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All Sections, Empathy and: Animals, Art, Compassion, Education, Empaths, Health Care, Learning, Justice, Teaching, Work, Self-empathy, Self-compassion, etc Please Click 'Follow' to receive updates. It also helps us rise in the rankings and gives us more exposure on Scoop.it. Join the Cause: Help Teach Empathy for Animals! STOP Abuse, Beatings, Cruelty, Fighting, Suffering & Torture. http://Causes.com/EmpathyForAnimalsThanks so much. Edwin Rutsch, Editor http://CultureOfEmpathy.com
Tessa Kendall reviews Frans de Waal's new book, The Bonobo and the Atheist. How much of our humanist behaviour do we owe to our cousins in the animal kingdom? (de Waal) calls the idea that civilisation and morality are imposed on a violent, immoral, selfish nature Veneer Theory and concludes, "Everything science has learned in the last few decades argues against the pessimistic view that morality is a thin veneer over a nasty human nature." Human morality is "firmly anchored in the social emotions, with empathy at its core" (De Waal, Our Inner Ape). The desire to treat others well comes from altruism which, in turn, comes from empathy... For many years, De Waal's claim that other animals display altruism and empathy was ignored or rejected. What his latest book achieves is to put onto a firm evidential basis the fact that the roots of our social behaviour can be seen in other animals. The question is no longer whether animals have empathy but how it works.
By Kelly Murray, CNN The Science Seat CNN: Tell us more about the origins of empathy. De Waal: We think that the origin of empathy, in the mammals at least, has to do with maternal care. So a female, whether you’re a mouse or an elephant, you need to pay attention to your offspring, you need to react to their emotions when they’re cold, or in danger, or hungry, and that’s where we think the sensitivity to others’ emotions come from. That also explains why empathy is more developed in females than males, which is true in many animals, and it’s true for humans, and it explains the role of oxytocin. Oxytocin is a maternal hormone. If you spray oxytocin into the nostrils of men and women, you get more empathic (empathetic) reactions from them, and so the general thinking about empathy is that it started in the mammals with maternal care, and then from there it spread to other relationships. So men can definitely have empathy, but they on average have a little bit less of it than women. CNN: By empathy, you mean that they feel each others’ pain? More at Culture of Empathy Builder Page: Frans de Waal
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Do animals have a sense of fairness? Do they empathize with another's pain?
A few decades ago, such questions would have been dismissed as nonsense. Even today, they'd be rejected by many ethicists who argue that moral reasoning is unique to humans.
The Bonobo and the Atheist includes a passionate defense of religion. De Waal insists that, historically, religion has been the best way we have refined our empathy and built viable moral systems. Although a nonbeliever himself, de Waal says ethicists are still in thrall to a challenge issued more than a century ago, when Friedrich Nietzsche and Sigmund Freud announced the death of God. Tirdad Derakhshani More at Culture of Empathy Builder Page: Frans de Waal
http://bit.ly/jn2OTe
The ability to mimic the facial expressions of others is thought to be linked to empathy. It's known that humans and orangutans "ape" each other in this way, but gelada monkeys appear to do it too, a new study shows. "This mimicry relates to an internal emotional connection," said neuroscientist Pier Francesco Ferrari of the University of Parma in Italy, who co-authored the study published March 28 in the journal Scientific Reports. It shows that "basic forms of empathy are present in other species that are not apes," Ferrari told LiveScience. By Tanya LewisLiveScience
Bonobos display consolation behavior, a sign of sensitivity to the emotions of others and the ability to take the perspective of another. Comforting a friend or relative in distress may be a more hard-wired behavior than previously thought, according to a new study of bonobos, which are great apes known for their empathy and close relation to humans and chimpanzees. This provides key evolutionary insight into how critical social skills may develop in humans. The results were published by the journal PLOS One. Researchers from the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, observed juvenile bonobos at the Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of Congo engaging in consolation behavior more than their adult counterparts. Juvenile bonobos (3 to 7 years old) are equivalent in age to preschool or elementary school-aged children. By Lisa Newbern
Several Delhi schools are including humane-education programmes in the curricula to teach students to love and care for animals Endorsed by the Animal Welfare Board of India and the Central Board of Secondary Education, Compassionate Citizen is PETA India’s version of the organisation’s internationally recognised humane-education programme ‘Share the World’. PETA has been running it for students of 8-12 years in different States from its head office in Mumbai with the help of volunteers from like-minded non-profit outfits.
Researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center have shown chimpanzees have a significant bias for prosocial behavior. The authors say this study puts to rest a longstanding puzzle surrounding chimpanzee altruism. It is well-known these apes help each other in the wild and show various forms of empathy, such as reassurance of distressed parties. The negative findings of previous studies did not fit this image. These results, however, confirm chimpanzee altruism in a well-controlled experiment, suggesting human altruism is less of an anomaly than previously thought.
Today, the San Diego Humane Society and SPCA announces the first annual Animal Compassion Awards, which will recognize the extraordinary animals and animal lovers throughout San Diego County.
This past Saturday, more than 250 COK supporters—including very special guests Maryland Senator Jamie Raskin,Cupcake Wars champion and owner of Sticky Fingers Sweets & Eats Doron Petersan, and COK founder Paul Shapiro—joined us to celebrate the power of compassion at our annual holiday party
Do Animals feel Empathy? This simple empathy experiment shows Bonobos freeing each other from captivity to share food with each other. This great Nova video shows rats and humans doing it to! Share this link widely!
Goodbye to the theory of survival of the greediest.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=xLVcAHOzXKo
Center for Building a Culture of Empathy and Compassion
http://facebook.com/EmpathyCenter
In the study, the researchers, Elisa Demuru and Elisabetta Palagi, observed 12 captive bonobos for 3 months at the Apenheul Primate Park in the Netherlands. Observation sessions lasted 6 hours and took place in both the morning and in the evening. A total of 1,125 yawns were recorded from the adult apes during the observation period. Besides studying the contagious element of yawning, the researchers also looked into a potential empathetic component to the behavior. Empathy involves the sharing of emotional states and many recent studies suggest yawning could be a form of empathy. In support of the empathy hypothesis, the researchers noted bonded male-female pairs were seen ‘infecting’ each other with yawns at a higher rate. However, the two scientists were unable to make any strong correlation between empathy and yawning based on their observations and analysis. Brett Smith
In humans, the distribution of yawn contagion is shaped by social closeness with strongly bonded pairs showing higher levels of contagion than weakly bonded pairs. This ethological finding led the authors to hypothesize that the phenomenon of yawn contagion may be the result of certain empathic abilities, although in their most basal form. Here, for the first time, we show the capacity of bonobos (Pan paniscus) to respond to yawns of conspecifics.... The importance of social bonding in shaping yawn contagion in bonobos, as it occurs in humans, is consistent with the hypothesis that empathy may play a role in the modulation of this phenomenon in both species. Elisa Demuru
Elisabetta Palagi
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Are dogs empathetic? By definition, empathy is defined as the ability to share in another’s emotions, thoughts, or feelings.To do this, dogs must have theory of mind — the ability to take into account that other beings have thoughts, intentions, and emotions. Some believe these behaviors are attributable to “emotional contagion,” described by Dr. Stanley Cohen in Psychology Today (06/07/12) as “responding to the emotions of another without really understanding what that individual is feeling.” To others, there must be a more simplistic, less anthropomorphic explanation. by Bob McMillan img http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog
Patients on the Nell Gwynne stroke unit are benefiting from therapy of a different kind. Every Wednesday Humphrey, the standard long-haired Dachshund, spends the morning in the day room where patients can visit him for a therapy session. Humphrey belongs to Chelsea and Westminster volunteer Amanda Pitt-Brown, who has been a patient on Nell Gwynne herself. Amanda joined the Pets As Therapy (PAT) charity, who organise animals to visit hospitals, nursing homes and special needs schools, among others.
A new study suggests chimpanzees may show some of the same sensibility about fairness that humans do. Mammals such as wolves, orcas and elephants need their groups to survive, and empathy and cooperation are survival mechanisms. De Waal discusses these mechanisms in his 2009 book "The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society." "We think that empathy evolved to take care of others that you need to take care of, especially, of course, between mother and offspring, which is universal in all the mammals," de Waal said. By Elizabeth Landau, CNN More at Culture of Empathy Builder Page: Frans de Waal
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Renowned primatologist Frans de Waal argues that our own sense of morality can be traced back to our primate relatives. If you're a Christian fundamentalist, you probably believe that morality comes directly from God (via a download of the Bible, to be sure). And if you're a law-and-order conservative, you likely think we need strict rules, and harsh punishments, to keep people in line and prevent their baser impulses from taking over. But if you're a primatologist? In that case, your view of morality is radically different. You probably see indications of "moral" behaviors all throughout the animal kingdom, and especially among our primate relatives such as bonobos—who show high levels of empathy, have a female-dominated social structure, and use sex, rather than violence, to solve in-group social conflicts, and even when they encounter other, potentially hostile groups. By Chris Mooney More at Culture of Empathy Builder Page: Frans de Waal
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Back in 2011, a study (subscription required) showing how a group of lab rats repeatedly freed their trapped friends (often even choosing to do so before eating a coveted snack) garnered a fair amount of media buzz. Researchers involved in the study said the findings suggested that empathy, driven by another’s pain, was not limited to humans and animals of higher intelligence but rather was widespread in the animal kingdom. In the latest NeuroTalk podcast, Forrest Collman, PhD, interviews study co-author Peggy Mason, PhD, a neuroscientist at the University of Chicago, about the experiment. During the talk they discuss what led Mason to investigate empathy and helping behaviors, and whether she would free a friend at the expense of having to share a tasty treat.
In an effort to create a more compassionate society for animals, Tehama County Animal care manager Mark Storrey is volunteering his time at schools across the Northstate. Storrey is using his experience and knowledge to teach students the importance of pet responsibility and the consequences for negligent care. “In order for us to make a change throughout the nation we’ve got to educate and start with the kids,” says Storrey. Storrey uses his two companion dogs, Missy and Nikita to help drive the message home. By Tracey Leong
Researchers have shown that chimpanzees possess a sense of fairness that has previously been attributed as uniquely human. Co-author Frans de Waal, PhD, adds, "Until our study, the behavioral economics community assumed the Ultimatum Game could not be played with animals or that animals would choose only the most selfish option while playing. We've concluded that chimpanzees not only get very close to the human sense of fairness, but the animals may actually have exactly the same preferences as our own species." For purposes of direct comparison, the study was also conducted separately with human children. More at Culture of Empathy Builder Page: Frans de Waal
http://bit.ly/jn2OTe
Petting a dog makes people feel better. It's not in our heads, and it's not wishful thinking on the part of dog lovers. It's science. Petting a dog decreases levels of stress hormones, regulates breathing, lowers blood pressure and releases the hormone oxytocin, which is associated with bonding and affection. Medically speaking, people who pet dogs literally feel better. By Matthew Margolis
Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. It is an element of emotional intelligence and is related to success in many areas of development – personal, social and academic. Empathy is a human trait that many people have a “low reserve” thus all the problems we have in the world today. Empathy skills can also be cultivated and developed. Parents can help children develop empathy by using the human-animal relationship. Children naturally love and are fascinated by animals. Parents can take advantage of that by fostering animal care, thereby inspiring the child’s intelligence and imagination to be empathetic and extend care in another person. Learning how to respond empathetically is also the best antidote to violence, bullying, and other unwanted aggressive behavior. by Kessy Sawang
Thanks to the kindness of our wonderful members and the dedication of our amazing volunteers, 2012 has been a tremendous year for Compassion Over Killing — and for animals. Together, with your support today, we're building a kinder tomorrow.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama took part in the launch of Humane Society International’s India office and World Compassion Day in India. During the launch of Human Society International’s India office, His Holiness the Dalai Lama spoke of human responsibility to protect animals from human-caused cruelty and show compassion. “Animals deserve our compassion. We must know their pain. We should nurture this compassion through education. Showing concern about animal rights is respecting their life,” said His Holiness to an audience of about 200 people. Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States, remarked that the Dalai Lama’s presence “provides an emotional and spiritual lift to our efforts to elevate animal-welfare campaigns and activities in the subcontinent of India.” By Kimberly Budziak
Yawn contagion may be a way for social groups to unconsciously communicate and coordinate activities, but unlike other forms of unconscious communication, has a unique emotional component, since it appears to occur more frequently between closely bonded individuals. The authors say, "Though we are still far from a clear demonstration of a link between yawn contagion and empathy, the importance of social bonds in shaping this phenomenon in bonobos suggests that a basic form of empathy may play a role in modulating yawning behavior.
That is where empathy and sympathy start—with the synchronization of bodies—not in the higher regions of imagination, or in the ability to consciously reconstruct how we would feel if we were in someone else’s “shoes.” And yet empathy is often presented as a voluntary process, requiring role taking, higher cognition, and even language. Accordingly, most scholarly literature on empathy is completely human centered, never mentioning other animals. As if a capacity so visceral and pervasive could be anything other than biological! To counter such widespread views, I decided to investigate how chimpanzees relate to and learn from one another. By Frans de Waal
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