Exploring the Mind | That's the Power of Love: Compassion, Love and Transformation in Urban America

Thu, 05/21/2020 - 10:07am

When: January 27, 2020 at Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room

Join Professor Jacqueline S. Mattis of the University of Michigan's Department of Psychology for a presentation on her research into the transformative power of everyday encounters with love and human goodness, including the impact of altruism, compassion, empathy, forgiveness, and optimism among urban-residing African American people.

The words "urban" and "inner city" typically conjure up images of densely populated neighborhoods, crime, mean streets, isolation, and human struggle. Popular media plays on these representations. Missing from this familiar story are the everyday stories of goodness that occur in cities. This presentation draws on interviews with people who live in urban areas, including highly under-resourced urban areas, to explore how the human capacity for love, forgiveness and compassion emerges in everyday life in urban America.

Jacqueline S. Mattis, Ph.D., focuses her research on the role of religion and spirituality in the lives of African American and Afri-Caribbean youth and adults, and on the factors that are associated with positive psychological development of urban residing African Americans and Afri-Caribbeans. 

This program was in partnership with The University of Michigan Department of Psychology.