1 / 13

The Science of Evil On Empathy and the Origins of Cruelty

The Science of Evil On Empathy and the Origins of Cruelty. Simon Baron-Cohen Professor, Developmental Psychopathology Departments of Experimental Psychology and Psychiatry University of Cambridge. Why do people have a lack of empathy?.

oriole
Télécharger la présentation

The Science of Evil On Empathy and the Origins of Cruelty

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The Science of EvilOn Empathy and the Origins of Cruelty Simon Baron-Cohen Professor, Developmental Psychopathology Departments of Experimental Psychology and Psychiatry University of Cambridge

  2. Why do people have a lack of empathy? • Four kinds of conditions in people exhibit lack of empathy • Psychopathy • Narcissim • Autism • Asperger Syndrome

  3. Baron-Cohen • Evil and Cruelty are the result of Lack of Empathy • Not the result of theological category of ‘sin’ • Not the result of an incarnate evil-i.e.‘devil’ • Not purely the result of social disorder or environment • Not purely the result of a physical condition • Reflect variety of categories and associations

  4. The Empathy Circuit • Six Levels of Empathy, based on Empathy Quotient Questionnaire • MRI evidence of regions of brain operative in empathy—ten in all: • Medial prefontal cortex (comparing oneself with others) • Orbitofrontal cortex ( social judgement, socially disoriented • Frontal operculum (Language processing)

  5. The Empathy Circuit (cont’d) • Inferior frontal gyrus (emotional recognition) • Caudal anterior cingulate cortex and anterior insula (pain matrix-both personal and observing) • Temporoparietal junction (intentions and beliefs) • Superior Temporal Sulcus (judging someone’s direction of looking)

  6. The Empathy Circuit (cont’d) • Somatosensory Cortex (coding sensory experience) • Inferior Parietal Lobule, Inferior Parietal Sulcus( Actions & response recording ‘mirror’ neurons) • Amygdala (emotional learning and regulation)

  7. Zero-Negative (Nothing Positive to Recommend) Personality Disorder Borderline: Type B- Extreme saying destructive things to others (Marilyn Monroe) Psychopath: Type P- Total detachment from other’s feelings...cold, calculating, completely selfish Narcissistic: Type N- Total entitlement of self, ‘using’ others, discarding those ‘useless’

  8. Zero-Positive • Asperger Syndrome (Avoidance of the social, loneliness, patterning obsession) • Autism (Underactivity in Empathy, without words for emotions, systemitizers to the extreme, innovators)

  9. Genetic Evidence • Aggressiveness Gene: MAOA-H ‘Warrior Gene’ • Emotional Recognition: 1. Serotonin transporter (SLC6A4) 2. Arginine Vasopressin Receptor (AVPR1A) Autism-linked, fear and anger) • Empathy Gene (Several Genes involved)

  10. Questions • Can you develop empathy? • If you have none are you necessarily bad? • Can a state be empathetic (i.e. Ban the death penalty)? • Can one be super-empathetic to the point of being dangerous?

  11. Evidence Not Considered • Daniel Frankfurter: Evil Incarnate: Rumors of Demonic Conspiracy and Ritual Abuse in History. Princeton, 2006. • Social Construction of Evil: Endorsed in Rituals of Political, and Religious Intent • No Notion of Cruelty Universal, it is all constructed locally and from local social and psychological conditions

  12. Evidence Not Considered • Why is the demonic, the chaotic, the marginal regarded cross-culturally as “a realm”? • Why is the definition of evil often in the hand of “authorities”...prophets, presidents, popes? • What role does ‘fear’ play in definitions of cruelty, and evil? • What role does conspiracy play in the meaning of evil?

  13. Critiques of Baron-Cohen • Difficulties with his ‘measurement’ of empathy. • Extensive cognitive location of empathy raises critical questions about ‘the circuitry’ ideology • Are cruelty, evil, lack of empathy, etc. one and the same set of phenomena? • Are there differences between personal lack of empathy and the social perception of evil? • Why is evil behaviour apparently limited in time and scope?

More Related