Richard J. Davidson (born December 12, 1951) is professor of
psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
and
psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry.
Initial psych ...
at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison
A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...
as well as founder and chair of the Center for Healthy Minds and the affiliated non-profit Healthy Minds Innovations.
Early life and education
Born to a
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
family in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
,
Richard "Richie" Davidson attended
Midwood High School
Midwood High School is a high school located at 2839 Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn, New York City, administered by the New York City Department of Education. It has an enrollment of 3,938 students. Its H-shaped building, with six Ionic order, Ionic co ...
. While there, between 1968–1971, he worked as a summer research assistant in the sleep laboratory at nearby
Maimonides Medical Center
Maimonides Medical Center is a non-profit, non-sectarian hospital located in Borough Park, Brooklyn, Borough Park, in the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Maimonides is b ...
cleaning electrodes that had been affixed to subjects' bodies for
sleep studies
A sleep study is a test that records the activity of the body during sleep. There are five main types of sleep studies that use different methods to test for different sleep characteristics and disorders. These include simple sleep studies, polysom ...
.
Davidson went on to receive his B.A. in Psychology from
NYU (Heights) in 1972.
He chose to study at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
to work with
Daniel Goleman
Daniel Goleman (born March 7, 1946) is an author, psychologist, and science journalist. For twelve years, he wrote for ''The New York Times'', reporting on the brain and behavioral sciences. His 1995 book ''Emotional Intelligence'' was on ''Th ...
and
Gary Schwartz
Gary E. Schwartz is an American psychologist, author, parapsychologist and professor at the University of Arizona and the director of its Laboratory for Advances in Consciousness and Health. Schwartz researches the veracity of mediums and energy ...
and gained his Ph.D. in Personality, Psychopathology, and Psychophysiology there in 1976.
At Harvard, Davidson was mentored by
David C. McClelland
David Clarence McClelland (May 20, 1917 – March 27, 1998) was an American psychologist, noted for his work on motivation Need Theory. He published a number of works between the 1950s and the 1990s and developed new scoring systems for th ...
and was also influenced by
Norman Geschwind
Norman Geschwind (January 8, 1926 – November 4, 1984) was a pioneering American Behavioral neurology, behavioral neurologist, best known for his exploration of behavioral neurology through disconnection models based on lesion analysis.
Earl ...
and
Walle J. H. Nauta.
Career
In 1976 Davidson took a teaching post at the
State University of New York at Purchase
The State University of New York at Purchase (commonly Purchase College or SUNY Purchase) is a public liberal arts college in Purchase, New York. It is one of 13 comprehensive colleges in the State University of New York (SUNY) system. It was fo ...
where he subsequently held several posts including research consultancies at the Department of Pediatrics, Infant Laboratory,
Roosevelt Hospital
Mount Sinai West, opened in 1871 as Roosevelt Hospital, is affiliated with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Mount Sinai Health System.
The 514-bed facility is located in the Midtown West neighborhood of New York City. The fac ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
and the Laboratory of Neurosciences,
National Institute on Aging
The National Institute on Aging (NIA) is a division of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), located in Bethesda, Maryland. The NIA itself is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland.
The NIA leads a broad scientific effort to understand the ...
,
NIH
The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...
.
In 1984 he joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin at Madison
where he has since remained. He previously served as the director of the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience and of the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior. He is founder and director of the Center for Healthy Minds.
Research
Davidson's research is broadly focused on the neural bases of emotion and emotional style as well as methods to promote human flourishing, including meditation and related contemplative practices. His studies have centered on people across the lifespan, from birth through old age. In addition, he has conducted studies with individuals with emotional disorders such as mood and anxiety disorders and autism, as well as expert meditation practitioners with tens of thousands of hours of experience. His research uses a wide range of methods including different varieties of MRI, positron emission tomography, electroencephalography and modern genetic and epigenetic methods.
Richard Davidson is popularizing the idea that based on what is known about the plasticity of the brain,
neuroplasticity
Neuroplasticity, also known as neural plasticity, or brain plasticity, is the ability of Neural circuit, neural networks in the brain to change through growth and reorganization. It is when the brain is rewired to function in some way that diffe ...
, that one can learn happiness and compassion as skills just as one learns to play a musical instrument, or train in golf or tennis.
Happiness, like any skill, requires practice and time but because one knows that the brain is built to change in response to mental training, it is possible to train a mind to be happy.
Davidson argues for a diagnosis of clinical depression with the help of ''emotional style''. He describes emotional style as a set of continuums where some people fall at one extreme of the continuum while others fall somewhere in the middle. Clinical depression manifests as extremes on the outlook and resilience dimensions, where those afflicted have a more negative outlook and are slower to recover from adversity.
Richard Davidson and his collaborators have used
rhesus monkey
The rhesus macaque (''Macaca mulatta''), colloquially rhesus monkey, is a species of Old World monkey. There are between six and nine recognised subspecies that are split between two groups, the Chinese-derived and the Indian-derived. Generally b ...
s as models of human neurophysiology and emotional response since 1992 when he and fellow UW–Madison researchers Ned H. Kalin and Steven E. Shelton published “Lateralized effects of
diazepam
Diazepam, first marketed as Valium, is a medicine of the benzodiazepine family that acts as an anxiolytic. It is commonly used to treat a range of conditions, including anxiety, seizures, alcohol withdrawal syndrome, muscle spasms, insomnia, a ...
on frontal brain electrical asymmetries in rhesus monkeys.”
In 2004 the same group published further results on the role of the central nucleus of the amygdala in mediating fear and anxiety in the primate. In 2007, Drs Kalin, Shelton & Davidson reported that experimental lesions of adolescent rhesus monkeys' orbitofrontal cortex resulted in "significantly decreased threat-induced freezing and marginally decreased fearful responses to a snake."
Dr. Davidson's work with human subjects has attracted the attention of both scientific and popular press, and has been covered by ''
Scientific American
''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it i ...
'' and ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''.
Controversy
Davidson's research on primates has led to controversy and criticism. UW-Madiso
bioethicist Rob Streifferwho objected to Davidson's primate research said: “We’re killing baby monkeys. There are other things that have been done that are worse, but that's not a justification for saying that this isn't really really bad.”
In study published in 2004 in which Davidson was a lead author, 33 non-human primates were deliberately subjected to situations intended to cause fear and anxiety. The amygdalae of these rhesus macaques were damaged with acid after their skulls were cut open. The monkeys were eventually killed, their brains then removed from their skulls for further study.
A similar study was conducted in 2007 involving 12 monkeys.
In 2014, Davidson attempted to attain approval for an even more controversial primate study. The discussions surrounding the ethics of this study spanned seven meetings; normally approvals are secured after one or two meetings.
"It is the protocol that's received the most attention since I've been here," said Eric Sandgren, director of the university's Research Animal Resources Center. "The most intense I've been a part of."
“This is an anomaly. This doesn’t happen,” animal advocate Rick Bogle says. “These discussions that they had about this study don’t occur with any frequency at all. In fact, I don't know of seeing them occur ever before.”
According to the research protocol, on the day they are born, 20 rhesus macaques will be taken away from their sedated or manually restrained mothers. Standard practice in maternal-deprivation studies is to physically restrain or anesthetize the mothers, who would otherwise fight the removal.
For the first three to five weeks of their lives, the monkeys will be singly housed in a large shoebox-sized incubator with only a stuffed animal to cling to for contact comfort.
The babies will be housed individually for 21 to 42 days, then either individually or in pairs for the following year, without maternal care. During that year they will be intermittently exposed to situations designed to provoke anxiety and fear. For example, they will be exposed to a live snake.
After a year the monkeys will be killed, and their brains will be dissected. A control group of 20 other young monkeys who will be allowed to remain with their mothers for that year will also be killed and dissected at that time.
This study cost $525,540, paid for by US taxpayers and obtained by a grant to Davidson from the
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...
.
This experiment builds on the controversial studies of UW primate researcher
Harry Harlow
Harry Frederick Harlow (October 31, 1905 – December 6, 1981) was an American psychologist best known for his maternal-separation, dependency needs, and social isolation experiments on rhesus monkeys, which manifested the importance of caregiv ...
. Harlow spent decades studying the need for maternal affection and social interaction by denying it to monkeys, often with gruesome results.
Many of Harlow's experimental monkeys were completely isolated at birth in a sensory deprivation device that Harlow called the "
pit of despair
The pit of despair was a name used by American comparative psychologist Harry Harlow for a device he designed, technically called a vertical chamber apparatus, that he used in experiments on rhesus macaque monkeys at the University of Wisconsin ...
."
Females were put in a restraint device Harlow called the “rape rack” and forced to bear offspring. One of these mothers bit off her baby’s fingers and feet. Another crushed her baby’s head in her own mouth. When introduced to peers as adults, isolated monkeys showed signs of permanent psychological damage.
Animal research labs at University of Wisconsin have been fined repeatedly for violations to the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). In 2014 the university agreed to pay over $35,000 in fines issued by the USDA, which found a string of violations of animal research treatment standards at the school
Most recently, in 2020, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (
USDA
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...
) cited the University of Wisconsin for serial Animal Welfare Act (
AWA
Awa (or variants) may refer to:
People
* Awa (given name), notable people named Awa or Hawa
* Awá (Brazil), an indigenous people of Brazil
* Awa-Kwaiker, an indigenous people of Colombia and Ecuador
Languages
* Awa language (China) or Wa (Va) ...
) violations, including improper handling resulting in at least 20 incidents of nonhuman primates requiring amputation of body parts such as hands, feet, digits, and tongues, and resulting in a $74,000 fine to the university.
Some psychologists suggest that primate research such as Davidson's should never be able to trump the rights and dignity of sentient beings, and that academics should be on the front lines of condemning such research as it represents a betrayal of the basic notions of dignity and decency that should be upheld- especially in the cases of vulnerable populations such as helpless animals.
On February 10, 2021, the
Animal Legal Defense Fund
The Animal Legal Defense Fund is an animal law advocacy organization. Its stated mission is to protect the lives and advance the interests of animals through the legal system. It accomplishes this by filing high-impact lawsuits to protect ani ...
filed a lawsuit on behalf of Madeline Krasno, a former employee of the
University of Wisconsin-Madison
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...
’s controversial primate research labs, who has been prevented from posting truthful comments on the university’s otherwise public Instagram and Facebook posts because they are critical of the university’s storied history of animal testing. Because UW-Madison is a public university, the complaint alleges the ban violates Krasno’s constitutional right to engage in protected speech.
As an animal lover, Krasno was inspired to study zoology at UW-Madison, with a goal of working in the field of primate conservation. Seeking hands-on experience with primates, she worked as a student caretaker for primates at the university for approximately two years — an experience that exposed her to the harsh realities of
animal testing
Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and ''in vivo'' testing, is the use of non-human animals in experiments that seek to control the variables that affect the behavior or biological system under study. This ...
.
While working with primates at the facility Krasno viewed firsthand a monkey who’d been subjected to an invasive cranial procedure that left an opening in his skull that was covered with a so-called “headcap,” who shook his cage bars and reached out his hands to grab in vain at passing humans.
She witnessed a mother monkey and her newborn who screamed as they were separated so the newborn could be branded, an infant monkey who died in Krasno’s hands during a seizure, and a mother monkey who clutched her dead newborn for more than a full day until Krasno and a coworker were directed to separate her from the baby–a distressing experience that ended with the mother pressing her lips to the baby’s head before retreating alone into a transport cage. Her reactions to the experiences she had at the facility led Krasno to later struggle with extreme anxiety and
post-traumatic stress disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...
.
Krasno feels compelled to share her firsthand experiences in order to advance the public discourse about animal testing and provide truthful information about what happens to primates in research labs. However, UW-Madison — a public university that receives significant federal and state government funding — has improperly restricted her ability to engage on its social media channels.
Research with the Dalai Lama
![Rajesh Kasturirangan at Mind and Life](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Rajesh_Kasturirangan_at_Mind_and_Life.jpg)
Davidson has been a longtime friend of the
14th Dalai Lama
The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...
, and some of his work involves research on the brain as it relates to
meditation
Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally cal ...
.
Davidson has long maintained his own daily meditation practice, and continues to communicate regularly with the Dalai Lama.
This connection has caused controversy, with some scientists criticizing Davidson for being too close to someone with an interest in the outcome of his research and others claiming that it represents an inappropriate mix of faith and science. When he invited the Dalai Lama to participate in the "Neuroscience and Society" program of the Society for Neuroscience meeting in 2005, over 500 researchers signed a petition in protest.
Some of the petitioners were Chinese researchers, who may disagree politically with the Dalai Lama's stance on Tibet.
The controversy subsided quickly after most scientists attending the talk found it appropriate.
Awards and honors
In 2000, Davidson received the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award, for lifetime achievement from the
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...
.
''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine named Dr. Davidson one of the world's top 100 most influential people in a 2006 issue.
Personal meditation practice
Davidson's practice has changed considerably over the years. In recent years he practices in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, including
prostration
Prostration is the gesture of placing one's body in a reverentially or submissively prone position. Typically prostration is distinguished from the lesser acts of bowing or kneeling by involving a part of the body above the knee, especially t ...
to the teachings, and meditating "not primarily for my benefit, but for the benefit of others."
Publications
Davidson has published many papers, chapter articles and edited 13 books.
In 2001 he was the founding
co-editor
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...
, with
Klaus Scherer
Klaus Rainer Scherer (born 1943) is former Professor of Psychology and director of the Swiss Center for Affective Sciences in Geneva. He is a specialist in the psychology of emotion.
He is known for editing the ''Handbook of Affective Sciences'' a ...
, of the
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...
journal ''
Emotion
Emotions are mental states brought on by neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. There is currently no scientific consensus on a definition. ...
''.
Davidson is currently on the Editorial Board of ''Greater Good Magazine'', published by the
Greater Good Science Center
The Greater Good Science Center (GGSC) is a center located at the University of California, Berkeley.
Introduction
The center was founded by Dacher Keltner in 2001, with a donation from UC Berkeley alumni Thomas and Ruth Hornaday following the ...
of the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
.
Dr. Davidson's contributions include the interpretation of scientific research into the roots of compassion, altruism, and peaceful human relationships.
His most recent book, ''
Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body'', was co-authored with friend and colleague
Daniel Goleman
Daniel Goleman (born March 7, 1946) is an author, psychologist, and science journalist. For twelve years, he wrote for ''The New York Times'', reporting on the brain and behavioral sciences. His 1995 book ''Emotional Intelligence'' was on ''Th ...
and released in September 2017.
He has written a ''New York Times'' bestseller (with Sharon Begley) titled ''The Emotional Life of Your Brain'', published by Penguin in March 2012.
A documentary film about the work of Davidson called "Free The Mind", directed by Phie Ambo, was released in 2012.
Selected publications
Papers
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Books
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
References
External links
* University of Wisconsin–Madison:
*
Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience*
Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging & Behavior*
Center for Investigating Healthy Minds*
Video of Dr. Davidson's lecture "Implications of Scientific Research on Meditation for Spiritual Care" at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. 2007Video of Dr. Davidson's lecture "Cultivating compassion: Neuroscientific and behavioral approaches"*
ttps://centerhealthyminds.org/ Center for Healthy Minds
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davidson, Richard
1951 births
Living people
21st-century American psychologists
American neuroscientists
20th-century American psychologists
Jewish American scientists
Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
Midwood High School alumni
New York University alumni
People from Brooklyn
University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty
Students of S. N. Goenka
21st-century American Jews
Members of the National Academy of Medicine