Empathy: From Bench to Bedside

by Jean Decety (Editor)

Overview

Recent work on empathy theory, research, and applications, by scholars from disciplines ranging from neuroscience to psychoanalysis.

There are many reasons for scholars to investigate empathy. Empathy plays a crucial role in human social interaction at all stages of life; it is thought to help motivate positive social behavior, inhibit aggression, and provide the affective and motivational bases for moral development; it is a necessary component of psychotherapy and patient-physician interactions. This volume covers a wide range of topics in empathy theory, research, and applications, helping to integrate perspectives as varied as anthropology and neuroscience. The contributors discuss the evolution of empathy within the mammalian brain and the development of empathy in infants and children; the relationships among empathy, social behavior, compassion, and altruism; the neural underpinnings of empathy; cognitive versus emotional empathy in clinical practice; and the cost of empathy.

Taken together, the contributions significantly broaden the interdisciplinary scope of empathy studies, reporting on current knowledge of the evolutionary, social, developmental, cognitive, and neurobiological aspects of empathy and linking this capacity to human communication, including in clinical practice and medical education.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262525954
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	01/10/2014
Series:	Social Neuroscience
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	334
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 8.70(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Jean Decety is Irving B. Harris Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago, where he is also Director of the Child Neurosuite. He is the coeditor of The Social Neuroscience of Empathy and The Moral Brain and the editor of Empathy: From Bench to Bedside, all published by the MIT Press.

Jean Decety is Irving B. Harris Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago, where he is also Director of the Child Neurosuite. He is the coeditor of The Social Neuroscience of Empathy and The Moral Brain and the editor of Empathy: From Bench to Bedside, all published by the MIT Press.

Dan Zahavi is Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Center for Subjectivity Research at the University of Copenhagen and the author of Self-Awareness and Alterity and Husserl's Phenomenology.

Jean Decety is Irving B. Harris Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago, where he is also Director of the Child Neurosuite. He is the coeditor of The Social Neuroscience of Empathy and The Moral Brain and the editor of Empathy: From Bench to Bedside, all published by the MIT Press.

Jean Decety is Irving B. Harris Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago, where he is also Director of the Child Neurosuite. He is the coeditor of The Social Neuroscience of Empathy and The Moral Brain and the editor of Empathy: From Bench to Bedside, all published by the MIT Press.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Why Is Empathy So Important? Jean Decety vii

I Philosophical and Anthropological Perspectives on Empathy 1

1 Empathy without Isomorphism: A Phenomenological Account Dan Zahavi Søren Overgaard 3

2 Empathy, Evolution, and Human Nature Allan Young 21

II The Contribution of Social Psychology 39

3 The Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis: Issues and Implications C. Daniel Batson 41

4 It's More than Skin Deep: Empathy and Helping Behavior across Social Groups Stephanie Echols Joshua Correll 55

5 Empathy Is Not Always as Personal as You May Think: The Use of Stereotypes in Empathic Accuracy Karyn L. Lewis Sara D. Hodges 73

III Evolutionary Roots of Empathy 85

6 Empathy in Primates and Other Mammals Frans B. M. de Waal 87

IV The Development of Empathy 107

7 Nature and Forms of Empathy in the First Years of Life Sharee Light Carolyn Zahn-Waxler 109

8 Social-Cognitive Contributors to Young Children's Empathic and Prosocial Behavior Amrisha Vaish Felix Warneken 131

9 Relations of Empathy-Related Responding to Children's and Adolescents' Social Competence Nancy Eisenberg Snjezana Huerta Alison Edwards 147

V The Neuroscience of Empathy and Caring 165

10 How Children Develop Empathy: The Contribution of Developmental Affective Neuroscience Jean Decety Kalina J. Michalska 167

11 Empathy and Compassion: A Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective Abigail A. Marsh 191

12 The Cognitive Neuroscience of Sharing and Understanding Others' Emotions Jamil Zaki Kevin Ochsner 207

VI Empathy in Clinical Practice 227

13 Clinical Empathy in Medical Care Jodi Halpern 229

14 The Costs of Empathy among Health Professionals Ezequiel Gleichgerrcht Jean Decety 245

15 The Empathic Response in Clinical Practice: Antecedents and Consequences Charles R. Figley 263

16 The Paradox of Teaching Empathy in Medical Education Johanna Shapiro 275

17 Empathy and Neuroscience: A Psychoanalytic Perspective David M. Terman 291

Contributors 303

Author Index 305

Subject Index 319