Dr.Robert Sapolsky discusses his work as professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University and as a research associate with the Institute of Primate Reserach. In this clip he talks about how dog evolved to empathize.
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International News and Information about Empathy and Compassion with, by and for Animals - for more see: CultureOfEmpathy.com
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Why Fido--or your favorite feline--is your household's best empathy teacher.
How do pets help children develop empathy? Read on, and you might give your child's pleas for a puppy a second thought.
1. Caretaking is a skill that can be transferred to people. According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), “A child who learns to care for an animal, and treat it kindly and patiently, may get invaluable training in learning to treat people the same way…
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Organizers say Unchained serves the dual purpose of preparing the animals for adoption and teaching the students responsibility and empathy. Delete the scoop?
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'Learning to look after plants and farm animals teaches kids how to care for others.
Sali’s Farm in Langley a safe haven for at-risk children and rescued farm animals
Visiting the donkey and helping care for the plants might seem inconsequential, but they are actually two important activities that provide a glimpse into one of the long-term goals of Sali's Farm - helping children learn empathy by teaching them how to care for others.
"When children and animals who have been abused can come together, they both heal," she said. "Most animal welfare organizations that care for abused animals look at people as being the problem. But we see people as the solution. Animals help people and people help animals."'
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Dogs yawn when they hear people yawn, which suggests that canines may empathize with humans.
On average, canines yawned five times more often when they heard humans they knew yawning as opposed to control sounds. “These results suggest that dogs have the capacity to empathize with humans,” says Silva. Delete the scoop?
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Do you ever notice that when you yawn, those who are around you tend to yawn as well? And vice versa? Well that contagious expression even crosses the species barrier, as dogs are also capable of catching yawns from humans.
But why dogs catch our yawns has been a mystery, until now. A new study has found that dogs yawn even when they only hear the sound of us yawning, the strongest evidence yet that our canine companions may be able to understand us. The study, presented at the National Ethology Congress in Lisbon, and to be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Animal Cognition, found that nearly half of all dogs yawned when played a recording of a human being making such a noise.
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Dogs are compelled to yawn if they hear their owners do the same, a study has suggested.
Researchers claimed that dogs responded only to an audio cue such as a yawn even if they didn’t see the action taking place. The study found this was particularly noticeable when the dogs were listening to the yawns of people they knew.
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Dogs can 'catch' yawns from humans - but it seems to work best when there's a bond between dog and man. Dogs yawn even when they only hear the sound of their owners doing the same, researchers have found.
In her report behavioral biologist Karine Silva, the lead researcher, said: ‘These results suggest that dogs have the capacity to empathise with humans’.
By ROB WAUGH Delete the scoop?
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The researchers aim to decode the mental processes of dogs by recording which areas of their brains are activated by various stimuli. Ultimately, they hope to get at questions like: Do dogs have empathy? Do they know when their owners are happy or sad? How much language do they really understand? Delete the scoop?
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Does your dog understand when you are happy or sad? Well, it seems so, as they are found paying very close attention to their masters’ moods, scientists say. Researcher at the Emory University Centre for Neuropolicy used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to look at the brain activities of an active dog and found some of them pay very close attention to their owners.
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Children can learn so many valuable lessons by caring for a pet.
Having pets also teaches children that animals are not expendable items. If children are involved in the daily care of animals, it can help to make them a more compassionate person later in life. Over the years I have been able to follow kids who first owned pets in elementary school as they grow up through high school, and I have seen them grow up to be compassionate young adults.
On the other hand, kids that don’t get the experience of having a pet early may become afraid of animals, especially if their parents don’t particularly care for animals. But even parents who aren’t crazy about pets or did not own them as kids can help change this trend.
by Dr. Tim Hunt Delete the scoop?
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Some children are intuitively compassionate and empathetic, even in a competitive society where these virtues are often not celebrated or encouraged.
Compassion and empathy are characteristics of nurturing behaviour. Providing a place where kids, especially boys, can demonstrate nurturing behaviour towards other living beings is part of what makes the BC SPCA Among Animals summer camps unique. Kids will have opportunities to explore the needs of companion animals, farm animals and wildlife.
SCHOOL BREAK & HOLIDAY ANIMAL CAMPS
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Whether from hubris or insecurity, humans like to view our species as the crown of creation, beings beyond compare in the animal kingdom, as if our advanced cognitive and behavioral skills appeared de novo with the emergence of the Homo lineage. Few have done more to demonstrate the folly of such an anthropocentric view than Frans de Waal. Delete the scoop?
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ABC Radio National (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Are humans unique as creatures which exhibit moral behaviour? Experiments with apes and other animals are convincing researchers that humans aren't the only animals to act in moral ways.
Today’s Science Show features a talk from this year’s American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Vancouver by biologist Frans de Waal who argues that humans share behaviours like cooperation, consolation, and even distaste for inequity with a range of other animals. It’s not just primates, but can be seen in animals such as elephants and wolves. Delete the scoop?
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Such incidents involving pet dogs appear to be quite common and at face value they seem to show that dogs are showing empathy for their owners. Generally speaking empathy can be defined as the ability to put oneself into the mental shoes of another person to understand and even share their emotions and feelings. Although dog owners seem to be quite sure that their dogs have empathy for their feelings, if you make that suggestion to a group of psychologists are behavioral biologists it is more apt to start an argument rather than to bring out nods of agreement.
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[Dogs work to build a Culture of Empathy in the Schools]
" For some of her students, says teacher Izelle Van Zuylen, “empathy and care are not something they are used to.” As a result, those are not always qualities that come easily to the kids themselves"
"For children who have witnessed the mistreatment of animals - and sometimes people - classes with fluffy, mellow Bella are teaching kindness, patience and an emphasis on the positive.
Across the country, schools have welcomed dogs into classrooms for a variety of purposes, including to encourage kids in their learning, even though student safety and allergies continue be issues. But when it comes to curriculum, classes like Keegan’s in bite prevention and the humane treatment of animals are far more likely to be occasional add-ons than built into the school day."
by Bess Keller 
's comment, June 3, 2012 5:29 AM
I believe dogs are Great teachers, since they embrace Love 100 percent .. I would even go so far to say that dogs are even Better teachers, in some instances, than Human's. Thank You.
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Researchers have uncovered rare brain cells in monkeys, which can be tied to self-awareness and empathy in humans.
Max Planck scientists found that the anterior insular cortex is a small brain region that plays a crucial role in human self-awareness and in related neuropsychiatric disorders. An exclusive cell type – the Von Economo Neuron (VEN) – is located there. Delete the scoop?
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One sleepy person can start a bout of contagious yawning that quickly spreads through a room. But a new study suggests the effect may not be limited to the room’s human inhabitants: Dogs can “catch” yawns from people, the study found—especially their owners, hinting that pooches may empathize with familiar people. Delete the scoop?
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Have you tried yawning next to your dog? Have you noticed your little pal yawning after you did? Yes, yawning is a contagious behavior but not all species in the animal kingdom gets affected with it. However, dogs are an exception, just like the gelada baboons, stump-tail macaques, and chimpanzees that also yawn.
In fact, a new research found out that everytime dogs hear the sound of his master yawning, they will also yawn. This behavior is now considered as the strongest proof that dogs can relate to what humans feel. Delete the scoop?
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A new study shows that dogs can "catch" a yawn from the sound of a human being yawning. The study showed that dogs imitate yawns more readily from their owners than from strangers. Researchers say this suggests dogs have the capacity for empathy....
The latest study to be published in the July 2012 edition of Animal Cognition, was designed to test whether the phenomenon of contagious yawning between humans and dogs could be linked to empathy. Researchers reasoned that if dogs can catch a yawn from a human by simply listening to the recorded sound of a human yawning, without physically seeing the person, then it is likely that the phenomenon is an indication of empathy.
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Yawn next to your dog, and she may do the same. Though it seems simple, this contagious behavior is actually quite remarkable: Only a few animals do it, and only dogs cross the species barrier. Now a new study finds that dogs yawn even when they only hear the sound of us yawning, the strongest evidence yet that canines may be able to empathize with us. Delete the scoop?
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Emory University researchers have begun a project to scan the brains of alert dogs using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and see how they react to hand signals from their owners.
The aim is to understand dogs' thinking by recording which areas of their brains are activated when they interact with humans. Ultimately, the team hopes to answer questions such as whether dogs have empathy, and how much language they really understand. Delete the scoop?
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Gene Baur is the president and co-founder of Farm Sanctuary, an organization whose mission is to promote compassionate living through the rescue of farm animals, education and advocacy. A vegan since 1985, Baur has been called “the conscience of the food movement. “Farm animals, like all animals, have feelings,” Baur says. “They have complex cognitive abilities… and they deserve to be treated with respect and compassion.”
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Frans de Waal knows about chimpanzees. He has been studying primate behavior since 1975, and he currently serves as the C. H. Candler Professor of Psychology at Emory University and Director of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center. He has written numerous books about primates, and his most recent book,The Age of Empathy, explores the evolutionary origins of morality, empathy, and emotions.
As we learn more about our animal kin, the issue of medical experimentation becomes more contentious, especially regarding chimpanzees and other primates. Delete the scoop?
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While those in the world of mindfulness may be well aware, that empathy toward others is a recipe for a feeling of well being within oneself, for many people, just how to increase a sense of empathy can be a challenging subject.
This, of course is complicated when many people struggle with feeling empathetic toward others. To be sure, when empathy isn’t expressed, it isn’t gained either. So if this is the case, how does one go about increasing empathy? And, further, is it possible that animals, namely horses, can help us to feel more empathetic toward one another?
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