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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
May 4, 2012 1:20 PM
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How understanding helps make us all much safer. A recent article in the New York Times provides a rare glimpse into the motivations behind four convicted terrorists, Zarein Ahmedzay, Saajid Badat, Bryant Neal Vinas and Najibullah Zazi, who willingly became Qaeda fighters, only to question later whether they were being brainwashed into committing mass murder. Reading their accounts of training camps and the almost boyish camaraderie they experienced under the mentorship of strong willed, ideologues, I can’t help but feel a pang of empathy for men who come across like needy children in search of a friend, a father figure, or both. I don’t say this to excuse what they did in any way. My motivation is instead to find the best way to change them, or prevent others from becoming just like them. That same empathy is, I hope, evoked by my recent novel, The Social Worker... By Michael Ungar, Ph.D
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
May 4, 2012 2:23 AM
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Lynn Johnson is CEO of Glitter & Razz Productions and theater artist dedicated to building strong connections with creative & compassionate people to bring about positive social change. Using the expressive arts and theater to promote and teach empathy to children and adults. We believe that play lights us up and connects us. We believe that compassion is a skill that can be taught and practiced.
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
May 4, 2012 2:21 AM
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Frederick Arment is President and Executive Director is International Cities of Peace, an organization dedicated to connecting, promoting, and encouraging the global Cities of Peace movement. Author The Elements of Peace: Who Nonviolence Works. Empathy is like opening a door and peace is like sailing in harmony with the wind. We have to learn to open the door
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
May 4, 2012 2:18 AM
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Founder and Director of Mali Rowan Presents, Mali Rowan Leach is host, producer, catalyst, social media specialist. Her key focus is social media & transformation, social healing and restorative justice.
She says empathy is like bridge or a pair of shoes that alchemize one's awareness, extending it beyond our immediate selves into the experiences, feelings, and awareness's of others in the past, present and future. The opposite is like living in a dark cave. We need to move the justice system out of the cave into the light of restorative empathy and justice.
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
May 2, 2012 11:22 AM
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Director and Co-Founder at Mind with Heart, an educators' network for a secular education in empathy and compassion. The main focus is on creating the conditions for young people to come to a firm commitment to empathy and compassion based on their own reasoning, experience and initiative. Hosting the Conference: Empathy and Compassion in Society. The Conference will address three topics:
1. Compassion and empathy: scientific definitions, misunderstandings and function.
2. Compassion, the benefits at the personal level.
3. Compassion in action and social cohesion
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
May 1, 2012 6:39 PM
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What can be done to stop this horrific plague in our schools? Ebert was critical of the makers of “Bully” for showing us how dire the problem is but not offering solutions. I saw a solution. One of the children in the film talked about being a bully himself in third grade. Then in fourth grade, he started thinking that it might not be so cool, and by fifth grade he had realized the hurt he had caused, felt awful about it, and swore off that behavior. The 15 seconds where the audience is privy to that young boy’s development of empathy for his target was the highlight of the film’s optimism. But aside from teaching kids to sing the old Joe South’s hit “Walk a Mile in My Shoes,” how do we teach children to be empathetic? She or he who cracks that mystery will have the answer to how we stop the bullying. by KATHY REILLY http://bit.ly/IpWQMN
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
May 6, 2012 6:09 PM
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Why are highly religious people are lesslikely to be moved by compassion than atheists, agnostics, and people who are religiously unaffiliated? After all, charity is a central tenet of most religious traditions. But, according to a new study from scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, that fact may be exactly why highly religious people are least likely to be moved by compassion. In a series of experiments, the scientists found that nonreligious people were consistently compelled toward acts of generosity by feelings of compassion.
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
May 4, 2012 11:39 AM
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Past research argues that religious commitments shape individuals’ prosocial sentiments, including their generosity and solidarity. But what drives the prosociality of less religious people? Three studies tested the hypothesis that, with fewer religious expectations of prosociality, less religious individuals’ levels of compassion will play a larger role in their prosocial tendencies. In Study 1, religiosity moderated the relationship between trait compassion and prosocial behavior such that compassion was more critical to the generosity of less religious people. In Study 2, a compassion induction increased generosity among less religious individuals but not among more religious individuals In Study 3... img http://bit.ly/yYTzGr
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
May 1, 2012 6:18 PM
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One can well imagine that when the faithful see the results of this study, they will call it the work of the devil... According to a new University of California-Berkeley study, the highly religious are less motivated to show generosity than are non-believers. The findings are being published in the online issue of “Social Psychological and Personality Science.”
The results seem to conflict with a 2008 University of British Columbia study asserting that the faithful are “more helpful, honest and generous.” The study conducted three experiments, with social scientists finding that compassion “consistently drove less religious people to be more generous. By DJ Pangburn
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
April 30, 2012 3:32 PM
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“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,... The results challenge a widespread assumption that acts of generosity and charity are largely driven by feelings of empathy and compassion, researchers said.
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
May 1, 2012 6:11 PM
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Atheists and agnostics are more driven by compassion to help others than are highly religious people, a new study finds... "Overall, we find that for less religious people, the strength of their emotional connection to another person is critical to whether they will help that person or not," study co-author and University of California, Berkeley social psychologist Robb Willer said in a statement. "The more religious, on the other hand, may ground their generosity less in emotion, and more in other factors such as doctrine, a communal identity, or reputational concerns." By: LiveScience Staff http://bit.ly/Ktg5Uj
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
May 2, 2012 2:19 PM
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Our feelings of empathy, as Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman has shown, arise from our “fast” thinking system. We feel the correctness of these compassionate feelings in the same way we feel the correctness of 2 + 2 = 4. Snap. It’s true. It’s obvious. It’s right. More than that, our decisions about what’s right often arise from what we’re raised to believe. That’s why George Washington could have more than half the blood drained from his body as he lay mortally ill at age 67. Everybody knew, after all, that bloodletting was salutary. By Barbara Oakley
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
May 1, 2012 2:17 AM
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“Fellow-feeling. . .is the most important factor in producing a healthy political and social life. -Theodore Roosevelt Empathy is not a subject we often associate with manliness; we usually think of it as more of a feminine trait. But even if, as we will soon discuss, men typically do have less empathy than women, it’s a trait absolutely vital to both genders, the glue that holds civilized society together and allows us to experience healthy, satisfying, long-lasting relationships. And if we as men naturally struggle with it to begin with, perhaps it’s even more important that we understand how to hold onto that portion we are capable of cultivating.
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
May 4, 2012 2:26 AM
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Daniel Bassill is founder of Tutor/Mentor Connection and CEO of Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC
Sympathy = random acts of kindness. The philanthropic systems of support for charity are built more on sympathy than empathy, thus they are not consistent streams of support that are required to solve complex problems in many places. How to build a culture of empathy?
a) information collection.
b) advertising/public awareness to increase number looking at info. c) facilitation/building understanding = like what happens in faith groups every week . d) action – people using ideas in many places, where they provide time, talent, dollars, leadership, advocacy, etc. to help kids to careers
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
May 4, 2012 2:22 AM
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Irmtraud Kauschat is a medical doctor in Germany who works with alternative medicine, Compassionate Communication (NVC) and restorative conflict processes. She uses empathy in her medical practice and has done conflict mediation in Kenya. Empathy is like creating bridges between people. The opposite is like a big river between people where they are separated.
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
May 4, 2012 2:19 AM
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Mary Mackenzie is a CNVC Certified Trainer and executive director of Peace Workshop International. She is the author of "Peaceful Living: Daily Meditations for Living with Love, Healing and Compassion". Empathy is like shifting smoothly into gear while the opposite is grinding the clutch and gears. To develope a culture of empathy, first, develop a consistent self empathy practice that you are committed to.
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
May 2, 2012 2:13 PM
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Empathetic people are usually warm, affectionate, tender, endearing, those exact words, no exaggerating. They won't feel awkward or embarrassed in case they see you cry, and perhaps they will cry too just you won't feel alone. They are not afraid of shedding some tears, crying for them it's not something to be embarrassed about. Soon they come to realize that the emotions they've been experiencing during those moments are inhumanly strong and difficult to control and they share them back, they keep it mutual, sharing it's one of their things. They trust you, by default, that you can overcome different difficult situations, they inspire you with enough self-confidence to do that.
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
May 2, 2012 11:19 AM
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Vinciane Rycroft considers the value of teaching compassion in schools... Many commentators are now calling for children to be educated in empathy and compassion. Bill Drayton for example, one of the fathers of social entrepreneurship, calls on educators to ensure that every young person learns applied empathy to avoid being marginalised... An education in empathy gives young people opportunities to acknowledge the perspective of others. An education in compassion brings it one step further by identifying our fleeting response to an individual’s suffering and transforming it into a sustained altruistic attitude.
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
May 1, 2012 6:32 PM
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"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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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
May 2, 2012 11:21 AM
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A provocative new study from the University of California, Berkeley suggests highly religious individuals are less likely to help a stranger than less religious... Overall, we find that for less religious people, the strength of their emotional connection to another person is critical to whether they will help that person or not,” said UC Berkeley social psychologist Dr. Robb Willer, a co-author of the study. “The more religious, on the other hand, may ground their generosity less in emotion, and more in other factors such as doctrine, a communal identity, or reputational concerns.” By RICK NAUERT
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
May 1, 2012 6:21 PM
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Overall, according to Willer, the research suggests that "although less religious people tend to be less trusted in the U.S., when feeling compassionate, they may actually be more inclined to help their fellow citizens than more religious people."
The study did not directly examine the reasons for why highly religious people are less compelled by compassion to help others.
by Michael Kelley
http://bit.ly/Ktgrdt
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
May 1, 2012 6:14 PM
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The results challenge a widespread assumption that acts of generosity and charity are largely driven by feelings of empathy and compassion, researchers said. In the study, the link between compassion and generosity was found to be stronger for those who identified as being non-religious or less religious. "'Overall, we find that for less religious people, the strength of their emotional connection to another person is critical to whether they will help that person or not,' said UC Berkeley social psychologist Robb Willer, a co-author of the study. 'The more religious, on the other hand, may ground their generosity less in emotion, and more in other factors such as doctrine, a communal identity, or reputational concerns.
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
May 1, 2012 6:13 PM
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In three experiments, social scientists found that compassion consistently caused less religious people to do acts of generousity. But for highly religious people, compassion was largely unrelated to how generous they were – or were not. http://bit.ly/Is7AKP
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
May 1, 2012 12:04 PM
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This is how we get locked out of each other’s experiences: move up enough and you forget the bottom rung, either because it was an awful place for you or because you were never there to begin with. There is, of course, a third option in that you might remember what it was like, and have empathy for those struggling now, but it’s less common to come across that viewpoint, especially in harsh times like these. Why?
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
May 1, 2012 11:39 AM
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Below is a simple little graph of yourmorals.org data that I thought would be worth posting. Interest in politics is positively correlated with empathic concern in liberals/democrats and not in conservatives/republicans. It's somewhat self-evident in posts like this, or debates about the role of empathy from either the Democratic or Republican side. Can this difference be used to the advantage of the Democratic party? Perhaps inspiring empathy in the electorate will motivate liberals to be politically active more than conservatives? and how exactly might one appeal to empathy?
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