Empathy as a Factor for Change

Editor's Notes

• #8: All empathy but: some about brainstructures, other about self reports or observations or tasks or neurons.
• #14: And we ritualize this intention by lighting a candle. Not for no reason because Paul Zak, who is doing a lot of work on the role of oxytocin in empathy, suggested to us that ritual might be one way to release Oxytocin. And research shows that o xytocin facilitates closeness and generosity (Depue and Morrone-Strupinsky, 2005; Zak, Stanton & Ahmadi, 2007).
• #15: in order to not end up in experiencing just personal distress but rather to be able to empathize, we need a good capacity to regulate emotions elicited in empathy contexts.
• #18: As you can see, I fit in nicely too. We get our Mirror Neuron System into gear, we mimic each other as to increase affiliation and positive social judgment. Research shows that we like others better when they mimic us and that mirroring also increases pro-social orientation in general (van Baaren et al., 2004;Ashton–James et al., 2007; Fischer-Lokou et al., 2011.;Guéguen et al., 2011; Stel andHarinck, 2011). If not for all the scientific reasons, I can assure you that mirroring each other is always a very joyful exercise!
• #19: Interlocutors tend to automatically align at different levels of linguistic representation, e.g., through repeating each other’s words and grammar (Garrod and Pickering, 2004). Communicates interest and commitment in understanding the other’s perspective, thereby implying that their feelings are valid and worth listening to.
• #21: Rime (2009) suggests that socio- affective responses such as comfort and empathy temporarily alleviate a narrator’s negative emotions and generate a deep feeling of relief.