‘Be Bold:’ Dacher Keltner highlights the importance of emotion and what it takes to be a leading psychologist.

The Beatles once said, “All you need is love,” but it doesn’t take long living a day in the life of a UC Berkeley student to realize that feelings are a lot more complicated than that.

College is a time when having an understanding of your own emotional wellbeing is critical to maintaining a happy life. But when faced with the chronic stress, pressure and competition associated with being a student, mitigating these inflammatory conditions can be a resolutely difficult task. Now factor in midterm season. Needless to say, the emotions we feel play a huge role in our lives, and if we don’t adopt a mindful mentality, they can come to dominate who we are as individuals.

Dacher Keltner is a psychologist who is expert on emotions and social interactions. The renowned UC Berkeley professor sheds light on the universality of emotional experience and the importance of new discoveries in the field.

In addition to pioneering various psychological studies, Keltner has contributed to familiar and innovative projects, such as Facebook Reactions and the award-winning Pixar movie, “Inside Out.”

The behavioral expert had many fascinating revelations and tidbits to share about the field of psychology, as well as personal anecdotes that illuminated his personal connection to the field. There was one resounding conclusion that struck me: his sheer passion for discovering new facets of the psychological topography of emotions.

He is dedicated not just to the field itself, but to extrapolating the benefits of learning about the human psyche from a purely academic audience to the general public at large. Evidence of this manifests itself in the form of his initiatives, like The Greater Good Science Center, and other research projects studying happiness, sadness, awe, and of course, “love.”

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