Tania Singer facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Tania Singer
Born	1969 (age 55–56) Munich, Germany
Nationality	German, French
Alma mater	Freie Universität Berlin
Awards	Otto Hahn Medal of the Max Planck Society for the best dissertation of the year 2000
Scientific career
Fields	Social neuroscience, Neuroeconomics, Contemplative Science
Institutions	Social Neuroscience Lab, Max Planck Society (professor, Scientific Head)

Tania Singer (born 1969) is a German psychologist and brain scientist. She leads the Social Neuroscience Lab at the Max Planck Society in Berlin, Germany. From 2007 to 2010, she was a professor at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. There, she helped lead the Laboratory for Social and Neural Systems Research.

Dr. Singer studies how our brains and bodies help us understand others. She looks at feelings like compassion (caring for others) and empathy (feeling what others feel). She also leads the ReSource project, a big study on how mental training changes the brain. This project also looks at how it affects our health and well-being. She works with economist Dennis Snower on ideas about "caring economics." Her book, Caring Economics, came out in 2015. Tania Singer's father is also a famous brain scientist, Wolf Singer.

Becoming a Scientist

Tania Singer started studying psychology in 1989 at the University of Marburg. From 1992 to 1996, she continued her studies at Technische Universität Berlin. She earned her first degree in psychology there.

She then worked at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin. In 2000, she earned her Ph.D. from the Free University of Berlin. She even won the Otto Hahn Medal for her excellent research. She stayed at the Max Planck Institute until 2002.

Her Journey in Research

After working in London, UK, she became a professor at the University of Zurich in 2006. She helped lead a research lab there from 2007 to 2009. In 2008, she became the first professor of social neuroscience and neuroeconomics at the University of Zurich.

In 2010, she became a director at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, Germany. She also held honorary professor positions at other universities. Since 2019, she has been leading the Social Neuroscience Lab in Berlin. She is also an honorary board member of Mind and Life Europe.

What Tania Singer Studies

Dr. Singer's research explores how we think about others and make social choices. She studies feelings like empathy, compassion, and fairness. She wants to know why people cooperate and help each other. She also looks at why people sometimes act selfishly.

She uses different methods in her research. These include brain scans (like functional magnetic resonance imaging), virtual reality, and studying body signals like cortisol.

Working with the Dalai Lama

Dr. Singer has worked with the French Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard. They have studied brain activity during meditation. They also helped organize two big conferences with the Dalai Lama. These events happened in Zurich in 2010 and Brussels in 2016. Two books, Caring Economics and Power and Care, came from these conferences. Dr. Singer has written over 150 scientific articles and book chapters.

The ReSource Project

Dr. Singer started and leads the ReSource Project. This is a big study that lasts one year. It looks at how different types of mental training affect people. The training includes practices like mindfulness and compassion. The study has over 300 participants. It measures their well-being, brain changes, and stress levels.

Results from the project show that mental training can reduce social stress. It can also lead to changes in the brain's structure.

Brains and Money Decisions

Another part of her research looks at how our social thoughts affect economic choices. She worked with Professor Dennis J. Snower on "caring economics." This research explores how understanding human feelings can help solve global economic problems.

Empathy and Pain

In 2004, Dr. Singer published a study in the journal Science. It showed that parts of the brain that feel pain also light up when we see our friends in pain. Later studies showed that our brain's empathy response changes. It depends on how fair we think others are. It also depends on whether someone is part of our "group" or not.

She also found that the brain networks for empathy are different from those for compassion. Empathy means feeling someone's suffering. If it's too strong, it can lead to feeling overwhelmed. But compassion means caring for someone and wanting to help. This feeling can make us feel positive and strong, even when facing suffering.

Dr. Singer also enjoys combining art and science. She created a free e-book called Compassion: Bridging Practice and Science with artist Olafur Eliasson.

Awards and Groups

• 2000: Otto Hahn Medal from the Max Planck Society
• 2011: Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Zurich, Switzerland
• Since 2014: Vice President of the Board, Mind & Life Europe
• Since 2013: Member, Young Academy of Europe (YAE)
• Since 2012: Board Member, Mind & Life Institute (MLI)
• Since 2011: Member, European Initiative for Integrative Psychological Science

Important Publications

You can find a full list of Tania Singer's publications on her website.

• Singer, T. & Ricard, M. & Karius, K. (2019). Power and Care: Conversations toward balance for our common future - Science, society, and spirituality. New York: MIT Press. ISBN: 978-0262039529
• Singer, T. & Ricard, M. (2015). Caring economics: Conversations on altruism and compassion, between scientists, economists, and the Dalai Lama. New York: Picador. ISBN: 978-1250064127
• Singer, T. & Bolz, M. (2013). Compassion. Bridging Practice and Science. Max Planck Society. ISBN: 978-3-9815612-1-0. (This is an e-book!)
• Singer, T., & Engert, V. (2019). It matters what you practice: Differential training effects on subjective experience, behavior, brain and body in the ReSource Project. Current Opinion in Psychology, 28, 151–158.
• Engert, V., Kok, B. E., Papassotiriou, I., Chrousos, G. P., & Singer, T. (2017). Specific reduction in cortisol stress reactivity after social but not attention-based mental training. Science Advances, 3(10): e1700495.
• Kok, B. E., & Singer, T. (2017). Effects of contemplative dyads on engagement and perceived social connectedness over 9 months of mental training: A randomized clinical trial. JAMA Psychiatry, 74(2), 126-134.
• Valk, S. L., Bernhardt, B. C., Trautwein, M., Böckler, A., Kanske, P., Guizard, N., Collins, D. L., & Singer, T. (2017). Structural plasticity of the social brain: Differential change after socio-affective and cognitive mental training. Science Advances, 3(10): e1700489.
• Singer, T., Seymour, B., O'Doherty, J. P., Stephan, K. E., Dolan, R. J., & Frith, C. D. (2006). Empathic neural responses are modulated by the perceived fairness of others. Nature, 439, 466–469.
• Singer, T., Seymour, B., O'Doherty, J., Kaube, H., Dolan, R. J., & Frith, C. D. (2004). Empathy for pain involves the affective but not sensory components of pain. Science, 303 (5661), 1157–1162.

See also

In Spanish: Tania Singer para niños