Calm amid COVID-19: Gratitude

In the third in a series of short videos, UC Berkeley psychologist Dacher Keltner talks about the benefits of practicing gratitude. Expressing appreciation is a key component of Keltner’s Science of Happiness course, which he has taught to inmates at San Quentin State Prison, among thousands of other students.

Keltner, who is the faculty director of the campus’s Greater Good Science Center, has studied stress, relationships and well-being for 25 years. His videos are designed to keep people feeling calm and resilient in the face of COVID-19, a pandemic that has touched every aspect of our lives and profoundly disrupted our sense of well-being and produced uncertainty and anxiety.

Drawing on insights from the center’s Science of Happiness online course, podcast series and magazine, Keltner shares tips on how to manage stress and find meaningful connections while social distancing, completing each video with simple, science-tested practices useful for this moment in time. The videos can also be viewed on YouTube.