UC Berkeley Psychology Professor Dacher Keltner was awarded the Association for Psychological Science's 2025 APS Mentor Award in recognition of his exceptional mentoring, and innovative research on compassion and awe, cultural influences on emotion and the dynamics of human hierarchies and power abuses.
This prestigious award honors individuals for a lifetime of exceptional psychological research, specifically recognizing Professor Keltner for his dedication to his students and community. Professor "Keltner’s students say he approaches them as collaborators, fostering an atmosphere of respect and mutual learning," according to the APS.
Keltner spoke to Berkeley Social Sciences about his journey at UC Berkeley, mentoring students, equity-focused research and the personal significance this award holds for him. This interview has been edited for clarity.
Tell us more about your background and how you ended up at UC Berkeley?
Dacher Keltner: I was an undergrad at UC Santa Barbara, then did Ph.D. work at Stanford, and after a postdoc at UC Berkeley and UCSF. I got my first job at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I think I dreamed of being at Berkeley since I was 15. My parents were educators, and activists, and, as my dad told me recently, he always looks to Berkeley for the best ideas about our world. It is so very personally fitting that I ended up at Berkeley.
I believe profoundly in public education and public institutions. The mixture of scholarly rigor, hunger for social change and challenging of the status quo at Berkeley maps onto my deepest tendencies. I had a bit of a countercultural childhood, often wondering where I fit in, and Berkeley feels like home.
Tell us more about your research?
Dacher Keltner: I study the dynamics and consequences of human hierarchies. I focus on the abuses of power (the powerful are impulsive and less kind), and the influences of social class (the poor are more altruistic, cooperative, warm and morally inclined). I'm interested in how economic inequality influences our relationships, our commitments and our frustrations. In my other line of work, I study the evolutionary and cultural shaping of emotions — in particular emotions like awe, compassion, the feeling of beauty, love and gratitude.
Tell us more about this award?
Dacher Keltner: I believe it's for mentoring Ph.D. students and postdocs toward successful careers in research and teaching.
Why do you think you were selected for this award?
Dacher Keltner: Because Berkeley undergraduates and Ph.D. students are the most talented, energetic and hardworking scholars I've ever been around. The other factors are because the Psychology Department is as good as it gets in creating an atmosphere of scholarly excellence and discovery. And I've worked hard to create a lab — The Berkeley Social Interaction Lab — that honors where the best ideas come from, which is in my students' thinking and their conversations and collaborations. As a result, over 35 Ph.D. students and postdocs I've worked with in my lab are now faculty at universities around the world.
What was your reaction to receiving it?
Dacher Keltner: I teared up and felt grateful for my professional life. My lab is like family to me.
