PSYCH 3BA3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 11: Limbic System, Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex, Sympathetic Nervous System
9 Apr 2017
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Empathy and egotism: portals to altruism, gratitude, and forgiveness. Empathy and egotism can lead to altruism, gratitude, and forgiveness. Altruism: behaviour aimed at benefiting another person. Egotism: the motive to pursue some sort of personal gain or benefit through targeted behaviour. Egotism may fuel altruistic behaviour in that we care for others because of our own personal benefits. Empathy: an emotional response to the perceived plight of another person. There are instances in which egotism does not appear to explain altruism: e. g. people help to avoid aversive arousal and negative emotions. Having empathy for another leads to a greater likelihood of helping. Empathy can be a sufficient motivation to help others, in the absence of egotism. Twin studies: monozygotic twins have higher empathy correlations (0. 2 - 0. 4) than do dizygotic twins (0. 05) Areas of the prefrontal and parietal cortices are essential for judging others" emotions.
