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Empathy? (y/n): _
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 25 Mar 2025
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There's a big difference between academically knowing how a person feels--in a disconnected way--and actually being able to relate to that feeling as if you were experiencing it yourself.
Empathy is defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings and emotions of another person.
You're right that it's trivial to find examples of bad people who understand the emotions and feelings of others, but it's a lot harder to be a bad person when you can share those emotions and feelings yourself.
Like being mean to an NPC in a video game
I know rationally they are just a bunch of pixels and code, but as soon as they have plausible human dialogue, and I say something mean, and they act hurt.. something triggers in my brain and I feel that hurt. And I immediately want to stop
I literally struggle to be mean to a bunch of pixels, just because they mimick a living creature. It's also interesting because often it promotes a sort of dissonance, "I know this isn't real.. and yet I cannot help but feel what they feel.. Even though they feel nothing"
Are you familiar with mirror neurons? We are social beings. We are built from the ground up to feel each others pain.
Yes indeed. Mirror neurons are directly related to empathy I believe