Culture of Empathy Builder: Marco Iacoboni



Marco Iacoboni and Edwin Rutsch: How to Build a Culture of Empathy
		Marco Iacoboni is Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and Director of the Marco Iacoboni Lab, UCLA Brain Mapping Center at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is author of, Mirroring People: The New Science of Empathy and How We Connect with Others.
"Empathy plays a fundamental role in our social lives. It allows us to share emotions, experiences, needs, and goals. Not surprisingly, there is much empirical evidence suggesting a strong link between between mirror neurons (or some general forms of neuronal mirroring) and empathy." In this interview, Marco Iacoboni challenges the traditional Western understanding of human nature as selfish and struggling for surviving and suggests that neurologically and evolutionally we are predispositioned to create empathic connections. A culture of empathy can be increased by: becoming aware about our biological capacity for empathy through mirror neurons, having intention to increase culture empathy, creating more empathic living environment decreasing the focus on differences and labeling increasing the focus on us (similarities) increasing empathic behavior of governments, leaders and media....
Empathy Definitions, Measurements & Metrics: Marco Iacoboni, Lidewij Niezink, Edwin Rutsch
	In this second interview, Marco Iacoboni, Lidewij Niezink and Edwin Rutsch discuss Definitions, Measurements & Metrics of empathy. Marco says, "I think what's interesting to me most is to define metrics of empathy. How can I measure this thing? Why it matters? If we want to design interventions to improve empathy we need to agree upon ways of quantifying it. People do get bogged down in debates on definitions and don't even get to the point of trying to discuss metrics of empathic behavior. This slows down progress, I think" Sub Conference: Science

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(Much gratitude to Barbara Guttman for doing this transcription)

Marco Iacoboni challenges the traditional Western understanding of human nature as selfish and struggling for surviving and suggests that neurologically and evolutionally we are predispositioned to create empathic connections. Culture of empathy can be increased by: having intention to increase culture empathy, becoming aware about our biological capacity for empathy, creating more emphatic living environment, decreasing the focus on differences and labeling - increasing the focus on us (similarities) , increasing emphatic behavior at governments, leaders and media.

Transcript

0:06 – 1:52 Introduction of Marco Iacoboni (his work, book, web, research interest)

1:53 – 2:56 Marco introduces the beginning of his research, mirror-neuron cells, brain imaging in UCLA;

2:56 – 6:00 Explanation of what mirror-neurons and mirroring are, mirroring as foundation of empathy and connection among people

6:00 – 7:27 Marco challenges the traditional teaching claiming that human being are selfish and struggle for survival and suggests that we have natural predisposition to be empathic.

7:27 – Science discovered system in brain that makes human empathic , book about this written for wider public

8:23 - The fact that we reflect about empathy gives are more capacity to be empathic

9:25 – 10:25 difference between Western culture being individualistic and other cultures which are more collectivistic, Eastern philosophy reflects more the connection between self and others.

10:25 – 13:11 Just sending the message that we are empathic individuals increases tendency to empathize, empathy is contagious. increasing empathy with others starts with us put ourselves in other’s shoes

13:25 – 18:23 Defining empathy – different forms of empathy – different definition of empathy are all reflecting some aspects of it. Need for taxonomy to support research.

18:23 – 19:16 Start with self empathy is western approach, Sense of self is developed through being part of community

21:00 – 24:22 Way for improving empathy: mirroring, shift belief system from labeling and divide us, and look at others as fellow human beings with same needs. Edwin's experience about becoming empathic with his family members due to paradigm shift.

24:23 - 28:00 Government, media and leaders have responsibility to model empathic behavior as a way of increasing culture of empathy.

28:00 – 30:55 How intention is the first step for creation of culture of empathy . Need for interdisciplinary collaboration and debated.

32:34 - 34:17 Empathy and social structures – empathy can be increased through architecture, classroom and lecture rooms setup

34.18 - 39.55 Arts as ways to increase empathy. Dance and mirroring. Body as very basic way to synchronies and empathize. Our ability to to predict where things are going can also increase empathy and synchronization.

40.02 – 42.18 - Letting sense of self go and having sense of us is nature of empathy. When we are born we probably have no sense of self til around age 2, only sense of us. Sense of self is created by child’s the interaction with care-givers.

42.20 – 44.10 There are two levels of empathy: mirroring (imitating) and controlling levels, (which requires higher level of cognition to imagine what other person may be feeling/seeing)..

46.40 closing up the conversation

Episode 39 - Dr. Marco Iacoboni - Mirroring People

"In this episode we cover the different roles mirror neurons play in the brain, how they affect social cognition, learning, behavior, addiction and how they determine how we interact with other people on a day to day basis."

MARCO IACOBONI, MD PhD is Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and Director of the Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Lab at the Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center. Iacoboni is a neurologist and neuroscientist originally from Rome, Italy. He joined the faculty of the Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center at UCLA in 1999. He is also author of the book “Mirroring People: The Science of Empathy and How We Connect with Others“

2012-01-16 - Are We Wired for Empathy? What do mirror neurons teach about us about our empathy?
What do mirror neurons teach about us about our empathy? This week, leading neuroscientist Marco Iacoboni visited with Six Seconds’ Master Class in Pajaro Dunes, California, for an oceanside chat on mirror neurons and their relationship to empathy and learning. A few of us collected some of the takeaways:

What are Mirror Neurons?
Mirror neurons are “smart cells” in our brains that allow us to understand others’ actions, intentions, and feelings. The mirror neurons are in many areas of our brains, and they fire when we perform an action such as grasping an apple, and similarly we see others doing it. As it turns out, our mirror neurons fire when we experience an emotion and similarly when we see others experiencing an emotion, such as happiness, fear, anger, or sadness.

2010-01-12 - Mirror Neurons
One stop on Alan Alda’s Human Spark journey was a visit with Marco Iacoboni at UCLA. Marco’s area of interest is mirror neurons. These cells in our brains are each active when we perform very particular tasks – such as picking up a fork, or slamming a door – and also when we are simply watching someone else do that same task. In this video, Marco explains his research to Alan and describes how mirror neurons seem sensitive to the intention behind each specific action that’s observed.

Authors@Google: Marco Iacoboni

Marco Iacoboni, a leading neuroscientist whose work has been covered in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and The Wall Street Journal, explains the groundbreaking research into mirror neurons, the "smart cells" in our brain that allow us to understand others. From imitation to morality, from learning to addiction, from political affiliations to consumer choices, mirror neurons seem to have properties that are relevant to all these aspects of social cognition.

Mirror Neuron Hypothesis of Autism
Marco Iacoboni, M.D., Ph.D. discusses the mirror neuron hypothesis of autism which suggests that reduced mirror neuron activity may be a central feature of autism. Mirror neurons are cells concerned with motor behavior and are considered neural precursors of neural systems concerned with language and social interactions. Series: M.I.N.D. Institute Lecture Series on Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Marco Iacoboni, M.D., Ph.D., discusses data on mirror neurons that suggest that their role in intersubjectivity may be more accurately described as allowing interdependence. This interdependence shapes the social interactions between people. where the concrete encounter between self and other becomes shared existential meaning that connects them deeply. Series: "M.I.N.D. Institute Lecture Series on Neurodevelopmental Disorders" [6/2008]