Empathy and caring

Seminar organized by Jean Decety, 2021-2022 Paris IAS Fellow, as part of the "Social neuroscience" series

Empathy shapes the landscape of our social lives by motivating prosocial behavior, inhibiting aggression, and facilitating bonding between members of a similar social group. Theoretical and empirical work with animal models, developmental science, and affective neuroscience, views empathy as an ability which has evolved primarily to support parental care and bonding between individuals. Yet, empathy is fragile, capacity-limited, parochial, and narrow minded. Consequently, empathy may erode our ethical values.

With the participation of Sylvie Thoron (economist) – Université Paris-Est Créteil.

Recommended readings:

- Decety, J. (2021). Why empathy is not a reliable source of information in moral decision making. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 30(5), 425-430.

- Hubbard, J., Harbaugh, W. T., Srivastava, S., Degras, D., & Mayr, U. (2016). A general benevolence dimension that links neural, psychological, economic, and life-span data on altruistic tendencies. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 145(10), 1351

- Mobbs, D., Yu, R., ... & Dalgleish, T. (2009). A key role for similarity in vicarious reward. Science, 324(5929), 900-900.