The 2016 Mind and Life Summer Research Institute (MLSRI) will be devoted to the theme of context, and its relevance for basic mental processes as well as effects of contemplative practices. Findings from the cognitive and social sciences, humanities, and philosophy increasingly suggest that context shapes mind in fundamental ways. With regard to contemplative studies, practices that were once embedded within traditional religious cultures are now being widely disseminated across a variety of globalized, largely secular settings. Contextual factors impact the very course and outcome of these practices, and if not carefully considered, even well-intended efforts can lead to unsatisfactory or incomplete results.
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2017 Summer Research Institute
The 2017 Mind & Life Summer Research Institute gives attention to scientific, humanistic and first-person contemplative perspectives on intersubjectivity and social connectivity. Plenary presentations, workshops and small group discussions explore interrelational human dynamics, including how we relate to ourselves and others, and to community and strangers. Faculty from across a multitude of disciplines present research findings on the meditative cultivation of pro-social emotions, intergroup dynamics, social and embodied cognition, cognitive ecology, implicit bias and social justice.
Interdisciplinary Panel Human Relations: From Implicit Biases to Compassion for Strangers
This panel will discuss and explore cross-cutting perspectives about interpersonal relationships and the interdependent forces that bind humans. The conversation will consider the range of human relations from implicit biases that inhibit inter-personal communication to spontaneous intimate relations with strangers. Panelists will discuss from both empirical and theoretical perspectives how human relations impact people at …
Intersubjectivity and Social Connectivity: Deepening the Work of Putting Contemplative Studies and Science In Context
In this Plenary Presentation, Rhonda Magee will explore means of furthering and deepening contemplative studies and science with awareness of particularity of contexts. She will offer thought and practice experiments grounded in reflections on intersections of Black Feminism and Contemplative Practice with the Phenomenology of the Racialized/Gendered Body as site(s) for disrupting patterns of reification, …
Relationships, Health, and Technology: Toward an Evolutionary Mismatch?
Close relationships provide a critical context for health. In this Plenary Session, David Sbarra will discuss the evolutionary basis of the relationship-health association, and in particular the central role of perceived partner responsiveness (PPR) as a key interpersonal behavior that maintains high-quality relationships. After reviewing research in this area, he will discuss a growing literature …
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Social Connectivity, Mind States, and Biological Aging
This lecture will review salient examples of social connectivity — in mood, mind states, and physiology. We will explore how different states or tendencies — biases toward threat appraisals, mind wandering, and engagement in the present, are related to social, psychological, and biological well being. Elissa Epel will focus more deeply on social influences on …
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Part II – Transdisciplinary Research
Transdisciplinary training will continue the small group exercises from Part I on Wednesday. Participants will have the opportunity to discuss what emerged during the group activities — including successes and challenges — and receive feedback from workshop leaders.
Love and Enaction: Towards an Engaged Epistemology
How do we understand life and mind? For Kym Maclaren, understanding something means “letting it be.” We understand something only to the extent that we do not fully determine it. Understanding something wrongly can do an injustice to it. Imagine a horse trainer only interested in the moneymaking his animal can do; it will collapse …
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STEMing the Tide: How Female Experts and Peers Foster Social Connections and Serve as “Social Vaccines” to Protect Young Women’s Self-Concept in STEM
Individuals’ choice to pursue one academic or professional path over another may feel like a free choice but it is often constrained by subtle cues in achievement environments that signal who naturally belong there and who don’t. What factors release these constraints and enhance individuals’ real freedom to pursue academic and professional paths despite stereotypes …
Part I – Transdisciplinary Research
The first of two training workshops will explore the best practices and general principles of collaborative, transdisciplinary research. Participants will hear from current researchers in the contemplative sciences, who will discuss methodological considerations and interpersonal and organizational opportunities and challenges commonly encountered. Participants will be guided through small group exercises, which will continue outside of …
