Forgiveness , in a psychological sense, is the intentional and voluntary process by which one who may have felt initially wronged, victimized, harmed, or hurt goes through a process of changing feelings and attitude regarding a given offender for their actions, and overcomes the impact of the offense, flaw or mistake including negative emotions such as resentment or a desire for vengeance. Theorists differ in the extent to which they believe forgiveness also implies replacing the negative emotions with positive attitudes (i.e. an increased ability to tolerate the offender), or requires reconciliation with the offender. In certain legal contexts, forgiveness is a term for absolving someone of debt , loan , obligation, or other claims. Such legal usage can also be thought of as mercy , being distinct from forgiveness.
145-402: Compassion is a social feeling that motivates people to go out of their way to relieve the physical, mental, or emotional pains of others and themselves. Compassion is sensitivity to the emotional aspects of the suffering of others. When based on notions such as fairness, justice, and interdependence, it may be considered partially rational in nature. Compassion involves "feeling for another" and
290-431: A "taxonomy of compassion" including: emotional recognition (knowing how another person feels), emotional resonance (feeling emotions another person feels), familial connection (care-giver-offspring), global compassion (extending compassion to everyone in the world), sentient compassion (extended compassion to other species), and heroic compassion (compassion that comes with a risk). Ekman also distinguishes proximal (i.e. in
435-1102: A 2014 review from Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews reported that there is evidence that "sex differences in empathy have phylogenetic and ontogenetic roots in biology and are not merely cultural byproducts driven by socialization." The review found sex differences in empathy from birth, growing larger with age, and consistent and stable across lifespan. Females, on average, had higher empathy than males, while children with higher empathy, regardless of gender, continue to be higher in empathy throughout development. Analysis of brain event-related potentials found that females who saw human suffering tended to have higher ERP waveforms than males. An investigation of N400 amplitudes found, on average, higher N400 in females in response to social situations, which positively correlated with self-reported empathy. Structural fMRI studies also found females to have larger grey matter volumes in posterior inferior frontal and anterior inferior parietal cortex areas which are correlated with mirror neurons in fMRI literature. Females also tended to have
580-479: A clearer comprehension of both its multifaceted applications and the circumstances in which forgiveness can contribute to the restoration of social connections. Most world religions include teachings on forgiveness, and many of these provide a foundation for various modern traditions and practices of forgiveness. Some religious doctrines or philosophies emphasize the need for people to find divine forgiveness for their shortcomings; others place greater emphasis on
725-450: A coping mechanism. Bonobos sought out more body contact after watching an event distress other bonobos than after their individually experienced stressful event. Mother-reared bonobos sought out more physical contact than orphaned bonobos after a stressful event happened to another. This finding shows the importance of mother-child attachment and bonding in successful socio-emotional development, such as empathic-like behaviors. De Waal suggests
870-540: A different set of skills: It requires social forecasting, anticipating harm before it occurs, and trying to prevent it. Distal compassion is much more amenable to educational influences, I think, and it's our real hope." Distal compassion also requires perspective-taking . Compassion is associated with psychological outcomes including increases in mindfulness and emotion regulation. While empathy plays an important role in motivating caring for others and in guiding moral behavior, Jean Decety 's research demonstrates that this
1015-453: A doctrine of rational compassion known as oikeiôsis . Empathy Empathy is generally described as the ability to take on other's perspective, to understand, feel, and possibly share and respond to their experience. There are more (sometimes conflicting) definitions of empathy that include but are not limited to social, cognitive, and emotional processes primarily concerned with understanding others. Often times, empathy
1160-468: A factor contributing to individual or societal behavior has been the topic of continuous debate. In contrast to the process of identifying with other people, a complete absence of compassion may require ignoring or disapproving identification with other people or groups. Earlier studies established the links between interpersonal violence and cruelty which leads to indifference. Compassion may induce feelings of kindness and forgiveness , which could give people
1305-515: A fault or an offense. According to Muhammad Amanullah, forgiveness ( 'Afw ) in Islam is derived from three wisdoms. The first and most important wisdom of forgiveness is that it is merciful when the victim or guardian of the victim accepts money instead of revenge. The second wisdom of forgiveness is that it increases the honor and prestige of the one who forgives. Forgiveness is not a sign of weakness, humiliation or dishonor. Rather, forgiveness
1450-786: A financial cost upon helping. This collapse of compassion depends on having the motivation and ability to regulate emotions. People are more apt to offer help to a certain number of needy people if that number is closer to the whole number of people in need. People feel more compassionate towards members of another species the more recently our species and theirs had a common ancestor. In laboratory research, psychologists are exploring how concerns about becoming emotionally exhausted may motivate people to curb their compassion for—and dehumanize—members of stigmatized social groups, such as homeless individuals and drug addicts. Olga Klimecki ( et al. ), found differential (non-overlapping) fMRI brain activation areas in respect to compassion and empathy: compassion
1595-438: A full theory of mind until around the age of four. Theory of mind involves the ability to understand that other people may have beliefs that are different from one's own, and is thought to involve the cognitive component of empathy. Children usually can pass false-belief tasks (a test for a theory of mind) around the age of four. It is theorised that people with autism find using a theory of mind to be very difficult, but there
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#17327652704181740-483: A gesture of reconciliation to the offender; then, reformulate the way you remember your experience of being wronged and of developing forgiveness in ways that healthily integrate this into your life story. A longitudinal study showed that people who were generally more neurotic , angry, and hostile in life were less likely to forgive another person even after a long time had passed. They were more likely to avoid their transgressor and want to enact revenge upon them two and
1885-412: A great virtue in numerous philosophies, compassion is considered in almost all the major religious traditions as among the greatest of virtues . Theoretical perspectives show contrasts in their approaches to compassion. In addition, the more a person knows about the human condition and human experiences, the more vivid the route to identification with suffering becomes. Identifying with another person
2030-413: A half years after the transgression. Studies show that people who forgive are happier and healthier than those who hold resentment. The first study to look at how forgiveness improves physical health discovered that when people think about forgiving an offender their cardiovascular and nervous system functioning improves. Another study found the more forgiving people were, the less they suffered from
2175-689: A higher capacity or responsibility to empathize with others may be at risk for "compassion fatigue", also called "secondary traumatic stress". Examples of people at risk for compassion fatigue are those who spend significant time responding to information related to suffering. However, newer research by Singer and Ricard suggests that it is lack of suitable distress tolerance that gets people fatigued from compassion activities. Individuals at risk for compassion fatigue usually display these four key attributes: diminished endurance and/or energy, declined empathic ability, helplessness and/or hopelessness, and emotional exhaustion. Negative coping skills can also increase
2320-400: A lesser extent. Activity in the anterior insula related to compassion for social pain peaked later and endured longer than that associated with compassion for physical pain. Compassionate emotions toward others affect the prefrontal cortex , inferior frontal cortex, and the midbrain . Feelings and acts of compassion stimulate areas known to regulate homeostasis , such as the anterior insula ,
2465-555: A means to avoiding resentments in the first place. These reflections are used to understand the context of suffering in the world, both our own and the suffering of others. "He abused me, he struck me, he overcame me, he robbed me" — in those who harbor such thoughts hatred will never cease. "He abused me, he struck me, he overcame me, he robbed me" — in those who do not harbor such thoughts hatred will cease." In Vedic literature and epics of Hinduism , ksama or kshyama ( Sanskrit : क्षमा ) and fusion words based on it, name
2610-403: A micro level. They measure empathy through facial and other non-verbally expressed reactions. Such changes are presumably underpinned by physiological changes brought about by some form of "emotional contagion" or mirroring. These reactions, while they appear to reflect the internal emotional state of the empathizer, could also, if the stimulus incident lasted more than the briefest period, reflect
2755-521: A more reliable assessment of empathy. Such measures are also vulnerable to measuring not empathy but the difference between a person's felt empathy and their standards for how much empathy is appropriate. For example, one researcher found that students scored themselves as less empathetic after taking her empathy class. After learning more about empathy, the students became more exacting in how they judged their own feelings and behavior, expected more from themselves, and so rated themselves more severely. In
2900-507: A more wholesome effect. "In contemplating the law of karma, we realize that it is not a matter of seeking revenge but of practicing mettā and forgiveness, for the victimizer is, truly, the most unfortunate of all." When resentments have already arisen, the Buddhist view is to calmly proceed to release them by going back to their roots . Buddhism centers on release from delusion and suffering through meditation and receiving insight into
3045-425: A person causes harm, but then sincerely and honestly apologizes to the wronged individual and tries to rectify the wrong, the wronged individual is encouraged, but not required, to grant forgiveness: It is forbidden to be obdurate and not allow yourself to be appeased. On the contrary, one should be easily pacified and find it difficult to become angry. When asked by an offender for forgiveness, one should forgive with
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#17327652704183190-442: A precise definition of these constructs, but there is consensus about this distinction. Affective and cognitive empathy are also independent from one another; someone who strongly empathizes emotionally is not necessarily good in understanding another's perspective. Additional constructs that have been proposed include behavioral empathy (which governs how one chooses to respond to feelings of empathy), social empathy (in which
3335-542: A printed questionnaire that may have been designed to reveal the affective, cognitive-affective, or largely cognitive substrates of empathic functioning. Some questionnaires claim to reveal both cognitive and affective substrates. However, a 2019 meta analysis questions the validity of self-report measures of cognitive empathy, finding that such self-report measures have negligibly small correlations with corresponding behavioral measures. Balancing subjective self-perceptions along with observable behaviors can help to contribute to
3480-476: A promise of reward from Allah. The reward of an evil deed is its equivalent. But whoever pardons and seeks reconciliation, then their reward is with Allah. He certainly does not like the wrongdoers. Afw ( عفو is another term for forgiveness in Islam; it occurs 35 times in Quran, and in some Islamic theological studies , it is used interchangeably with ghufran . Afw means to pardon, to excuse for
3625-539: A quality of God-fearing people. In the Bahá'í Writings , this explanation is given of how to be forgiving toward others: Love the creatures for the sake of God and not for themselves. You will never become angry or impatient if you love them for the sake of God. Humanity is not perfect. There are imperfections in every human being, and you will always become unhappy if you look toward the people themselves. But if you look toward God, you will love them and be kind to them, for
3770-513: A relationship with another, such that one is restored to peace and ideally to what psychologist Carl Rogers has referred to as " unconditional positive regard " towards the other. Forgiveness can seal off past wrong doings and remove it from the present. As a psychological concept and as a virtue , the obligation to forgive and the benefits of forgiveness have been explored in religious thought, moral philosophy , social sciences , and medicine. Forgiveness may be considered simply in terms of
3915-402: A sample of organisms showed that the strength of human empathic perceptions (and compassionate reactions) toward an organism is negatively correlated with how long ago our species' had a common ancestor. In other words, the more phylogenetically close a species is to us, the more likely we are to feel empathy and compassion towards it. Forgiveness On the psychological level, forgiveness
4060-462: A seven-point smiley face scale and filmed facial reactions. In some experiments, subjects are required to watch video scenarios (either staged or authentic) and to make written responses which are then assessed for their levels of empathy; scenarios are sometimes also depicted in printed form. Measures of empathy also frequently require subjects to self-report upon their own ability or capacity for empathy, using Likert -style numerical responses to
4205-504: A sincere mind and a willing spirit ... forgiveness is natural to the seed of Israel. In Judaism, one must go "to those he has harmed" to be entitled to forgiveness. One who sincerely apologizes three times for a wrong committed against another has fulfilled their obligation to seek forgiveness. This means that in Judaism a person cannot obtain forgiveness from God for wrongs they have done to other people. This also means that, unless
4350-430: A single questionnaire to measure 13,737 college students between 1979 and 2009, and found that empathy scores fell substantially over that time. A critic noted these results could be because the wording of the questionnaire had become anachronistically quaint (it used idioms no longer in common use, like "tender feelings", "ill at ease", "quite touched", or "go to pieces" that today's students might not identify with). By
4495-408: A small female advantage in non-verbal emotional recognition. Some research theorizes that environmental factors, such as parenting style and relationships, affect the development of empathy in children. Empathy promotes pro-social relationships and helps mediate aggression. Caroline Tisot studied how environmental factors like parenting style, parent empathy, and prior social experiences affect
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4640-409: A stranger. When the participants were talking or humming, the dog showed no behavioral changes; however when the participants were pretending to cry, the dogs oriented their behavior toward the person in distress whether it be the owner or stranger. The dogs approached the participants when crying in a submissive fashion, by sniffing, licking, and nuzzling the distressed person. The dogs did not approach
4785-472: A stronger link between emotional and cognitive empathy. The researchers believe that the stability of these sex differences in development are unlikely to be explained by environmental influences but rather by human evolution and inheritance. Throughout prehistory, women were the primary nurturers and caretakers of children; so this might have led to an evolved neurological adaptation for women to be more aware and responsive to non-verbal expressions. According to
4930-490: A visit to Lebanon in 2012, insisted that peace must be based on mutual forgiveness: "Only forgiveness, given and received, can lay lasting foundations for reconciliation and universal peace". Pope Francis during a General Audience explained forgiving others as God forgives oneself. Islam teaches that Allah is Al-Ghaffur "The Oft-Forgiving", and is the original source of all forgiveness ( ghufran غفران ). Seeking forgiveness from Allah with repentance
5075-436: A wide range of definitions and purported facets (which overlap with some definitions of empathy). Sympathy is a feeling of care and understanding for someone in need. Some include in sympathy an empathic concern for another person, and the wish to see them better off or happier. Empathy is also related to pity and emotional contagion . One feels pity towards others who might be in trouble or in need of help. This feeling
5220-547: A wide range of illnesses. Less forgiving people reported a greater number of health problems. Dr. Fred Luskin of Stanford University, author of Forgive for Good , presented evidence that forgiveness can be learned (i.e. is a teachable skill, with practice) based on research into the effects of teaching forgiveness. This research gave empirical support to the powerful, positive health effects of forgiveness. In three separate studies, including one with Catholics and Protestants from Northern Ireland whose family members were murdered in
5365-550: Is morally justifiable in every circumstance, and whether forgiveness encourages crime, disrespect, social disorder, and people not taking you seriously. Other ancient Hindu texts highlight that forgiveness is not the same as reconciliation. Forgiveness in Hindu Dharma does not necessarily require that one reconcile with the offender, nor does it rule out reconciliation in some situations. Instead forgiveness in Hindu philosophy
5510-508: Is a virtue . (...) Allah has forgiven what has been done. But those who persist will be punished by Allah. And Allah is Almighty, capable of punishment. Islam recommends forgiveness, because Allah values forgiveness. There are numerous verses in Quran and the Hadiths recommending forgiveness. Islam also allows revenge to the extent of the harm done, but forgiveness is encouraged, with
5655-436: Is a 30-item questionnaire that measures empathy from a phenomenological perspective on intersubjectivity , which provides a common basis for the perceptual experience (vicarious experience dimension) and a basic cognitive awareness (intuitive understanding dimension) of others' emotional states. It is difficult to make comparisons over time using such questionnaires because of how language changes. For example, one study used
5800-784: Is a meta-ethical theory of the moral structure of care. Adults who operate with level-III understanding synthesize systems of justice and care-based ethics. The Empathic Concern scale assesses other-oriented feelings of sympathy and concern and the Personal Distress scale measures self-oriented feelings of personal anxiety and unease. Researchers have used behavioral and neuroimaging data to analyze extraversion and agreeableness. Both are associated with empathic accuracy and increased brain activity in two brain regions that are important for empathic processing (medial prefrontal cortex and temporoparietal junction ). On average, females score higher than males on measures of empathy, such as
5945-496: Is a precursor to empathy , the "feeling as another" capacity (as opposed to sympathy , the "feeling towards another"). In common parlance, active compassion is the desire to alleviate another's suffering. Compassion involves allowing ourselves to be moved by suffering to help alleviate and prevent it. An act of compassion is one that is intended to be helpful . Other virtues that harmonize with compassion include patience , wisdom , kindness , perseverance , warmth, and resolve. It
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6090-438: Is a social emotion that is related to the closeness and cooperation between individuals. Compassion-focused therapy, created by clinical psychologist Professor Paul Gilbert , focuses on the evolutionary psychology behind compassion: balancing of affect regulation systems (e.g. using affiliative emotions from the care-and-contentment system to soothe and reduce painful emotions from the threat-detection system). Self-compassion
6235-401: Is a sophisticated process. However, the basic capacity to recognize emotions in others may be innate and may be achieved unconsciously. Empirical research supports a variety of interventions to improve empathy. Empathy is not all-or-nothing; rather, a person can be more or less empathic toward another. Paradigmatically, a person exhibits empathy when they communicate an accurate recognition of
6380-416: Is also found in humans, particularly in human infants. Another similarity found between chimpanzees and humans is that empathic-like responding was disproportionately provided to kin. Although comforting towards non-family chimpanzees was also observed, as with humans, chimpanzees showed the majority of comfort and concern to close/loved ones. Another similarity between chimpanzee and human expression of empathy
6525-462: Is an essential process for human beings, something that is even illustrated by infants who begin to mirror the facial expressions and body movements of their mother as early as the first days of their lives. Compassion is recognized through identifying with other people (i.e. perspective-taking ), the knowledge of human behavior, the perception of suffering, the transfer of feelings, and the knowledge of goal and purpose-changes in sufferers which leads to
6670-454: Is being compassionate , tender, kind, and letting go of the harm or hurt caused by someone or something else. Forgiveness is essential for one to free oneself from negative thoughts, and to be able to focus on blissfully living a moral and ethical life (a dharmic life). In the highest self-realized state, forgiveness becomes the essence of one's personality, where the persecuted person remains unaffected, without agitation, without feeling like
6815-502: Is being kind to oneself and accepting suffering as a quality of being human. It has positive effects on subjective happiness, optimism , wisdom , curiosity , agreeableness , and extroversion . Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer identified three levels of activities that thwart self-compassion: self-criticism , self-isolation, and self-absorption; they equate this to fight, flight, and freeze responses . Parenting practices contribute to
6960-602: Is considered to be a broad term, and broken down into more specific concepts and types that include cognitive empathy, emotional (or affective) empathy, somatic empathy, and spiritual empathy. Empathy is still a topic of research. The major areas of research include the development of empathy, the genetics and neuroscience of empathy, cross-species empathy, and the impairment of empathy. Some researchers have made efforts to quantify empathy through different methods, such as from questionnaires where participants can fill out and then be scored on their answers. The English word empathy
7105-665: Is derived from the Ancient Greek ἐμπάθεια ( empatheia , meaning "physical affection or passion"). That word derives from ἐν ( en , "in, at") and πάθος ( pathos , "passion" or "suffering"). Theodor Lipps adapted the German aesthetic term Einfühlung ("feeling into") to psychology in 1903, and Edward B. Titchener translated Einfühlung into English as "empathy" in 1909. In modern Greek εμπάθεια may mean, depending on context, prejudice , malevolence , malice , or hatred. Since its introduction into
7250-491: Is described as "feeling sorry" for someone. Emotional contagion is when a person (especially an infant or a member of a mob ) imitatively "catches" the emotions that others are showing without necessarily recognizing this is happening. Alexithymia describes a deficiency in understanding, processing, or describing one's own emotions (unlike empathy which is about someone else's emotions). Empanada has two major components: The scientific community has not coalesced around
7395-437: Is different from simple condoning (viewing action as harmful, yet to be "forgiven" or overlooked for certain reasons of "charity"), excusing or pardoning (merely releasing the offender from responsibility for their actions), or forgetting (attempting to remove from one's consciousness the memory of an offense). In some schools of thought, it involves a personal and "voluntary" effort at the self-transformation of one's half of
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#17327652704187540-492: Is eulogized again for forgiving those who harass her while she has been kidnapped in Lanka . Many other Hindu stories discuss forgiveness with or without repentance. The concept of forgiveness is treated in extensive debates within Hindu literature. In some Hindu texts , certain sins and intentional acts are debated as naturally unforgivable, for example, murder and rape; these ancient scholars argue whether blanket forgiveness
7685-423: Is far from being systematic or irrespective to the social identity of the targets, interpersonal relationships, and social context. He proposes that empathic concern (compassion) has evolved to favor kin and members of one own social group, can bias social decision-making by valuing one single individual over a group of others, and this can frontally conflict with principles of fairness and justice . People with
7830-400: Is further refined in Hindu Dharma by rhetorically contrasting it in feminine and masculine forms. In the feminine form, one form of forgiveness is explained through Lakshmi (called Goddess Sri in some parts of India); the other form is explained in the masculine form through her husband Vishnu . Feminine Lakshmi forgives even when the one who does wrong does not repent. Masculine Vishnu, on
7975-444: Is hardwired and present early in life. The research found additional areas of the brain, associated with social and moral cognition, were activated when young people saw another person intentionally hurt by somebody, including regions involved in moral reasoning. Although children are capable of showing some signs of empathy, including attempting to comfort a crying baby, from as early as 18 months to two years, most do not demonstrate
8120-432: Is honorable, it raises the merit of the forgiver in the eyes of Allah, and it enables a forgiver to enter paradise . The third wisdom of forgiveness is that, according to scholars such as al-Tabari and al-Qurtubi, forgiveness expiates ( kaffarah ) the forgiver from the sins they may have committed at other occasions in life. Forgiveness is a form of charity ( sadaqat ). Forgiveness comes from taqwa (piety),
8265-420: Is impaired if a lesion or stroke occurs on the right side of the brain. Damage to the frontal lobe , which is primarily responsible for emotional regulation, can profoundly impact a person's capacity to experience empathy. People with an acquired brain injury also show lower levels of empathy. More than half of those people with a traumatic brain injury self-report a deficit in their empathic capacity. There
8410-404: Is merciful." "Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven." Elsewhere, it is said "Then Peter came and said to him, 'Lord, if my brother or sister sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?' Jesus said to him, 'Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.'" Pope Benedict XVI , on
8555-440: Is not compassion, but it does suggest that compassion is similar to other emotions in that it motivates behaviors to reduce the tension brought on by the emotion. Physicians generally identify their central duties as the responsibility to put the patient's interests first, including the duty not to harm, to deliver proper care, and to maintain confidentiality. Compassion is seen in each of those duties because of its direct relation to
8700-538: Is not exclusive to humans, but that empathy has deep evolutionary, biochemical, and neurological underpinnings, and that even the most advanced forms of empathy in humans are built on more basic forms and remain connected to core mechanisms associated with affective communication, social attachment , and parental care . Neural circuits involved in empathy and caring include the brainstem , the amygdala , hypothalamus , basal ganglia , insula , and orbitofrontal cortex . Researchers Zanna Clay and Frans de Waal studied
8845-614: Is often, though not inevitably, the key component in altruism . The difference between sympathy and compassion is that the former responds to others' suffering with sorrow and concern whereas the latter responds with warmth and care. An article in Clinical Psychology Review suggests that "compassion consists of three facets: noticing, feeling, and responding". The English noun compassion , meaning "to suffer together with", comes from Latin . Its prefix com- comes directly from com , an archaic version of
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#17327652704188990-537: Is quite a bit of controversy on this subject. (e.g. the Sally–Anne test ). Empathic maturity is a cognitive-structural theory developed at the Yale University School of Nursing. It addresses how adults conceive or understand the personhood of patients. The theory, first applied to nurses and since applied to other professions, postulates three levels of cognitive structures. The third and highest level
9135-401: Is small to moderate, somewhat inconsistent, and is often influenced by the person's motivations or social environment. Bosson et al. say "physiological measures of emotion and studies that track people in their daily lives find no consistent sex differences in the experience of emotion", which "suggests that women may amplify certain emotional expressions, or men may suppress them". However,
9280-438: Is some evidence that empathy is a skill that one can improve in with training. Studies in animal behavior and neuroscience indicate that empathy is not restricted to humans (however the interpretation of such research depends in part on how expansive a definition of empathy researchers adopt ). Empathy-like behaviors have been observed in primates , both in captivity and in the wild, and in particular in bonobos , perhaps
9425-501: Is that a person who does not forgive carries a baggage of memories of the wrong, of negative feelings, and of anger , and unresolved emotions that affect their present as well as future. In Hindu Dharma, not only should one forgive others, but one must also seek forgiveness if one has wronged someone else. Forgiveness is to be sought from the individual wronged, as well as society at large, utilizing charity , purification , fasting , rituals , and meditative introspection. Forgiveness
9570-482: Is that females provided more comfort than males on average. The only exception to this discovery was that high-ranking males showed as much empathy-like behavior as their female counterparts. This is believed to be because of policing-like behavior and the authoritative status of high-ranking male chimpanzees. Dogs have been hypothesized to share empathic-like responding towards humans. Researchers Custance and Mayer put individual dogs in an enclosure with their owner and
9715-551: Is the Parable of the Good Samaritan ( Luke 10:29–37 ), in which a Samaritan traveler "was moved with compassion" at the sight of a man who was beaten. Jesus also demonstrated compassion to those his society had condemned—tax collectors, prostitutes, and criminals—by saying "just because you received a loaf of bread, does not mean you were more conscientious about it, or more caring about your fellow man". An interpretation of
9860-484: Is the tendency of people to experience a decrease in empathy as the number of people in need of aid increases. The term was coined by psychologist Paul Slovic. It is a type of cognitive bias that people use to justify their decision to help or not to help, and to ignore certain information. To turn compassion into compassionate behavior requires the singular person's response to the group in need, followed by motivation to help that can lead to action . In an examination of
10005-505: Is thus inherently motivated (at least to some degree) by self-interest. In a 2009 small fMRI experiment, researchers at the Brain and Creativity Institute studied strong feelings of compassion for social and physical pain in others. Both feelings involved an expected change in activity in the anterior insula , anterior cingulate , hypothalamus , and midbrain , but they also found a previously undescribed pattern of cortical activity on
10150-552: Is why it is necessary for Jews also to seek the forgiveness of those people who they have wronged. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Forgiveness is central to Christian ethics. The prayer Jesus taught his followers to recite begs God to "forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors". When Peter asked Jesus how often to forgive someone, Jesus said "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times". Jesus warned that God's forgiveness for your sins depends on your forgiveness towards others. In one of
10295-500: Is your falling into distress, excessively solicitous respecting you; to the believers (he is) compassionate. The Arabic word for compassion is rahmah . Its roots abound in the Quran. A good Muslim is to commence each day, each prayer, and each significant action by invoking Allah the Merciful and Compassionate, i.e., by reciting Bism-i-llah a-Rahman-i-Rahim . The womb and family ties are characterized by compassion and named after
10440-713: The Empathy Quotient (EQ), while males tend to score higher on the Systemizing Quotient (SQ). Both males and females with autistic spectrum disorders usually score lower on the EQ and higher on SQ ( see below for more detail on autism and empathy). Other studies show no significant sex differences, and instead suggest that gender differences are the result of motivational differences, such as upholding stereotypes. Gender stereotypes about men and women can affect how they express emotions. The sex difference
10585-523: The International Criminal Court . On one hand, Thomas Nagel , for instance, critiques Joshua Greene by suggesting that he is too quick to conclude utilitarianism specifically from the general goal of constructing an impartial morality; for example, he says, Immanuel Kant and John Rawls offer other impartial approaches to ethical questions. In his defense against the possible destructive nature of passions, Plato compared
10730-594: The Lord's Prayer , "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses," forgiveness is not an option to a Christian; rather one must forgive to be a Christian. Forgiveness in Christianity is a manifestation of submission to Christ and fellow believers. In the New Testament , Jesus speaks of
10875-406: The anterior cingulate , the mesencephalon , the insular cortex and the hypothalamus , supporting the hypothesis that social emotions use some of the same basic devices involved in other, primary emotions. Compassion is one of the most important attributes for physicians practicing medical services. Compassion brings about the desire to do something to help the sufferer. That desire to be helpful
11020-645: The "Primary Caretaker Hypothesis", prehistoric men did not have such selective pressure as primary caretakers. This might explain modern day sex differences in emotion recognition and empathy. A review published in Neuropsychologia found that females tended to be better at recognizing facial affects, expression processing, and emotions in general. Males tended to be better at recognizing specific behaviors such as anger, aggression, and threatening cues. A 2014 meta-analysis, in Cognition and Emotion , found
11165-452: The "faculty of forgiveness" has its place in public affairs. She believes that forgiveness can liberate resources both individually and collectively in the face of the irreparable, by freeing people to act in ways that are not merely reactive to the original wrong: "Forgiving is the only reaction which does not merely re-act but acts a new and unexpectedly, unconditioned by the act which provoked it and therefore freeing from its consequences both
11310-557: The Complexities of Forgiveness , outlines reasons why forgiveness takes time: when working on self (care/healing) takes priority (i.e. therapy, medical injuries, etc.), when issues of relational safety need to be addressed, and where facilitating forgiveness may be premature immediately after an interpersonal offense. Malcolm explains that "premature efforts to facilitate forgiveness may be a sign of our reluctance to witness our client’s pain and suffering and may unwittingly reinforce
11455-585: The Corinthians is but one place where God is spoken of as the "Father of mercies" (or "compassion") and the "God of all comfort." Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. Jesus embodies
11600-469: The English language, empathy has had a wide range of (sometimes conflicting) definitions among both researchers and laypeople. Empathy definitions encompass a broad range of phenomena, including caring for other people and having a desire to help them, experiencing emotions that match another person's, discerning what another person is thinking or feeling, and making less distinct the differences between
11745-587: The Latin preposition and affix cum (= with); the -passion segment is derived from passus , past participle of the deponent verb patior, patī, passus sum . Compassion is thus related in origin, form and meaning to the English noun patient (= one who suffers), from patiens , present participle of the same patior , and is akin to the Greek verb πάσχειν ( paskhein , to suffer) and to its cognate noun πάθος (= pathos ). Ranked
11890-526: The Prodigal Son is perhaps the best known parable about forgiveness and refers to God's forgiveness for those who repent. Jesus asked for God's forgiveness of those who crucified him . "Then Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.'" – Luke 23:34 Forgiving offenses is among the spiritual works of mercy , and forgiving others begets being forgiven by God. Considering Mark 11 :25, and Matthew 6:14–15 , that follows
12035-700: The University of Wisconsin–Madison founded the International Forgiveness Institute and initiated forgiveness studies. He developed a 20-Step Process Model of Forgiveness. In that model, to forgive someone, you should examine the wrong you suffered, who caused it, and the context in which it happened; consider the anger you feel about it, any shame or guilt associated with it, and how it has affected you; decide whether you want to advance into an attitude of forgiveness, and, if so: work on understanding, compassion, and acceptance, and make
12180-560: The ability to stop situations that have the potential to be distressing and occasionally lead to violence. This concept has been illustrated throughout history: The Holocaust , genocide , European colonization of the Americas , etc. The seemingly essential step in these atrocities could be the definition of the victims as "not human" or "not us". The atrocities committed throughout human history are thus claimed to have only been relieved, minimized, or overcome in their damaging effects through
12325-632: The advantages provided to mothers who understand the needs of their children are the reason empathy evolved in the first place. Empathic-like behavior has been observed in chimpanzees in different aspects of their natural behaviors. For example, chimpanzees spontaneously contribute comforting behaviors to victims of aggressive behavior in both natural and unnatural settings, a behavior recognized as consolation. Researchers led by Teresa Romero observed these empathic and sympathetic-like behaviors in chimpanzees in two separate outdoor housed groups. Acts of consolation were observed in both groups. This behavior
12470-512: The age of two, children normally begin to exhibit fundamental behaviors of empathy by having an emotional response that corresponds with another person's emotional state. Even earlier, at one year of age, infants have some rudiments of empathy; they understand that, as with their own actions, other people's actions have goals. Toddlers sometimes comfort others or show concern for them. During their second year, they play games of falsehood or pretend in an effort to fool others. Such actions require that
12615-792: The bodily feelings of another is related to one's imitative capacities, and seems to be grounded in an innate capacity to associate the bodily movements and facial expressions one sees in another with the proprioceptive feelings of producing those corresponding movements or expressions oneself. Because empathy is rooted in our ability to imitate their painful experience, people with disorders that inhibit them from social understanding/connection may experience difficulty portraying empathy for others. These people could include individuals diagnosed with Asperger's or autism. Compassion and sympathy are terms associated with empathy. A person feels compassion when they notice others are in need, and this feeling motivates that person to help. Like empathy, compassion has
12760-468: The caudate nucleus and anterior cingulate regions of the brain were activated, the same areas of the brain associated with pleasure and reward. One brain region, the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex/ basal forebrain , contributes to learning altruistic behavior, especially in those with trait empathy. The same study showed a connection between giving to charity and the promotion of social bonding and personal reputation. True compassion, if it exists at all,
12905-432: The chick was susceptible to danger, the mother hen's heart rate increased, she sounded vocal alarms, she decreased her personal preening, and her body temperature increased. This responding happened whether or not the chick felt as if it were in danger. Mother hens experienced stress-induced hyperthermia only when the chick's behavior correlated with the perceived threat. Humans can empathize with other species. One study of
13050-615: The child knows what others believe in order that the child can manipulate those beliefs. According to researchers at the University of Chicago who used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), children between the ages of seven and twelve, when seeing others being injured, experience brain activity similar that which would occur if the child themself had been injured. Their findings are consistent with previous fMRI studies of pain empathy with adults, and previous findings that vicarious experiencing, particularly of others' distress,
13195-452: The child to imagine the perspectives of others and teaching the child to reflect on his or her own feelings. The development of empathy varied based on the gender of the child and parent. Paternal warmth was significantly positively related to empathy in children, especially boys. Maternal warmth was negatively related to empathy in children, especially girls. Empathy may be disrupted due to brain trauma such as stroke . In most cases, empathy
13340-535: The client’s belief that the pain and suffering is too much to bear and must be suppressed or avoided." Worthington et al. observed that "anything done to promote forgiveness has little impact unless substantial time is spent at helping participants think through and emotionally experience their forgiveness". Efforts to facilitate forgiveness may be premature and even harmful immediately after an interpersonal injury. The philosopher Joseph Butler ( Fifteen Sermons ) defined forgiveness as "overcoming of resentment,
13485-417: The coming year. Just prior to Yom Kippur, Jews ask forgiveness of those they have wronged during the prior year (if they have not already done so). During Yom Kippur itself, Jews fast and pray for God's forgiveness for the transgressions they have made against God in the prior year. Sincere repentance is required, and once again, God can only forgive one for the sins one has committed against God; this
13630-507: The community, writing a journal frequently, and sleeping enough every day. The practice of mindfulness and self-awareness also helps with compassion fatigue. Psychologist Paul Gilbert provides factors that can reduce the likelihood of someone being willing to be compassionate to another. These include (less): likability, competence, deservedness, empathic-capacity; (more) self-focused competitiveness, anxiety-depression, overwhelmed; and inhibitors in social structures and systems. Compassion fade
13775-578: The concept of forgiveness. The word ksama is often combined with kripa (tenderness), daya (kindness), and karuna ( करुणा , compassion) in Sanskrit texts . In the Rigveda , forgiveness is discussed in verses dedicated to the deity Varuna, both the context of the one who has done wrong and the one who is wronged. Forgiveness is considered one of the six cardinal virtues in Hindu Dharma. The theological basis for forgiveness in Hindu Dharma
13920-520: The decline of their suffering. Personality psychology agrees that human suffering is always individual and unique. Suffering can result from psychological, social, and physical trauma which happens in acute and chronic forms. Suffering has been defined as the perception of a person's impending destruction or loss of integrity, which continues until the threat is vanquished or the person's integrity can be restored. Compassion therefore has three major requirements: The compassionate person must feel that
14065-505: The development of empathy in young children. The children studied were asked to complete an effective empathy measure, while the children's parents completed a questionnaire to assess parenting style and the Balanced Emotional Empathy scale. The study found that certain parenting practices, as opposed to parenting style as a whole, contributed to the development of empathy in children. These practices include encouraging
14210-424: The development of self-compassion in children. Maternal support, secure attachment, and harmonious family functioning all create an environment where self-compassion can develop. On the other hand, certain developmental factors (i.e., personal fable) can hinder the development of self-compassion in children. Authentic leadership centered on humanism and on nourishing quality interconnectedness increase compassion in
14355-422: The empathetic person integrates their understanding of broader social dynamics into their empathetic modeling), and ecological empathy (which encompasses empathy directed towards the natural world). In addition, Fritz Breithaupt emphasizes the importance of empathy suppression mechanisms in healthy empathy. Efforts to measure empathy go back to at least the mid-twentieth century. Researchers approach
14500-485: The essence of compassion and relational care. Christ challenges Christians to forsake their own desires and to act compassionately towards others, particularly those in need or distress. Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. One of his most well-known teachings about compassion
14645-665: The exalted attribute of Allah " Al-Rahim " (The Compassionate). In the Jewish tradition , God is the Compassionate and is invoked as the Father of Compassion: hence Raḥmana or Compassionate becomes the usual designation for His revealed word. (Compare, above, the frequent use of raḥman in the Quran ). Sorrow and pity for one in distress, creating a desire to relieve it, is a feeling ascribed alike to man and God: in Biblical Hebrew , ( riḥam , from reḥem ,
14790-416: The experiment, as indirect ways of signaling their level of empathic functioning to the raters. Physiological responses tend to be captured by elaborate electronic equipment that has been physically connected to the subject's body. Researchers then draw inferences about that person's empathic reactions from the electronic readings produced. Bodily or "somatic" measures can be seen as behavioral measures at
14935-714: The feeling of a mother for her offspring ( Isaiah 49:15 ). A classic articulation of the Golden Rule came from the first century Rabbi Hillel the Elder . Renowned in the Jewish tradition as a sage and a scholar, he is associated with the development of the Mishnah and the Talmud and, as such, is one of the most important figures in Jewish history . Asked for a summary of the Jewish religion "while standing on one leg" (meaning in
15080-500: The field of medicine, a measurement tool for carers is the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy, Health Professional Version (JSPE-HP) . The Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) is among the oldest published measurement tools still in frequent use (first published in 1983) that provides a multi-dimensional assessment of empathy. It comprises a self-report questionnaire of 28 items, divided into four seven-item scales covering
15225-564: The fields of positive psychology and social psychology. Compassion is a process of connecting by identifying with another person. This identification with others through compassion can lead to increased motivation to do something in an effort to relieve the suffering of others. Compassion is an evolved function from the harmony of a three grid internal system: contentment-and-peace system, goals-and-drives system, and threat-and-safety system. Paul Gilbert defines these collectively as necessary regulated systems for compassion. Paul Ekman describes
15370-508: The gospels, Jesus during his crucifixion asks God to forgive those who crucified him. Hannah Arendt stated that Jesus was "the discoverer of the role of forgiveness in the realm of human affairs." Unlike in Judaism, in Christianity God can forgive sins committed by people against people, since he can forgive every sin except for the eternal sin , and forgiveness from one's victim is not necessary for salvation. The Parable of
15515-435: The human soul to a chariot: the intellect is the driver and the emotions are the horses, and life is a continual struggle to keep the emotions under control. In his defense of a solid universal morality, Immanuel Kant saw compassion as a weak and misguided sentiment. "Such benevolence is called soft-heartedness and should not occur at all among human beings", he said of it. Compassion has become associated with and researched in
15660-402: The importance of forgiving or showing mercy toward others. This is based on the belief that God forgives sins through faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ in his death ( 1 John 2 :2 ) and that, therefore, Christians should forgive others ( Ephesians 4 :32 ). Jesus used the parable of the unmerciful servant ( Matthew 18 :21–35 ) to show that His followers (represented in the parable by
15805-497: The incarnation and crucifixion of Jesus is that it was undertaken from a compassionate desire to feel the suffering of and effect the salvation of mankind; this was also a compassionate sacrifice by God of his own son ("For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son..."). A 2012 study of the historical Jesus claimed that he sought to elevate Judaic compassion as the supreme human virtue, capable of reducing suffering and fulfilling our God-ordained purpose of transforming
15950-404: The measurement of empathy from a number of perspectives. Behavioral measures normally involve raters assessing the presence or absence of certain behaviors in the subjects they are monitoring. Both verbal and non-verbal behaviors have been captured on video by experimenters. Other experimenters required subjects to comment upon their own feelings and behaviors, or those of other people involved in
16095-481: The moment) from distal compassion (i.e. predicting the future; affective forecasting ): "...it has implications in terms of how we go about encouraging compassion. We are all familiar with proximal compassion: Someone falls down in the street, and we help him get up. That's proximal compassion: where we see someone in need, and we help them. But, when I used to tell my kids, 'Wear a helmet,' that's distal compassion: trying to prevent harm before it occurs. And that requires
16240-708: The most concise terms) Hillel stated: "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah. The rest is the explanation; go and learn." Post 9/11 , the words of Rabbi Hillel are frequently quoted in public lectures and interviews around the world by the prominent writer on comparative religion Karen Armstrong . Many Jewish sources speak of the importance of compassion for and prohibitions on causing needless pain to animals . Significant rabbis who have done so include Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch Rabbi Simhah Zissel Ziv, and Rabbi Moshe Cordovero. In ancient Greek philosophy motivations based on pathos (feeling, passion) were typically distrusted. Reason
16385-507: The most empathic primate. One study demonstrated prosocial behavior elicited by empathy in rodents. Rodents demonstrate empathy for cagemates (but not strangers) in pain. An influential study on the evolution of empathy by Stephanie Preston and Frans de Waal discusses a neural perception-action mechanism and postulates a bottom-up model of empathy that ties together all levels, from state matching to perspective-taking. University of Chicago neurobiologist Jean Decety agrees that empathy
16530-417: The mother, womb), "to pity" or "to show mercy" in view of the sufferer's helplessness, hence also "to forgive" ( Habakkuk 3:2 ), "to forbear" ( Exodus 2:6 ; 1 Samuel 15:3 ; Jeremiah 15:15, 21:7 ). The Rabbis speak of the "thirteen attributes of compassion". The Biblical conception of compassion is the feeling of the parent for the child. Hence the prophet's appeal in confirmation of his trust in God invokes
16675-477: The motivated regulation of compassion in the context of large-scale crises, such as natural disasters and genocides, research established that people tend to feel more compassion for single identifiable victims than single anonymous victims or large masses of victims (the Identifiable victim effect ). People only show less compassion for many victims than for single victims of disasters when they expect to incur
16820-464: The nature of reality . Buddhism questions the reality of the passions that make forgiveness necessary as well as the reality of the objects of those passions. "If we haven’t forgiven, we keep creating an identity around our pain, and that is what is reborn. That is what suffers." Buddhism places much emphasis on the concepts of mettā (loving-kindness), karuna (compassion), mudita (sympathetic joy), and upekkhā (equanimity), as
16965-400: The need for people to forgive one another; yet others make little or no distinction between human and divine forgiveness. Forgiveness is interpreted in many ways by different people and cultures. This is important in relationship-oriented communication. When all parties share a mutual view of forgiveness then a relationship can be maintained. "Understanding antecedents of forgiveness, exploring
17110-415: The offender to offer some form of acknowledgment, such as an apology , or to explicitly ask for forgiveness, for the wronged person to believe themselves able to forgive. Social and political dimensions of forgiveness involve the strictly private and religious sphere of "forgiveness". The notion of "forgiveness" is generally considered unusual in the political field. However, Hannah Arendt considers that
17255-468: The one who forgives and the one who is forgiven." In a study conducted in Rwanda to examine the discourses and practices of forgiveness following the 1994 genocide , sociologist Benoit Guillou highlighted the extensive range of meanings associated with the term "forgiveness" and its underlying political nature. In the study's findings, the author presented four primary aspects of forgiveness to facilitate
17400-399: The other hand, forgives only when the wrongdoer repents. In Hindu Dharma, the feminine forgiveness granted without repentance by Lakshmi is higher and more noble than the masculine forgiveness granted only after there is repentance. In the Hindu epic Ramayana , Sita – the wife of King Rama – is symbolically eulogized for forgiving a crow even as it harms her. Later in the epic Ramayana, she
17545-582: The other person. Sir Jonathan Sacks , chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, summarized: "It is not that God forgives, while human beings do not. To the contrary, we believe that just as only God can forgive sins against God, so only human beings can forgive sins against human beings." Jews observe a Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, on the day before God makes decisions regarding what will happen during
17690-408: The overcoming of moral hatred, as a speech act, and as forbearance". In his 1962 lecture on "Freedom and Resentment"', philosopher P. F. Strawson described forgiveness as "a rather unfashionable subject in moral philosophy" at that time. Religion can affect how someone chooses to forgive—for example, through religious activity, religious affiliation and teachings, and imitation. In Judaism , if
17835-655: The participants in the usual form of excitement, tail wagging, or panting. Since the dogs did not direct their empathic-like responses only towards their owner, it is hypothesized that dogs generally seek out humans showing distressing body behavior. Although this could suggest that dogs have the cognitive capacity for empathy, it could also mean that domesticated dogs have learned to comfort distressed humans through generations of being rewarded for that specific behavior. When witnessing chicks in distress, domesticated hens ( Gallus gallus domesticus ) show emotional and physiological responding. Researchers found that in conditions where
17980-469: The person who forgives, which may include forgiving themselves. The concept of forgiveness can be in terms of the person forgiven or in terms of the relationship between the forgiver and the person forgiven. In most contexts, forgiveness is granted without any expectation of restorative justice , and without any response on the part of the offender (for example, one may forgive a person who is incommunicado or dead). In practical terms, it may be necessary for
18125-459: The physiology of forgiveness, and training people to become more forgiving all imply that we have a shared meaning for the term". As of 2006 , there is no consensus for a psychological definition of forgiveness in the research literature. However, there is agreement that forgiveness is a process, and several models describing the process of forgiveness have been published, including one from a radical behavioral perspective. Dr. Robert Enright from
18270-461: The political violence , he found that people who are taught how to forgive become less angry, feel less hurt, are more optimistic, become more forgiving in a variety of situations, and become more compassionate and self-confident. His studies show a reduction in experience of stress, in physical manifestations of stress, and an increase in vitality. Psychologist Wanda Malcolm, in Women's Reflections on
18415-494: The posterior medial surface of each brain hemisphere, a region involved in the default mode of brain function , and implicated in self-related processes . Compassion for social pain in others was associated with strong activation in the interoceptive, inferior/posterior portion of this region, while compassion for physical pain in others involved heightened activity in the exteroceptive, superior/anterior portion. Compassion for social pain activated this superior/anterior section, to
18560-456: The presence of compassion, although recently, drawing on empirical research in evolutionary theory , developmental psychology , social neuroscience , and psychopathy, it has been counterargued that compassion or empathy and morality are neither systematically opposed to one another, nor inevitably complementary, since over the course of history, mankind has created social structures for upholding universal moral principles, such as Human Rights and
18705-430: The recognition and treatment of suffering. Physicians who use compassion understand the effects of sickness and suffering on human behavior. Compassion may be closely related to love and the emotions evoked in sickness and suffering. This is illustrated by the relationship between patients and physicians in medical institutions. The relationship between suffering patients and their caregivers provides evidence that compassion
18850-432: The results of emotional reactions based on cognitions associated with role-taking ("if I were him I would feel..."). Picture or puppet-story indices for empathy have been adopted to enable even very young, pre-school subjects to respond without needing to read questions and write answers. Dependent variables (variables that are monitored for any change by the experimenter) for younger subjects have included self reporting on
18995-646: The risk of developing compassion fatigue. People can alleviate sorrow and distress by doing self-care activities on a regular basis. Improving consciousness helps to guide people to recognize the impact and circumstances of past events. After people learn the experience from the situation in the past , they are able to find the causes of compassion fatigue in their daily life. Practice of nonjudgmental compassion can prevent fatigue and burnout . Some methods that can help people to heal compassion fatigue include physical activity, eating healthy food with every meal, good relations with others, enjoying interacting with others in
19140-549: The self and the other. Since empathy involves understanding the emotional states of other people, the way it is characterized derives from the way emotions are characterized. For example, if emotions are characterized by bodily feelings, then understanding the bodily feelings of another will be considered central to empathy. On the other hand, if emotions are characterized by a combination of beliefs and desires, then understanding those beliefs and desires will be more essential to empathy. The ability to imagine oneself as another person
19285-749: The servant) should forgive because God (represented by the king) forgives much more. In the Sermon on the Mount , Jesus repeatedly spoke of forgiveness: "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy." "So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift." "Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses." "Be merciful, just as your Father
19430-459: The significance of another person's ongoing intentional actions, associated emotional states, and personal characteristics in a manner that seems accurate and tolerable to the recognized person. This is a nuanced perspective on empathy which assists in the understanding of complex human emotions and interactions. Acknowledging subjective experiences highlights the need for balance and understanding when engaging in empathy. One's ability to recognize
19575-409: The socio-emotional development of the bonobo chimpanzee. They focused on the interplay of numerous skills such as empathy-related responding, and how different rearing backgrounds of the juvenile bonobo affected their response to stressful events—events related to themselves (e.g. loss of a fight) as well as stressful events of others. They found that bonobos sought out body contact with one another as
19720-463: The subdivisions of affective and cognitive empathy described above. More recent self-report tools include The Empathy Quotient (EQ) created by Baron-Cohen and Wheelwright which comprises a self-report questionnaire consisting of 60 items. Another multi-dimensional scale is the Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCAE, first published in 2011). The Empathic Experience Scale
19865-411: The thought ‘I can harm him because he will forgive me']. Except for these two, I fully and finally forgive everyone; may no one be punished because of me. And just as I forgive everyone, so may You grant me grace in the eyes of others, that they too forgive me absolutely. Thus the "reward" for forgiving others is not God's forgiveness for wrongs done to others, but rather help in obtaining forgiveness from
20010-457: The troubles that evoke their feelings are serious; the belief that the sufferers' troubles are not self-inflicted; and the ability to picture oneself with the same problems in a non-blaming, non-shaming manner. Because the compassion process is highly related to identifying with another person and is possible among people from other countries, cultures, locations, etc., compassion is characteristic of democratic societies. The role of compassion as
20155-567: The victim forgave the perpetrator before he died, murder is unforgivable in Judaism, and they will answer to God for it, though the victims' family and friends can forgive the murderer for the grief they caused them. The Tefila Zaka meditation , which is recited just before Yom Kippur , closes with the following: I know that there is no one so righteous that they have not wronged another, financially or physically, through deed or speech. This pains my heart within me, because wrongs between humans and their fellow are not atoned by Yom Kippur, until
20300-575: The workplace to self and others. Judith Jordan 's concept of self-empathy is similar to self-compassion, it implies the capacity to notice, care, and respond towards one's own felt needs. Strategies of self-care involve valuing oneself, thinking about one's ideations of needs compassionately, and connecting with others in order to conversely experience renewal, support, and validation. Research indicates that self-compassionate individuals experience greater psychological health than those who lack self-compassion. The Christian Bible's Second Epistle to
20445-484: The world into something more worthy of its creator. In the Muslim tradition, foremost among God's attributes are mercy and compassion, or, in the canonical language of Arabic, Rahman and Rahim . Each of the 114 chapters of the Quran , with one exception , begins with the verse, "In the name of Allah the Compassionate, the Merciful." Certainly a Messenger has come to you from among yourselves; grievous to him
20590-421: The world of God is the world of perfection and complete mercy. Therefore, do not look at the shortcomings of anybody; see with the sight of forgiveness. In Buddhism , forgiveness prevents harmful thoughts from causing havoc on one's mental well-being. Buddhism recognizes that feelings of hatred and ill-will leave a lasting effect on our mind- karma . Buddhism encourages the cultivation of thoughts that leave
20735-784: The wronged one is appeased. Because of this, my heart breaks within me, and my bones tremble; for even the day of death does not atone for such sins. Therefore I prostrate and beg before You, to have mercy on me, and grant me grace, compassion, and mercy in Your eyes and in the eyes of all people. For behold, I forgive with a final and resolved forgiveness anyone who has wronged me, whether in person or property, even if they slandered me, or spread falsehoods against me. So I release anyone who has injured me either in person or in property, or has committed any manner of sin that one may commit against another [except for legally enforceable business obligations, and except for someone who has deliberately harmed me with
20880-432: Was associated with the mOFC , pregenual ACC , and ventral striatum . Empathy, in contrast, was associated with the anterior insula and the anterior midcingulate cortex (aMCC). In one study conducted by James Rilling and Gregory Berns, neuroscientists at Emory University , subjects' brain activities were recorded while they helped someone in need. It was found that while the subjects were performing compassionate acts,
21025-505: Was generally considered to be the proper guide to conduct. Compassion was considered pathos ; hence, Justice is depicted as blindfolded, because her virtue is dispassion — not compassion. Aristotle compared compassion with indignation and thought they were both worthy feelings: Compassion means being pained by another person's unearned misfortune; indignation means being pained by another's unearned good fortune. Both are an unhappy awareness of an unjust imbalance. Stoicism had
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