Randolph Nesse, MD --Professor: Psychiatry and Psychology at the University of Michigan --Director: Evolution and Human Adaptation Program --Current research focus: How election shapes mechanisms that regulate defenses such as pain, fever, anxiety and low mood. His work emphasizes the utility of negative emotions, and how a signal detection analysis (the "smoke detector principle") explains why defense expression so often seems excessive. He notes that low mood is useful to disengage effort from unreachable goals, and failure to disengage often leads to depression. Closely related is his work on how social selection for relationship partners can shape human capacities for altruism, empathy, and complex sociality.
=============================
QUICK INFO ON PROFS -- 8 lecture dates through the year on an array of topics -- Open to the entire campus community -- Free food -- Run by Mortar Board + Michigan Union Arts and Programs
ATTEND? WHY? -- Hear new, exciting research and ideas from top-notch UM professors -- Engage in active discussion with leading experts -- Expand your academic awareness -- Meet fellow members of the UM community
===============================