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? Empathy disorders are considered a symptom of at least three conditions.
Mirror neural networks are responsible for empathy.
Scientists attribute empathy to the mirroring principle of the brain, specifically the perception-action hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, if we observe some action or state of another person, the same regions are excited in our brain as if we felt or acted ourselves.
For example, when we see a person next to us notices a slug and frowns in disgust, our insular lobe is excited - an area of the brain that reacts to disgust. And if he cuts, we activate the anterior cingulate cortex and the anterior insular lobe, which are associated with pain, and it doesn't matter if it happens on a movie screen or in front of our eyes. Moreover, empathy will work even if you are simply told that the person will receive a pain stimulus when the light comes on.
In other words, at the level of the brain, a model of the action or state of another person is formed. It is assumed that evolution needed such a mechanism for us to instantly understand a relative: it is much faster to feel what is happening than to put forward and test hypotheses: "What is my partner experiencing?"
It turns out that empathy is our understanding of another through empathy. We do not evaluate him from the outside, we do not try to analyze his behavior using stereotypes or theories, but we read and understand how he sees this situation, how he feels from the inside.
Empathy has at least three levels
When it comes to defining empathy, neuropsychologist Chris Frith distinguishes three levels.
The first is the level of emotional contamination, or basic neural empathy: "I feel your emotions, but I don't realize they are yours." This phenomenon is explained by a study at University College London: a person feels fear, even if a frightened face flickers so quickly that he does not have time to realize his expression.
The second level: "I feel your emotions and I know that they are yours, not mine, although I reflect them to some extent."
Third level: "I know that you are experiencing certain emotions, and I want to help you, so if you are sad, then I want to cheer you up."
There is another, more concise explanation. As psychologist Tatyana Karyagina says, now empathy has established itself as a two-fold concept: cognition and attitude. We understand a person through empathy, respond and express our feelings in return (which generally corresponds to the third level).
Empathy level varies by race
An alarming point in research: the level of empathy depends on the race of the person who is experiencing pain - whether it matches yours or not. Neuropsychologists in Beijing tested how the Chinese and Europeans react to inflicting pain on their own and outsiders. It turned out that the neural empathic response of a European is much higher when a painful stimulus is received by a European - and exactly the opposite for Chinese participants.
However, there are experiments that show that there is a way to overcome prejudice. This way is to live in a multicultural environment or be friends with different people: if a person of a different race becomes part of your inner group, then empathy will not depend on skin color or eye shape.
Empathy problems linked to three diseases
Empathy disorders are considered a symptom of at least three diseases. The first is narcissistic personality disorder, when a person is swallowed up by fantasies of his greatness and belief in his own exclusivity. He needs others mainly for admiration and achievement of his goals, and not for empathy.
The second is psychopathy, when a person simply does not have sympathy or empathy, so nothing slows down his cruelty and aggression. In such individuals, significant changes are found in the regions of the brain responsible for emotion and empathy.
And third, autism-related disorders. Of course, it's not just these three diseases that changes in empathy are observed. But it is for them that the problems of empathy are considered so important that they are included in the list of diagnostic signs.
Empathy has a dark side
Empathy can lead to a rather confusing situation - in response to the negative experiences of another, we may have a whole tangle of our own reactions: empathy, emotional infection, anger, anxiety, irritation and other states. This range of feelings is called the phenomenon of empathy deregulation, or personal distress.
If a person cannot cope with distress, then he is no longer up to support, he is preoccupied with himself. Studies have shown that if such people help, then not for the sake of another, but in order to quickly get out of the situation. But more often they refuse to help at all, especially if it is possible to make it so that no one knows about it and does not condemn.
However, such a reaction to other people's problems is born in people not because they are immoral and callous. Not at all. Experiments have shown that the risk of distress depends on how a person relates to his own emotions: how much he recognizes and appreciates them, how inclined to rely on them. And the worse the ability to understand oneself is developed, the higher the chance of not coping when others need help.
Mirror neural networks are responsible for empathy.
Scientists attribute empathy to the mirroring principle of the brain, specifically the perception-action hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, if we observe some action or state of another person, the same regions are excited in our brain as if we felt or acted ourselves.
For example, when we see a person next to us notices a slug and frowns in disgust, our insular lobe is excited - an area of the brain that reacts to disgust. And if he cuts, we activate the anterior cingulate cortex and the anterior insular lobe, which are associated with pain, and it doesn't matter if it happens on a movie screen or in front of our eyes. Moreover, empathy will work even if you are simply told that the person will receive a pain stimulus when the light comes on.
In other words, at the level of the brain, a model of the action or state of another person is formed. It is assumed that evolution needed such a mechanism for us to instantly understand a relative: it is much faster to feel what is happening than to put forward and test hypotheses: "What is my partner experiencing?"
It turns out that empathy is our understanding of another through empathy. We do not evaluate him from the outside, we do not try to analyze his behavior using stereotypes or theories, but we read and understand how he sees this situation, how he feels from the inside.
Empathy has at least three levels
When it comes to defining empathy, neuropsychologist Chris Frith distinguishes three levels.
The first is the level of emotional contamination, or basic neural empathy: "I feel your emotions, but I don't realize they are yours." This phenomenon is explained by a study at University College London: a person feels fear, even if a frightened face flickers so quickly that he does not have time to realize his expression.
The second level: "I feel your emotions and I know that they are yours, not mine, although I reflect them to some extent."
Third level: "I know that you are experiencing certain emotions, and I want to help you, so if you are sad, then I want to cheer you up."
There is another, more concise explanation. As psychologist Tatyana Karyagina says, now empathy has established itself as a two-fold concept: cognition and attitude. We understand a person through empathy, respond and express our feelings in return (which generally corresponds to the third level).
Empathy level varies by race
An alarming point in research: the level of empathy depends on the race of the person who is experiencing pain - whether it matches yours or not. Neuropsychologists in Beijing tested how the Chinese and Europeans react to inflicting pain on their own and outsiders. It turned out that the neural empathic response of a European is much higher when a painful stimulus is received by a European - and exactly the opposite for Chinese participants.
However, there are experiments that show that there is a way to overcome prejudice. This way is to live in a multicultural environment or be friends with different people: if a person of a different race becomes part of your inner group, then empathy will not depend on skin color or eye shape.
Empathy problems linked to three diseases
Empathy disorders are considered a symptom of at least three diseases. The first is narcissistic personality disorder, when a person is swallowed up by fantasies of his greatness and belief in his own exclusivity. He needs others mainly for admiration and achievement of his goals, and not for empathy.
The second is psychopathy, when a person simply does not have sympathy or empathy, so nothing slows down his cruelty and aggression. In such individuals, significant changes are found in the regions of the brain responsible for emotion and empathy.
And third, autism-related disorders. Of course, it's not just these three diseases that changes in empathy are observed. But it is for them that the problems of empathy are considered so important that they are included in the list of diagnostic signs.
Empathy has a dark side
Empathy can lead to a rather confusing situation - in response to the negative experiences of another, we may have a whole tangle of our own reactions: empathy, emotional infection, anger, anxiety, irritation and other states. This range of feelings is called the phenomenon of empathy deregulation, or personal distress.
If a person cannot cope with distress, then he is no longer up to support, he is preoccupied with himself. Studies have shown that if such people help, then not for the sake of another, but in order to quickly get out of the situation. But more often they refuse to help at all, especially if it is possible to make it so that no one knows about it and does not condemn.
However, such a reaction to other people's problems is born in people not because they are immoral and callous. Not at all. Experiments have shown that the risk of distress depends on how a person relates to his own emotions: how much he recognizes and appreciates them, how inclined to rely on them. And the worse the ability to understand oneself is developed, the higher the chance of not coping when others need help.
