The Science Behind Social Connection: Emma Seppala at TEDxHayward

Emiliana Simon-Thomas Ph.D. is the Associate Director and a Senior Scientist at CCARE, the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford. She earned her doctorate and did post doctoral research at UC Berkeley examining the behaviors, affective properties, cognitive appraisals, and autonomic and neural signals associated with pro-social states like love of humanity and compassion. At CCARE, Emiliana is continuing to investigate the multifaceted properties of compassion, running studies that investigate the effects of compassion cultivation on health, well-being and psychosocial functions and organizing events around highlighting compassion science and promoting greater exchange and collaboration.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)