Chapter 1 questions:
- What is it that keeps us from being empathetic? Goldman wonders whether he has been “too stressed, too busy, too preoccupied, too anxious and too self-absorbed to think enough about others to be kind to them.” Do you relate to his comments? (p.2)
- How do you understand the difference between sympathy and empathy? Are both valuable? (p.3)Goldman describes the emotional empathy that prompted the international outcry in response to the picture of Aylan Kurdi, a 3 year old Kurdish boy whose lifeless body was found on a Turkish beach. He was one of millions of refugees fleeing awful conditions. (p.4
- Charities often showcase one story rather than telling us the big numbers. Why do you think our empathic response is so different when it’s big numbers?
- p.6&7) Goldman shares some examples of a lack of empathy in the health care realm, with heart-breaking results.
- Do you believe that some people “are just like that”? Were they “like that” before they started those jobs? Do you think we are all capable of behaving unempathetically, given the ‘right’ conditions?
- Do you think we are becoming less empathetic, as a society? Why or why not?
Chapter 2 Questions:
- Perspective-taking - cognitive empathy - having a sense of how another person is feeling. (p.4&5) Powder movie clip. Most humans seem to have this ability (to feel what others feel) to some degree. To what degree do you think you are able to do that? How does it affect you? What if Powder’s powers actually existed? How might the world be different if we all had this ability to this level? Would it be a good thing?
- p.17 - Research shows…”for health care professionals, being exposed on a daily basis to the pain of others leads them to underestimate the pain of others.” “I treat their pain, but I don’t tune into the abject fear and despair that they feel.” Would empathy actually be a liability in some circumstances? Is ‘tuning out despair and pain’ a learned behaviour or are some more naturally able to do that?
- Mirror neutrons - the motor system get reactivated when humans see the actions of others — mirror neutrons switch on when performing an action or observing someone else doing it. How is this discovery related to empathy? Are you convinced that some mammals (including most humans) are hard-wired for kindness?
- p. 30 - “Keysers suspects that humans have an empathy off-switch…strong enough to override the instinct to be kind. … You empathize only when you calculate that there is a personal gain in it for you.” What is your reaction to this statement? Agree or disagree and why?
- p.36 - “I think people can do the right thing without feeling it (empathy) and without caring. So is it necessary to be empathic?
- Can we have too much empathy?
Links to the videos: (just click)
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