The Frontier

Wafa Bilal lived in a Chicago gallery for 30 days with a webcam-controlled paintball gun; strangers shot him 70,000 times, generating 80 million hits from 128 countries.

Jamil Zaki says empathy has three components: emotional empathy, cognitive empathy, and empathic concern. Different brain systems support each, and groups struggle with different flavors.

Among people aged 18 to 34, 10 times as many live alone today as in 1950. Zaki speculates this solitary, transactional urban living may affect empathy, as anonymous interactions do not favor it.

Juliana Schroeder’s study found people dehumanize others more when reading their political opinions versus hearing them. Online text and avatars lack the cues that trigger real empathy.

Altruism born of suffering describes how trauma can open people to caring more about others' pain. Community support after trauma is a key factor in whether individuals turn outward or inward.

Oxytocin increases caring for insiders but decreases caring for outsiders, illustrating empathy’s parochial nature. Zaki argues we can choose to broaden our empathy beyond instinctive tribalism.

Emil Bruno’s research shows extreme empathy for one’s own group can prevent compromise with outsiders, even if you also empathize with them. Police training centers sometimes demonstrate this.

About 50% of oncologists report intense heartbreak delivering bad news. Empathy benefits patients but can be an occupational hazard, leading to defensive dehumanization among caregivers.

Mark Penzer’s 1970s study showed people walked further away from a charity table if a person in a wheelchair was present, avoiding empathic triggers to sidestep guilt or donation pressure.

Executioners studied in the American South dehumanized inmates, especially if they delivered lethal injections. Empathy can cause guilt or self-loathing, leading people to avoid it.

Jamil Zaki’s virtual reality simulation of becoming homeless reduced dehumanization and increased support for affordable housing a month later. Immersive technology can stretch empathy.

Acting training improves empathy more than visual arts training, according to Talia Goldstein’s studies. Narrative fiction also builds empathy, especially for groups different from the reader.

Mark Levine’s study found Manchester United fans helped injured fellow fans but stepped over Liverpool fans. When asked to write about loving soccer instead of the team, they helped rivals.

Leslie John argues reciprocity is instinctive in disclosure: sharing something sensitive signals trust and prompts others to reveal. Validation, not problem-solving, is the best response.

Leslie John’s study showed a 'hurting effect': knowing others admitted to a sensitive act made people more comfortable revealing it themselves, even in a bare-bones online setting.

Humble bragging - couching a boast with humility - is ineffective and irritating. Outright bragging is better, but requires careful timing, audience, and context to avoid sparking envy.

Vulnerability can be weaponized, as in interrogations or scams. People in weakened states are more susceptible. Meta-disclosures about relational tension can resolve conflict collaboratively.