From ScienceDaily:
Do you jump to help the less fortunate or cry during sad movie scenes? If yes, you may be among the 20 percent of our population that is genetically pre-disposed to empathy, according to a study. The results provide further evidence that highly sensitive people are generally highly tuned into their environment, and provide evidence that especially high levels of awareness and emotional responsiveness are fundamental features of humans characterized as HSPs.
The study population was 18.
Well that just shows all you stupid people out there who think that empathy is something we learn over decades of human experience, witnessing and accepting suffering, and deciding how best to respond.
Dr. Aron believes the results provide further evidence that HSPs are generally highly tuned into their environment. He said the new findings via the fMRI provide evidence that especially high levels of awareness and emotional responsiveness are fundamental features of humans characterized as HSPs.
Sure. Anyone familiar with life at ground level will recognize the type. Cried buckets of tears at Princess Di’s funeral, leaving family members and friends and other dependents, to whom she owed a duty of care, neglected. Couldn’t go to work, and left colleagues scrambling. Forgot commitments, leaving others high and dry. If female, this type attracts comments from other women like “stupid cow.”
Yeah, empathy.
Thesis: This “genetic predisposition” is amplified by reading celeb mags, available at supermarket checkouts everywhere.
Study: Bianca P. Acevedo, Elaine N. Aron, Arthur Aron, Matthew-Donald Sangster, Nancy Collins, Lucy L. Brown. The highly sensitive brain: an fMRI study of sensory processing sensitivity and response to others’ emotions. Brain and Behavior, 2014; DOI: 10.1002/brb3.242
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