The science of empathy

Simon Baron-Cohen does some very interesting research and he writes well. His next book to appear will focus on the subject of empathy, or, to be more to the point, the consequences of the lack of it. In the U.K. it will be titled "Zero Degrees of Empathy" and in the States, when it comes out in June, it will be titled "The Science of Evil"

In today's English Observer newspaper Simon Baron-Cohen has written an article which, as I read it, brought to mind a whole lot of other books, most notably Christopher Browning's "Ordinary Men" and "Defiance" the story of Tuvia Bielski's partisan otriad in the Belorussian forests during WWII. Although Bielski's Jewish partisans fought the Germans, like other partisan groups in the forests, his emphasis was on "saving jews" not on killing Germans. In Nechama Tec's book about Bielski it was interesting to see that although Bielski was heavily criticized by other partisans for such empathetic behavior saving children, women and the old--the other partisans didn't want to be burdened down by non-fighters - fact more members of Bielski's group of so-called weak people survived longer than the men-only, fighter-only groups

There is a neat inventory attached to the article that can allow you to find your empathy quotient (EQ) score, but as with all such self-marked questionnaires the results should be taken with a small pinch of salt. The best way to analyze your EQ results would be to look back at recent experience with people and see if you can find occasions that seem to confirm or deny the score. If a situation in which you showed low empathy bothers you, what can you do to make it different next time around?

Baron-Cohen's article, on the other hand, needs to be taken very seriously. His previous book about autism has helped me enormously in trying to understand different styles of creativity.

Below is an extract from the article:

Zero degrees of empathy means you have no awareness of how you come across to others, how to interact with others, or how to anticipate their feelings or reactions. It leaves you feeling mystified by why relationships don't work out, and it creates a deep-seated self-centredness. Other people's thoughts and feelings are just off your radar. It leaves you doomed to do your own thing, in your own little bubble, not just oblivious of other people's feelings and thoughts but oblivious to the idea that there might even be other points of view. The consequence is that you believe 100% in the rightness of your own ideas and beliefs, and judge anyone who does not hold your beliefs as wrong, or stupid.

Zero degrees of empathy does not strike at random in the population. There are at least three well-defined routes to getting to this end-point: borderline, psychopathic, and borderline personality disorders. I group these as zero-negative because they have nothing positive to recommend them. They are unequivocally bad for the sufferer and for those around them. Of course these are not all the sub-types that exist. Indeed, alcohol, fatigue and depression are just a few examples of states that can temporarily reduce one's empathy, and schizophrenia is another example of a medical condition that can reduce one's empathy.

Read the whole article at:

The science of empathy | Science | The Observer