Kris Krüg

Empathy-filled September. Illustration by Scott Biersack.

The ticket lottery for Creative Mornings Vancouver is open! Make sure you grab your ticket for Emapthy-themed September with Samantha Reynolds, founder of Echo Storytelling Agency.

The secret of empathy:

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Group activities bring out empathy between a group of people. Many recent researches have found cooperative multiplayer games as a very effective group activity for this purpose. How do you think cooperative video games encourage empathy with one another? How might you bring that element into your projects?

Story Map:

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Here’s another use of storytelling in design. We’ve learnt various ways in which storytelling is used to help us design. Try many different methods and get comfortable with many storytelling design tools.

“Empathy is the highest form of intelligence.”

“Brene Brown studies human connection – our ability to empathize, belong, love. In a poignant, funny talk at TEDxHouston, she shares a deep insight from her research, one that sent her on a personal quest to know herself as well as to understand humanity.”

The Queen of Empathy - Brene Brown

“When someone is going through a storm, your silent presence is more powerful than a million, empty words.” - Thema Davis

fyp-psychology:

Psychopaths and narcissists are able to feel empathy; it’s just that they don’t typically want to.

ONE death is a tragedy. One million is a statistic.

You’ve probably heard this saying before. It is thought to capture an unfortunate truth about empathy: While a single crying child or injured puppy tugs at our heartstrings, large numbers of suffering people, as in epidemics, earthquakes and genocides, do not inspire a comparable reaction.

Studies have repeatedly confirmed this. It’s a troubling finding because, as recent research has demonstrated, many of us believe that if more lives are at stake, we will — and should — feel more empathy (i.e., vicariously share others’ experiences) and do more to help.

Not only does empathy seem to fail when it is needed most, but it also appears to play favorites. Recent studies have shown that our empathy is dampened or constrained when it comes to people of different races, nationalities or creeds. These results suggest that empathy is a limited resource, like a fossil fuel, which we cannot extend indefinitely or to everyone.

What, then, is the relationship between empathy and morality? Traditionally, empathy has been seen as a force for moral good, motivating virtuous deeds. Yet a growing chorus of critics, inspired by findings like those above, depict empathy as a source of moral failure. In the words of the psychologist Paul Bloom, empathy is a “parochial, narrow-minded” emotion — one that “will have to yield to reason if humanity is to survive.”

We disagree.

Keep reading

Empathy is actually a choice.

“There is strong evidence that reading for pleasure can increase empathy, improve relationships with others, reduce the symptoms of depression and the risk of dementia, and improve wellbeing throughout life, new research carried out for The Reading Agency has found.” - Neil Gaiman

Creative Mornings roll call! Get to know all the amazing people who help make Creative Mornings Vancouver so much better.

This week: Steve Fisher.