The School of Biological Sciences and UCI Center for the Scientific Study of Ethics & Morality present the Howard A. Schneiderman Memorial Bioethics Lecture

"Pathways Linking Social Support to Health"
featuring Shelley E. Taylor, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles

Thursday, April 19, 2012
7:00 p.m.
The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center of the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering

Reception to follow lecture.

Scientists have known for decades that social contact and social support reduce risk for illness and mortality. Until recently, the biological and psychological factors that link social contact to health outcomes have been largely unknown. In this lecture, Taylor will discuss factors that lead people to seek social support, especially in times of threat and stress, and consequent biological factors that directly affect health. Many vital functions in the human body are redundant or backstopped, meaning that their enactment can be accomplished by any of several mechanisms. People have, for example, two eyes, two kidneys, and multiple ways of ensuring the digestion of food. Social support is much the same: Human social contact is so vital to survival that the psychological and biological origins of seeking social contact appear to have multiple psychological and biological causes and consequences that ultimately benefit human health.

This event and parking are free of charge. Reservations are required. To make a reservation, go to www.bio.uci.edu/index.cfm and click on the Howard A. Schneiderman Bioethics Lecture.

For further information, please visit http://www.bio.uci.edu/.