Written and verified by the psychologist GetPersonalGrowth.
Last update: 15 November 2021
The empathic brain configures in the human being an awareness and an awakening towards the emotions and needs of others. It is the evolutionary result of socialization, a bond aimed at making us connect with each other to coexist in greater harmony, resolve conflicts and ensure survival. Empathy is (or should be) the ability to guarantee one's well-being.
We say "should" for a very specific reason: empathy does not always guarantee humanitarian action. People are able to intuit and read the emotions of those in front of them and this is certainly wonderful. We perceive the suffering, we notice the fear, we read the anguish on the faces of others ... However, after putting ourselves in the shoes of others, we do not always engage in prosocial conduct, we do not always promote helping.
As well-known neurologists such as Christian Keysers from the Netherlands Institute of Neurology tell us, we still know very little about the so-called empathic brain. The discovery of mirror neurons in the late 90s by Giacomo Rizzolatti made us believe for a moment that the human being had reached this evolutionary link that many have wanted to baptize as homo empaticus.
