Empathy

The paper on Phylogenic and ontogenetic perspectives on empathy goes into depth about how the emotion ,empathy, is developmental and evolutionary. Bringing together the two concepts of neuroevolutionary with developmental perspectives to find out how the mechanics work when dealing with emotions. Empathy is an emotional state or condition that comes as a response for a given situation. As empathy is an adapted function and happens unconsciously. It is the initial response that then decides what actions follow. This ability drives what humans do, as it is a response mechanism. For instance, if we see a friend crying, or initial response is to help them cope, that is to be empathetic and caring. Without realizing it. Just as mammals develop parenting behavior, they also develop emotions such as separation, pain, love distress etc. those emotions we form without any knowledge of doing so. We continue to have kept these emotions as they have rewards. Parental nurturing has its rewards, says the article, in which parents seek out thus creating a cycle of empathy where care is shown and happiness and love is rewarded.

Infants use attachment as a form of survival. This is another trait humans are biologically predisposed to. Studies show the more attached an infant is, the more empathetic he or she will be towards others. Whereas children who are not exposed to this type of care can result in sociemotional difficulties.

This essay goes over how empathy is a predisposed trait humans are exposed to.

This essay is interesting in that, it suggests that if they can figure out the neurobiological underpinnings of sociemotional difficulties they can try to find interventions.

After reading this essay, I realized how empathy makes the biggest impact on my actions In situations I usually have a clear mind that will make decisions I think are right for the situation. However, the moment I hear or see something that changes the mood, my actions hugely depend on what I just saw. For instance, when I saw my friend crying about her boyfriend cheated her. My initial thought was “oh I really hate this guy”. As the story progressed, I started to get as angry as she was even though he had done nothing to me. At this point, m judgment was fogged and the only thing that was clear to me was “ I need to say something to him about it.” And I did- I proceeded to tell him off and go off on him. Had my thoughts been clear, I wouldn’t have done that as it is not my business to do that but I did it because I thought it was the right thing I do given the situation.

Empathy is a very strong response mechanism that can cause us to do the actions that we may regret in the future. Emotions are sometimes unbeatable and fog up or mind with things we wan to do with the things we should do. It is insane how much humans rely on emotions to cause their actions unconsciously.