In this section of ‘A Whole New Mind’, Pink identifies some resources and techniques to hone ‘Symphony’ as well as resources for ‘Empathy’ – the main topic of this section. These range from listening to the great symphonies, drawing, measuring your empathy quotient, eaves dropping, volunteering and looking for negative spaces.
Empathy however is the major focus of this section. According to Pink, empathy is defined “the ability to imagine yourself in someone else’s position and to intuit what that persons is feeling….. Empathy isn’t sympathy—that is, feeling bad for someone else. It is feeling with someone else, sensing what it would be like to be that person.”
Empathy, often overlooked in the Information Age, helped the human species evolve.
It is based in emotions and emotions are non-verbal. Charles Darwin suggested that facial expressions demonstrate our emotions. Not until 1965 did Paul Ekman conduct research and verify that Darwin was correct; facial expressions are universal.
Understanding facial expressions fits in the domain of our right hemisphere. Pink supports this conclusion by citing multiple examples of the role of the right versus left hemisphere in facial recognition and detecting lying. Aphasics, people with damage to the left brain that inhibits speaking and understanding language; excel in lie detection.
Pink suggests that in the Conceptual Age, work that can be reduced to rules, can be done well by computers or computers run by lower paid overseas workers. The jobs we keep will require understanding the human; emotions and interaction. The practice of law is used as example in that computers, software and English speaking from other countries can deliver on the ‘specialized information’ part of law. Lawyers who understand emotions, facial expressions and divine the needs of their clients will be the face of the practice.
We can boost our powers of empathy and our ability to read faces according to Pink. Understanding how facial muscle work and the ability to interpret the movement of those muscles can help. In a true, genuine smile, some muscle movement is spontaneous; we cannot control it. Deciphering the signals of these muscles can help discern emotions.
Medical care is being impacted by empathy, symphony and story telling. A physician’s ability to understand nonverbal cues like facial expression and body language as well as vocal intonation is increasing their effectiveness. According to Pink, the role of empathy in the process of healing is a reason nurses will be in high demand. They typically exhibit more empathy than other medical counterparts.
Pink also raises the question of ‘gender gap’ in the ability to empathize. The female brain is more predisposed to empathy but our brains do not always coincide with gender. The Conceptual Age, according to Pink requires “androgynous minds”.
This exert defines this section for me….”Empathy is much more than a vocational skill necessary for surviving twenty-first-century labor markets. It’s an ethic for living……Empathy makes us human. Empathy brings joy. Empathy is an essential part of living a life of meaning.” (Pink, Daniel; A Whole New Mind, page 165)
Carol, in my opinion, you did a nice job summarizing this section. I think it so interesting that the thought now is that jobs that are ones that can be reduced to rules will be the jobs sent overseas and that those jobs that need people to be able to show empathy will be the positions in high demand. I wonder if that is why that one show on TV was created. I think it's called the Mentalist. The main character reads people's faces and body language to see if they are lying and he works for a police department or something. It will be so interesting to see how the world changes in the next 10-20 years. We are reading about all these things, yet people in general will need to get on board with it all.
ReplyDeleteI liked the quote you used, too, and agree that "empathy is an essential part of living a life of meaning."
ReplyDeleteI remember being trained to use empathy as a 'peer assistant' in high school years ago. Many of us from that group have gone on to be (hopefully empathetic) teachers, administrators, doctors, and parents. I think empathy is so important in being a good teacher and think possessing this skill that connects us to our students is one reason human teachers can not be replaced with robots!
Empathy is most definitely a necessity. And being that Pink said that the "computer" jobs such as maintencance should be sent overseas might also give us an insight on what our overseas counterparts are like. I believe empathy is a big part of being human and our students will excel if we can relay this information to them in a way they understand so they can pass it on.
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