I found this video of George Lakoff, professor of linguistics at the University of California in Berkeley, speaking at the Commonwealth Club last year. Though the video is more than a year old, it provides some insight into how President Obama holds empathy as an inherent quality to the foundation of our nation. I have linked to the segment on Obama and empathy, but recommend watching the entire talk. Professor Lakoff provides some fascinating insight into reason and how reasoning capacity is impossible without emotion.
Posts Tagged ‘science’
George Lakoff on Obama and Empathy
December 6th, 2009Mirror Neurons: Understanding the triggers of empathy
December 5th, 2009In a recent interview, Neurologist Vilayanur S. Ramachandran spoke to livemint.com about mirror neurons and their influence on empathy. He even calls one type of mirror neuron a “Gandhi neuron.” Reading the article and watching the video, I’m reminded of the varying understandings of empathy that exist today. One notion, as expressed in this interview, is the ability to “put oneself in another’s shoes” which allows us to have some sense of how another person is experiencing their life. For others, empathy involves a sense of caring for another. Empathy can also be simply an unconditional presence to receive the presence of another human being. I experience this kind of empathy as a quality of openness and receptivity that makes no demands and has no agenda.
The main concern I have about this research is that empathy might be reduced to simply mirror neurons firing in response to a stimulus. Reductionism is the unfortunate tendency of “hard” science, reducing inner experiential phenomena to outer observable objects. In this perspective, some people necessarily have more empathic ability because they have more Gandhi neurons. In my experience, empathy can be learned. I have learned and developed empathic skills that continue to grow over time, and I have seen the same happen for others in the circles in which I travel. I guess I just don’t want to confuse correlation with cause.
Read the article and watch the video
Empathy is natural to animals
December 5th, 2009
Here’s an excerpt from an amusing article in the Australian:
THE strangest interview I have conducted — and the most moving — took place in a hot Georgia swamp in the US with a young mother named Panbanisha, who spent much of the time scratching herself and trying to stick a twig in my ear. We discussed marshmallows and fruit, swatted mosquitoes and played hide-and-seek for hours. At the end, she gave me part of her banana and urinated on my foot.
It turns out Ben Macintyre’s interview was with a 14 year old Bonobo ape from Africa. A fun read.
Reducing Empathy to Genetics
November 30th, 2009The genetics of empathy has been in the news of late. It seems empathic ability has been linked to oxytocin receptors in the brain.
In a blog post, Sarina Rodrigues, Professor of psychology at Oregon State University asks: “Is It Dangerous to Give People the Idea That Empathy Can Be Reduced to Genetics?”
Saria says yes. I agree. Read more…
Empathy may lead to altruistic motivations, researcher reports
October 26th, 2009From Medill Reports, written and produced by graduate journalism students at Northwestern University’s Medill school.
The answer to whether a person can unselfishly value the welfare of another may be found in current research on empathy, a University of Kansas researcher told a meeting in Chicago Wednesday.
Daniel Batson, a professor of social psychology at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, maintained that people can value things outside of themselves.
“The more we value the welfare of others, the more likely we are to feel empathic concern, which then results in the altruistic motivations,” he said.
Editor’s Note: This researcher has learned what many of us who practice empathy and Nonviolent Communication know by experience: The more I include the needs of others, the more I feel open and receptive to the plight of others. In my experience, it’s a matter of learning how to focus my attention differently, and trusting my natural tendency toward empathy. The focus of attention is what is learned, the empathic potential already exists. Actually, this learning to focus my attention entails an “unlearning” process, whereby I recognize my conditioned responses to stimuli and release them, and choose to listen rather than react.
