Finding Mastery: Conversations With Michael Gervais

This week’s conversation is with Dr. Melanie Joy, a Harvard-educated psychologist specializing in relationships, communication, and social change.Melanie is best known for her groundbreaking theories on the psychology of violence, nonviolence, and building healthy relationships.Her analyses have helped explain why people engage in “nonrelational” behaviors—behaviors that harm other people, animals, the planet, and themselves—as well as how to change this patternShe is the eighth recipient of the Ahimsa Award—previously given to the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela—for her work on global nonviolence; and she also received both the Peter Singer Prize and the Empty Cages Prize for her work developing strategies to reduce the suffering of animals. Melanie’s mission is to raise awareness of the obstacles preventing people from interacting in ways that create a sense of mutual connection.These obstacles are both internal (psychological) and external (social), and they are a key reason why we act against our own i