"Love thy neighbor" is preached from many a pulpit. But new research from the University of California, Berkeley, suggests that the highly religious are less motivated by compassion when helping a stranger than are atheists, agnostics and less religious people.
In three experiments, social scientists found that compassion consistently drove less religious people to be more generous. For highly religious people, however, compassion was largely unrelated to how generous they were, according to the findings which are published in the most recent online issue of the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.
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For more than two decades, empathy has occupied a near-sacred place in leadership thinking. It has been framed not as a soft skill but as a strategic capability essential for influence, collaboration, and effective decision-making. The World Economic Forum Future Job Report 2025 reinforces this trajectory: “empathy and active listening” rank in the top 10 core skills, with employers expecting them to remain just as significant, if not more so, over the next five years.
Yet, this consensus sits uneasily alongside another reality. As global workplace research from Gallup shows, leaders are operating under sustained pressure and emotional strain. Time horizons are shrinking. Stakes are rising. In precisely the conditions where empathy is most needed, it is becoming harder to practice.
In this episode of Tech Won’t Save Us, we are joined by Julia Carrie Wong to discuss Elon Musk’s recent opposition to empathy, how it comes out of the Christian right, and the relationship it has to previous discussions of longtermism.
In recent years, empathy has gotten a bad rap. Paul Bloom's famous work Against Empathy argued empathy was necessarily biased and should be thrown out. Figures like Elon Musk argue our instinct for compassion is leading to bad outcomes. Here, philosopher Gigla Gonashvili argues we must reclaim our empathy from those who seek to temper it. We must embrace our will to care.
As we watch the world aflame today, we naturally wonder with whom we should empathize the most, or whether our empathy is of any use at all. Recently, there has been a growing discontent with empathy, primarily due to its partial and biased nature. And yet, empathy cannot be so easily discarded or downgraded. It is inextricably tied to the concept of the will—a fundamental concept in both philosophy and religion.
by Element Love by George Clausen Shifting from Protection to Integration The biggest hurdle to teaching empathy is the widespread misconception that being empathetic makes you vulnerable to being overwhelmed. Many sensitive people spend their lives feeling like sponges, absorbing the grief, anger, and anxiety of everyone they encounter, eventually retreating behind thick emotional layers just to survive the day-to-day routine.
But absorbing noise isn’t empathy; it is a symptom of an unmanaged field. When you absorb someone else’s emotional output, you are matching their chaotic frequency instead of holding your own. You are letting their wave dictate your rhythm.
True empathy requires a quiet, rational mind working in perfect tandem with an open heart. It allows you to recognize the heavy energy someone is carrying without taking it onto your own ledger.
Gad Saad breaks down his framework of "suicidal empathy." He argues that empathy, like any other human instinct, is only a virtue when operating within its optimal range. Too little and you're a psychopath. Too much, aimed at the wrong targets, and you get a civilization that serves the interests of its enemies.
Gad explains why the wealthiest societies in human history are also the most vulnerable to parasitic ideas, how the human mind gets hijacked by ideologies the way a parasite hijacks its host, and why communism, wokeness, and every other "bad idea that won't die" keeps returning generation after generation.
Some people are good at putting themselves in another person’s shoes. Others may struggle to relate. But psychologist Jamil Zaki argues that empathy isn’t a fixed trait. This week, we revisit a favorite episode about how to exercise our empathy muscles. Then, Leslie John answers listener questions about the benefits of opening up to others, in our latest installment of Your Questions Answered.
This webinar focuses on the potential for reading to support young people’s empathy
There is growing interest in the relationship between reading and empathy, specifically understanding whether, how, and for whom, book reading fosters empathy. This webinar explores the potentially enriching effects of books, and other texts, to support empathy. The speakers will provide examples of contemporary research studies to exemplify the relationship between fiction book reading and empathy, and provide book recommendations for secondary school pupils, to nurture empathy among adolescent readers.
Author Gad Saad presents his new book, "Suicidal Empathy: Dying to Be Kind," arguing that misguided kindness leads to catastrophic policy decisions. Saad connects this to the controversy surrounding Fairfax County, Virginia's sanctuary policies, where dangerous illegal migrants were released despite prior offenses.
Empathy is an emotion that stems from understanding what another person might be feeling, and then feeling that same thing (or something similar). The first requirement—the ability to understand what another person might be thinking or feeling—is something that develops slowly; it starts in infancy and continues into the preschool years. First, babies gain the ability to understand that people have intentions that typically guide their actions. We see evidence that infants can act based on inferring another’s intention by about 14 to 18 months.
Empathy is more than a feeling; it’s a discipline that allows us to humanize those who disagree with us.
Empathy is an ancient moral instinct that is relatively new to the English language. From the Greek word Empatheia (meaning passion or emotion) and the Greek Pathos (meaning suffering and profound feeling), the German language produced the term Einfühlung somewhere in the late 19th century — a term describing the projection of one’s own feelings onto other human beings and even onto objects.
As language evolved, the English term “empathy” came to signify the capacity to understand the feelings of another person as if they were one’s own. Yet this new term reflected a very ancient bit of moral wisdom. It is strange that in today’s polarized discourse we sometimes discard empathy as if it were the product of experimental social science and not something that in substance echoes all the way back to the gospels and beyond.
“Research shows that when physicians engage with the arts—as observers or as artists or performers—empathy increases. According to the National Institutes of Health, ‘empathy is a fundamental driver of high-quality clinical care, acting as a crucial component of clinical competence that directly correlates with better patient outcomes, increased satisfaction, and lower litigation rates.
It bridges the gap between technical expertise and human connection, enhancing patient compliance and diagnostic accuracy, often acting as a key component of effective care.’ Ultimately, if we want to be successful in clinical care, we should consider the arts as a tool for cultivating empathy. I encourage everyone to explore art, music, theatre, dance, poetry, or prose as a way to connect with their own sense of empathy.”
1. The Health Communications Gap: You’ve worked across pharma, biotech, non-profits, and academia. Where do most health communications strategies fail—lack of scientific rigor, lack of human empathy, or lack of boldness?
Probably all three but if I had to name the one that holds everything else back, it’s the failure of empathy. You can have the most rigorous science and the most daring creative strategy in the world, but if the work doesn’t connect with how a real person actually feels about their health, their body, their fears, it doesn’t move anyone.
Most of us have not literally experienced such an Exodus, but we must imagine ourselves in that scenario, empathize with those who have lived through it, and act on our empathy.
In mandating that we place ourselves in the shoes of a stranger, the Torah demands that we exercise what modern-day psychologists call our Theory of Mind, our ability to understand that other people have different perspectives and emotions from our own. The Theory of Mind develops early on, when children realize that other people are distinct from themselves. This understanding is key to the development of empathy, and it allows us to anticipate the needs of others. In mandating generosity and empathy, the Torah lays out what human behavior looks like when we act on our Theory of Mind.
"We are living through a period of extreme narcissism. Our current leadership in Washington believes that empathy is a weakness and that our nation stands supreme and alone."
Conan O'Brien delivers a hilarious and surprisingly heartfelt commencement address at Harvard University, joking about AI, Ivy League culture, foreign students, humility, success, ego, and the future facing graduates.
From roasting Princeton and Harvard traditions to sharing emotional lessons about luck, community, failure, and reinvention, Conan mixes comedy with genuine advice for the Class of 2026.
Even when we try to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes, we’re often missing the deeper frameworks that shape how they think and act.
In this lecture, Konner Brewer, Stanford Lecturer and Product Manager for Applied AI at Google, explores why understanding others is more complex than it seems. Through case studies and classic experiments, she reveals a key insight: people can’t always explain why they do what they do.
Instead, we rely on stories - our own and others’ - to make sense of behavior. This talk challenges conventional ideas of empathy, because in a globalized world, if we want to truly connect with others, it’s not enough to feel what we would feel in their position, we have to learn how to see the world as they do.
In this clip from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, director Steven Spielberg discuss how empathy is used as a core concept—and a literal "superpower"—in his film Disclosure Day.
Here is what the video says about it
Empathy as a Superpower: Spielberg explains that the characters in his film develop incredible abilities after being exposed to extraterrestrial secrets. Instead of classic comic book abilities like flying or super strength, these are powers rooted in deep human connection and empathy [04:57].
Changing Other People: Stephen Colbert notes that when Emily Blunt's character expresses this deep empathy toward others, it doesn't just get her out of difficult situations—it actually transforms the people she is connecting with [06:04].
Becoming Someone Else: Spielberg describes the peak of this power as the ability to completely "become" the person you are talking to for just five seconds. In that brief moment, you completely and deeply understand everything that person has been through in their entire life [06:24].
A Lesson for Humanity: Spielberg concludes by saying that if humans actually possessed this kind of instant, deep empathetic understanding of one another, "there would be a lot more cooperation between our own species on this planet." [06:37]
Is there such a thing as having too much empathy? That's a theory gaining the support of some of the world’s richest people following the release of a new book by Gad Saad, a Canadian marketing professor and frequent critic of liberal policies.
"A society dies when it cares more about exhibiting infinite tolerance and empathy than invoking its survival instinct," Saad argues in his book, Suicidal Empathy: Dying To Be Kind. Saad’s ideas have drawn frequent praise from prominent billionaires Bill Ackman and Elon Musk, who said suicidal empathy will "end civilization
Join national leaders as they showcase breakthrough research, programs, and ideas shaping a more compassionate world.
Experience three inspiring days with leaders advancing empathy and compassion as drivers of better care, learning, and culture. Attendees will:
Explore emerging empathy and compassion research that translates into real, measurable impact Reimagine the future of medical education to prepare the next generation of compassionate clinicians Build more sustainable care environments that support healthcare workforce well-
Dr. Gad Saad: "Too little empathy or no empathy makes you a psychopath. Too much empathy when it's hyper fires in the wrong situations towards the wrong targets — you end up with a malady that can destroy the West."
I sat down with Gad Saad, author of "Suicidal Empathy," to discuss the evolutionary psychology behind why the West is self-destructing in the name of tolerance.
Empathy is a perfectly adaptive human trait, but like any biological mechanism, it can misfire. When ideological parasites like gender ideology and critical race theory are the basis for empathy, it stops being a virtue and becomes a civilizational death wish.
We also get into why intelligent people are paradoxically the most vulnerable to bad ideas, why communism keeps coming back no matter how many times history buries it, and what it will actually take for the West to rediscover its survival instinct.
Outline: [0:00] A Canadian trying to save America [2:17] What happens when empathy misfires? [8:29] Even victims of crimes feel guilty now [17:18] The evolution of the parasitic mind [31:51] Christian ethics and self-sacrifice [36:14] Can we trust evolutionary psychology? [46:29] There are different kinds of truth [54:36] Why don’t bad ideals die out? [1:05:16] Is comfort driving us crazy? [1:08:45] How to protect your kids from the mind virus
The $180 Billion Business Case for Empathy Empathy pays—and companies that don’t recognize its value are paying the price.
Empathy isn’t just good in theory. Our 10th annual report reveals how U.S. organizations viewed as unempathetic are risking billions through employee turnover, mental health issues, workplace toxicity, and more—yet nearly 60% of CEOs still say empathy is a perk.
Join Monica Harris, John Wood, Jr. and Ilana Redstone as we discuss the need to develop emotional intelligence and perspective-taking skills and how deep listening strengthens democratic participation and community bonds. This theme also supports FAIR's commitment to respectful civil discourse, which is a foundational element of our Many Stories, One Nation curriculum: https://manystoriesonenation.com/
When researchers asked people whether they’d rather get an empathetic response from a human or from AI, human responses won by a wide margin. When the same researchers actually showed them the responses, AI won by a wider one. People who said they preferred human responses rated the AI replies as more empathetic, more validating, and even better at making them feel heard.
That gap between what customers say they want and what actually satisfies them is nothing new for marketers. But it's now showing up in two of the most important domains a CMO oversees: service and support.
In the strange case of Gad Saad, we have a public intellectual and cultural firebrand whose most intelligent haters tend to half-agree with him. Saad is a Canadian professor of marketing with a background in evolutionary psychology, originally of Lebanese Jewish origin, whose new book Suicidal Empathy: Dying to Be Kind, was Amazon’s no. 16 best-seller in books on its May 12 debut. This book, like Saad’s 2021 best-seller, The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense, promotes a big, catchy idea that seems to explain a broad cultural problem.
The Parasitic Mind purported to explain why so many people were able to believe obviously bonkers stuff during peak woke. Suicidal Empathy addresses how “misguided” concern for certain categories of people — criminals, victims, Muslims, the homeless, immigrants, trans athletes — has prompted Western elites to act against their own self-interest and endanger Western civilization.
This idea is so apropos that it has grabbed very well-timed headlines, thanks to a New York Post story on a young woman who declined to prosecute a man who attacked her on the subway — because of empathy; she didn’t want to send another black man to jail — only to regret it after her attacker allegedly killed an elderly man.
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