The famous study of the transformative power of perspective taking empathy, C.Daniel Batson asked two groups of student to listen to a tape recording of a young woman in distress because her parents had recently been killed in a tragic car accident. the first group were given the instruction to listen objectively to the facts in the recording, while the second group were asked to imagine the experiences and feelings of the woman involved. The second group were shown to have higher levels of reported empathy for her than the first. More over, when subsequently asked to help her raise funds to care for her surviving younger brother and sister, members of the second group gave much more generously. In over three decades of research that Batson has consistently found that perspective – taking has proved effective in inducing empathy for not only for total strangers but for members of stigmatised groups and that it tends to reduce moral or pro-social helping behaviour, rather than living people unmoved. Happyho also provide best Meditation classes in Noida and Delhi NCR India area.
This kind of research suggests that it is a mistake to believe we are the prisoners of the empathetic abilities we were born and raised within our early years. Rather, most people are able to expand their capacity for empathy through out their lives – especially their cognitive or perspective – taking empathy by practising mindful attention towards other people’s feelings and experiences. Her capacity for doing so has been confirmed by studies of empathy training for doctors, who are often criticised for being to clinical and emotionally detached for their patients. In 2010, Doctors at a Boston hospital took part in a program in which they were advised to pay greater attention to the changing expressions on their patients faces (for instances whether they showed anger, contempt, fear or sadness), to take note of voice modulations and to make simple changes such as facing the patient rather than their computer screens during a consultation. After just three one and half hour training sessions, doctors who went through the program showed vastly improved empathy levels. Their patients said these doctors made them feel more at ease, showed greater care and compassion towards them and had a better understanding of their concerns. The doctors too could see the benefits. After spending a day putting the programs methods into practice , one hospital doctor reported that while it was initially difficult to empathise with the patient while simultaneously making her diagnosis, eventually it became fun and embodied the kind of personal interaction that had initially drawn her into medicine.
There is also a growing body of neuroscience research showing that “compassion training” – which is partly focussed on enhancing empathy can shift the neural configuration of certain brain regions and lead to increased pro-social behaviour.
