Have you caught The Philanthropist? How about Lie to Me? Then have I got the book for you. Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life not only posits that the philanthropic instinct is central to human nature but defines which facial cues give proof of our good intent. And while the book doesn't promise to teach you how to make friends, influence people, and get them to write big checks, it will give you a deeper understanding of what motivates people to do good and how their facial expressions reveal interesting, even helpful, information in any "pitch" situation.

Author Dacher Keltner, a psychology professor and researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, believes that empathy is not only something we all share, it is at the very core of our being. In his grad student years, Keltner studied under Paul Ekman, a Berkeley professor who is one of the fathers of facial expression recognition, a scientific technique that analyzes and correlates facial expressions with specific emotions. (The character of Dr. Cal Lightman, played by Tim Roth, in Lie to Me is loosely based on Ekman.)

Current academic theory holds that the human tendency to act in the common good is most likely innate rather than learned and is comprised of several instincts rather than one. Keltner takes that theory a step further by linking altruism to our common need to imbue our lives with meaning. He insists that everyone reflects, at some level, on how to best spend their time on earth, tap their inborn talents, and harness resources to leave the world a better place than they found it. It's not a new theory. As the Monty Python crew so succinctly put it in their 1983 classic The Meaning of Life: "Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations."

Nevertheless, altruism is a hard sell in our materialistic and status-conscious culture. Self-concern — the healthy narcissism of a self-caring, self-confident individual — and even selfishness have been elevated in the American public's consciousness as defining attributes of visibly successful individuals. Keltner will have none of it and devotes an entire chapter ("Survival of the Kindest") to the opposite view. In the process, he cites Darwin, Confucius, and even Machiavelli to support the idea that the individual is primarily motivated by a subconscious knowledge that only through cooperation can the species survive. But, says Keltner, we need more than the prodding of our subconscious — we need assurances that our investment in others will pay off. "For cooperation and goodness to emerge there must be outward signs of trustworthiness and cooperation," he says, before describing the subtle exchange of facial signals that establish that we mean well.

If you're looking to learn more about the altruistic instinct, Keltner's conclusions are in sharp contrast to Loyola University professor J.D. Trout's recent book The Empathy Gap, which suggests that the greater the psychological and familial distance between ourselves and others, the less likely that there will be any mutual feelings of compassion. In other words, we have difficulty "feeling" what we don't experience first-hand, and that is why government must step in to make sure the neediest in society are provided for.

Born to Be Gooddoes not, as its subtitle promises, decode everything you need know to live a meaningful life. The book's strong point is that it explains how facial expressions, vocal tone, and body language communicate an individual's emotions, attitudes, and intent. Among other things, Keltner offers informative chapters on smiling, laughter, teasing, embarrassment, and awe. The many illustrations are also helpful, especially those picturing different facial expressions. I was fascinated, for example, by the description of real and forced smiles (Duchenne and "non-Duchenne," named after the nineteenth-century French scientist who identified the visible traces of the authentic smile muscle, or orbicularis oculi, the facial muscle that closes the eyelids). Today, wrinkles in this area — more commonly known as "crow's feet" — can be relaxed by Botox injections, contributing to the facial expression other human beings instinctively read as "blank." Keltner's description of Duchenne smiles, with photographs illustrating each, make it easy to understand how a person's "crow's feet" provide subtle cues about his or her state of mind — and why we find highly Botoxed faces vaguely unpleasant or even scary; they simply don't give us the cues we need to analyze how that person feels.

And then there's touch. Even in our fairly prudish, hands-off culture, touch is an amazing "modality of communication," says Keltner. "The right kind of touch makes people trust, increases body weight in premature babies, reduces depression in adults in nursing homes, builds strong immune systems, and reduces stress-related brain activation." Moreover, says Keltner, research in several different countries has revealed that human beings can communicate emotions such as anger, fear, compassion, love, and gratitude to a stranger with one-second touches to the forearm. One of his most heartfelt examples involves His Holiness the Dalai Lama, whom Keltner has met and observed on many occasions and whose different uses of touch — a gentle forehead tap with a fellow monk, a bow and brief holding of hands with journalists in a reception line, even wrestling (!) with Noble Peace Prize-winner Desmond Tutu — communicate different but equally powerful messages of shared mirth, kinship, and spiritual guidance.

A few weeks ago, PND reviewed The Influential Fundraiser: Using the Psychology of Persuasion to Achieve Outstanding Results, which harnesses some of these same ideas in the service of a more concretely applied use of psychology. Employing a broader pop psychology lens, Keltner goes a few steps further, focusing on the physiologic and neurologic framework that motivates our desire to be and do good. It's exactly the right message for this kind of economy, and Keltner's analysis of what motivates our philanthropic and cooperative instincts will enlighten and cheer anyone working to advance a worthwhile social cause.