Abigail Marsh

Study after study has proven empathy is a more important skill to develop now than ever. So why are many people bad at it? A pioneering researcher in the field of human social interaction, Georgetown University psychology professor Abigail Marsh, Ph.D., studies the science of altruism and how the brain reacts when we help others. With her team at the Laboratory on Social and Affective Neuroscience, she’s arrived at the inspiring conclusion that, despite popular belief, humans aren’t fundamentally selfish, and helping others is a self-reinforcing process, bringing more joy than simply investing resources in oneself.

Why are some people capable of acting heroically in service of others, even total strangers, while other people are not? According to Georgetown University psychology professor Abigail Marsh, Ph.D., it’s because of the way the human brain reacts to fear. As the director of the Laboratory on Social and Affective Neuroscience, Marsh performs clinical investigations into the biological processes that occur when we feel afraid. By studying people who have performed heroic deeds, she’s learned that heroes aren’t fearless at all – in fact, they feel fear more strongly than the average person. Her moving presentations show audiences techniques derived from hundreds of interviews that decrease selfish behavior, improve self-focus and increase comfort with risk-taking. By unpacking the origins of selfless behavior, Marsh delivers an uplifting reflection on the nature of courage and how anyone has the potential to be a hero.

Natural disasters, global pandemics and social worries – there’s a lot to make people feel afraid these days. The good news, according to Georgetown University psychology professor Abigail Marsh Ph.D., is that anyone can learn to manage their fear, becoming a more courageous and kinder person in the process. Author of the award-winning book “The Fear Factor: How One Emotion Links Altruists, Psychopaths, and Everyone In-Between,” Marsh conducted hundreds of interviews with people who performed great acts of courage to discover they shared humility and honesty as key character traits, indicating how highly they value others. In this presentation, she shares tips, gratitude exercises and main points to consider when facing fearful situations. Her heartening suggestions for deliberately practicing fearful situations give teams a solid foundation of ground rules for proceeding in the face of risk, novelty, or anything that scares them. Ultimately, her strategies to keep fear from spiraling out of control, good habits for expanding the capacity for fearlessness and recommendations for restoring interconnectedness make fear work for any organization, instead of hampering it.

Every company wants to create a safe and innovative culture, but it can feel intimidating to disrupt the status quo. As the foremost expert on the psychology of courage, Georgetown University professor and director of the Laboratory on Social and Affective Neuroscience Abigail Marsh, Ph.D., has found that few people understand their own capacity for fearlessness – and that existing capacity can be raised. Drawing from research described in her award-winning book “The Fear Factor: How One Emotion Links Altruists, Psychopaths, and Everyone In-Between” (2017), Marsh details how altruistic and heroic behavior are connected. She then suggests best practices for identifying opportunities to help others, exercises for increasing comfort with risk-taking and fear-management strategies, helping individuals become better decision-makers and feel more comfortable taking risks. Refreshingly optimistic, Marsh and her techniques for raising an organization’s global courage build a culture of fearless innovation and psychological safety.