Democracy needs empathy - or: What happens when positive psychology meets social neurocognitive research?

We have known each other from afar for a long time: Prof. Dr. Tania Singer is probably Germany's most relevant researcher in the field of empathy and compassion. It took the impetus of a third party for us to finally actually meet.

The essence of an incredible conversation about psychological research, empathy, and the future of democracy:

1) Empathy and the ability to really listen are not only the basis for real togetherness, but also for social peace. Both can be learned, but are hardly taught in society anymore.

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Contents

• Basic concepts and skills
• Sample practices
• Applying Embodied Empathy in daily life
• Apply it in work (as teacher, therapist, etc.)
• Challenges and benefits to using it
• How Embodied Empathy and Playback Theatre are similar and different

Learn some simple, powerful tools to make your listening skills even stronger.  Whether as a friend, family member, actor, teacher, therapist, minister or group facilitator, explore how to apply these skills in your life.

In practice, a lack of empathy can take multiple forms. From a customer service perspective, it can be talking to a staff member and feeling like they aren’t listening. From a language perspective, it could be reading a company’s social media page and seeing robotic, corporate language that takes the humanity out of business. And from a leadership perspective, it looks like people feeling they don’t have a voice and not being able to speak up in meetings.

To me, sympathy and empathy are different forms of understanding. Unless you have my exact condition, you can’t walk in my shoes, and that’s OK. These shoes suck, and I’m glad you’re not in them. I don’t want you to be able to fully understand and comprehend this situation through empathy.

I do want people to know what my shoes are and that there are different kinds, as well as understand that there’s something really wrong with mine — which is sympathy. You can even be grateful that you aren’t wearing the same pair as me. You actually should be grateful; just don’t rub it in.

Your capacity for empathy is one of your "genius" qualities—but it’s also so challenging. What are the practical skills that you can learn to heal your heart and nervous system, your relationships, and the world? Don’t miss this invaluable interview with Dr. Judith Orloff, MD

Sharon Rudnitzky

I agree with much of what guest columnist Shalini Bahl-Milne wrote about moving forward with compassion in her piece about the recent Amherst Town Council meeting [“Beyond empathy: A compassionate approach to polarizing issues in Amherst,” March 26]. I was frustrated, however, when she described empathy as “a double-edged sword” and wrote that to move forward, we need to transcend empathy. 

It bothers me immensely when people misrepresent what empathy is, and so I feel compelled to clarify.

My background is in nonviolent communication (created by Marshall B. Rosenberg) and in that realm empathy is compassionate understanding. When offering empathy, we have the intention of being open-hearted and fully present as we listen to a person as they speak their truth. Empathy is the nonjudgmental receiving of another’s experience and a sense of resonance with another person’s feelings and needs.

by Lynda Silsbee

What Does It Mean To Lead With Empathy In Times Of Change?

First and foremost, it requires good old-fashioned active listening. As leaders, we must create space for our team members to voice their concerns, fears and aspirations.

This means being fully present during conversations, asking probing questions and truly seeking to understand the emotions behind what is being said. By demonstrating genuine empathy through listening, we validate others' experiences and build trust that transcends hierarchical boundaries.

judith_orloff_interview

Hume uses an Empathic Voice Interface (EVI), an innovative AI chatbot endowed with emotional intelligence, capable of analysing vocal tones to understand when users finish speaking, and optimising responses to achieve user satisfaction.

Rather than responses that seem unnatural and mechanical — which are criticisms that have been levelled at ChatGPT’s vocal interface — with Hume users are treated to a truly immersive conversation, which takes into account both content and form when you address it. Each time you speak to EVI, the interface analyses your voice in terms of determination, interest, concentration, boredom, calm and satisfaction, and responds with the appropriate tone. The result is the impression of actually talking to someone. Curious users can try it out now: demo.hume.ai.

by Catrin Misselhorn

AI has long since surpassed humans in cognitive matters that were once considered the supreme disciplines of human intelligence like chess or Go. Some even believe it is superior when it comes to human emotional skills such as empathy.

This does not just seem to be some companies’ talking big for marketing reasons; empirical studies suggest that people perceive ChatGPT in certain health situations as more empathic than human medical staff. Does this mean that AI is really empathetic?

A definition of empathy
As a psychologically informed philosopher, I define genuine empathy according to three criteria:

HR professionals play key roles within their organizations, which often means juggling multiple deadlines, handling emergent situations and managing daily administrative tasks. Under these demands, it is common for HR professionals to struggle with burnout, but this can have negative consequences throughout an entire business.

Below, members of Forbes Human Resources Council share key strategies for how HR professionals can safeguard against burnout. With their advice, your organization can take steps to bolster its HR team and prevent the negative impacts of burnout and empathy fatigue.

1. Avoid Empathy Loss By Prioritizing Mental Health

by Gilad Feldman,

Our ability to forgive others is closely tied to the level of empathy we feel towards them.

We conducted a replication of McCullough et al. (1997) and the empathy model of forgiveness.

Replication was done as a Registered Report with Peer Community in Registered Report, a revolution in science.

The empathy model of forgiveness

In 1997, Prof. McCullough and his colleagues proposed the empathy model of forgiveness, which has been one of the most widely cited models in the field of psychology when it comes to explaining why we forgive. The essence of this model is straightforward.

by Michelle J. Howe

A vast amount of Empaths are just now waking up and looking for answers.  Many Empaths are now in Facebook groups.  Many are relieved to finally find like-minded people and explanations for why they are affected by others – why they know or feel more than others.

Most Empaths have a HUGE heart.  This heart LOVES to help other people.  There is nothing more fueling to an Empath than to be of service to others.  Mostly, an Empath feels a huge burst of energy when they step forward in this way.   Empaths love to listen, solve and/or sprinkle the great energy into helping others.

by Rhett A. Butler  

Mongabay: Do you think greater empathy for animals or plants represents an overlooked opportunity in conservation?

Jane Goodall: Yes, I do believe it’s crucial. We now understand that trees in forests can communicate underground through mycorrhizal networks, sending pheromones to better prepare for an impending attack by predators. This knowledge is fascinating and increasingly recognized.

Empathy plays a vital role as well. For instance, I feel a profound sadness when old-growth forests are cut down. And of course, I have empathy for animals. This contrasts with what I was told at Cambridge: that a scientist cannot afford to have empathy for their study subjects without compromising objectivity. I’ve found this to be absolutely untrue. Empathy and objectivity can coexist. Don’t you agree?

Empathy and understanding are the glue that holds the modern workplace together. More than a nice-to-have, they're the foundation on which future business success is built. How do we know? Eighty-seven percent of employees agree they're the cornerstone of inclusivity.

We have a quote, ‘educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all’. We can teach the skills but, if they are not putting it to practice and they are not feeling that empathy for the person in front of them then they are not a CIT officer,” said Theresa Williams, the CIT Program Manage

Empathic AI to serve human well-being
With a single API call, interpret emotional expressions and generate empathic responses. Meet the first AI with emotional intelligence.

Give your application empathy and a voice

EVI is a conversational voice API powered by empathic AI. It is the only API that measures nuanced vocal modulations, guiding language and speech generation. Trained on millions of human interactions, our empathic large language model (eLLM) unites language modeling and text-to-speech with better EQ, prosody, end-of-turn detection, interruptibility, and alignment.

Update: Free Class and Resources:

https://www.alexanderlyon.com/ free-resources Other Classes from Alex: https://www.alexanderlyon.com/ Active listening skills, which some people call reflective listening, are critical for professionals, leaders, students, parents, customer service, and counselors. In short, active listening is the foundation of effective listening. As explained in the video, it involves

1) both verbal and nonverbal cues,

2) asking good questions, and

3) giving an informed response. Videos Mentioned: Empathetic Listening:   

 • Empathetic Listening Skills   Comprehensive Listening:   

 • Comprehensive Listening Skills  

Empathy has been treated as an individual trait that can be measured.

Empathy is fragile and can fall away no matter how much trait empathy people allegedly possess.

A better and more empathic model locates empathy in interactions instead of limiting it to individuals.

Digital scholar Andrew McStay further explores the implications of attributing empathy to emotion-AI systems. In Automating Empathy, McStay warns of “synthetic empathy,” highlighting a key distinction between simulating a recognition of human emotions and truly experiencing empathy.