Daniel Berry is a Ph.D. candidate and graduate teaching assistant in the experimental psychology program (social division) at Virginia Commonwealth University. Implicit to theories of helping behavior, but often overlooked, is the quality of attention one devotes to others in need. His program of research broadly involves increasing our understanding of the attentional bases of social sensitivity. More specifically, his research focuses on whether a particular quality of attention called mindfulness, a receptive attention to one’s current experiences, can catalyze helping behavior. Within this domain of inquiry, he is interested in mechanisms of dispositional mindfulness and mindfulness training (e.g., empathic concern and social connection) that promote helping behavior designed to assist those in need. Furthermore, his research program examines such questions in social contexts that typically undermine social sensitivity and helping behavior – for example, intergroup helping contexts.
