Tia Ghose: Has It Disappeared Forever?

Has it Disappeared Forever? “When we hear people speak or watch their posture, gestures, and facial expressions, the neural networks in our brains are stimulated by a ‘shared representation.’ The result is an inner reflection or simulation of the experiences of those whom we are observing” (Gerdes, Lietz, and Segal). (consider bridges the quote with the following sentence… not sure it is clearly connecting) Where has the empathy gone in this world? Has it disappeared forever? I was recently at a picnic with my family and an incident occurred. There was a group, probably in their mid-teens, running around playing baseball in an open field. Suddenly, one of the boys passed out, causing him to fall to the ground. There were dozens of people around, yet not one individual went to aid him; they just left him lying there until he came to on his own. This is just one of the countless selfish acts

According to Tia Ghose, “being around strangers can cause people stress and, in turn, make them less able to feel other’s pain, new research suggests.” Therefore, if a tragic incident occurs and someone tries to offer relief, not only do they have the tension of the scene, but they may also have the stress of strangers at hand. All of this trauma may be so overwhelming, that they would not be able to think properly, causing them to not perform any emergency actions. Nevertheless, stress is inevitable despite your situation. Whether you are a workaholic struggling to make ends meet, or a corporate idealist climbing the ladder of success, at one point or another, pressures will enter your life. Even without a stressor involved, the simplest thing such as lack of sleep can raise your stress hormones. How exactly does this affect one’s empathy? What is the correlation? According to a recent neurological study, stress inhibits a person’s ability to empathize