OSHER 122 - Emotional Style, Feelings, and Brain Science

Brain science is the study of the neurological and genetic underpinnings of emotional style and how our feelings affect and are affected by the brain. Emotional style includes resiliency, outlook, social intuition, self-awareness, sensitivity to context, and attention. Each dimension influences our daily life. Negative feelings--such as anger, anxiety, and depression--and positive emotions--such as love, joy, compassion, and gratitude--affect the brain and greatly influence how we live. We will examine how our genetically based emotional style and our positive and negative feelings are changed by how we behave, think, and imagine. We will also discuss how to create the lifestyles we wish to have.