Dr. Decety gave many definitions for empathy. They can be summed up by the idea of feeling emotions that match another's emotions to the point of blurring the line between oneself and the other. The aspect of empathy I found most interesting in Decety's talk was the idea that empathy is needed for the advancement of the human species. He spoke about parental care being crucial and empathy aiding in this care. For example, normally people have an aversive reaction to crying, but parents use it as a sign that their infants need something. If parents hadn't developed this reaction crying would be an evolutionary disadvantage that would attract predators.
Mothers also receive pleasure from interacting with their children and nursing them. In fact in an experiment with rats, mothers received more rewarding feelings from their pups suckling than the dopamine received from cocaine.
This makes me wonder about women who purposely harm and even kill their own children. The illness in which mothers make their children constantly sick is more understandable because they receive pleasure from caring for their sick children and the praise they receive from doctors who see them being so compassionate. But the incomprehensible act of murdering one's own child goes against human nature. Humans want their genes to be passed on, so to eliminate that possibility also hurts the mother. I would be interested in seeing how the brains of these mothers functioned differently than mothers with secure attachment who derive pleasure from caring for their children in a healthy manner.
That is a really interesting point to bring up. And it so common. There must be some other drive that causes them to do what they do. Would there be anyway to help these mothers who kill their children? I wonder what the triggers are, and how common they are amongst women. Hopefully there is some type of new development that can see what causes these actions and perhaps a way to stop it.
ReplyDeleteI found your blog interesting , I never considered the reason for mothers to make their children sick is due to the pleasure of being able to care for them. I agree with you in that it would be very interesting to see the brain activity of a mother who cares for her child in a healthy manner versus that of a mother who purposely makers her child sick. I also find it interesting how people tend to view crying and avoid it but a mother views it and will approach willingly.
ReplyDelete