Ep. 178: Dr. Sarah Schnitker - Paragons of Virtue

Full PreFrontal: Exposing the Mysteries of Executive Function

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Whether it is enduring the process of untangling yarn, cancelling all your credit cards after losing your wallet, or waiting for months to hear back from a college admissions’ office, patience makes the experience more meaningful and less unbearable. As a quality that is considered morally good and desirable in a person, no wonder patience is a virtue as it offers a much-needed chance to maintain or regain our strength while seeing where we are and what we are made of.

On this episode, Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Baylor University and Editor for Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, Dr. Sarah Schnitker, discusses her research in the area of patience, why it is a virtue, and reasons why it’s a tough but worthy skill to master. Strong Executive Function skills help set goals, follow through and accomplish them over time, and learning to become more patient could be an excellent investment in such skill building.

About Dr. Sarah Schnitker
Dr. Sarah Schnitker is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Baylor University. She holds a PhD and an MA in Personality and Social Psychology from the University of California, Davis, and a BA in Psychology from Grove City College. Schnitker studies virtue and character development in adolescents and emerging adults, with a focus on the role of spirituality and religion in virtue formation. She specializes in the study of patience, self-control, gratitude, generosity, and thrift. Schnitker has procured more than $7 million in funding as a principal investigator on multiple research grants, and she has published in a variety of scientific journals and edited volumes. Schnitker is an Associate Editor for Psychology of Religion and Spirituality and an Editorial Board member for Journal of Research in Personality. She is a dedicated mentor, having served as dissertation advisor for more than 20 doctoral students, whom she helps to cultivate intellectual virtues alongside scientific competencies. She is the recipient of the Virginia Sexton American Psychological Association’s Division 36 Mentoring Award and Student International Positive Psychology Association Mentor Award.

Website:

• https://sites.baylor.edu/science-of-virtues/

Books:

• Acedia and Me by Kathleen Norris
• Patience: How We Wait Upon the World by David Bailey Harned

About Host, Sucheta Kamath
Sucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.

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