Your Brain on Beautiful Conversations with Anjan Chatterjee

Download free chapters from Good Talk and master the art of conversations big and small

Please support the podcast by subscribing on Spotify or iTunes, making a monthly contribution here, or making a one-time donation here.

Check out the episode post for the full transcript and video highlights.

Dr. Anjan Chatterjee is a renowned professor and the founding Director of the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics. He's a leading expert on how our brains perceive beauty and art, and author of an engaging book on this topic: “The Aesthetic Brain: How We Evolved to Desire Beauty and Enjoy Art"

In this beautiful conversation, we explore:

• the intersection of beauty, conversation, and the human brain
• how our biological evolution has left us in a world that often feels disconnected from our innate ways of communicating
• the aesthetic qualities of conversations, the biases we hold toward beauty, and how cultural representations influence our perceptions
• the importance of awareness in mitigating biases
• how to embrace complex ideas, rather than simplify them

Links

Dr. Anjan Chatterjee and the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics (PCfN) online

PBS News Hour feature: ‘Brains and Beauty’ exhibit explores how the mind processes art and aesthetic experiences

The PCfN 2024 Year in Review

Dr. Anjan Chatterjee on Bluesky 

The Aesthetic Brain: How We Evolved to Desire Beauty and Enjoy Art