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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
July 1, 2011 9:32 PM
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Baron-Cohen is an expert in autism and developmental psychopathology, and has always wanted to isolate and understand the factors that cause people to treat others as if they were mere objects. And, in his lecture at the RI, he began by explaining the need for people to turn their focus away from evil and towards empathy.
The reason for this is that the concept of evil is not an explanatory concept. The logic of evil is circular, following a pattern which follows a repeating loop from ‘doing something bad’ to ‘are bad’.
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
June 30, 2011 3:11 PM
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You see a stranger stub her toe and you immediately flinch in sympathy. You watch a baseball outfielder run to catch a long fly ball and feel your heart racing and your leg muscles pumping along with him. You notice a friend wrinkle up his face in disgust while tasting some food and suddenly your own stomach recoils at the thought of eating.
This ability to instinctively and immediately understand what other people are experiencing has long baffled neuroscientists, psychologists, and philosophers alike. Recent research now suggests a fascinating explanation: brain cells called mirror neurons.. Mirror neuron research, therefore, is helping scientists reinterpret the neurological underpinning of social interactions. These studies are leading to:
* New insight into how and why we develop empathy for others.
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
June 30, 2011 2:09 AM
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The Virtuous Empathy group hosted two visitors this semester. Dr. Jodi Halpern, MD, PhD, who teaches in the Joint Medical Program, University of California, Berkeley and San Francisco, visited in February. She met with the Virtuous Empathy participants and presented a public lecture, "Rethinking Clinical Empathy."
In April the Virtuous Empathy group hosted Eva-Maria Engelen, a philosopher from the University of Konstanz, Germany, who met with the group, visited a class, and gave a public lecture, "Empathy and Imagination.
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
June 29, 2011 12:42 PM
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A link between a person’s lack of emotional empathy after brain injury and his or her physiological response to anger has been documented by researchers from the University of New South Wales.
It is well known that social problems, including egocentric behavior and insensitivity to the needs of others, often occur in people with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI).
These behaviors have been attributed in part to a loss of emotional empathy—the ability to recognize and understand the emotions of other people.
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
June 29, 2011 1:15 PM
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This site exists to undo the myths about autism and empathy that have stigmatized autistic people for so long. It features writing by autistic individuals, by autism parents and family members, and by others who understand that autistic people all along the spectrum experience the world in highly empathetic and sensitive ways. Telling our stories, describing our experiences, and speaking the truth in our own voices, we can break dehumanizing stereotypes and increase understanding. img http://bit.ly/jttkZY
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
June 29, 2011 12:59 PM
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I have a confession to make. Men who are highly empathic, soft-spoken, and extremely agreeable make me nervous. I was given reason for this self-reflection today on reading the most recent bargaining post at Harvard’s Program on Negotiation blog.
According to the brainiacs who study these things, women who are able to read the emotional state of others and satisfy their behavioral expectations are more effective team leaders and better negotiators than either their empathy-deficient female or empathy-enabled male colleagues.
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
June 28, 2011 12:38 PM
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Egocentric, self-centred, and insensitive to the needs of others: these social problems often arise in people with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and have been attributed in part to a loss of emotional empathy, the capacity to recognise and understand the emotions of other people. Given that traumatic brain injuries are becoming more common, and resulting empathy deficits can have negative repercussions on social functioning and quality of life, it is increasingly important to understand the processes that shape emotional empathy. A new study has recently revealed evidence of a relationship between physiological responses to anger and a reduction of emotional empathy post-injury, as reported in the May 2011 issue of Elsevier's Cortex. img http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
June 26, 2011 2:36 PM
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The great angst of modern life is this: no matter how hard we try, no matter how successful we are, no matter how good a parent, worker, or spouse we are - it's never enough. There is always someone richer, thinner, smarter, or more powerful, someone that makes us feel small in comparison. Failure of any kind, large or small, is unacceptable. The result: therapist's offices, pharmaceutical companies, and the self-help aisles of bookstores are besieged by people who feel they're not okay as they are. What to do?
One response has come in the form of the self-esteem movement. Over the years there have been literally thousands of books and magazine articles promoting self-esteem - how to get it, raise it and keep it. The pursuit of high self-esteem has become a virtual religion, but research indicates this has serious downsides.
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
June 25, 2011 1:19 PM
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The ability to see through another's eyes is a crucial human trait; we all suffer in its absence. WHEN I was seven years old, my father told me the Nazis had turned Jews into lampshades. Just one of those comments you hear once and the thought never goes away. I knew our family was Jewish, so this image of turning people into objects felt a bit close to home... 'Empathy is like a universal solvent. Any problem immersed in empathy becomes soluble. It is effective as a way of anticipating & resolving interpersonal problems, whether this is a marital conflict, an international conflict, a problem at work, difficulties in a friendship, political deadlocks, a family dispute, or a problem with the neighbour.' More on Simon Baron-Cohen: http://bit.ly/jlHrf7
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
June 24, 2011 3:48 PM
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Empathy is particularly important to social work practice. Clients experiencing empathy through treatment have improved outcomes. Empathic social work practitioners are more effective and can balance their roles better. Social work practitioners can and should learn about emerging social-cognitive neuroscience research on empathy and use that information to better serve their client populations. This article focuses on empathy as an asset to practitioners.
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
June 22, 2011 1:04 PM
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Empathy, the ability to identify with the feelings of others, is related to the hormone oxytocin, also called the social bonding hormone. Oxytocin is released when babies nurse, during sex, when people hug each other and even when we tweet or engage with our social networks over the internet. When oxytocin is released, we feel more compassionate and our tendency to trust our fellow human beings increases. Even more interesting, oxytocin doesn't just rise when we trust others, it rises when they trust us, too. It's a feedback loop that reinforces social connections by rewarding both parties for trust and trustworthy behavior. And it's this trust connection that has such broad ramifications for the economy. Why? Because trust affects the gross domestic product. img http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Breastfeeding01.jpg
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
June 21, 2011 1:24 PM
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A new book, The Science of Evil, is certainly not doing any favors for the autism community. Written by Simon Baron-Cohen, a professor of developmental psychology at the University of Cambridge and director of the university’s Autism Research Center, the book has a central premise that evil can be scientifically defined as a lack of empathy. Lack of empathy or a “Theory of Mind” is also described as a core feature of autism. Baron-Cohen writes: More on Simon Baron-Cohen: http://bit.ly/jlHrf7
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
June 21, 2011 12:14 PM
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Mirror neurons are a relatively new scientific discovery that's given many thought leaders new insight into what it means to be human.
To return to the more mundane, a study released in Nature Neuroscience in August shows mirror neurons to be crucial to athletic strategy. Researchers in the said study asked a group of 10 elite basketball players, 10 coaches, and 10 novices, to watch a video of people shooting baskets and try to predict, as the ball left their hands, which shots would go in.
The elite basketball players had the edge in this prediction game, proving significantly better at it than even the veteran coaches.
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
July 1, 2011 12:37 PM
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Research has shown that social problems often arise in people with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). These have been attributed in part to a loss of emotional empathy, the capacity to recognise and understand the emotions of other people.
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
June 30, 2011 3:04 PM
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I have looked squarely at the most pressing problems confronting humanity — global climate change, mass extinctions, resource depletion, increasing toxicity of our soils, over population, and more — and still I am hopeful. How can this be?
The answer is that human beings are incredibly resilient creatures. We are capable of love and beauty unparalleled in the animal kingdom. And we are wired for empathy. While studying cognitive science, the cross-cutting field of research dedicated to understanding the human mind, I learned something that has inspired me greatly. The human brain has within it a set of circuits called mirror neurons that enable us to simulate and re-enact the experiences of others
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
June 29, 2011 7:56 PM
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WASHINGTON – Speaking on behalf of congressional Republicans, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) said today that trillions could be cut from the Federal budget if Congress can agree to eliminate empathy.
“The current budget is bursting at the seams with pet projects that reek of empathy,” Rep. Cantor said. “As a nation, we can no longer afford to spend money on people’s basic survival needs like a bunch of drunken sailors.”
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
June 29, 2011 1:20 PM
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Egocentric, self-centred, and insensitive to the needs of others: these social problems often arise in people with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and have been attributed in part to a loss of emotional empathy, the capacity to recognise and understand the emotions of other people...
A new study has recently revealed evidence of a relationship between physiological responses to anger and a reduction of emotional empathy post-injury, as reported in the May 2011 issue of Elsevier's Cortex.
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
June 29, 2011 1:00 PM
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Simon Baron-Cohen from Cambridge University has a long-standing interest in demonstrating that Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) are more prevalent in populations presenting with high systemizing skills. These are people who like predicting how things function, classifying observations in systems, etc. and who also show less empathy to others... Baron-Cohen elides the quality of empathy with the ability to read, understand, respond to and enjoy social situations, and this a matter of free association rather pure logic or science. For instance, one AS person might empathise very strongly with the frustrations of another for which they have insight, but be oblivious to some other social issues for which they have do not. More on Simon Baron-Cohen: http://bit.ly/jlHrf7
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
June 28, 2011 10:33 PM
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The basis for the players' ability to predict free-throw success seems to be mirror neurons in the motor cortex. These neurons fire when we see someone else undertake some action; you can think of them as the brain’s empathy neurons, since they seem to be the basis for our ability to, literally, feel what someone else is experiencing. This neuronal activity was higher in players than in non-players, as if observing others’ actions triggered “a covert simulation of the very same action,” write the scientists. That unconscious simulation serves as the basis for the impressive accuracy in predicting whether a free throw will go in: it’s as if the players are unconsciously processing the idea of what would happen if they held their arm and fingers the way the shooter is. img http://bit.ly/j415Te
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
June 26, 2011 2:56 PM
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Though not the main TED event, last weekend I spoke at TEDx Compassion at the Craneway Pavillion in Richmond. Close to 700 people attending in person, live-webcast online, simultaneous translation via sign language, four concurrent graphic recorders taking visual notes, a stellar roster of speakers and performances.
The whole production, spearheaded by Prospect Sierra, was a year in the making and well organized...
The 8 hour event, which initially featured Greg Mortenson, felt like a compassion bonanza --
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
June 26, 2011 11:52 AM
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It’s an oft-repeated and erroneous stereotype that autistic people lack empathy.
When I hear another iteration of this myth, I have an immediate, visceral reaction that combines impatience at its perpetuation with a keen understanding of its power to wreak havoc on the lives on autistic people.
When it comes to our ability to find partners, to form friendships, to be welcomed in community, and to find work — particularly in the helping professions — this myth can have a devastating impact.
It’s one of the main reasons that so many autistic people remain in the closet, living their entire lives in fear of exposure.
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
June 25, 2011 12:49 PM
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By their very definition corporations forgo empathetic decision making because they are abstract beings. When making decisions that directly affect humanity empathy is a necessary ingredient. Take away the capacity for empathy and you are left with what we have today- psychopathy corporations spreading what we would deem to be evil all over the world. The corporate machine is a cold calculating one that makes decisions that solely pay homage to the bottom dollar with the well being and needs of the human race coming up a distant second – if at all.
Imagine a world where corporations were held to the same moral standards as individuals.
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
June 22, 2011 1:36 PM
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College students today are less likely to "get" the emotions of others than their counterparts 20 and 30 years ago, a new review study suggests.
Specifically, today's students scored 40 percent lower on a measure of empathy than their elders did.
The findings are based on a review of 72 studies of 14,000 American college students overall conducted between 1979 and 2009.
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
June 21, 2011 1:52 PM
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Building on the overwhelming success and interest generated at the Language of the Mental Life conference in July of 2010 the Telluride Institute is proud to present Compassion for a World in Crisis in July 2011.
The three-day event will bring cutting-edge neuroscientists, Tibetan Buddhist practitioners and teachers of Native American wisdom traditions together for panel discussions, conversations, seminars, question-and-answer sessions; just as important as the talks will be the ceremonies, sand paintings and movies, as well as a the live trading post and Tibetan market.
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
June 21, 2011 12:54 PM
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They lack Empathy.
Empathy is the ability to put one's self in the shoes of another, even if only for a moment. To be a good person, empathy is required. It is the essential ingredient in humanity and is deeply embedded in our culture. Americans care. We care because we have empathy. It's in our national DNA. It's in our religious texts. We teach it to our children every day and we gladly help others when we're able because it's the right thing to do.
Bad people view empathy as a weakness to be exploited. But, they do care about themselves. A lot. Passionately.
Barack Obama is one of these bad people. He's dishonest, narcissistic, and pinning him down can be like nailing jello to the wall.
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