In a book just published, Zero Degrees of Empathy, professor Simon Baron-Cohen suggests that evil is best understood as being a lack of empathy rather than the presence of something else. In an interview in the New Scientist, he explains how he set out to understand how people could do terrible things to each other. After years of study, he’s concluded that it’s partly down to cultural norms that tell you what’s okay to do to someone else and partly down to how about 10 circuits in the brain that he calls the ‘empathy circuit’ work.
Self-compassion is the ground of all emotional healing, and Dr. Germer has produced an invaluable guide. Written with great clarity, psychological wisdom, and warmth, this book will serve anyone seeking practical and powerful tools that free the heart.”–Tara Brach, PhD, author of Radical Acceptance
“Explains both the science and practice of developing kindness toward ourselves and others. Dr. Germer offers powerful and easily accessible steps toward transforming our lives from the inside out. It’s never too late to start along this important path.”–Daniel J. Siegel, MD, author of The Mindful Brain
From the blogosphere to the New York Times, there's been a lot of talk recently about "self-compassion." Two books on the subject - discussing "The Self-Compassion Diet:" and "A Mindful and Compassionate Guide to Losing Weight" - hit bookshelves in December.
In March, a survey in Glamour magazine explored the concept through the daily number of negative body thoughts reported by the female participants. Another book, "Self-Compassion: Stop Beating Yourself Up and Leave Insecurity Behind," is due April 19.
The Culture of Empathy website is a growing portal for resources and information about the values of empathy and compassion. It contains the largest collection of; articles, conferences, definitions, experts, history, interviews, videos, science and much more about empathy and compassion. To
Empathy is becoming a science. That was the message of a recent article in The Observer newspaper by Cambridge psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen. Our brains, he argues, contain an ‘empathy circuit’. But if empathy is wired into us, does that leave any scope for expanding our empathic potential?
Baron-Cohen cites several cases of people with ‘borderline personality disorders’, who display a distinct inability to empathise, in the sense of lacking a capacity to understand other people’s feelings or step into their shoes.
Contagious yawning is not just a marker of sleepiness or boredom. For chimpanzees, it may actually be a sign of a social connection between individuals
New research at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, may help scientists understand empathy, the mechanism thought to underlie contagious yawning, in both chimpanzees and humans. The research also may help show how social biases strengthen or weaken empathy.
UN chief urges empathy for those who suffer from autism. “Our challenge is to move people from misunderstanding to empathy,” Mr. Ban told a panel discussion on autism at United Nations Headquarters.
If I had to pick one word to describe why I think writing (or theater, music, painting, photography, or any other kind of art) is important, that word would be empathy. In my mind, the greatest purpose of art is to help us understand and appreciate the feelings, thoughts and attitudes of another human being.
Family physicians often have to make a point of displaying empathy to each of their patients while also striving to meet the demands of everyday practice. "Empathy is one of the most powerful tools that physicians have at their disposal," said Richard Wender, M.D.,
Welcome to a Facebook Page about Center for Building a Culture of Empathy and Compassion. Join Facebook to start connecting with Center for Building a Culture of Empathy and Compassion.
Our mission is to contribute to growing a movement for building a culture of empathy and compassion. We do this through a variety of means. First is by community organizing. We bring people together and hold in-person and online meetings to help build this movement. Next is by collecting and organizing all the material we find on the internet on the topics. Researching through the arts and sciences. We are putting together a series of documentaries to entertain and educate the public and much, much more
At the University of California, scientists, presumably from the Institute for Stating the Obvious, have discovered that we develop empathy as we age. The experiment involved showing distressing scenes from films to people of all ages and measuring responses. The older the audience, the more emotions they felt. There are two explanations for this. The one scientists like is that we are programmed from pre-history to be more aware of the needs of those around us and to protect the powerless as we age.
Empathy is a popular topic these days. Depending on who you read or listen to, empathy can sooth relationships, calm hostility, and, even on a global scale, prevent wars. Using divorce or separation as an opportunity to practice empathy is contrary to a life experience generally associated with a scorched earth approach.
Most parents are inclined to separate with a vengeance, and extending tenderness with strength is contrary to existing social norms. Not only do the parents suffer as they express debilitating anger at former spouses, their children also suffer in the environments where these expressions occur. I propose empathy as a new way to help families manage separation.
We describe all manner of wrongdoings as ‘evil’, but should we be focusing instead on our levels of empathy? Simon Baron-Cohen believes our ability to empathise with others is key to unlocking the dark side of human nature...
But isn’t it a long way from empathy to evil? “People with classic autism and Asperger’s have difficulties with empathy,” says Baron-Cohen, “but the majority of them don’t do things that are cruel or that involve hurting others. However, there are certain psychiatric conditions – psychopaths, for example – where low empathy does result in people hurting other people. So for me, it was a question of, how do these conditions relate to each other? Does low empathy always lead to cruelty?
In his latest book, Zero Degrees of Empathy: A new theory of human cruelty, Baron-Cohen, argues that the term evil is unscientific and unhelpful. "Sometimes the term evil is used as a way to stop an inquiry," Baron-Cohen tells me. "'This person did it because they're evil' – as if that were an explanation."
You’re so stupid! What a loser! You look like a total cow in those jeans! Would you talk this way to a friend – or even to a stranger for that matter? Of course not. (Or at least I hope not! If you do please don’t invite me to your next dinner party!) Its natural for us to try to be kind to the people we care about in our lives. We let them know it’s okay to be human when they fail. We reassure them of our respect and support when they’re feeling bad about themselves.
We comfort them when they’re going through hard times. In other words, most of us are very good at being understanding, kind, and compassionate towards other
Self Compassion Part 1 Kristin Neff... In addition to her pioneering research into self-compassion, she has developed an 8-week program to teach self-compassion skills. The program, co-created with her colleague Chris Germer at Harvard University, is called Mindful Self-Compassion. She has a new book titled "Self-Compassion" that will be published by William Morrow on April 19, 2011.
In a new study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Karl Aquino and his team found that after witnessing exceptional altruistic acts, people are more likely to perform charitably themselves.
Developing compassion and empathy in all people is critically important, and something we need sorely. In our present world riddled with sarcasm, greed, hate, deceit, a sense of entitlement and self-centeredness, compassion and empathy are things that seem to be slipping away.
Empathy is often seen as a nice — but nonessential — part of medicine. Indeed, for surgeons in the operating room, seeing the patient as a human being may actually be an obstacle to successful performance. At the bedside, however, doctors who are more empathetic actually have healthier patients, according to a new study published in the journal Academic Medicine
"In the award-winning documentary Children Full of Life, a fourth-grade class in a primary school in Kanazawa, northwest of Tokyo, learn lessons about compassion from their homeroom teacher, Toshiro Kanamori.
Teach Empathy for Animals! STOP Abuse, Beatings, Brutality, Cruelty, Fighting, Pain, Suffering & Torture. Community Organizing, Research, Education and Advocacy for Empathy and Compassion for all Animals.
In experiments, female chickens showed clear signs of anxiety and upset when their young were in distress.It's the first time that scientists have shown hints of empathy - the ability to feel someone's pain or see their point of view - in a bird.
“A decisive factor in the capacity to forgive is empathy, and women have a greater empathetic capacity than males”, Carmen Maganto, co-author of the study and a tenured professor at the Psychology Faculty of the UPV, said.
The results, which were measured using a scale to assess the ability to forgive (CAPER), and a scale of forgiveness and facilitating factors (ESPER), show that there are differences in the reasons that encourage forgiveness according to people”s age and sex.
To get content containing either thought or leadership enter:
To get content containing both thought and leadership enter:
To get content containing the expression thought leadership enter:
You can enter several keywords and you can refine them whenever you want. Our suggestion engine uses more signals but entering a few keywords here will rapidly give you great content to curate.
Your new post is loading...
