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Kristina Bjoran and Stephanie McPherson follow MIT Neuroscientists, Emile Bruneau and Rebecca Saxe, as they search for the origins of empathy in the human brain... and how does it relate to conflict . video on vimeo: http://vimeo.com/channels/228387#27158457 
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Psychologist Dacher Keltner claims the rich are more self-obsessed than the rest of us. Professor Keltner said they were “less empathetic, less altruistic and generally more selfish” as a result of their wealth.
“We have now done 12 separate studies measuring empathy in every way imaginable, social behaviour in every way, and some work on compassion and it’s the same story,” he said.
“Lower class people just show more empathy, more pro-social behaviour, more compassion, no matter how you look at it.”
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Warneken & Tomasello (2006) Science
We presented 18-month-old children and human-raised chimpanzees a variety of situations in which the experimenter could not achieve the goal and needed help from the subject. Will they Empathize and Want to Help?
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Empathy is the ability to completely understand and identify with the feelings of another human being. It’s a skill that everybody should learn and practice. If you aren’t taught to be empathetic, if you don’t have a good example to follow, chances are that you will have trouble forming successful relationships and leading a happy life.
Over the course of the last few decades Canada has experienced a growth in reports of domestic violence, child abuse, youth violence and bullying. Mary Gordon founded her organization, Roots of Empathy, because she knew that when children experience abuse, violence, and neglect there is a high chance that they will have diminished learning capacities and inadequate social coping mechanisms. Children who grow up without the ability to accurately identify their emotions, to control their emotions and experience empathy for others run the risk of becoming perpetrators of abuse. By Chris
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Love relationships go through stages of development. Don't we all wish we could stay in the first stage of ultimate infatuation!..
Stage two is where the "real" selves begin to connect and the issues surface. This is where the inner core of reality is faced. Each person in the relationship becomes stretched as they see their own unmet needs surface...
So, what is the key for stage two? Empathy! If we practice empathy for our partners and ourselves...we have great growth opportunity both personally and in the relationship.
by Karyl McBride,
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The Society for Neuroscience is a nonprofit membership organization of basic scientists and physicians who study the brain and nervous system.
Mirror NeuronsYou 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
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According to large scale studies on therapeutic outcomes, psychotherapists' ability to understand their clients has been considered the second most important healing factor in all therapies.
The author of this scholarly volume seeks to improve our understanding of the immense therapeutic potential that the human capacity for empathy holds, and to improve our use of it in therapeutic practice.
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At the recent Happiness and Its Causes Conference in Brisbane, Australia in June 2011, a Science of the Mind Forum was held. The panel comprised His the Dalai Lama, psychologist Paul Ekman, neuroscientist Marco Iacoboni, Buddhist scholar B. Allan Wallace, and psychiatrist Patrick McGorry.
Empathy and Compassion
Altruism and compassion, warm-heartedness: brings people together. “Extremely useful for my own health, for my peace of mind, my own community.” (Dalai Lama).
“And now we have finally discovered a system in the brain that suggests that evolution has devised something in our brain that makes us connect with others in a very simple way.” (Marco Iacoboni)
“…the idea that humans are selfish beings is so wrong.…through neuroscience, through this discovery [mirror neurons], you can actually make an argument that in fact we are really a global civilization for empathy.” (Marco Iacoboni)
“The discovery of these cells in the brain [mirror neurons] really tells us that our brains are connected.” (Marco Iacoboni)
“The more you are empathic, the more you tend to be concerned about the emotions of others, the more you activate these brain regions.” (Marco Iacoboni)
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Empathy, then, develops from the experience of empathy—not from suffering. We tend to think of empathy as something that comes from “knowing what it’s like” to feel pain—but the origins of empathy are in shared nurture.
People are most empathetic when they feel calm and safe: if your own needs aren’t being met, it’s hard to think of someone else’s. This is why it’s impossible to spoil an infant by responding to him or her—and why punishment doesn’t make bullies into nicer people. by Maia Szalavitz
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Psychology Today Magazine creates a collection of empathy and compassion related articles and organizes them in a magazine format.
- I Feel Your Pain! Why empathy, compassion, and altruism are not just for softies.
- Is Obama Empathetic to a Fault? Empathy in excess might explain the president's woes.
- How to Test Your Empathy. How to test your empathy
- 36 Hours in Empathyville. A visit to a land of empaths
- Why Should I Care? What to do about declining student empathy.
etc.
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GUEST: Dacher Keltner, Professor of Psychology at the University of California Berkeley, co-director of The Greater Good Science Center, and one of three authors of the article, “Social Class as Culture: The Convergence of Resources and Rank in the Social Realm”
Multiple studies demonstrate that upper-class individuals are more focused on their personal experience, and less on context, than their less fortunate counterparts. Upper-class individuals are also less likely to show empathy for others, and less likely to share resources, than those in the working-class.
Radio show MP3 link http://bit.ly/nnMAIH
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Social class reflects more than the material conditions of people’s lives. Objective resources (e.g., income) shape cultural practices and behaviors that signal social class. These signals create cultural identities among upper- and lower-class individuals—identities that are rooted in subjective perceptions of social-class rank vis-à-vis others.
Empirical studies find that perceptions of social-class rank influence patterns of contextual versus dispositional cognition and other- versus self-oriented affect and behavior that are consistent with objective resource-based measures of social class
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Chimpanzees have been found to be genuinely altruistic animals that care about the welfare of others, denying previous claims characterizing them as self-regarding, according to a new study.
The findings show that altruism is not unique for humans but rather a characteristic evolving from mammals millions of years ago.
"Since empathy is an old mammalian trait, there is no reason why the sort of altruism we describe should be unique for the primates," Frans de Waal told Discovery News. "I expect it will be found in dogs [and] rats," he added. "We, and others, found it previously in monkeys: capuchin monkeys, marmosets, tamarins."
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In a defining image of the recent English riots, a man helped an injured youngster to his feet while an accomplice stole from the same victim's bag. This sheer lack of empathy on the part of the perpetrators has shaken observers to their core. How could humans display such a lack of altruism toward their fellow ma?
A possible clue comes from a new brain imaging study that has examined links between the neural correlates of empathy, an act of altruism, and participants' subjective sense of their social status. by Ma, Y., Wang, C., and Han, S.
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Scientists have long known that the hormone plays essential physiological roles during birth and lactation, and animal studies have shown that oxytocin can influence behavior too, prompting voles to cuddle up with their mates, for example, or to clean and comfort their pups.
Now a raft of new research in humans suggests that oxytocin underlies the twin emotional pillars of civilized life, our capacity to feel empathy and trust. By NATALIE ANGIER
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A group that brings infants into classrooms to teach empathy has produced sharp drops in bullying. Imagine there was a cure for meanness. Well, maybe there is.
Lately, the issue of bullying has been in the news, sparked by the suicide of Tyler Clementi, a gay college student who was a victim of cyber-bullying, and by a widely circulated New York Times article that focused on “mean girl” bullying in kindergarten. The federal government has identified bullying as a national problem. In August, it organized the first-ever “Bullying Prevention Summit,” and it is now rolling out an anti-bullying campaign aimed at 5- to 8-year old children.
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While selfishness is part of our profile as a species, we also have a deep reservoir of empathy, and our capacity to understand the vulnerability and pain of others motivates so many good works in society, including caring for the homeless or the ill or those stricken by disaster.
That trait allows us to have an emotional connection with other species, too — with dogs and cats in our homes, and with animals facing cruelty or crisis. We are a nation of pet lovers and wildlife watchers, and we have laws against malicious cruelty.
The callous mistreatment of animals has a corrosive effect on society.
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Are rich people a lot less empathetic than middle-class and poor people? The Young Turks discuss a study that shows they actually are less empathetic.
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In our louder and louder world, says sound expert Julian Treasure, "We are losing our listening." In this short, fascinating talk, Treasure shares five ways to re-tune your ears for conscious listening -- to other people and the world around you.
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Think back to your third-grade report card. Remember the subjects? Math, Reading, Science, and Physical Education probably come to mind. But Empathy? Probably not.
You’re not alone. In fact, you’re in the company of billions – stretching across decades – who have mastered these basic skills by the time they turn twelve. The education system has valued them for centuries. And they are what our society believes essential for success.
Enter Ashoka – and its new “Every Child Must Master Empathy” initiative, a global effort beginning in North America to revise the roster of skills-to-master by adding one of the most fundamental for this new century (whether or not it ever shows up on that report card): empathy.
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The new field of social neuroscience shows that when two people talk face-to-face, their brains form an instant connection. Not so with life online. There's a "negativity bias" to emails. What you thought was a neutral message can be perceived as hostile by the recipient. Daniel Goleman talks about employing empathy with your email communication.
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Barack Obama frequently refers to empathy as a central part of his value system. In The Audacity of Hope, he says empathy is "at the heart of my moral code," adding that "it is how I understand the Golden Rule - not simply as a call to sympathy or charity, but as something more demanding, a call to stand in somebody else's shoes and see through their eyes."
Observing Obama in action, one can see that he walks the talk; he is a careful listener and he seems to make every effort to respect and understand other parties, especially those with whom he disagrees. by Dave Niose
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Psychologist and social scientist Dacher Keltner says the rich really are different, and not in a good way: Their life experience makes them less empathetic, less altruistic, and generally more selfish.
In fact, he says, the philosophical battle over economics, taxes, debt ceilings and defaults that are now roiling the stock market is partly rooted in an upper class "ideology of self-interest."
“We have now done 12 separate studies measuring empathy in every way imaginable, social behavior in every way, and some work on compassion and it’s the same story,” he said. “Lower class people just show more empathy, more prosocial behavior, more compassion, no matter how you look at it.” by Brian Alexander
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“Lower-class” individuals—i.e., folks without much money or education—demonstrate more compassion and empathy than their wealthy counterparts, according to a series of psychological studies. In social scientist speak, “self-oriented behavior” is more likely to be exhibited by people with good educations, prestigious jobs, high incomes, and overall higher-ranking social status.
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How much empathy do you have? It largely depends upon your socioeconomic status.
“We have now done 12 separate studies measuring empathy in every way imaginable, social behavior in every way, and some work on compassion and it’s the same story,” says Dacher Keltner, a University of California-Berkeley psychology professor. “Lower class people just show more empathy, more prosocial behavior, more compassion, no matter how you look at it.”
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