
Dacher Keltner on Embarrassment
Psychologist Dacher Keltner of U.C. Berkeley discusses his research on embarrassment and emotion in this interview from Yale's Experts in Emotion series, hosted by June Gruber. Keltner traces how he became interested in studying emotion, then spends the bulk of the conversation, from the three minute mark to past the seventeen minute mark, walking through the central findings of his work, including what embarrassment signals about social bonds and moral behavior. He talks through unresolved questions he thinks the field should tackle next, from the biological basis of emotional displays to how emotion research connects to wellbeing. The interview closes with practical advice for students who want to pursue emotion research as a career. Structured as a series of chapters rather than a single continuous lecture, it works as a compact introduction to one researcher's body of work and the questions driving him, produced by Yale's Broadcasting and Media Center as part of a broader effort to bring emotion science outside the classroom.