The former president of LaGrange College on Tuesday said empathy is the most important quality in today’s leaders. Stuart Gulley, speaking to members of the LaGrange-Troup County Chamber of Commerce, said a new type of education called &ldqu…

Researchers have found that reading literary fiction improves the reader’s ability to empathize with others. The idea of picking up a classic like Anna Karenina might sooner cause some of us to groan — either from the sheer weight of t…

Extreme wealth – and the technology afforded to most Americans these days – have left us with a dearth of empathy and ethics. But what can be done about it? America is in the midst of an empathy crisis, driven by multiple factors. First, there&rs…

Neuroscientists identify specific brain areas linked to compassion. Are some people born with a brain that is wired to be more empathetic? Can compassion be learned? What daily habits or life experiences reinforce selfishness, narc…

Here’s a report on a series of studies that purport to show that reading a few minutes of “literary fiction” improves scores on a test of emotional empathy (“Reading the Mind in the Eyes”), compared to reading non-fiction. Reading popular fic…

Contrary to empathic distress, love and compassion are positive states of mind that reinforce our inner ability to confront others’ sufferings. If a child is hospitalized, the presence of a loving mother at his side who holds his hand and comfort…

The word empathy means an affective resonance with someone else. If you are moved by the suffering of someone, even though you make a clear distinction between yourself and that person, you suffer because she suffers. You may also feel joy when she fee…

“Humans tend to use the self as a reference point to perceive the world and gain information about other people’s mental states. However, applying such a self-referential projection mechanism in situations where it is inappropriate can result in egocen…