I enjoyed this post about an emerging worldview from Madeleine Bunting at the Guardian UK:
Taylor’s faith in empathy is widely shared, for example by those campaigning on aid for the developing world. An example often cited of growing empathy is the greater tolerance on race and sexual orientation showing dramatic progress in the course of just one generation. But, as Taylor concedes, over the same time period we have created a media culture of savage contempt for a range of public figures, from celebrities to politicians. Does the stock of empathy increase or simply get redistributed from time to time? More disturbingly, is empathy always benign? AsJohn Gray pointed out in his Guardian reviewof Rifkin, it can lead to cruelty just as much as compassion. Empathy is not an easy recruit to this march of progress: the plight of others can prompt withdrawal, denial or willed ignorance instead of the impetus for global co-operation.
I found this post from Marc Stoiber, blogging at the Huffington Post interesting not so much because he mentioned empathy, but rather the means he suggests using a system of understanding human values called spiral dynamics, first uncovered by Clare Graves, former Professor of Psychology at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y. Stoiber writes:
These differing worldviews are usually a factor of:
1. Different values lenses – different shades of values people have, which give them different perspectives on a story.
2. Different filtering styles – individual means of screening information based on triggers and internal sorting mechanisms.
3. Degrees of social optimism – Ways of interpreting realities based on the optimism or pessimism of the viewer.
Renowned social psychologist Clare Graves was an innovator in this field, breaking down audience worldviews according to eight levels of evolving human behavior systems.
1. Autistic thinking. Traced back to 40,000 BC, this type of thinking was characterized by living in the moment, and feeling helpless before the terror of nature. A strong desire to live in tribal units for security helped mankind evolve beyond this behavior.
2. Tribal thinking. Post 40,000 BC. Civilization was tribal, and suffocated by tribal rules. The chief factor contributing to the demise of this behavior system was the desire to break free and set out on journeys of self-determination.
3. Heroic thinking. 8000 BC. A behavior system favored by early conquerors like Atilla, Genghis – but very much alive today in dictators and gang lords. This form of thinking favors taking what one wants, creating empire, and domination. Clearly not a form of thinking for the meek, it was largely supplanted by the search for deeper meaning and a true, spiritual leader.
4. Absolutistic thinking. 4000 BC. A backlash against heroic thinking, absolutism favored the clarity and discipline of rigid morality. Honor, self-sacrifice, a fear of contradiction and a strict code of behavior characterize this behavior system. Today, absolutism is personified in conservative thinkers….
I’ve found spiral dynamics a great inroad to empathizing especially with people whose value systems appear to differ from my own. One note of caution: I’ve noticed the temptation to pigeonhole people into these categories when in fact these memes are tendencies we possess rather than hard categories we act upon.
Here’s another take on the research currently making the rounds suggesting today’s college students are far less empathic than previous generations. From Ray Williams, blogging at Psychology Today:
Twenge says this doesn’t mean GenMe is spoiled. That would imply they always got what they wanted. Young people today have to overcome many challenges their parents didn’t have to. For example, while families of the Baby Boom generation could once achieve a middle-class status on the earnings of one high school educated person, it now takes two college-educated earners to achieve the same standard of living. Many Gen Yers feel that the world demands perfection in everything, and some are cracking under the pressure. Many of them in their twenties today find that their jobs do not provide the fulfillment and excitement they had anticipated, and their salaries are not enough to have the lifestyle they wanted.
Does that mean that GenMe is selfish? Twenge says no. She cites the fact that youth volunteerism has actually risen in the last decade. GenMe wants to make a difference in the world. GenMe also believes that people should follow their dreams and not be held back by societal expectations. This theme is often reflected in the movies and videos of today.
Bestselling author, political adviser and social ethicist Jeremy Rifkin investigates the evolution of empathy and the profound ways that it has shaped our development and our society. Beautifully animated by the RSA.
In the last five years, I have been witness to a movement led by psychologists and mental health clinicians, spreading a message that main stream child rearing practices unintentionally create children who are psychologically fragile. A favorite theme for this movement has been, “We are creating a nation of wimps.” This movement has been born primarily in response to the idea of anti bullying rules and laws being passed to prevent students saying hurtful remarks to their peers.
While I have agreed with the psychological fragility most youths in today’s culture struggle with, I do not believe the problem lies with a lack of psychological toughness in today’s youth. Rather I believe the problem lies with a fundamental lack of understanding and practice of conscientiousness and empathy.
At a public school in Toronto, 25 third- and fourth-graders circle a green blanket and focus intently on a 10-month-old baby with serious brown eyes. Baby Stephana, as they call her, crawls toward the center of the blanket, then turns to glance at her mother. “When she looks back to her mom, we know she’s checking in to see if everything’s cool,” explains one boy, who is learning how to understand and respond to the emotions of the baby — and to those of his classmates — in a program called Roots of Empathy (ROE).
TeachEmpathy.com is intended to contribute clarity around the topic of empathy for anyone interested.
Deepen Your Empathy Skills
Experience the Tao of Empathy: Practicing the Presence of Empathy and Four Elements of Empathic Connection with John Kinyon. MP3 Audio Download from the NVC Academy
NVC Mediation Year Long Program Promotional Call 7/1/10 Increase your skills to: ~ Return to presence and connection in the intensity of conflict ~ Facilitate people in conflict hearing each other and connecting ~ Translate judgments into a language of compassion with greater ease and naturalness ~ Contribute to personal healing/growth for othe […]
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Filmed at the Mello Center Theater, Watsonville, Ca Friday, July 11, 2008, during the Mello Center’s Season of Nonviolence Kelly gives a talk about Nonviolent Communication. part 5 of 5. Also, check out this free audio snippet from Kelly’s audio recording: Love Without Conditions, Control or Coercion through NVC. […]
Today I got a handwritten card from someone who is visiting family in Ohio. She wrote to tell me how much she appreciates my book Peaceful Living that was published in 2005. Then, she mentioned that she was writing because she’d heard about the forest fires in Flagstaff and wanted me to know she was [...] […]
with Miki Kashtan Ph.D, Certified CNVC Trainer and Author; and Roxy Manning, Clinical Psychologist Do you want to deepen your capacity for presence with your clients? Would you like to gain fluency in being transparent? Are you excited about placing human needs at the heart of your approach? Do you long to maintain an authentic human connection [.. […]
