Why Empathy Matters: The Science and Psychology of Better Judgment

by J.D. Trout

A road map to empathic and efficient decisions and policies, constructed from new insights in the science of human judgment

Faced with another's suffering, human beings feel sympathy and may even be moved to charity. However, for all our good intentions and vaunted free will, we are lousy at making the bigger decisions that actually improve lives. Why? Drawing on his sweeping and innovative research in the fields of psychology, behavioral economics, and neuroscience, philosopher and cognitive scientist J. D. Trout explains how our empathic wiring actually undermines the best interests of individuals and society. However, it is possible to bridge this "empathy gap" and improve our decision-making. Here, Trout offers a tantalizing proposal- how to vault that gap and improve the lives of not just ourselves but the lives of everyone all around the world.

Genres: Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology, Social, Science, Nonfiction

321 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2009

About the author

J.D. Trout is a Professor of Philosophy and Psychology at Loyola University Chicago. He received his PhD in Philosophy at Cornell University in 1988, and has also taught at Bryn Mawr College and Virginia Tech. His chief interests include the nature of scientific explanation, the psychology of human judgment, scientific realism and intellectual progress, and social/political issues bearing on well-being. He has also published work in epistemology and experimental and theoretical work in spoken language processing.

Reviews

[Alexander Julian · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book carries a good explanation of why we make the decisions we do, explanations can feel like they drag on a little too long at times.

[Aki Miki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Empathy is virtue, but some kind of problem involved our cognitive biases. For example, in Japan, if the cat that fell into the groove broadcast on television gathered amazing aid, in spite of there were plenty of homeless people in need of support. For the resolution, the author has introduced various neuroscience-based ideas, such as hospital computer screensavers depicting colorfully germy hands, a urinal with a drawing of a life-sized fly inside. My favorite one is the sunset provision.
In the software industry, there is an approach called Lean Startup. Creating MVP(minimum viable product), and keep improving while watching the reaction of customers. The sunset provision is like Lean Startup. Laws are not easily revised, because of our status quo bias. The sunset provision is a good solution, and it can be expected to have a better law.
Compared to the improvement of general products and services, I think policies are not good. We have to understand our heuristic and cognitive biases, and improve them.

[Woodward Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elyse Yeager, Instructor, Mathematics recommends . . .
Why empathy matters by JD Trout
Why is this a favourite book?


"A good primer on cognitive biases, and the way our behavior can be manipulated for good or for evil, with a theme of creating better public policy."