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Who Is A Low Jen Science Of Positive Emotion

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“Born To Be Good” by Dachner Keltner presents an idea known as Jen science, which is described as a “Darwinian lens onto a new science of positive emotion” (Keltner1). At its core Jen is the idea that when people act cooperatively, or give to others reward centers in our brain go off. Keltner suggests that “Jen science” proves that humans are wired to act and to be good. Keltner uses appeals to emotion and logic through audience relatable examples, scientific facts, and valid research to display why humans are inherently good and wired to act as such through “Jen”.
Keltner uses appeals to emotion through audience relatable examples. According to Keltner “One of the most toxic developments in marriage is the emergence of a low jen ratio” (Keltner 6). In over twenty studies of how romantic partners explain one another’s actions the couples heading for divorce attributed good things their partners did for them as selfish actions. Keltner expands this idea to societies as a whole, saying that higher jen societies achieve higher general well being. He gives the example of a random participant study in 1996 where people were asked if generally speaking they trusted the other members of their society, an example of seeing the good in those around them. The societies who trusted more readily had higher overall wellness ratings than those who did not. “In a recent explosion of studies on social well being, signs of a loss of jen in the united states are incontrovertible” (Keltner
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