Putting together phylogenetic and ontogenetic perspectives on empathy.

Decety, Jean

Svetlova, Margarita

Netherlands

2016-09-05T02:38:51Z

2012-01

The ontogeny of human empathy is better understood with reference to the evolutionary history of the social brain. Empathy has deep evolutionary, biochemical, and neurological underpinnings. 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. In this paper, we argue that it is essential to consider empathy within a neurodevelopmental framework that recognizes both the continuities and changes in socioemotional understanding from infancy to adulthood. We bring together neuroevolutionary and developmental perspectives on the information processing and neural mechanisms underlying empathy and caring, and show that they are grounded in multiple interacting systems and processes. Moreover, empathy in humans is assisted by other abstract and domain-general high-level cognitive abilities such as executive functions, mentalizing and language, as well as the ability to differentiate another's mental states from one's own, which expand the range of behaviors that can be driven by empathy.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22682726

S1878-9293(11)00048-X

1878-9307

https://hdl.handle.net/10161/12730

eng

Elsevier BV

Dev Cogn Neurosci

10.1016/j.dcn.2011.05.003

Adaptation, Psychological

Altruism

Biological Evolution

Brain

Cooperative Behavior

Emotions

Empathy

Human Development

Humans

Object Attachment

Oxytocin

Parenting

Self Concept

Sex Characteristics

Social Perception

Theory of Mind

Putting together phylogenetic and ontogenetic perspectives on empathy.

Journal article

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22682726

1

24

1

Duke

Psychology and Neuroscience

Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

Published

2