Jessica Chastain's negotiation classes have given her a new outlook on life.

The 48-year-old star is studying for her Master's degree in public administration at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, having previously graduated from The Juilliard School as an actress.

Jessica told E! News: "I love negotiation. The thing I love the most about negotiation, we had a class about resolving conflict, and right now, we're in a time where it feels like no one's talking to each other.

"There's so much division. But if you start from a place of agreement, no matter who you are, there can be one thing that each party agrees on, right?

"If we can start from there and give each other the benefit of the doubt that each side, each person, wants positivity for humanity.

"If you give each other the benefit of doubt and start with what you have in common, I think that's the only way we can get out of this mess we're in.

"And that was a really helpful class to take."

The Interstellar star also revealed why she wanted to do a Master's degree.

Jessica explained: "I just like to be challenged and learn, and exercise my brain in a new way. And I was really surprised by the classes that I'm responding to."

As well as negotiation, Jessica recently said she has "got the hots" for statistics.

The IT Chapter Two actress said on a recent episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: "I was just wanting to learn new things.

"And you know what? My favourite class ended up being quantitative methods, which is like statistics. And at Juilliard, you know, we never ... As theatre nerds, we never got to learn stuff like that.

"So I am a secret nerd. I got the hots for, like, scatter graphs and, like, bell curves."

Jessica has got two semesters left of the "mid-career programme".

Looking to the future after her degree, she quipped: "My goal is to take over the world."