Loretta Breuning, PhD Biography
Loretta Graziano Breuning grew up surrounded by unhappiness and determined to make sense of it. She was not convinced by theories of human motivation she learned in school, so she kept searching. When she learned about the impact our brain chemicals have on animals, human frustrations suddenly made sense. So she retired from teaching and founded the Inner Mammal Institute.
Dr. Breuning is Professor Emerita of Management at California State University, East Bay. She holds a PhD from Tufts University, and a BS from Cornell University, both in multidisciplinary social science. Her other books include: Habits of a Happy Brain: Retrain Your Brain to Boost Your Dopamine, Serotonin, Oxytocin, and Endorphpin Levels, and I, Mammal: Why Your Brain Links Status and Happiness. She writes the blog Your Neurochemical Self on PsychologyToday.com.
The Inner Mammal Institute provides tools that help people make peace with the animal inside. It has helped thousands of people learn to manage their neurochemical ups and downs. Discover your inner mammal at www.InnerMammalInstitute.org.
After college, Dr. Breuning spent a year in Africa as part of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) program. She experienced the corruption pressures that undermine economic development, and determined to teach her students an alternative. She wrote the book Grease-le$$: How to Thrive without Bribes in Developing Countries, and has lectured on that subject in China, Armenia, the Philippines, and Albania.
Loretta Breuning, PhD Biography & Volunteer Docent
Today, she volunteers as a Docent at the Oakland Zoo, where she gives tours on mammalian social behavior. And she marvels each day at the overlap between a wildlife documentary and the lyrics to popular love songs.
