Phil Shaver is not afraid to log a mile or two in his quest to spread the word and seek feedback on his research into compassion and altruism.

Last fall, the UC Davis psychology professor traveled to the Dalai Lama's compound in the foothills of the Indian Himalayas to present his work at a meeting of the Mind and Life Institute. The institute, a consortium of Buddhist monks and Western researchers, was founded by the Dalai Lama to foster conceptual dialogue between Tibetan Buddhism and science.

Shaver says he enjoyed meeting His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama, and discussing his finding that making people feel more secure increases their compassion, tolerance of others and altruism.

"The Dalai Lama is an unusually light, kind, gentle, funny, naturally laughing person," Shaver said. "He had a calming effect on the group, and was very respectful toward everyone. He was also truly excited by the things going on at the conference. He followed the talks closely and asked many scientific questions."

The theme of last October's meeting was neuroplasticity, or the ability of the brain to remodel itself.

"The adult brain is more changeable than we thought," Shaver says. Standard wisdom once said that the only significant change in adults' brains was death of nerve cells. But new evidence shows that nerve growth can reshape the brain throughout life. Shaver views this finding with optimism.

"It may be that you can change your brain to become better, happier and more beneficial to other people," he says.

His research bears this idea out. Shaver studies the psychological attachment system, which influences close relationships across the lifespan, from childhood bonds with parents to adult relationships with romantic partners.

Psychologists recognize three basic attachment styles: secure, anxious and avoidant. Securely attached individuals use the partner in a close relationship — whether a parent or a romantic partner — as a "secure base," a support from which to safely explore the world without being too dependent on the other person. People who are anxiously attached cling too closely to their partners and fear abandonment. Avoidantly attached individuals feel uncomfortable getting too close and tend to push others away.

Shaver's team has shown that attachment styles, although deeply rooted in our experiences as infants, are somewhat plastic, or changeable. Even more exciting, making a person feel more secure can make him or her more tolerant, compassionate and altruistic.

"We think that having a sense of attachment security allows people to open themselves to unfamiliar others and consider others' worldviews," Shaver says.

In the experiments he presented to the Dalai Lama last fall, Shaver's team used two priming strategies that increased people's sense of security. In one strategy, research subjects were asked to imagine being securely comforted.

The second strategy increased security using subliminal messages. Words like "love" or "hug" were flashed on a computer screen in front of a research subject for 22 milliseconds, long enough for the subconscious brain to register the message, but not long enough for it to be consciously detected.

After conscious or subconscious priming, the research team tested subjects' feelings about members of various "out groups" — individuals of a different ethnic background, religion, or sexual orientation. Subjects whose sense of security had been raised displayed more tolerance and compassion towards "out group" members than did control subjects who had not been made more secure.

In a variation of this experiment, primed subjects were shown a distressed woman and asked how willing they were to help her. The more secure subjects were more willing to help the woman, even if it meant putting themselves in harm's way.

Shaver sees many connections between his work and the central tenets of Tibetan Buddhism.

"Attachment theory asks: 'How do you get to a secure state of mind through healthy relationships?'" he says.

"Buddhist philosophy asks: 'How do you get to a secure state of mind through involvement with the Buddhist community, using tools like meditation and having loving Buddhist teachers?' I think there is about 85 percent overlap between Western attachment theory and Buddhist teachings."

Shaver also found that he and the Dalai Lama shared similar approaches to discovering new knowledge.

"As a practicing researcher, I want to find out what's true, as we can determine it in empirical studies," Shaver said. Similarly, Buddhist followers are constantly testing the Buddha's ideas, actively seeking truth about how the human mind works and how best to live life.

"In that sense, the Dalai Lama encourages subjective empiricism, or unbiased evaluation, of ideas. He wants to know how things really work," Shaver says. "If some belief that the Dalai Lama holds as part of his tradition were shown to be wrong, he would change his belief and tell his followers to do the same. The Dalai Lama's approach is that there's no substitute for openly, fearlessly exploring what's really there."