Natura and FAPESP have just launched the Applied Research Center for Well-Being and Human Behavior. Already in operation and based at the Institute of Psychology at USP (IPUSP) in São Paulo, the Center is made up of a network of 30 researchers from the fields of psychology and neuroscience at the University of São Paulo (USP), the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp), and Mackenzie Presbyterian University (UPM).
We have prepared a list of questions and answers that will help you better understand the objectives of the space, which will receive investments of R$40 million over ten years to study human well-being.
Check it out!
Questions and Answers
1. What is the Applied Research Center for Well-Being and Human Behavior?
The Applied Research Center for Well-Being and Human Behavior brings together a team of 30 scientists connected in collaborative networks and working in various institutions, including USP, Unifesp, and Mackenzie.
The center's goal is to structure a solid knowledge base about human well-being through the integration of different areas, such as neuroscience, positive psychology, social psychology, and applied health, human, and social sciences.
This will be the largest scientific hub in the country focused on well-being research and aims to advance knowledge in the area through multidisciplinary research.
Natura and FAPESP will invest R$20 million (R$10 million each) over ten years. The partner universities will also contribute with institutional and administrative support to the researchers involved.
The projects are jointly developed by researchers from Natura and academia.
The center will not have a dedicated physical space. Research will utilize the infrastructure of the partners.
2. What areas of knowledge are involved in the center?
The areas of knowledge involved are neuroscience, psychology, health sciences, and applied human and social sciences.
3. How many researchers will work at the center?
About 30 researchers.
4. What is the innovation model of the Applied Research Center?
The initiative stands out for its uniqueness in the national and international scene by uniting cutting-edge science, application, innovation, and the desire to generate positive impacts on society through the understanding of well-being, via the collaborative work between the private sector and a network of partners from academic, governmental, and other fields. The Center is the first in the Humanities area created from a model of shared funding between a private company and a public research support agency.
With the Center, we create intersections with applied human and social sciences, generating new opportunities for innovative research in this field. The Center reconciles two pillars: that of psychology (with an emphasis on positive psychology and its notion of well-being, including objective living conditions, health, nutrition, and housing) and that of neuroscience.
The center is at the forefront of open innovation. Natura has been a pioneer in this form of innovation in Brazil, having established partnerships since 2001 and since 2006 has the Natura Campus Program that promotes scientific and technological collaboration externally involving national and international partners from research institutions, government, companies, and entrepreneurs. It currently develops projects in a global open innovation network of over 200 partners.
5. What will be researched at the Center?
The researchers at the center will focus on 11 projects aimed at developing well-being indicators, through studies on the recognition and regulation of emotions, as well as the influence of family and societal context on human relationships. Topics related to the cosmetics industry – such as how fragrances and makeup can alter people's mood and self-esteem – will also be studied.
6. What is the goal of the Center for Well-Being and Human Behavior?
The center is born with a concern for the scientific aspect, the dissemination of knowledge to society, and technology transfer.
The results of the research will guide projects that promote the pursuit of well-being, both by Natura and other actors. Therefore, the well-being center has a coordination for education and knowledge dissemination, which will translate the knowledge resulting from the research for society, in aspects that can be applied to improve people's lives. The center also has a technology transfer coordination, which will translate knowledge for the company.
Well-being is a topic that lends itself to scientific study, but it also has a social application, so that we can increase people's awareness and perhaps even generate public policies aimed at well-being and improving people's quality of life. It is common today for people to seek only the absence of discomfort, rather than well-being itself.
The center will seek to deepen scientific knowledge about well-being in various fronts, such as:
7. With so many partners, who will be responsible for the center?
The center has shared governance. The director will be Professor Emma Otta, and the scientific manager of the Well-Being Sciences area at Natura, Patrícia Tobo, will be the vice-director.
8. What type of technologies and equipment will be used in the studies?
The center will utilize everything from conventional psychological instruments – such as questionnaires and scales, online data collection platforms – to more advanced technologies – such as eye tracking, electroencephalography, and infrared brain imaging, a mobile alternative to the use of magnetic resonance imaging, which is a highly disruptive technology and not widely available in Brazil.
9. What is FAPESP's role in the day-to-day operations of the center?
FAPESP has established periodic evaluation rituals for the Center and will dedicate coordinators to support any demands that arise, in addition to executing the Grant Agreement that establishes the provision of its resources for the day-to-day operations of the Center.
10. Researchers from other universities (besides USP, Unifesp, and Mackenzie) will be able to present projects to develop in the center?
Only participants of the Center will be able to present projects; however, researchers from other institutions should establish relationships with the researchers at the Center in order to propose partnerships and new joint activities.
11. What are the main areas of knowledge that will guide the research?
Psychology and neuroscience.
12. What is positive psychology and neuroscience? How does the Center work with these sciences?
Psychology studies behavior and the causes of behavior, and positive psychology represents an important shift in emphasis – from illness to health. We will better understand this, considering that health is not exactly the absence of disease, just as well-being is not exactly the opposite of discomfort.
Neuroscience studies the physiological bases of behavior – how the brain controls our body. What happens when we smell a pleasant or unpleasant fragrance, when we interact with someone we like or dislike, when we see positive or negative scenes.
Our center has an innovative characteristic by reconciling these two pillars – the pillar of psychology (with an emphasis on positive psychology) and the pillar of neuroscience.
13. What is well-being, from the perspective of psychology?
Psychology works with the concept of subjective well-being, which has two main dimensions. One of them is the dimension of our thoughts about our living conditions, housing, nutrition, and health. Well-being also involves another dimension, which is emotional, that is, how we feel in our daily lives – the joy, sadness, anger, fear, gratitude, and tenderness we feel towards others.
This first dimension – thinking about objective living conditions – involves our income conditions in a quite linear way, while the second dimension is more complex. It may be that very simple gestures are enough for us to feel better. For example, expressing gratitude towards important people in our lives, being kind to others.
14. How will the research in psychology be conducted?
Various projects are anchored in observational studies, combined with subjective assessments – which measure how the individual feels, using scientifically validated questionnaires and scales – and objective measures – which assess how the body reacts to a given stimulus.
Researchers operate on the principle that it is not just by avoiding discomfort that well-being is ensured, in what is called positive psychology. For example: if you are not in any pain or illness, does that guarantee a sense of well-being? No. Well-being is not static; it changes all the time. If you achieve well-being, you will soon stop feeling that way if you do nothing more.
The focus on negative emotions is due to the thinking that “if everything is fine, why worry?” The Well-Being Center comes to place the study of positive emotions from a supporting role to a leading role.
15. How can research on well-being be leveraged in Natura's products?
For about ten years, Natura has been developing methodologies to measure people's well-being by researching and applying objective methods, which involve physiological reactions (such as voice, heart rate, sweating) and subjective methods (through questionnaires and spontaneous reports).
These methodologies have been applied in the development of various product lines, for example:
- Most recently, we launched Mamãe e Bebê Hora do Sono: we developed and tested a moisturizer with a relaxing fragrance and a massage ritual and evaluated the effectiveness of this product on the baby's sleep.
- Mamãe e Bebê Massage Oil: the mother's well-being was measured objectively and subjectively before and after applying the product with massage and listening to a relaxing CD.
- VôVó line, launched in 2011; Methods to measure well-being were applied in the development of a memory album for grandparents and grandchildren and massage gestures that the child could perform on the grandparents' hands.
16. What is the importance of the Well-Being Center for Natura?
The initiative reinforces Natura's leadership in well-being research. Well-being is the essence of Natura. The Sciences of Well-Being integrate one of Natura's main research lines, which has been studying the topic for over ten years. With the Applied Research Center, we aim to seek even more depth and prominence in the scientific field collaboratively, to advance knowledge, technology, and innovation applied to the subject.
The existing literature is heavily based on foreign countries. With the center, we have the opportunity to focus more on the Brazilian population and, subsequently, on Latin America, where Natura has a strong presence, for the production of knowledge and the development of methodologies, indicators, concepts, and new products.
The results of these projects can provide insights, concepts, and methodologies for generating innovative products and services that add more value to what Natura offers. The center reinforces our desire to understand human relationships and emotions in order to develop products and experiences that resonate with our consumers.
Learn more
Watch the launch video of the Applied Research Center for Well-Being and Human Behavior
