By understanding the neurological basis for empathy, better interventions can be constructed to treat patients who suffer from psychopathy.
Studies have shown that almost a quarter of prison populations are psychopathic, compared to only one percent of the general population. Improved treatments and understanding could help bring down crime and violence.
Our understanding of the brain and its functions are very primitive, but much has been learned about the unique complexity that allows our brain to experience our own lives as well as the lives of those around us.