The Problem With Empathy

[Sean Hayden]

Most people see the benefits of empathy as akin to the evils of racism: too obvious to require justification. I think this is a mistake. I have argued elsewhere that certain features of empathy make it a poor guide to social policy. Empathy is biased; we are more prone to feel empathy for attractive people and for those who look like us or share our ethnic or national background. And empathy is narrow; it connects us to particular individuals, real or imagined, but is insensitive to numerical differences and statistical data. As Mother Teresa put it, “If I look at the mass I will never act. If I look at the one, I will.” Laboratory studies find that we really do care more about the one than about the mass, so long as we have personal information about the one.

In light of these features, our public decisions will be fairer and more moral once we put empathy aside.

https://bostonreview.net/forum/paul-blo ... st-empathy

I do wonder though why without empathy caring more for a neighbor than many complete strangers is less good.

[Rum]

It is (and I don't see it as a problem) ultimately self serving. Social groups, intuiting what is going on etc.

I blame Darwin.

[Sean Hayden]

I think we should acknowledge ownership of our morality. It's not real because it's not universal or distinct from ourselves seems to be the underlying assumption in much of these discussions. I wonder if that's a result of failing to throw off religious woo entirely?

I question the sanity of placing empathy to the side; thinking big picture, long term, is that the morality we want to cultivate?

[DaveDodo007]

It is the same reason diversity programs and quotas fail.

It shouldn’t be surprising that most diversity programs aren’t increasing diversity. Despite a few new bells and whistles, courtesy of big data, companies are basically doubling down on the same approaches they’ve used since the 1960s—which often make things worse, not better. Firms have long relied on diversity training to reduce bias on the job, hiring tests and performance ratings to limit it in recruitment and promotions, and grievance systems to give employees a way to challenge managers. Those tools are designed to preempt lawsuits by policing managers’ thoughts and actions. Yet laboratory studies show that this kind of force-feeding can activate bias rather than stamp it out. As social scientists have found, people often rebel against rules to assert their autonomy. Try to coerce me to do X, Y, or Z, and I’ll do the opposite just to prove that I’m my own person.

https://hbr.org/2016/07/why-diversity-programs-fail

[JimC]

[Tyrannical]

Empathy often leads to irrational decisions and false beliefs.

[cronus]

Too much empathy is really a form of sociopathy. It is actually a form of proxy-narcissism. And can go wrong very easily and turn into malignant jealousy. When you read about these eliminator families very often there is a stifling over close attachment relationship, too much concern focused inwards.

[pErvinalia]

It is the same reason diversity programs and quotas fail.

It shouldn’t be surprising that most diversity programs aren’t increasing diversity. Despite a few new bells and whistles, courtesy of big data, companies are basically doubling down on the same approaches they’ve used since the 1960s—which often make things worse, not better. Firms have long relied on diversity training to reduce bias on the job, hiring tests and performance ratings to limit it in recruitment and promotions, and grievance systems to give employees a way to challenge managers. Those tools are designed to preempt lawsuits by policing managers’ thoughts and actions. Yet laboratory studies show that this kind of force-feeding can activate bias rather than stamp it out. As social scientists have found, people often rebel against rules to assert their autonomy. Try to coerce me to do X, Y, or Z, and I’ll do the opposite just to prove that I’m my own person.

https://hbr.org/2016/07/why-diversity-programs-fail

What does that have to do with empathy?

[Sean Hayden]

Empathy often leads to irrational decisions and false beliefs.

Give me an example.

[Sean Hayden]

Too much empathy is really a form of sociopathy. It is actually a form of proxy-narcissism. And can go wrong very easily and turn into malignant jealousy. When you read about these eliminator families very often there is a stifling over close attachment relationship, too much concern focused inwards.

This is lazy Scump, been hitting the bong?

[cronus]

Too much empathy is really a form of sociopathy. It is actually a form of proxy-narcissism. And can go wrong very easily and turn into malignant jealousy. When you read about these eliminator families very often there is a stifling over close attachment relationship, too much concern focused inwards.

This is lazy Scump, been hitting the bong?

No, only Guinness, it's the hard stuff for me....

[laklak]

I've always said I'd be much more empathic if there was more in it for me.

[Sean Hayden]

It is the same reason diversity programs and quotas fail.

It shouldn’t be surprising that most diversity programs aren’t increasing diversity. Despite a few new bells and whistles, courtesy of big data, companies are basically doubling down on the same approaches they’ve used since the 1960s—which often make things worse, not better. Firms have long relied on diversity training to reduce bias on the job, hiring tests and performance ratings to limit it in recruitment and promotions, and grievance systems to give employees a way to challenge managers. Those tools are designed to preempt lawsuits by policing managers’ thoughts and actions. Yet laboratory studies show that this kind of force-feeding can activate bias rather than stamp it out. As social scientists have found, people often rebel against rules to assert their autonomy. Try to coerce me to do X, Y, or Z, and I’ll do the opposite just to prove that I’m my own person.

https://hbr.org/2016/07/why-diversity-programs-fail

You'll do the opposite because you're a beta male.