luhrmann - Conversations with History

Published on Jan 6, 2014

(Visit: http://www.uctv.tv/) Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Stanford's Tanya Luhrmann for a discussion of her work as a psychological anthropologist. Professor Luhrmann looks back at her formative experiences and reviews her insights on how different communities—witches, psychiatrists, and evangelicals—learn to experience their world through practice and adjustment to the ambiguities of the modern world. Series: "Conversations with History" [1/2014]

Professor Marcus Munafo - Do I Look Happy to You?

Professor Marcus Munafo speaks at Authors at Google about recognition and interpretation of emotions in faces. Dr. Munafo is Professor of Biological Psychology in the School of Experimental Psychology at the University of Bristol (UK). Most of his research has been in the area of addiction and its association with the dopamine systems in the brain.


His books include Key Concepts in Health Psychology and Cognition and Addiction, among others.

Do I Look Happy to You?

TEDxJaffa - Dr. Anat Perry-Sharon - How Brain Mechanisms Enable Our Understanding of Others

A quick overview of the neuroscience of empathy.

TEDxJaffa - Dr. Anat Perry-Sharon - How Brain Mechanisms Enable Our Understanding of Others


In her TEDxJaffa talk, Dr. Anat Perry-Sharon discusses the brain mechanisms that enable our experience of empathy towards others. The pain pictures in her talk are courtesy of Professor Jean Decety.

Anat grew up in Jerusalem, and currently lives in Tel Aviv. She recently submitted her PhD at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, focused on brain mechanisms which are thought to be related to our ability to understand others' thoughts and feelings. Apart from working on her PhD, Anat spent the last few years as the B.A. counselor for Psychology students and the coordinator of a B.A. tutoring project for Psychology students of the Arab sector. Anat holds a Bachelors degree in Linguistics and Cognitive Sciences, and a Masters degree in Clinical Psychology, both from the Hebrew University.

The Dalai Lama on the Three Levels of Understanding

LIGHTING THE WAY

by the Dalai Lama,

translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa

more...

Dalai Lama Quote of the Week

In Buddhism, one speaks of three different levels of understanding, which are sequential--an understanding arrived at through learning and studying, an understanding developed as a result of deep reflection and contemplation, and an understanding acquired through meditative experience.

There is a definite order in the sequence of this three. So on the basis of study and learning--which is the first level--we deepen our understanding of a given topic by constantly reflecting upon it until we arrive at a point where we gain a high degree of certainty or conviction that is firmly grounded in reason. At this point, even if others were to contradict our understanding and the premises upon which it is based we would not be swayed, because our conviction in the truth has arisen through the power of our own critical reflection. This is the second level of understanding which, however, is still at the level of the intellect.

If we pursue this understanding further and deepen it through constant contemplation and familiarity with the truth, we reach a point where we feel the impact at the emotional level. In other words, our conviction is no longer at the level of mere intellect. This is the third level of understanding, which is experiential, and this is referred to in the Buddhist texts as an understanding derived through meditative experience.... You will need to deepen your understanding still further by engaging in regular meditation so that you can progress to the third level of understanding.

--from Lighting the Way by the Dalai Lama, translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications

Lighting the Way • Now at 5O% off
(Good until July 22nd).

Tags: Lighting the Way, Dalai Lama, Geshe Thupten Jinpa, Snow Lion Publications, Buddhism, dharma, books, understanding, levels, learning, studying, deep reflection, contemplation, meditative experience