Catherine Sanderson is the Manwell Family Professor of Life Sciences (Psychology) at Amherst College. She received a bachelor’s degree in psychology, with a specialization in Health and Development, from Stanford University, and received both masters and doctoral degrees in psychology from Princeton University.  Professor Sanderson’s research examines how personality and social variables influence health-related behaviors, the development of persuasive messages and interventions to prevent unhealthy behavior, and the predictors of relationship satisfaction. This research has received grant funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Health. Professor Sanderson has published over 25 journal articles and book chapters in addition to four college textbooks, a high school health textbook, and a popular press book on parenting.  In 2012, she was named one of the country’s top 300 professors by the Princeton Review.

The Science of Happiness

This talk presents both surprising and not-so-surprising information on the science behind happiness. What role do money, marriage, friends, children, weather, age, and religion play in making us feel happier? Is happiness stable over time? How can happiness be increased? Professor Catherine Sanderson will describe cutting-edge research from the field of positive psychology on the factors that do (and do not) predict happiness, and provide participants with practical (and relatively easy!) ways to increase their own psychological well-being.

The Power of Mindset

This talk describes cutting edge research on the power that one’s mindset – literally meaning the setting of the mind towards a particular set of expectations – on influencing thoughts, feelings, and behavior.  You’ll learn how making subtle tweaks in mindset can lead children to perform better on challenging math tests, college students to show improvements in their vision, and older adults to score higher on memory tasks.  You’ll also learn about the substantial impact of mindset on physical health.  Would you believe that simple shifts in mindset can lead to faster walking speeds, decreases in blood pressure and body fat, and increases in life expectancy?  Then you’ll have a chance to complete a Stress Mindset Measure to learn more about how you tend to think about stress, and how that tendency impacts your own physiological stress response.  Finally, and most importantly, you’ll learn specific (and relatively easy) strategies for changing your own mindset, which can lead to better psychological and physical well-being.

The Psychology of Good and Evil

In 2011, a 2-year-old in China wandered into a busy road and was struck repeatedly by passing cars. Although people walking and driving in the road clearly saw what had happened, not a single person stopped to help for 10 minutes; the child died of her injuries a week later. In Guyana in 1978, nearly 1000 members of the “Jonestown Cult” killed themselves – and their children – by drinking poisoned Kool-Aid following the order of leader Jim Jones. In the 1930s and 1940s, more than 23,000 non-Jews risked their lives to save Jewish people – usually strangers – from almost certain death at the hands of the Nazis. What explains these kinds of events? What drives human beings to be so horrifically cruel and callous to one another—or so heroically helpful and generous? Professor Catherine Sanderson examines these complex questions in this talk.