Empathy and reasoning aren’t rivals — they work together. Each one on its own predicts more generous, far-reaching acts of assistance. And when they operate side by side, people tend to help in the fairest ways — not favoring some over others — and in ways that touch the most lives.

We studied two groups that regularly help others at personal cost. One consisted of living organ donors who gave kidneys to strangers. The other included “effective altruists,” who use evidence and logic to direct substantial portions of their income or careers toward causes that save the most lives per dollar, such as fighting extreme poverty or preventable illness.

A Franco-Swiss study examined the determinants of patient-perceived physician empathy (PPPE) and found that three key factors shape how patients with chronic conditions perceive physician empathy: consultation length, frequency of visits, and type of diagnosis. 

Why Empathy Matters
In clinical practice, empathy refers to understanding and reflecting on a patient’s emotional state while maintaining constructive discussions about care. Physician empathy has been linked to better clinical outcomes, improved prescribing practices, stronger therapeutic alliances, patient satisfaction, adherence, and reduced healthcare costs. These benefits occur only if empathy is perceived by the patient, making perception central to its impact. 

Clinical empathy involves active listening centered on the patient, enabling them to feel understood while remaining constructive and positive, and discussing a care plan or actions together. This skill is now regarded as essential in daily practice. However, its benefits are only realized when empathy is perceived by the patient. 

by Imogen Bond

“You, like me, are here because you want to change the world... Books can change the world.” So opened the Raising Generation Empathy Conference, in a stirring, joyful keynote from author Patrice Lawrence to a sold-out room of experts and leaders from the worlds of books, literacy, education, child wellbeing and psychology.  

At the heart of the day was compelling new psychology research from Sussex University and impact partner EmpathyLab.

We have a literacy problem and a societal empathy deficit. What if we could solve both with one simple, accessible solution: reading with an empathy focus.

The Reading Feelings research project, backed by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), is the first longitudinal study on reading and empathy carried out in UK primary schools. Not only does this evidence powerfully prove that reading, in combination with immersion and discussion, develops empathy, but that crucially the benefit works in both directions: “Children who are better at understanding others’ emotions become better readers”.

Why Empathy Matters in Leadership
For organizations committed to developing the next generation of leaders, one truth is becoming impossible to ignore: the technical excellence that drives early-career success is not enough to carry executives into enterprise-level roles.

Increasingly, boards and executive teams want leaders who can build trust, inspire alignment, and elevate the performance of others. And among all the capacities required to do that, empathy stands out as one of the most strategically valuable — yet least developed. In The Six CEO Fundamentals, we outlined how personal readiness is just as critical as professional readiness. Empathy sits squarely at that intersection.

We've built a modern world that is flourishing with advanced technologies, but certainly not with values. We've built a world where almost everybody is obsessed with materialistic gains, often at the expense of humanity. In fact, Dr. Brianna J. Migliore (@dysregulationnation), a neuroscientist, believes that we, particularly Americans, have built a world that lacks empathy, and it all comes down to one underlying cause. In her video posted on December 1, Dr. J. Migliore explained why America is in an empathy crisis, and no, it's not because people are becoming more cruel.

For years, philosophers and psychologists have debated whether empathy helps or hinders the ways people decide how to help others. Critics of empathy argue that it makes people care too narrowly – focusing on individual stories rather than the broader needs of society – while careful reasoning enables more impartial, evidence-based choices.

Our new research, forthcoming in the academic journal PNAS Nexus, a flagship peer-reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests this “heart versus head” argument is too simple. Empathy and reasoning aren’t rivals – they work together. Each one on its own predicts more generous, far-reaching acts of assistance. And when they operate side by side, people tend to help in the fairest ways – not favoring some over others – and in ways that touch the most lives.

As AI gets smarter, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says that humans can't rely on their brains alone to succeed at work.

AI Can’t Do Empathy—That’s What People Do
DeMaio said, “People aren’t really looking for technology to form that emotional connection when they’re trying to achieve an outcome.” While AI can talk to a customer and sound like a human, the customer knows it’s just a machine. It can say, “I’m sorry,” and sound empathetic, but it’s not, and the customer knows it. Authentic empathy is a human-to-human experience.

The question I have for you, Mark, is what role, if any, does this feeling of empathy have in the evolutionary process of humankind?

Mark: Frank, I believe that empathy functions in a way similar to a muscle: It requires constant conditioning, strengthening and continuous use. Without such regular development and deployment, it will quickly atrophy and fall into disuse.

The question you ask operates on a very macro level. On the broad stage of human drama and human history, one can make the argument that each successive generation has made us gradually more empathetic to the needs, concerns, rights, and freedoms of others. This holds true, especially within Western democracies within the past two hundred and fifty years. Even then, one can argue, the development of empathy to the civil rights and liberties of others — minority groups in particular — has not come without struggle and often setbacks.

We discuss AI chatbots versus human healthcare professionals and the ability to show empathy by reviewing studies investigating empathy.
 

Active Listening by Larry Lawhon
By …::”I used to think that top global environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse, and climate change. I thought that with 30 years of good science, we could address these problems, but I was wrong. The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed, and apathy, and to deal with these, we need a spiritual and cultural transformation. And we scientists don’t know how to do that.” ~Gus Speth

Active Listening as a way of life.

Carl Rogers coined the term “active listening” in 1957

By focusing on and validating another person’s perspective, active listening helps build empathy.

Simultaneously, this focused, empathic process strengthens the Pre Frontal Cortex PFC’s role in reasoning and emotion regulation while also diminishing the amygdala’s “fight-or-flight” response, creating a calm awareness.

Active listening allows for a shared understanding of another person’s thoughts and feelings, which builds empathy and validates their experience.

By Christopher Kaufman

What the Research Says About Empathy at Work
Empathy is a key building block in creating psychologically safe workplaces—and when employees feel secure, employers reap the rewards. Consider this: Companies that create high psychological safety experience 76% more engagement, 50% more productivity, and 29% more life satisfaction amongst workers.

Workplaces that prioritize empathy also support innovation. Empathy allows people to share ideas, take initiative, and innovate freely, all without fear. It’s no secret that fear can impede creativity. According to one poll, 85% of executives agree that fear holds back innovation efforts “often or always” in their organizations.

The capacity to empathize plays a pivotal role in most forms of social interaction, contributing significantly to adaptive social behavior. Empathy entails experiencing others’ emotions, making the ability to regulate one’s emotional reactions to both positive and negative emotions of others crucial for effective empathy. Both empathy and emotion regulation are capacities that develop within the context of parenting, yet the dynamics of this process are not well understood. Moreover, while there has been considerable research on empathy towards others’ distress, there is less understanding of how people regulate their emotions in response to the positive emotions of others

Wayne Gretzky is famous for not following the puck, and instead skating to where it’s going to be. This winning strategy is empathy in action. Gretzky harnessed his empathy to figure out what players on his team, and on the opposing team, were thinking, feeling, and, most importantly, intending. 

Empathy is often described as “walking in someone else’s shoes.” It’s an innate capacity we have to see the world through someone else’s eyes and even to feel their pain. In Gretzky’s case, he skated in other players’ skates, a superpower that almost made it seem like he could predict the future.

Babies are born wired for empathy. It’s critical for a child’s survival, because they need to figure out what the adults around them are thinking, feeling, and intending and modify their conduct accordingly. If athletes don’t become professional athletes, empathy is still a superpower sought after in the workplace and in leadership positions. 

by Alison Jane Martingano

A new meta-analysis finds that most types of empathy protect against burnout.

Empathic concern and perspective taking emerge as consistent buffers against burnout.

Only a tendency to mirror the distress of others increased people's risk of burnout.

Spend a few minutes online and you’ll find no shortage of warnings about the dangers of being “too empathic.” Headlines like “Are You an Empath? 5 Ways to Avoid Emotional Burnout” and “Why Empaths Experience Burnout Like No Other” paint a picture of empathy as a psychological liability—something that leaves caring people overwhelmed, depleted, and at special risk of exhaustion. Some articles offer nuance buried in the fine print, but many do not.

Activating Social Empathy is a practical classroom resource designed to help teachers promote empathy skills and understanding among young people in Senior Cycle. The programme was developed by researchers at the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre at University of Galway, along with colleagues in the University’s School of Education, working closely with a Youth Advisory Panel from Foróige. It is endorsed by the National Council for Curriculum Assessment.

Dr Charlotte Silke is a lead researcher with UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre at University of Galway. She said that the fundamental aim of the programme is to "support young people in becoming more attuned to the feelings and perspectives of others" and to become "more confident in expressing empathy across a variety of real-world contexts".

Most heart-led leaders are celebrated for their empathy, and with good reason. Empathy builds trust and fosters connection, building blocks of high-performing teams. As a strength, empathy enables leaders to "connect to the emotions that underpin an experience," Brené Brown writes. But when leaders begin to feel those emotions as their own, that asset can quietly (and quickly) become a liability.

Over-empathy occurs when a leader absorbs their team members’ emotions, experiences and performance. They cease knowing where their job ends and their direct report’s job begins. Boundaries blur, leaders’ feedback softens or stops and their responsibilities multiply. Leaning too far into empathy, they often end up depleted, with a low-performing team.

• by Ben Rein, Mari Tavares

Empathy is ancient. For millennia, it has helped us understand what others feel by simply observing them. We are wired to detect signs of emotion from one another, and to take on similar emotions in response. We tear up when a loved one cries, smile when a friend laughs, and frown when a teammate hangs their head. This is empathy.

Yet, as social media platforms grow more central to how we connect, we’re spending more time sharing emotions in digital worlds through likes, shares, and comments. This shift in how we engage with one another does not go unnoticed by the molecular systems in our brains. In fact, we believe it is fundamentally altering the neurochemistry behind our interactions. We presented our case in a recent paper, arguing that our brains may not properly respond to others’ emotions in online environments. We call this new theory the “Virtual Disengagement Hypothesis.”

The other side: "In the Christian tradition, to have anybody argue that a spirit of empathy is somehow a vulnerability... is insane," Father Brendan Busse, pastor of Dolores Mission Catholic Church in Los Angeles, tells Axios.

Busse said the suffering of Jesus on the Cross invokes empathy, as does the call to help "the least of these" in the Gospels.

Empathy drives the mission of Homeboy Industries, the Los Angeles-based (and world's largest) gang intervention organization, founded by Catholic priest Greg Boyle.

The North Carolina-based Repairers of the Breach, founded by Bishop William J. Barber II, uses empathy to fight poverty and economic inequality.

By Amanda Marcotte
Thanks to Elon Musk, most Americans learned earlier this year that MAGA thinks empathy is evil. Cruelty isn’t the problem, the Tesla CEO claimed in an attempt to justify his turn toward authoritarian politics. “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy,” he declared on Joe Rogan’s podcast in February.

As the billionaire was decimating much of the federal bureaucracy devoted to serving Americans, he said it was good to be heartless, comparing “the empathy response” to a computer bug. “We’ve got civilizational suicidal empathy going on,” he said, arguing counterintuitively that caring about others will somehow bring ruin to the entire human species. 

The Empathy Gap: Why Algorithms Can Simulate Understanding But Cannot Replace Connection

Despite the rapid advancement of these tools, the consensus among service leaders remains that AI hits a hard ceiling when it comes to genuine emotional connection. While an LLM can simulate empathetic language, it lacks the shared human experience required to de-escalate a truly distraught customer. As highlighted in broader industry discussions by Harvard Business Review, customers can instinctively detect the difference between a scripted apology and genuine concern. The "uncanny valley" of customer service is real; when a machine tries too hard to sound human, it often alienates the user. Therefore, the goal of Amazon Connect’s architecture is to make the human agent more human, not to make the AI pretend to be one.

In this video we discuss with Alastair Howcroft his meta-analysis review paper on the empathy of chatbots versus human doctors.