Empathy: Too Much of a Good Thing?

Is Empathy Innate or Learned?
Empathy, in its simplest definition, is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. While it has been argued that the ability to empathize is a learned behavior, that children learn empathy as they are taught to understand that other people feel different things, there's more to the story. While to some extent this may be true, that the ability to empathize is enhanced by the way that children are raised, it is not the whole truth. The whole truth is that the brain has much more to do with whether a person can empathize or not--and this is due to both nature and nurture.

Empathy as a Function of the Brain

The right supramarginal gyrus is a part of the cerebral cortex, located at the junction of the parietal, temporal, and frontal lobe. It is also the part of the brain responsible for distinguishing one's emotional state from another person's and thus producing empathy. Understanding how the right supramarginal gyrus produces empathy is very difficult, and is still being researched to this day. What is clear, however, is that this small part of the brain can have a huge effect on someone's life.

Psychopaths are Non-empathizers 

This image displays a Functional magnetic resonance imaging (or FMRI) of both a normal brain and a Psychopath's brain

The functional MRI (fMRI) above is taken during procedure like an MRI. The way the procedure works is that it detects brain activity by measuring changes in blood flow. For example, a patient would lie down in an MRI scanner and watch a screen which alternates between showing a visual stimulus for thirty seconds and then turning into darkness. In areas where the visual stimulus is received, blood flows, and this picture can be taken.

Once again, to understand the crucial role empathy can play, we return to basic definitions. There it states that psychopathy (which is a personality disorder) is characterized by a lack of empathy and remorse, shallow affect, glibness, manipulation, and callousness. Empathy, it would seem, is the one thing that differentiates us from psychopaths. This picture demonstrates the normal brain, lit up pretty brightly by the supramarginal gyrus, but what is more important is the disturbing lack of activity in that area of a psychopath's brain.

It is important to note that not all people who lack empathy are psychopaths. In fact most people who lack empathy are perfectly fine-just a little more self centered than the rest of us. But this is not true for all people that lack empathy. Because some people's brains cannot process empathy they cannot understand that the people that surround them are in fact human people who should not be hurt. These people often end up committing horrible crimes because they simply cannot understand how their victims feel.

Empaths Show the Other Dangerous Extreme

Referring back to definitions may seems tedious, but it is very important. Whereas psychopaths can't be empathetic, empaths are highly sensitive to the feeling and needs of others. This means that empaths can very easily mimic the emotions that they see around them. This can be both a blessing and a curse. On one hand empaths are very good at sensing the emotions of the people they're around, and thus helping them feel better. On the other hand, however, empaths can become overwhelmed with feeling the emotions of everyone around them. This can lead to stress, and in some more extreme cases, depression.

It's Not All Pre-Determined

At this point you may be feeling a little terrified, thinking that the fate of a person is determined even before they are born. For some people this is true. But this is not true for everyone. More and more studies conducted show that empathy is learned, and that it is taught from parents to children. And if you're still feeling worried, take a quiz to determine how empathetic you are! Hopefully you pass!