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Empathic concern does not reduce partisan animosity: study

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Re: Empathic concern does not reduce partisan animosity: study

#41
post #3

When you have empathy, do you take the viewpoint of the master or the slave?

#nondualism The master and slave are part of the same whole; one cannot exist without the other, and more generally, everyone is a flawed or incomplete person in one way or another. Having empathy for one without having empathy for the other is to misunderstand the universe.

This sounds inspired by Hegel's dialectic of the master and the slave.

Re: Empathic concern does not reduce partisan animosity: study

#42
post #39

> These high-empathy students were also more likely to be amused by reports that students protesting the speech had injured a bystander sympathetic to the speaker. > one gauges people’s level of “empathic concern” by asking them how strongly they agree or disagree with a series of seven statements such as “I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me.” It seems like a problematic way to m…

The truly empathetic might be humble about it, whereas sociopaths would seem to be the most concerned at coming across as virtuous in the way they describe themselves

Re: Empathic concern does not reduce partisan animosity: study

#43
post #39

> These high-empathy students were also more likely to be amused by reports that students protesting the speech had injured a bystander sympathetic to the speaker. > one gauges people’s level of “empathic concern” by asking them how strongly they agree or disagree with a series of seven statements such as “I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me.” It seems like a problematic way to m…

The word does seem to be taking on a different meaning as time goes on. People seem to intend for it to mean "care and consideration for the ingroup as I define it." Which is of course, not its actual meaning.

Re: Empathic concern does not reduce partisan animosity: study

#44
post #42
post #39

> These high-empathy students were also more likely to be amused by reports that students protesting the speech had injured a bystander sympathetic to the speaker. > one gauges people’s level of “empathic concern” by asking them how strongly they agree or disagree with a series of seven statements such as “I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me.” It seems like a problematic way to m…

The truly empathetic might be humble about it, whereas sociopaths would seem to be the most concerned at coming across as virtuous in the way they describe themselves

San Francisco has entered the chat

Re: Empathic concern does not reduce partisan animosity: study

#45
post #15

>The authors of the APSR study—Elizabeth Simas and Scott Clifford of the University of Houston and Justin Kirkland of the University of Virginia—have this kind of dynamic in mind when they write, “Polarization is not a consequence of a lack of empathy among the public, but a product of the biased ways in which we experience empathy.” That's the nugget. According to the study, it seems that people with high empathy ar…

> According to the study, it seems that people with high empathy are more often people with high empathy towards their in-group...and a lack of empathy for the out-group. I'd argue that it isn't really empathy at all...just a more emotional form of tribalism.

Yes this, especially considering literally everybody is this way. Care and concern for some people and none for others is par for the course. At that point it's not empathy, it's just being the same thing everyone else is.

Re: Empathic concern does not reduce partisan animosity: study

#46
I think there's an interesting dynamic with empathy and freedom of speech: defending freedom of speech forces you to have a basic empathy for everyone. It might not be an empathy based on their lived experiences, but it is one based on respecting that we should collectively protect what they have to communicate. It's why I believe attacks on freedom of speech are so dangerous...they undermine this foundational respect for one another.

If hating what someone has to say but defending their right to say it isn't a form of sincere empathy, then I don't know what is.

Re: Empathic concern does not reduce partisan animosity: study

#47
> In the second part, undergraduates were shown a news story about a controversial speaker from the opposing party visiting a college campus. Students who had scored higher on the empathy scale were more likely to applaud efforts to deny the speaker a platform.

For those interested, here's the story that participants were asked to respond to. You can find it in the supporting documents section of the study linked in the article. Replace 'Democrats' with 'Republicans' for the alternate version.

> College Democrats Shut Down Invited Speaker

Rowdy protests lead university to cancel lecture from controversial speaker

On Monday, campus police struggled to break up a large group of students who were gathered to protest a speaking engagement that was planned for Friday night. The invited speaker is a social media celebrity known for making inflammatory statements about Democrats. His posts frequently mock the intelligence of Democrats and in one recent post said that “there may be nothing more despicable or disgusting than a Democrat.”

Thought the protest, which was organized by the College Democrats was mostly peaceful, it became chaotic as students tried to pass through the protestors and enter the building. Michelle Jones, a junior at the university, said she was struck with a sign being carried by one of the students demonstrating. “I don’t know if he did it on purpose,” said Jones, “but I was pretty annoyed. I just wanted to hear what the speaker has to say.”

Ultimately, the College Democrats were successful in getting the university to cancel the event. But not all are happy with the outcome. A petition on social media is calling for officials to punish those involved and suspend the College Democrats’ ability to hold events for the rest of the school year.

Re: Empathic concern does not reduce partisan animosity: study

#48

Maybe the scale at which you love your neighbor comes at the cost proportional to how much you hate your common rival. To put it another way, humans might be incapable of emotional empathy outside of tribal brotherhood. That is, people they can identify with. It'd make sense in a sort of selfish gene way. Emotional actions just seems wholly negative at the scale of our society. This may be the core of our division. W…

> humans might be incapable of emotional empathy outside of tribal brotherhood

Imagine no possessions

I wonder if you can

No need for greed or hunger

A brotherhood of man

Re: Empathic concern does not reduce partisan animosity: study

#49
post #39

> These high-empathy students were also more likely to be amused by reports that students protesting the speech had injured a bystander sympathetic to the speaker. > one gauges people’s level of “empathic concern” by asking them how strongly they agree or disagree with a series of seven statements such as “I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me.” It seems like a problematic way to m…

The word does seem to be taking on a different meaning as time goes on. People seem to intend for it to mean "care and consideration for the ingroup as I define it." Which is of course, not its actual meaning.

Sure it is. Nothing about the definition of empathy suggests that it isn't selective. We are generally empathetic but still eat animals. Some cultures still eat dog - you don't think they can love their children?

Re: Empathic concern does not reduce partisan animosity: study

#50

> It gets worse. These high-empathy students were also more likely to be amused by reports that students protesting the speech had injured a bystander sympathetic to the speaker. That’s right: According to this study, people prone to empathy are prone to schadenfreude. I can relate, as I am certainly someone who would probably laugh in this situation, as I also find myself laughing at the idea that people trample one…

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