Theme: Morality & Altruism

TEDxCambridge consists of a premier annual event at the Boston Opera House for 2,500 guests and an intimate salon series at WBUR CitySpace for 250 guests, which collectively celebrate the remarkable innovation, creativity, and inspiration found within the region and beyond. We produce one of the longest-running and largest independently organized TED events in the world. Our mission is to highlight ideas that inspire people to change their lives and communities.

WBUR CitySpace
890 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts, 02215
United States

Bethany Burum

Social Psychologist

Bethany Burum is a social and evolutionary psychologist interested in how hidden incentives shape our minds and behavior. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology from Harvard University, where she is now a post-doctoral researcher and lecturer. Her research integrates evolutionary game theory with laboratory experiments to study the unconscious incentives that shape our preferences, beliefs, and ideologies, including our sense of morality, justice, beauty, and altruism. Her courses on these topics include: game theory and social behavior, the origins of our political and moral ideologies, and how hidden incentives explain art and beauty.

Max Krasnow

Evolutionary Psychologist

Max Krasnow is an Associate Professor in the Psychology Department and the director of the Evolutionary Psychology Lab at Harvard University. He studies the design of the cognitive mechanisms that underlie human sociality and how they evolved, using a combination of analytic modeling techniques and standard behavioral experiments to triangulate on answers to these questions. He is interested in advancing the basic science understanding of human social nature, and also in better characterizing the ‘levers’ on that nature that can help tailor public policy to produce better effects.

Melissa Ferrick

Musician

Melissa is a Professor of the Practice at Northeastern University and holds an Ed.M. from Harvard University. She has released seventeen albums over the last twenty-five years and has won numerous awards for songwriting, production, and performance. Regarded in the industry and by her peers as one of the most prolific artists in the business, Melissa still tours regularly, playing throughout North America. She has shared the stage with Morrissey, Weezer, Bob Dylan, Ani DiFranco, k.d. Lang, Suzanne Vega, and Shawn Colvin among many others.