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person2009–present

Dr Rick Hanson

Disciplines:
neuroscience/neuropsychology
wellbeing
spirituality/mindfulness
positive psychology

Summary

American neuropsychologist and author whose Hardwiring Happiness presents the practice of taking in the good — deliberately dwelling on positive experiences to shift the brain's negativity bias through neuroplasticity.

Core Contribution

Developed the most accessible and neuroscientifically grounded practice for counteracting the brain's negativity bias — the instruction to consciously dwell on positive experiences for 20-30 seconds to allow them to consolidate into lasting neural structure — making positive neuroplasticity practical.

Key Spikes & Highlights

  • Negativity Bias as Evolutionary Mismatch (the brain is Velcro for bad experiences and Teflon for good ones — evolved for survival in an environment where missing a threat was fatal, but creating chronic stress in a modern environment where most threats are social and recoverable)

Notable Works & Achievements

Buddha's Brain

Hardwiring Happiness

Resilient

Making Great Relationships

Historical Influences

Neuroscience research Mindfulness tradition Rick Hanson's Buddhist practice

Intellectual Lineage

Neuropsychology Mindfulness PracticePositive Psychology

Contemporaries & Peers

Martin Seligman Dan Siegel Sonja Lyubomirsky

Minds Influenced

Positive neuroplasticity communityMindfulness educationMW wellbeing content

Intellectual Posterity

Hardwiring Happiness Taking in the goodHEAL practice

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