"Violent Games Can Hinder Development of Empathy in Children, says Study"

communisopinio:

“Certainly not every child who continues to play violent video games is going to go out and perpetrate a violent act, but the research suggests that children — particularly boys — who are frequently exposed to these violent games are absorbing a sanitized message of ‘no consequences for violence’ from this play behavior,” said Vieira. “The concern arises when children are taking in this message and there is a convergence of other negative environmental factors at the same time, such as poor parental communication and unhealthy peer relationships.”

I LIKE IT. SO WHAT?: COMPASSION

nerdy-dini:

I believe compassion to be one of the few things we can practice that will bring immediate and long-term happiness to our lives. I’m not talking about the short-term gratification of pleasures like sex, drugs or gambling (though I’m not knocking them), but something that will bring true and…

You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who had ever been alive.
Is Less Reading Making Americans Less Empathetic?

doshite:

A new study from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor shows that Americans’ levels of empathy have dropped significantly in the last three decades.

Other scientists theorize that people reading less has contributed to the decline in empathy:

In a study published earlier this year psychologist Raymond A. Mar of York University in Toronto and others demonstrated that the number of stories preschoolers read predicts their ability to understand the emotions of others. Mar has also shown that adults who read less fiction report themselves to be less empathic.

pncacd:

Animal Superpowers by Chris Woebken.
(((One way of generating empathy about the needs and desires of non-human clients?)))

pncacd:

Animal Superpowers by Chris Woebken.

(((One way of generating empathy about the needs and desires of non-human clients?)))

miasmicbliss:

Blackberry Empathy

(Source: fightinginclass)

Hell is yourself and the only redemption is when a person puts himself aside to feel deeply for another person.
Do not assume that he who seeks to comfort you now, lives untroubled among the simple and quiet words that sometimes do you good. His life may also have much sadness and difficulty, that remains far beyond yours. Were it otherwise, he would never have been able to find these words.