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Originally Posted by Cd
She surprised me by laughing at me giving some coins to a homeless man. We had a discussion about it and she admitted that even if this man was indeed homeless and hungry, she did not care.
I've always held the belief that empathy was an ingrained human trait that we are all born with. Studies show that even rats show empathy amongst one another. Do you think that we are all indeed born with the same amount of empathy, and that we lose or gain it based on how we are affected by changes in our lives ?
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We certainly are not born with empathy. Babies are born with zero empathy, and have no ability to think from another perspective. They gradually develop the ability to think from other perspectives and to empathize. Some of the development of empathy is learned, and some of it is hardwired in genetics. After all, somewhere around 3% of men and 1% of women are psychopaths (lacking normal empathy or concern for others).
Empathy didn't fully develop in me until I was about 19 years old. The thing is, most people have to be able to provide for their own needs before they can be concerned with the needs of others. It's my opinion that life is a process of gaining empathy for others and expanding our sphere of concern. As children, we are motivated by wanting to avoid punishment and achieve rewards. If we develop, our motivation gradually changes towards wanting to do good for others; otherwise we remain as psychopathic children.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cd
Is empathy a learned emotion ?
If not taught that violence is wrong, i wonder what our true nature would be.
I think back to how cruel that children can be to one another, and especially to animals, such as cats. One fellow i work with killed a cat by placing it in a microwave.
The other day, a random lady at my other (unpaid intern) job whipped into the parking lot and didn't see a light post. She smashed right into it, and badly crushed the front end of her SUV.
My co-workers were just a few feet from her as it happened.
Rather than rushing to see if this woman was alright, they all began to laugh out loud at the woman. She hear everything, and was extremely perturbed.
I'd like to say that I just work with a bunch of jerks, but more and more, I have encountered this lack of compassion for others.
My sister saw a bird in the road once that was flapping around with what she thought was a broken wing. As she she got closer, she could see that someone had cut the birds wings and left it bleeding there.
As she tried to help this bird, she looked up to see that a man was videoing here.
He quickly drove off, and she came to the realization that he was the one that had done this.
I was thinking of why it is that empathy is looked down upon in society, as a feminine trait.
Perhaps it is because in order to survive and thrive as a male ages ago, you couldn't have empathy.
It was survival of the fittest, with brother killing brother.
Manliness is defined as being violent.
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Empathy for ones own "tribe" is ingrained in our genes, and lack of empathy for other tribes is just as ingrained. Sporting events are merely simulated battles, and we come together as a tribe to cheer on our team, and delight in the misery suffered by the opposing team (tribe).
Empathy is both influenced by genetics and developed by learning, and our empathy extends as far as our ability to consider others as part of our "tribe". If we take a world view that all people are related to us, then we might have compassion for people in other countries. If we see animals as occupying the same kingdom as us, then we have compassion for them.