Why Feel Empathetic?

Empathy, as stated a few posts back, is the ability for one to feel/understand the pain of others without experiencing it themselves. The debate over what causes one to feel empathy has been going on for years. Do we learn to be empathetic or is it an instinct? Many psychiatrists believe that empathy is something that is hardwired into our brains. Our brains have a mechanism built in that allows us to control and express our emotions without becoming violent or overly emotional, the ability to understand one's pain without feeling it comes from this area. They also believe that because we have nerves that signal how we react to pain as well as being able to understand what pain is. These duel purpose nerves allow us to understand how another person feels. http://www.parentingscience.com/empathy-and-the-brain.html Some people believe that empathy is moreso a moral concept. Though we have feelings and can understand what the other person may feel, we don't act on it. As young children, when we do something bad like make a friend cry, our parents or teacher says, "Think about how they must feel." Does this cause and effect cause us to develop the emotion empathy? Do we learn how to feel empathetic by having mean things done to us? How can we understand how it feels to get shoved by your friend unless you've been shoved? http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/samples/cam032/99029669.pdf

Frans de Waal has a simpler explanation for empathy. You know how when you hear hysterical laughter, you begin to laugh too? Or when someone yawns and the whole class begins to yawn? De Waal basically says that empathy is a social concept that stems from the herd instinct. We are able to feel what others feel to ensure our survival. Sensing someone else's sadness or anger may help us when we are later in that situation and be able to survive and come out unscathed. It may sound a little far fetched, but it seems that animals and humans are able to sync their bodies to ensure survival and maybe learn from another's experience. (I got this off Academic Search Premier, the article is called "The Empathy Instinct" by Frans de Waal from Discover Maganzine's October 2009 issue)