Understanding Others (Empathy).

   Empathy, as Dr. Decety mention can be defined as "the ability to perceive, share and understand others affective states which are crucial to successfully navigate the social world." Humans have always had this urge to help others when they are in situations of great distress.  They are able to feel concerned for other people and are able to experience emotions that match another individuals emotions. Through empathy people are able to express feelings of concern for others without having expressed themselves verbally.
   In Dr. Decety's article about empathy he mentioned the evolution of empathy.  He stated that for empathy to have evolved it must have had some significant benefits for humans. For example, if we take a child and it's mother we can already see how empathy is beneficial to humans. A child depends on it's mother to nurture them and be there to protect them.  Babies and mothers have the greatest and most powerful empathy; it is an attachment that is necessary to survive.  Humans are not only capable of feeling empathy towards loved one but also toward individuals they have never met or are very different from them. This empathy that individuals feel towards one another has evolved from mechanisms that promote parental care of offspring. The human social brain has been fundamentally built upon an ancient and emotional motivational system.
    A point that Decety mention that I found rather interesting, was the fact that an individual might have difficulty responding with empathy if they have not yet developed a sense of self or others. I also found interesting how Decety explains that when it comes to identifying faces and feelings of empathy women seem to be able to more accurately predict what is wrong with someone. Women are more accurate and sensible than men.  Lastly, they are also more accurate and better at identifying social cues.
   Overall, humans have the urge and need to help others and feel empathy towards them. As humans we have beens socialized to help others when they seem to be in trouble.  Although there might also be times and certain cases where a person might not be able to show empathy towards others because of certain factors such as their job or other types of problems or issues a person might have regarding their own personal needs.  Empathy is a way of letting a person know that you understand how they feel and know what they need.  It is incredible how all of this can be said to another individual without having to truly say a single word.