empathy

When Maryam Keshavarz was a young girl growing up in New York City in the 1980s, she would spend her summer holidays travelling to Iran, from where her parents had migrated. As well as her luggage, she would fly with small plastic bags taped to her body containing objects she would smuggle into and out of Iran.The most common thing Keshavarz was asked to bring from the US was cassette tapes featuring American pop. “I would stick them in my underwear,” she says over video call from Los Angeles, “because it was an Islamic…

Empathy is the sensing of another's emotions and ability to imagine how they are feeling, a quality that seems in pretty short supply in large parts of today's world.The good news is, we might be able to spread empathy and compassion through social interaction. That's the conclusion of a new study from an international team of researchers which conducted four separate experiments designed to measure shifts in empathy based on the actions of more than 50 volunteers.Assessments of the participants showed empathy levels…

I might have inadvertently insulted Bret Taylor and Clay Bavor when I interviewed them about their new AI startup last week. Their new company, Sierra, is developing AI-powered agents to “elevate the customer experience” for big companies. Among its original customers are WeightWatchers, Sonos, SiriusXM, and OluKai (a “Hawaiian-inspired” clothing company). Sierra’s eventual market is any company that communicates with its customers, which is a pretty big opportunity. Their plan strikes me as a validation of the widely…

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Reading stories regularly strengthens social-cognitive skills—such as empathy—in both children and adults. And this, in turn, ensures that we can empathize with characters more effectively and more quickly when we are reading. This is the subject of linguist Lynn Eekhof's Ph.D., which she will receive at Radboud University on 15 January. "I think we need to capitalize more on the wonder of…

Credit: Melissa Hogan/Wikimedia commons, CC BY-SA When asked what traits constitute a good leader, you may be tempted to list traditional qualities such as rationality, cool-headedness, and overall, an ability to detach oneself from one's emotions. However, research has shown that the ability to feel empathy toward one's colleagues is in fact the most critical leadership skills, and much-overlooked. Empathy is on record for…

Global vaccination trends are telling us both good news and bad news stories, nearly four years after the start of a global pandemic. On the plus side, some childhood immunizations have begun recovering to pre-COVID rates. Against that, almost half of the 73 countries that reported pandemic-related declines in vaccine rates have either flatlined or continue to drop. Also on the downside, UNICEF reported earlier this year that public trust in vaccinations had eroded worldwide. And that includes the U.S., where one new…

Pax Jolie-Pitt, shared quite scathing views against his father, days after Brad Pitt made his affair public. Pax Jolie-Pitt, shared quite scathing views against his father, days after Brad Pitt made his affair public. He put up an Instagram story to wish his father, Hollywood icon, Brad Pitt, a Happy Father's Day. However, apart from the word there wasn't anything happy in the 19-year-old's wish. Sharing a photograph of Brad with an Oscar, he wrote: "Happy Father's Day to this world class a*****e!! You time…

The following article contains spoilers for “Lost in Translation” Late last month, I came off my bicycle and smashed the side of my head on the curb in a fairly dramatic accident. It gave me one hell of a concussion, a smashed-up face and a fair amount of memory loss, including everything about the incident itself. Four weeks later, I’m still struggling, and while I’m feeling a little better every day, it’s a slow process to recovery. It’s appropriate, then, that this week’s Strange New Worlds touches on that relationship…

Professor Russell Foster CBE, head of the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute at the University of Oxford, has some relationship advice. One of the things he’s asked most often at public talks is what to do if your partner snores. First, check with your doctor if a serious condition like sleep apnoea might be to blame. Second, get some ear plugs. Third: “If you have an alternative sleeping space, then use it. It’s not a reflection of the quality of your relationship. I would say that in many cases, it’s the…

Will Smith’s Son Jaden Smith Admits Getting Introduced To Psychedelic Drugs By Mom ( Photo Credit – Instagram ) Jaden Smith, the son of actors Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith, has revealed the extent of his bond with his mother. He admitted that she introduced him to psychedelics. The 24-year-old explained that his mother also paved the way for psychedelic drug usage in his family, including his father, Will Smith and sister Willow Smith. “I think it was my mom, actually, that was really the first one to make that…