Is there any evidence for this effect in brain regions related to empathy? (mirror neurons?)
Does focusing one’s attention on emotional states of others (and, more importantly, one’s own feelings experienced while watching others) increase one’s “empathic sensitivity”? Or when parents focus child’s attention on emotions of others during upbringing, does that make the child more sensitive to others?
Metta (loving-kindness) meditation would be an example practice that tries to focus attention on actively loving others in order to get better at it over time.
I don’t have time to currently point out to concrete research backing it up, but it’s been often discussed positively on Lesswrong and the EA Forum and I have had surprisingly good results from it. In my experience though, it has quite a quick feedback loop so trying it out might be the most efficient way of testing it. The Waking up app by Sam Harris is a good starting point.
Is there any evidence for this effect in brain regions related to empathy? (mirror neurons?)
Does focusing one’s attention on emotional states of others (and, more importantly, one’s own feelings experienced while watching others) increase one’s “empathic sensitivity”? Or when parents focus child’s attention on emotions of others during upbringing, does that make the child more sensitive to others?
I’m not aware of any research in this area. It appears plausible, but there could be many confounding factors.
Metta (loving-kindness) meditation would be an example practice that tries to focus attention on actively loving others in order to get better at it over time.
I don’t have time to currently point out to concrete research backing it up, but it’s been often discussed positively on Lesswrong and the EA Forum and I have had surprisingly good results from it. In my experience though, it has quite a quick feedback loop so trying it out might be the most efficient way of testing it. The Waking up app by Sam Harris is a good starting point.