For decades,
research has focused on the psychology of human suffering since it has been the
main issue in our society. Poverty. Human Exploitation. Child Abuse. That
suffering, as unpleasant as it is, often also has a bright side to which
research has paid less attention: compassion. Human suffering is often
accompanied by beautiful acts of compassion by others wishing to help relieve
it.
In IAM Group
Ltd. alone, we have thousands of volunteers to different charity institutions
all over the world. The question is what drives this people to serve food to
the homeless, offer someone advices and feed a stray cat?
What is Compassion?
The
definition of compassion is often confused with that of empathy. Empathy, as
defined by researchers, is the visceral or emotional experience of another
person’s feelings. It is, in a sense, an automatic mirroring of another's
emotion, like tearing up at a friend’s sadness. Altruism is an action that
benefits someone else. It may or may not be accompanied by empathy or
compassion, for example in the case of making a donation for tax purposes.
Although these terms are related to compassion, they are not identical.
Compassion often does, of course, involve an empathic response and an
altruistic behavior. However, compassion is defined as the emotional response
when perceiving suffering and involves an authentic desire to help.
Is Compassion Natural or Learned?
Many researches have argued this topic for years and years. One point though, remains dominant above all of them. Though economists have long argued the contrary, a growing body of evidence suggests that, at our core, both animals and human beings have what APS Fellow Dacher Keltner at the University of California, Berkeley, coins a “compassionate instinct.” In other words, compassion is a natural and automatic response that has ensured our survival.
It is not
surprising that compassion is a natural tendency since it is essential for
human survival. As has been brought to light by Keltner, the term “survival of
the fittest,” often attributed to Charles Darwin, was actually coined by
Herbert Spencer and Social Darwinists who wished to justify class and race
superiority. A lesser known fact is that Darwin’s work is best described with
the phrase “survival of the kindest.” Indeed in The Descent of Man and
Selection In Relation to Sex, Darwin argued for “the greater strength of the
social or maternal instincts than that of any other instinct or motive.” In
another passage, he comments that “communities, which included the greatest
number of the most sympathetic members, would flourish best, and rear the
greatest number of offspring.” Compassion may indeed be a naturally evolved and
adaptive trait. Without it, the survival and flourishing of our species would
have been unlikely.
No matter the
nature of compassion is, the important matter is that people are willing to
help selflessly in order to save another. How good it is to see swarm of people
doing their best to offer relief goods to victims of flood in Yokohama, Japan
or volunteers gathering used books to teach children in Ghana, Africa. IAM
Group Limited has a lot of accounts about these. Would you like to add your
story?
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