Talks & Podcasts

  • Talk at the 31st Annual International Trauma Conference

    29th May 2020. Tania Singer and Richard Schwartz talk about the plasticity of the social brain and how to train mindfulness, compassion and perspectives on the self.


  • Interview with Ilios Kotsou

    14th April 2020. Tania Singer was interviewed by Ilios Kotsou from Emergence about the relevance of compassion and care in times of Covid-19 pandemics and how to apply her findings to help healthcare workers with everyday workplace challenges. (French)


  • Discussion with Edwin Rutsch: Understanding Empathy and Compassion

    10th March 2020. Tania Singer and Edwin Rutsch (Empathy Circle) discuss the topic of how empathetic listening can improve communication. Tania talks about the use of regular contemplative dyads and the effects on social anxiety and feeling connected. 


  • Podcast Sidewalk Talks

    3rd December 2019. In this Podcast Tania Singer and Traci Ruble talk about the ReSource Project and how heart-centred listening makes us more compassionate than pure mindfulness. They discuss how altruism and social stress only shift if you do relation-based practices. 


  • What is mindfulness?

    27th October 2019 – In an interview with Johannes Narbeshuber from the Association for Mindfulness, Tania Singer talks about her personal definition of mindfulness at the Contemplative Science Symposium. (German)


  • Podcast of the Alfred Herrenhausen Society

    16th August 2019. Lisa Rauschenberger, Tania Singer, Jamila Tressel and Alan Posener discuss whether school systems are able to face current challenges of a changing society. They discuss possible directions of knowledge transfer that may include the communication of values such as responsibility, empathy and courage. (German)


  • TOA Conference, Berlin

    3rd-5th July 2019, Berlin, Germany. “Training the mind and the heart from a social neuroscience perspective” (English). Tech Open Air (TOA) is Europe’s leading technology festival. More than 150 people shared their visions for the development of the world in the areas of technology, art and science. 


  • TODI WEEK 2019 Tania Singer

    30th June 2019, Cortona, Italy. Beyond Mindfulness: A Social Neuroscience Perspective on How to Cultivate Mind and Heart. Tania presents results of the ReSource Project and the effects of mindfulness-based as compared to socio-affective and socio-cognitive practices. She critically discusses findings with regard to their relevance to contemplative neuroscience and society.


  • The Revolution of the Selfless [Die Revolution der Selbstlosen] | Documentary Film

    3rd December 2018. The human being — a selfish being that only thinks about itself and its own wellbeing? In a world where only power and money rule, it can be difficult to believe in anything else. But more and more studies from psychology, neuroscience and primate research show that acting out of selfless motivation is a key human element. 


  • Tania Singer at Vivir Agradecidos — Extractos del Encuentro Educando a Nuestro Futuro

    24th September 2018, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Excerpts from the Educating Our Future Meeting, held on 24th September in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in which Fundación Vivir Agradecidos presented an educational model focused on individual and shared well-being. In this video, Tania talks about the education of emotions. 


  • EER Workshop: Tania Singer

    26th-27th June 2018, Berlin, Germany. Tania speaks about her research at the workshop “Experimenting, Experiencing, Reflecting – Art and science at work in the public realm”, held at Studio Olafur Eliasson in collaboration between Olafur Eliasson, Andreas Roepstorff, Studio Olafur Eliasson and the Interacting Minds Centre in Aarhus.


  • Meditating Together: Tania Singer on the Contemplative Dyad

    21st June 2017, Berlin, Germany. Tania shares some the differential effects of individual mindfulness-based practices as compared to contemplative dyad practices on outcomes such as attention, compassion, theory of mind and altruism, as well as social stress and autonomic body regulation.


  • The Brains that Pull the Triggers – 3rd Paris Conference on Syndrome E

    10th-12th May 2017, Paris, France. “Plasticity of Empathy and Pro-Social Motivation: From Outgroup Hate to Ingroup Favouritism” (English). This conference addressed questions about the transformation of seemingly ordinary individuals into repeated agents of extreme violence in groups (Syndrome E). 


  • Interview with Gert Scobel

    3rd April 2017, 3Sat (TV), Berlin, Germany. “Can one learn empathy and compassion?” In conversation with Gert Scobel, Tania Singer talks about the ReSource Project. In the long-term study on mental training, one of the research subjects is whether empathetic ability is trainable. 


  • “Power and Care” – Mind & Life Dialogue – Session 5

    09th-11th September 2016, Brussels, Belgium. On how power and care are two primary elements that may not be opposed but rather coexist as a condition of dynamic and constructive equilibrium. Discussion on the issue of “empowerment” as a component of engagement and care as an expression of responsibility for our planet and its civilisations.