The discovery of mirror neurons has caused an unparalleled wave of excitement amongst scientists. The Empathic Brain makes you share this excitement. Its vivid and personal descriptions of key experiments make it a captivating and refreshing read. Through intellectually rigorous but powerfully accessible prose, Prof. Christian Keysers makes us realize just how deeply this discovery changes our understanding of human nature. You will start looking at yourselves differently - no longer as mere individual but as a deeply interconnected, social mind.

Recent work on empathy theory, research, and applications, by scholars from disciplines ranging from neuroscience to psychoanalysis. There are many reasons for scholars to investigate empathy. Empathy plays a crucial role in human social interaction at all stages of life; it is thought to help motivate positive social behavior, inhibit aggression, and provide the affective and motivational bases for moral development; it is a necessary component of psychotherapy and patient-physician interactions. This volume covers a wide range of topics in empathy theory, research, and applications, helping to integrate perspectives as varied as anthropology and neuroscience. The contributors discuss the evolution of empathy within the mammalian brain and the development of empathy in infants and children; the relationships among empathy, social behavior, compassion, and altruism; the neural underpinnings of empathy; cognitive versus emotional empathy in clinical practice; and the cost of empathy. Taken together, the contributions significantly broaden the interdisciplinary scope of empathy studies, reporting on current knowledge of the evolutionary, social, developmental, cognitive, and neurobiological aspects of empathy and linking this capacity to human communication, including in clinical practice and medical education.

Neuronal Correlates of Empathy: From Rodent to Human explores the neurobiology behind emotional contagion, compassionate behaviors and the similarities in rodents and human and non-human primates. The book provides clear and accessible information that avoids anthropomorphisms, reviews the latest research from the literature, and is essential reading for neuroscientists and others studying behavior, emotion and empathy impairments, both in basic research and preclinical studies. Though empathy is still considered by many to be a uniquely human trait, growing evidence suggests that it is present in other species, and that rodents, non-human primates, and humans share similarities. - Examines the continuum of behavioral and neurobiological responses between rodents—including laboratory rodents and monogamic species—and humans - Contains coverage of humans, non-human primates, and the emerging area of rodent studies - Explores the possibility of an integrated neurocircuitry for empathy

The Neuroscience of Empathy, Compassion, and Self-Compassion provides contemporary perspectives on the three related domains of empathy, compassion and self-compassion (ECS). It informs current research, stimulates further research endeavors, and encourages continued and creative philosophical and scientific inquiry into the critical societal constructs of ECS. Examining the growing number of electrocortical (EEG Power Spectral, Coherence, Evoked Potential, etc.) studies and the sizeable body of exciting neuroendocrine research (e.g., oxytocin, dopamine, etc.) that have accumulated over decades, this reference is a unique and comprehensive approach to empathy, compassion and self-compassion. - Provides perspectives on empathy, compassion and self-compassion (ECS), including discussions of cruelty, torture, killings, homicides, suicides, terrorism and other examples of empathy/compassion erosion - Addresses autonomic nervous system (vagal) reflections of ECS - Discusses recent findings and understanding of ECS from mirror neuron research - Covers neuroendocrine manifestations of ECS and self-compassion and the neuroendocrine enhancement - Examines the neuroscience research on the enhancement of ECS - Includes directed-meditations (mindfulness, mantra, Metta, etc.) and their effects on ECS and the brain

Why do people go to the movies? What does it mean to watch a movie? To what extent is the perceived fictional nature of movies different from our daily perception of the real world? In this book, film theory and neuroscience meet to shed new light on cinema masterpieces, and explore the great directors from the classical period to the present.

In recent years, empathy has received considerable research attention as a means of understanding a range of psychological phenomena, and it is fast drawing attention within the fields of music psychology and music education. This volume seeks to promote and stimulate further research in music and empathy, with contributions from many of the leading scholars in the fields of music psychology, neuroscience, music philosophy and education. It exposes current developmental, cognitive, social and philosophical perspectives on research in music and empathy, and considers the notion in relation to our engagement with different types of music and media. Following a Prologue, the volume presents twelve chapters organised into two main areas of enquiry. The first section, entitled 'Empathy and Musical Engagement', explores empathy in music education and therapy settings, and provides social, cognitive and philosophical perspectives about empathy in relation to our interaction with music. The second section, entitled 'Empathy in Performing Together', provides insights into the role of empathy across non-Western, classical, jazz and popular performance domains. This book will be of interest to music educators, musicologists, performers and practitioners, as well as scholars from other disciplines with an interest in empathy research. Chapter 5 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

What is the difference between having empathy and being an empath? “Having empathy means our heart goes out to another person in joy or pain,” says Dr. Judith Orloff “But for empaths it goes much farther We actually feel others’ emotions, energy, and physical symptoms in our own bodies, without the usual defenses that most people have.” With The Empath’s Survival Guide, Dr. Orloff offers an invaluable resource to help sensitive people develop healthy coping mechanisms in our high-stimulus world—while fully embracing the empath’s gifts of intuition, creativity, and spiritual connection. In this practical and empowering book for empaths and their loved ones, Dr. Orloff begins with self-assessment exercises to help you understand your empathic nature, then offers potent strategies for protecting yourself from overwhelm and replenishing your vital energy For any sensitive person who’s been told to “grow a thick skin,” here is your lifelong guide for staying fully open while building resilience, exploring your gifts of deep perception, raising empathic children, and feeling welcomed and valued by a world that desperately needs what you have to offer.