The Neural Bases of Empathy in Humans
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Theory of Mind and Empathy As Multidimensional Constructs Neurological Foundations
Top Lang Disorders Vol. 34, No. 4, pp. 282–295 Copyright c 2014 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Theory of Mind and Empathy as Multidimensional Constructs Neurological Foundations Jonathan Dvash and Simone G. Shamay-Tsoory Empathy describes an individual’s ability to understand and feel the other. In this article, we review recent theoretical approaches to the study of empathy. Recent evidence supports 2 possible empathy systems: an emotional system and a cognitive system. These processes are served by separate, albeit interacting, brain networks. When a cognitive empathic response is generated, the theory of mind (ToM) network (i.e., medial prefrontal cortex, superior temporal sulcus, temporal poles) and the affective ToM network (mainly involving the ventromedial prefrontal cortex) are typically involved. In contrast, the emotional empathic response is driven mainly by simulation and involves regions that mediate emotional experiences (i.e., amygdala, insula). A decreased empathic response may be due to deficits in mentalizing (cognitive ToM, affective ToM) or in simulation processing (emotional empathy), with these deficits mediated by different neural systems. It is proposed that a balanced activation of these 2 networks is required for appropriate social behavior. Key words: emotion, empathy, inferior frontal gyrus, mirror neurons, simulation, theory of mind, ventromedial prefrontal cortex NE of the core functions of individu- have provided evidence of the multidimen- O als living within a society is the attribu- sional nature of ToM. In this article, we review tion of mental states to others. This function, main approaches to the study of the neural ba- known as theory of mind (ToM) or “mental- sis of ToM and empathy (including tasks used izing” (Frith, 1999), enables an individual to to elicit them), describe the neurological un- understand or predict another person’s be- derpinnings for the multidimensional nature havior and to react accordingly. -
The Empathy Connection
The Empathy Connection Creating Caring Communities through the Human-Animal Relationship The Doris Day Animal Foundation (DDAF) is a national nonprofit organization working to create caring communities. Thanks to a generous grant from the Claire Giannini Fund, we are pleased to present “The Empathy Connection,” a publication designed to help parents, teachers, and other adults instill the important skill of empathy in our youth. As a mother of two school-age children, president of the parent teacher’s association of a middle school, and as the Executive Director of the Doris Day Animal Foundation, I know how important empathy is in children’s development. Empathy is an important skill, related to success in many areas of development—social, academic, and personal. Learning how to respond empathetically is also the best antidote to violence, bullying, and other unwanted, aggressive behavior in children. The basic tenet of DDAF’s “creating caring communities” mission is that the protection of, and respect for, animals is closely linked to human welfare. The development of empathy is a case in point: one of the best—and probably one of the most enjoyable—ways to teach children empathy is through the human-animal relationship. The Doris Day Animal Foundation offers training workshops and materials designed to help professional and lay communities address the problem of violence and promote positive development in children, families, and communities. We do this by demonstrating how paying attention to the animal-human welfare link builds safer, more creative communities for all living creatures. We hope you will let us know how you used “The Empathy Connection,” or other DDAF materials. -
Compassion and Sympathy As Moral Motivation Moral Philosophy Has Long Taken an Interest in the Emotions
Compassion and Sympathy as Moral Motivation Moral philosophy has long taken an interest in the emotions. Ever since Plato’s defense of the primacy of reason as a source of motiva- tion, moral philosophers have debated the proper role of emotion in the character of a good person and in the choice of individual actions. There are striking contrasts that can be drawn among the main tradi- tions in moral philosophy as to the role they assign to the emotions, and to the particular emotions that they evaluate positively and nega- tively. Here are some examples. Utilitarianism is often presented as a the- ory which simply articulates an ideal of sympathy, where the morally right action is the one that would be favored by someone who is equally sympathetic to the pleasure and pains of all sentient beings. And, on another level, utilitarianism tends to evaluate highly actions motivated by sympathy and compassion, and to evaluate negatively actions motivated by malice and spite. Kantianism (or deontology, as it is often called) has a completely different structure and, conse- quently, a different attitude towards the emotions. It conceives of morality as the self-imposed laws of rational agents, and no emotion is thought to be involved in the generation of these laws. It is true that Kant himself does find a special role for the emotion—if that is the right word—of respect for rational agents and for the laws they impose on themselves. But Kant seems to regard respect as a sort of effect within us of our own inscrutable moral freedom, and not as the source of moral legislation. -
How Do We Empathize with Someone Who Is Not Like Us? a Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study
Lamm, C; Meltzoff, A N; Decety, J (2010). How do we empathize with someone who is not like us? A functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 22(2):362-376. Postprint available at: http://www.zora.uzh.ch University of Zurich Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich. Zurich Open Repository and Archive http://www.zora.uzh.ch Originally published at: Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 2010, 22(2):362-376. Winterthurerstr. 190 CH-8057 Zurich http://www.zora.uzh.ch Year: 2010 How do we empathize with someone who is not like us? A functional magnetic resonance imaging study Lamm, C; Meltzoff, A N; Decety, J Lamm, C; Meltzoff, A N; Decety, J (2010). How do we empathize with someone who is not like us? A functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 22(2):362-376. Postprint available at: http://www.zora.uzh.ch Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich. http://www.zora.uzh.ch Originally published at: Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 2010, 22(2):362-376. How Do We Empathize with Someone Who Is Not Like Us? A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study Claus Lamm1, Andrew N. Meltzoff2, and Jean Decety1 Abstract & Previous research on the neural underpinnings of empathy control (right inferior frontal cortex). In addition, effective has been limited to affective situations experienced in a simi- connectivity between the latter and areas implicated in af- lar way by an observer and a target individual. In daily life we fective processing was enhanced. -
Sympathy Crying: Insights from Infrared Thermal Imaging on a Female Sample
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Portsmouth University Research Portal (Pure) RESEARCH ARTICLE Sympathy Crying: Insights from Infrared Thermal Imaging on a Female Sample Stephanos Ioannou1*, Paul Morris2, Samantha Terry2, Marc Baker2, Vittorio Gallese3,4, Vasudevi Reddy2 1 Alfaisal University, Department of Physiological Sciences, College of Medicine, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 2 Department of Psychology-Centre for Situated Action and Communication, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, United Kingdom, 3 Parma University, Department of Neuroscience, Section of Human Physiology, Parma, Italy, 4 Institute of Philosophy, School of Advanced Study, University of London, London, United Kingdom * [email protected] a11111 Abstract Sympathy crying is an odd and complex mixture of physiological and emotional phenom- ena. Standard psychophysiological theories of emotion cannot attribute crying to a single subdivision of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and disagreement exists regarding the emotional origin of sympathy crying. The current experiment examines sympathy crying OPEN ACCESS using functional thermal infrared imaging (FTII), a novel contactless measure of ANS activ- Citation: Ioannou S, Morris P, Terry S, Baker M, ity. To induce crying female participants were given the choice to decide which film they Gallese V, Reddy V (2016) Sympathy Crying: Insights wanted to cry to. Compared to baseline, temperature started increasing on the forehead, from Infrared Thermal Imaging on a Female Sample. PLoS ONE 11(10): e0162749.doi:10.1371/journal. the peri-orbital region, the cheeks and the chin before crying and reached even higher tem- pone.0162749 peratures during crying. The maxillary area showed the opposite pattern and a gradual tem- Editor: Alessio Avenanti, University of Bologna, perature decrease was observed compared to baseline as a result of emotional sweating. -
The Theory of Moral Sentiments
The Theory of Moral Sentiments Adam Smith Sixth Edition (1790) pΜεταLibriq x y c 2005 Sálvio Marcelo Soares (apply only to edition, not to text) 1st Edition Version a A . Esta obra está disponível para uso privado e individual. Não pode ser vendida nem mantida em sistema de banco de dados, em qualquer forma ou meio, sem prévia autorização escrita do detentor do copyright. Apenas este e as pessoas por ele autorizadas por escrito têm direito de reproduzir esta obra ou transmití-la eletronicamente ou por qualquer outro meio. Published by ΜεταLibri [email protected] Obra editada e publicada no Brasil. São Paulo, May 15, 2006. Contents A PART I Of the P of A S I Of the S of P . p. 4 C.I Of S . 4 C. II Of the Pleasure of mutual Sympathy. 9 C. III Of the manner in which we judge of the propriety or impropriety of the affections of other men, by their concord or dissonance with our own. 11 C. IV The same subject continued . 14 C.V Of the amiable and respectable virtues . 18 S II Of the Degrees of the different Passions which are consistent with Propriety . 22 I. 22 C.I Of the Passions which take their origin from the body . 22 C. II Of those Passions which take their origin from a particular turn or habit of the Imagination. 26 C. III Of the unsocial Passions . 29 C. IV Of the social Passions . 33 C.V Of the selfish Passions. 35 S III Of the Effects of Prosperity and Adversity upon the Judgment of Mankind with regard to the Propriety of Action; and why it is more easy to obtain their Approbation in the one state than in the other . -
Attentional Mechanisms in the Generation of Sympathy
Judgment and Decision Making, Vol. 4, No. 4, June 2009, pp. 297–306 Attentional mechanisms in the generation of sympathy Stephan Dickert∗1 and Paul Slovic 2,3 1 Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn, Germany 2 Decision Research, Eugene, Oregon 3 Department of Psychology, University of Oregon Abstract Empathic responses, such as sympathy towards others, are a key ingredient in the decision to provide help to those in need. The determinants of empathic responses are usually thought to be the vividness, similarity, and proximity of the victim. However, recent research highlights the role that attention plays in the generation of feelings. We expanded on this idea by investigating whether sympathy depends on cognitive mechanisms such as attention. In two studies we found that sympathy responses were lower and reaction times were longer when targets were presented with distractors. In addition, online sympathy judgments that allow attentional focusing on a target lead to greater affective responses than judgments made from memory. We conclude that attention is an ingredient in the generation of sympathy, and discuss implications for research on prosocial behaviour and the interaction between attention and emotions. Keywords: emotions, attention, pro-social behavior. 1 Introduction 1994; Peters & Slovic, 2000; Slovic, Finucane, Peters, & MacGregor, 2002). A direct consequence of this mecha- Witnessing the suffering of others often invokes emo- nism is that people are more likely to generate sympa- tional reactions in the observers. The link between em- thetic responses when they are able to mentally imag- pathic responses and willingness to provide help to oth- ine the victim. -
The Difference Between Empathy and Sympathy by Thoughtco., Adapted by Newsela Staff on 12.20.17 Word Count 829 Level 1010L
The difference between empathy and sympathy By ThoughtCo., adapted by Newsela staff on 12.20.17 Word Count 829 Level 1010L Image 1. A woman gives food to a homeless man in New York City. Photo by: Ed Yourdon/WIkimedia. Is that "empathy" or "sympathy" you're showing? These two words are often used interchangeably, but that is incorrect. Their difference is important. Sympathy is a simple expression of concern for another person's misfortune. Empathy, however, goes beyond sympathy. Empathy is the ability to actually feel what another person is feeling, like the saying "to walk a mile in their shoes." Taken to extremes, deep or extended feelings of empathy can actually be harmful to one's emotional health. Sympathy Sympathy is a feeling and expression of concern for someone, often accompanied by a wish for them to be happier or better off. An example of sympathy is feeling concerned after finding out someone has cancer and hoping the treatment goes well for him or her. In general, sympathy implies a deeper, more personal level of concern than pity. Pity is really just a simple expression of sorrow. However, sympathy does not imply that someone's feelings for another person are based on shared experiences or emotions. That is empathy. Empathy Empathy is the ability to recognize and share another person's emotions. Empathy requires the ability to recognize the suffering of another person from his or her point of view. It also means openly sharing another person's emotions, including painful distress. Empathy is often confused with sympathy, pity and compassion. -
Michalska, Emotion Understanding in Developmental Disorders
Volume 10, No 1, Spring 2015 ISSN 1932-1066 Emotion Understanding in Developmental Disorders What Can Neuroscience Teach Us? Kalina J. Michalska National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda [email protected] Abstract: Empathy is thought to play a key role in motivating helping behavior and providing the affective basis for moral development. Neuroimaging studies clearly document that watching someone in pain elicits a negative arousal response in the observer to a stronger degree in children than in young adults. Findings indicate that although children and adults have similar patterns of brain response to perceiving other people in pain, there are important changes in the functional organization in the neural structures implicated in empathy and sympathy that occur over an extended period from childhood through adulthood. Keywords: Emotion sharing; moral development; empathy; disorder, developmental; distress; neuroatanomy, fuctional; neuroimaging. Emotion understanding has many facets. Emotional in neuroscience that is not readily available from other empathy—the ability to recognize, share, and make measures. The use of neural indices, in addition to the inferences about another person's emotional state—is more traditional self-report indices, allows to address one form of emotion understanding that is fundamental questions of clinical and developmental interest. to meaningful social interactions. Responses related Based on empirical findings from psychology to emotional empathy, such as feelings of sympathy and cognitive neuroscience, -
Neural Correlates of Feeling Sympathy Jean Decety A,B,∗, Thierry Chaminade A,B a University of Washington Center for Mind, Brain and Learning, P.O
Neuropsychologia 41 (2003) 127–138 Neural correlates of feeling sympathy Jean Decety a,b,∗, Thierry Chaminade a,b a University of Washington Center for Mind, Brain and Learning, P.O. Box 357988, Seattle, WA 98195, USA b Inserm Unit 280, 151 Cours Albert Thomas, 69424 Lyon Cedex 3, France Abstract Positron emission tomography (PET) was used to investigate the neural correlates of feeling sympathy for someone else (i.e. the affinity, association, or relationship between persons wherein whatever affects one similarly affects the other). While undergoing PET scans, subjects were presented with a series of video-clips showing individuals (who were semi-professional stage actors) telling sad and neutral stories, as if they had personally experienced them. These stories were told with either congruent or incongruent motor expression of emotion (MEE). At the end of each movie, subjects were asked to rate the mood of the communicator and also how likable they found that person. Watching sad stories versus neutral stories was associated with increased activity in emotion processing-related structures, as well as in a set of cortical areas that belong to a “shared representation” network, including the right inferior parietal cortex. Motor expression of emotion, regardless of the narrative content of the stories, resulted in a specific regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) increase in the left inferior frontal gyrus. The condition of mismatch between the narrative content of the stories and the motor expression of emotion elicited a significant skin conductance response and strong rCBF increase in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and superior frontal gyrus which are involved in dealing with social conflict. -
Composing Letters and Notes of Condolence a Thoughtful Letter Of
Composing Letters And Notes of Condolence A thoughtful letter of condolence is both a tribute to the deceased and a source of comfort and courage to the living. These guidelines are not presented as a set of rigid rules; rather, they are offered as suggestions for transforming your feelings, concerns, sympathy, and love into meaningful written communication. Many people have told us that they reread letters of condolence again and again, days, months, and even years after the loss. Some even pass these letters down through the family for generations. A sensitive letter of condolence is not only an enduring consolation but it is an enduring conversation. Unfortunately, many people miss the essence of good letter writing when they sit down to begin. They find it difficult to express themselves in a simple, natural way; instead, they think they must write "better" than they speak. In an effort to be literary and correct they sound affected and lose the quality of personal sincerity. Generally, with the exception of a business letter of condolence, writers should make every effort to write as if they were speaking with the bereaved. A good letter is like a visit on paper. Use your usual vocabulary and phrasing. Ideally, the person who receives your letter should almost be able to see and hear you while reading it. Letters: The Seven Components After studying thousands of condolence letters and analyzing their structure, we have identified seven key components. While many beautiful and profound letters of condolence do not contain all seven components, or use them in a different sequence, understanding these components provides the writer with a practical, simple, and clear outline. -
Complexity Sciences
Complexity Sciences: Theoretical and Empirical Approaches to Social Action Edited by Manuel Lisboa and Dalila Cerejo TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter I ...................................................................................................... 1 Introduction: Sociocybernetics Framework Chaime Marcuello-Servós Chapter II ..................................................................................................... 7 A Sociocybernetic Approach to Enhancing Research Reflexivity: An Epistemology Model for Social Analysis José A. Amozurrutia Chapter III ................................................................................................. 46 Proposal for the Development of a Thinking Culture as a Large System Formed by Multiple Sub-systems Margarita Maass Chapter IV ................................................................................................. 65 Complexity and Social Actions: Interaction and Multiple Systems Leandro Aramburu and Chaime Marcuello-Servós Chapter V .................................................................................................. 79 Reflections on the Sociocybernetics of Social Networks Bernard Scott Chapter VI ................................................................................................. 88 Man, Motivation and Emotion at Work in Organizations: Behaviour, Action and Emotion in a Multi-System Environment Bernd Hornung Chapter VII .............................................................................................. 125 Reasoning on Emotions: Drawing