Dan Hannan MEP

Drinking and Surroundings

Winkielman, Berridge and Wilbarger (2005) found that by subliminally presenting happy or angry faces, with no subjective change in affect, influenced peoples drinking behaviour. Subjects placed more value on beverages, and consumed more beverages, after subliminally being presented with happy faces. Whereas, beverage value and consumption decreased after subliminally being presented angry faces. The conclusion is that nonconscious stimuli can influnce judgment and behaviour without consciously being aware of it.

Paragraph from 'The Compassionate Mind'

"Our world is changing. Unregulated 'competitive edge', possessive and wealth-seeking psychologies have set us (and those who will follow us) really tough challenges and, quite probably, tragedies in waiting. This is no one's fault; it's what happens when we simply act out blindly the self passions of our 'old brains/minds'. However, we can no longer allow our minds to be so undisciplined. We require mature compassion-focused politics to help us build a foundation on which we can train our compassionate minds and create compassionate societies, and we need a nourishing spirituality that's science based. In our hearts, we know that most of our problems - of the environment, tribal violence and terrorism, social injustice and human exploitation - are only going to be resolved through out relationships with each other.

Evolution has designed for us a really difficult brain, one that can create heaven or hell, and it's up to each of us to choose which we opt for. opening our hearts to each other and developing self-kindness based on understanding that 'none of us chooses to be here with this strange mind' is probably not a bad first step."

The Compassionate Mind, Paul Gilbert