Brain Science: Neuroscience, Behavior
Technology
Mireille and Adam dig deeper into empathy as a construct. What key brain structures are involved? How can we better understand empathy to be able to better navigate ourselves and our relationships with others both at home and in the workplace?
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Show Notes:
Daniel Siegel, MD, in his book Aware notes 5 Aspects of Empathy:
Empathy: In face-to-face interactions, communication has a multi-modal nature involving the processing of visual facial cues (such as the speaker’s facial expression), the tone of the voice (i.e., affective prosody) and the choice of words (i.e., semantics).
**Empathy involves a working model of another person in the mind’s eye.
Brain structures involved:
In particular, the Anterior Cingulate Cortex includes:
Claus Lamm, PhD, University of Vienna, investigates the processes that regulate firsthand pain and those that cause empathy for pain through numerous studies on the influence of painkillers. According to Lamm, research “suggests that empathy for pain is grounded in representing others’ pain within one’s own pain systems.”
The Role of Facial Expression in Empathy: The value of “looking at” the face of another to provide another data point to understand where they are emotionally.
How might you build your empathy skills? Consider EMPATHY as an acronym: (adapted from Harvard psychiatrist, Helen Riess, MD)
E: Eye contact
M: Muscles of facial expression
P: Posture. What is the person’s body language?
A: Affect/Emotion.
T: Tone of voice. Affective prosody.
H: Hearing the whole person.
Y: Your response. Emotions are contagious.
Getting practical - What can I do differently in order to cultivate empathy?
Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!
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