Motivation and Change - Courage and Insight: Social-Psychological Aspects and Communication Processes
Focus on the unique promise (and some challenges) associated with bringing these ancient and modern perspectives together to help improve readiness to embrace global challenges.
Prof. Kenneth Pugh
Motivation and Change - Courage and Insight:
Social-Psychological Aspects and Communication Processes
We live at a time of rapid advances in our understanding the neurocognitive foundations of perception, thought, and action, and how these mental processes allow the individual to make sense of the world around them (and their place in it). This understanding of the human mind benefits from progress in two often unconnected frameworks: 1) a rapidly expanding understanding of critical gene-brain-environmental relationships on cognitive development from within the broad disciplines of neuroscience, and, 2) a re-discovery older mental, ethical, and spiritual contemplative practices that can transform thinking and motivation in ways that result in increased flexibility/creativity and problem solving skills. Conventional biomedical research has tended to ask the following questions: “how does the brain give rise to thought and why do devastating neurological disorders occur?” Contemplative/mediation disciplines, by contrast, will tend to ask a very different question: “how well might the brain/mind work if we knew better how to harness its immense capabilities in an ethically-grounded manner?” Both approaches yield valuable information that can help to us to promote greater cognitive flexibility and creativity. And these skills, in turn are crucial in helping the individual both to adapt to a changing world, and to generate new and innovative approaches to improving it. In my remarks I will focus on the unique promise (and some challenges) associated with bringing these ancient and modern perspectives together to help improve readiness to embrace global challenges.
