The Social Neuroscience of Empathy

Front Cover
Jean Decety, William Ickes
MIT Press, Jan 21, 2011 - Psychology - 272 pages
Cross-disciplinary, cutting-edge work on human empathy from the perspectives of social, cognitive, developmental and clinical psychology and cognitive/affective neuroscience.

In recent decades, empathy research has blossomed into a vibrant and multidisciplinary field of study. The social neuroscience approach to the subject is premised on the idea that studying empathy at multiple levels (biological, cognitive, and social) will lead to a more comprehensive understanding of how other people's thoughts and feelings can affect our own thoughts, feelings, and behavior. In these cutting-edge contributions, leading advocates of the multilevel approach view empathy from the perspectives of social, cognitive, developmental and clinical psychology and cognitive/affective neuroscience. Chapters include a critical examination of the various definitions of the empathy construct; surveys of major research traditions based on these differing views (including empathy as emotional contagion, as the projection of one's own thoughts and feelings, and as a fundamental aspect of social development); clinical and applied perspectives, including psychotherapy and the study of empathy for other people's pain; various neuroscience perspectives; and discussions of empathy's evolutionary and neuroanatomical histories, with a special focus on neuroanatomical continuities and differences across the phylogenetic spectrum. The new discipline of social neuroscience bridges disciplines and levels of analysis. In this volume, the contributors' state-of-the-art investigations of empathy from a social neuroscience perspective vividly illustrate the potential benefits of such cross-disciplinary integration.

Contributors
C. Daniel Batson, James Blair, Karina Blair, Jerold D. Bozarth, Anne Buysse, Susan F. Butler, Michael Carlin, C. Sue Carter, Kenneth D. Craig, Mirella Dapretto, Jean Decety, Mathias Dekeyser, Ap Dijksterhuis, Robert Elliott, Natalie D. Eggum, Nancy Eisenberg, Norma Deitch Feshbach, Seymour Feshbach, Liesbet Goubert, Leslie S. Greenberg, Elaine Hatfield, James Harris, William Ickes, Claus Lamm, Yen-Chi Le, Mia Leijssen, Abigail Marsh, Raymond S. Nickerson, Jennifer H. Pfeifer, Stephen W. Porges, Richard L. Rapson, Simone G. Shamay-Tsoory, Rick B. van Baaren, Matthijs L. van Leeuwen, Andries van der Leij, Jeanne C. Watson

 

Contents

II Social Cognitive and Developmental Perspectives on Empathy
17
III Clinical Perspectives on Empathy
99
IV Evolutionary and Neuroscience Perspectives on Empathy
167
Contributors
233
Author Index
235
Subject Index
245
Copyright

Other editions - View all

The Social Neuroscience of Empathy
Jean Decety,William Ickes
Limited preview - 2011
The Social Neuroscience of Empathy
Jean Decety,William Ickes
No preview available - 2011
The Social Neuroscience of Empathy
Jean Decety
No preview available - 2009

Common terms and phrases

ability actions activity amygdala another’s anterior cingulate cortex associated autism autonomic autonomic nervous system Batson Blair brain client-centered therapy clients clinical cognitive empathy Cognitive Neuroscience components concept conventional transgressions correlates defined definition Developmental Psychology difficulty Eisenberg emotional contagion empathic accuracy empathic responses empathy-related experience facial expressions Feshbach findings first flexibility fMRI frontal functional functional architecture Gallese Greenberg Hatfield human Iacoboni Ickes imitation impaired individuals infer influence insula interpersonal involved Journal of Personality medial Meltzoff mental mimicked mimicry mirror neurons moral motor nervous system neural neuroimaging observed one’s other’s oxytocin pain participants patients people’s perceived perception personal distress Personality and Social perspective taking prefrontal cortex processes prosocial behavior psychopathy psychotherapy reactions reflect regulation relationship resonance Rizzolatti Rogers role Sciences self-reported Shamay-Tsoory significant significantly social cognition Social Neuroscience Social Psychology specific suggested task theory of mind therapist therapy thoughts and feelings vasopressin Waal

About the author (2011)

Jean Decety is Irving B. Harris Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago, where he is also Director of the Child Neurosuite. He is the coeditor of The Social Neuroscience of Empathy and The Moral Brain and the editor of Empathy: From Bench to Bedside, all published by the MIT Press.

William Ickes is Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas, Arlington.

C. Sue Carter is Professor of Psychiatry and Codirector of the Brain Body Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Jean Decety is Irving B. Harris Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago, where he is also Director of the Child Neurosuite. He is the coeditor of The Social Neuroscience of Empathy and The Moral Brain and the editor of Empathy: From Bench to Bedside, all published by the MIT Press.

William Ickes is Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas, Arlington.

Raymond S. Nickerson is Senior Vice President of BBN Laboratories, a subsidiary of Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc.

Stephen W. Porges is Professor of Psychiatry, and Codirector of the Brain Body Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Bibliographic information

TitleThe Social Neuroscience of Empathy
Social Neuroscience
EditorsJean Decety, William Ickes
PublisherMIT Press, 2011
ISBN0262293366, 9780262293365
Length272 pages
Subjects › 

Medical / Neurology
Psychology / Emotions
Psychology / Neuropsychology
  
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